I have a map projected as State Plane - Washington North (NAD93). I have created locations using specified zoom levels (such as 1:3000). I create the layout, apply the location, then apply a scale bar. The scale bar shows one inch equal to 140 feet. On another layout, I apply a location set to 1:2400. The scale bar shows one inch equal to 72 feet.

What is going on and how do I get the scale bar to show the correct scale?

Attachments:
Document2.pdf

Can you post the MAP file with the locations, the layouts and the map? (You can replace all objects with a single rectangle, or just remove all fields, but do not change the coordinate system.)

I will try. I need to remove any proprietary information first. It should be up in a moment via a Dropbox link.

Here is the link to the file. I played with scale bars a bit more. If I apply the scale bar directly to the map, the bar shows the correct scale. Not so helpful if I want the scale bar to show up elsewhere on a layout.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/44b6s9pay43h7of/AACa5EbDNRCbQMzvR2IYTI-Ka?dl=0

How do you add the scale bar frame to the layout? Is the map for the scale bar the uppermost frame in the Layers pane stack below the scale bar frame's position in the Layers pane stack?

Problem solved. I hadn't selected the map in the Layers pane.

? Selecting the map in the Layers pane doesn't have anything to do with setting the component for which the scale bar shows data.

Have you reviewed the Layouts: Scale Bars topic?

It worked for a bit until I tried to change the style of the scale bar. Resizing the scale bar window increased the scale. I deleted that window and reapplied the scale bar. Instead of a scale of 1in : 150 ft, it is showing 1 in : 140 ft. I managed to resize the scale bar window to show 150 ft.

The text in the scale bar is somewhat misleading. It only states the scale as 150 ft and is located at the right side of the window. To me, that suggests that the bar itself is 150 ft. I printed off the layout and measured the scale bar at 2 inches. It would be far clearer if the text stated 1 inch = 150 ft.

150 ft means the length of the scale bar on the ground would be 150 ft. So in your case, the text should probably be '2 in = 150 ft'. We will consider adding an option to report scale bar length as 'XXX in = YYY ft'.

I found the locations you are talking about: Practice Track is 1:2400 and Solinst Datalogger Locations is 1:3000.

The scale of the map in South Site does not correspond to any of the two locations. I suspect right after you double-clicked the map frame and specified the desired location, you scrolled the mouse wheel slightly and the view moved away from what it was. This is why the scale bar reports that its length is 72 ft US.

But that's not all. Even if you set the map frame in North Site and South Site to the same location, eg, Practice Track, the scale bar in North Site will report 110 ft US, but the scale bar in South Site will report 120 ft US. You will also note that the scale bar in North Site will not fill the scale bar frame entirely and will be slightly shorter than it -- while the scale bar in South Site will fill the entire frame. This happens because in both cases the scale bars are set to choose the length automatically and the two frames have slightly different widths: the frame in North Site is 49.999... mm wide and the frame in South Site is 50 mm wide. It so happens that 120 ft US map to exactly 50 mm on paper and so the frame that is shorter than that (49.999... mm) adjusts the length down to the next value it thinks is reasonably round = 110 ft US. It is unclear to us how the width of the scale bar frame ended up as 49.999... -- we guess there has been some editing of the frame position. But in general, if you want the scale bar to be the same length on the two layouts, specify the desired length directly and make the frame wider than required for that length.

I did resize the scale bar. It was then that I discovered I could change the scale to show 150 ft. I did not change the scale on the practice track layout.

I like the way scale bars work in M8. I will create a blank projected drawing layer and set a view to the scale I want to show. This way, I can have multiple blank drawings with different scales. I sometimes create a multi-purpose layout. I will drag whatever scale drawing I need onto the layout, hide it, and set it to the drawing's view. There can be multiple scale drawings on the layout. When I insert the scale bar into the layout, I associate it with whatever scale drawing is the same as the view on the map. If I change the view on the map, I re-associate the scale bar to a different scale drawing. The location of the scale bar on the layout stays the same but shows the new map scale.

You can do the same in 9.