Taking Advantage

In addition to maps, charts, and graphs, ArcGIS provides two tools for generating reports that are available directly from the ArcMap interface. A generic reporting tool creates simple reports that can be added to a layout and can use group layers. The other choice, Crystal Reports, is an industry standard application that produces sophisticated, presentation-quality reports.

With ArcGIS 8.3, users receive a full standalone copy of Crystal Reports 9 from Crystal Decisions. This article shows users how to take advantage of the Crystal Reports wizard that is integrated with ArcMap in ArcGIS ArcView, ArcEditor, and ArcInfo. The wizard minimizes the learning curve for new users by walking them through the report creation process and helps more experienced users generate reports quickly. For stand-alone reports, Crystal Reports supplies extensive sorting and grouping functionality and incorporates formulas and templates that speed report generation.

However, if an appropriate template is not available for the desired report, the formatting options available solely from the wizard are limited. Because ArcGIS comes with a full copy of Crystal Reports, a good strategy is to rough the report out using the wizard from the ArcGIS interface and go directly into Crystal Reports to refine the report.