I am running ArcGIS 10 (ArcView) with the standard labeling engine. I am very familiar with Maplex and have used it in the past but it still lacked the "feature-linked" functionality given the type of license I use. (Arc Info – Maplex combination was quite good)
Still, I found Maplex to be better than the built-in labeling engine but not stellar. Decent label masking for elevation contours and orienting labels up-slope, etc. are still difficult if not impossible to acheive even with maplex.
Area there any good alternatives?
[GIS] Alternatives to Maplex Labeling Engine for ArcGIS Desktop
arcgis-desktopbasic-license-levelcartographylabelingsoftware-recommendations
Related Solutions
in the label symbol dialog you can set the text background to a symbol marker
select properties
then marker text background
select symbol.
Properties.
Then you have the option to select several types. One is picture marker symbol.
Which allow emf and bmp. (sorry no svg).
Another way is to use the ballon callout
Select symbol
there you get some choices again for the fill of the callout box.
select picture fill symbol
Again you get emf and bmp format choices.
Another choice would be to use a point feature class and put the layer in the mxd twice. Once for the symbol, and a second for the label. Use a picture marker symbol
as the symbol and use offset xy to move it away from the original point marker.
Like this
Best Answer
Yes Maperitive is a good (though young) Open Source verison of Maplex capabilities
[works more closely to the orignal standalone Maplex software which works with shapefiles and controls layers as well as text placement]
http://maperitive.net/docs/manual/
Text Rendering http://maperitive.net/docs/manual/Properties/Text.html
Google Group: http://groups.google.co.uk/group/maperitive/topics?gvc=1