LAB 1: Introduction to ArcGIS 8

Outline


1.0 Introduction

Please read the labs in their entirety before attending your session. Skipping sections may result in you missing important explanations.

We will be using ArcGIS 8.2 for the rest of the course. The 3 basic applications you will be using in ArcGIS are:

…               ArcMap: where you can view, edit, and analyze your data and create graphs, reports and printable maps.

…               ArcCatalog: where you can preview, document, and organize your data.

…               ArcToolbox: where you can perform, advanced data analysis and processing tasks.

After starting the program it may take a few moments for it to appear. Be patient and do not attempt to restart it, or else you'll end up with multiple copies running.

To find out what any button does in ArcGIS, place the cursor over it and note the explanatory text provided at the bottom left of the screen. Play around with the various buttons and tools in order to discover their capabilities.

You are encouraged to use the Zip drive directory as your working workspace. To begin, copy your lab data on your zipdisk. While working on your lab, save your map document to this directory by using the File > Save AsÖ option from the menu bar. Once the document has been saved once, you can simply use the ìSaveî icon on the toolbar.

Note: Extra help is available at the on-line HELP with ArcGIS. The easiest way to use the help is through the topics section (vs. keying in the word).

 

1.1 Purpose

To familiarize with:

…       The three main applications of ESRIís ArcGIS Software, namely ArcCatalog, ArcMap and ArcToolbox

…       Basic data display, queries, and publication

…       How to navigate through the ArcInfo help files

1.2 Lab Basics

About the Computers:

…      The computers are DELL  with Intel Pentium Processors.

…      Avoid opening multiple applications was this may freeze the computer

…      You may experience your computer crashing without notice. Please save regularly.

…      Please create your folder under the appropriate drive. This will be used as your personal workspace in future labs. Note: No spaces in folder or filenames. ArcInfo (a component of ArcGIS) does not allow spaces in folder or filenames.

 

About the software
Throughout this lab we will be working with ESRI's ArcGIS software.  We have the latest version (ArcInfo 8.2). The software consists of two basic components, ArcGIS 8.2 Desktop and ArcInfo 8.2. ArcGIS Workstation. ArcInfo 8 is structured around three applications- ArcCatalog, ArcMap, and ArcToolbox. 

The 3 basic applications and their functionalities:

…      ArcMap: Lets you display, edit, and analyze your data and create graphs, reports and printable maps.

…      ArcCatalog: Lets you preview, document, and organize your data

…      ArcToolbox: Lets you can perform, advanced data analysis and processing tasks.

We also have the ArcInfo 8.2 Workstation as an add-on to the desktop. It is essentially the same as previous dos-based or unix ArcInfo 7. ArcInfo may be clumsy to learn but still provides the most comprehensive suite of geoprocessing tools.

 

Additional information
Additional information on the ArcGIS software can be found through ESRI'sArcGIS 8 web site, and through the ESRI Virtual Campus web site, which offers several free modules on ArcGIS and ArcInfo extensions.

 

1.3 Data

The data that we will be using in this lab are:

Geodatabases:

Coverages:

Shapefiles:

1.4 ArcGIS Applications

To start any of ArcGIS application, go to Start >Programs > ArcGIS Ö and select the application.

It may take a few moments for the program to appear. Be patient and do not attempt to restart it, or else you'll end up with multiple copies running.

To find out what any button does in ArcGIS, place the cursor over it and note the explanatory text provided at the bottom left of the screen. You should play around with the programs in order to discover their capabilities.

Data for this lab will be available for download on to your machine. While working on your lab, save your map document to your folder by using the File > Save AsÖ option from the menu bar. Once the document has been saved once, you can simply use the ìSaveî icon on the toolbar.

Remember that extra help can be found on-line. Select ArcGIS Desktop Help under the Help menu in each of the applications. You have the option to use the through the topics section, keying in a word.

 

1.4.1 ArcCatalog

 

ArcCatalog is the ArcGIS Desktop application for organizing, browsing, and managing your data and map files.  It includes tools for browsing and finding geographic information, recording as well as for viewing and editing metadata. In many ways, ArcCatalog is similar to Windows Explorer. Since it is easy to delete files this way, you should be careful to delete only when you are sure that you will not need the file any longer.

 

Starting ArcCatalog
Now we will start ArcCatalog and explore its contents.  To start ArcCatalog, click on the  button and navigate to Programs -> ArcGIS -> ArcCatalog

 

Note: You can also start ArcCatalog from ArcMap application by clicking LEAD Technologies Inc. V1.01  

 

ArcCatalog is similar in structure to Windows Explorer -- on the left hand side is a view of the table of content or Catalog "tree" showing how the data are organized.   The right hand side provides options for exploring the contents of the data shown in the Catalog tree. You will notice that there are different icons used to represent the available folders and their contents. 

 

When ArcCatalog is started up, it automatically looks for folders containing spatial data.  If spatial data are found somewhere in the folder the following icon  LEAD Technologies Inc. V1.01  is used to represent it. If no spatial data are found, a regular folder icon is used (such as in the ESRI folder seen on the right-hand side of the image above). Other icons that may of interest are:

 

LEAD Technologies Inc. V1.01for Database Connections, Geocoding Services, Internet Servers, and Search Results.

    

Throughout the lab, it will helpful to you if you spend a bit of time examining these on your own as they become active. To find out what a particular button does, hold your mouse cursor over the button for several seconds.  A note will appear telling the function associated with the button, and a more informative description will appear on the bottom of the ArcCatalog window -- if you hold your cursor over the upward pointing arrow (the first button directly under 'File'), you will see a note reading 'Up One Level,' and the bottom of the window will read 'Go to the next level up in the catalog tree').

 

 

Some basic icons used in ArcGIS and what they represent

 

Folder connection containing geographic data (Workspace)

Folder containing no geographic data

Map file

Folder containing geographic data - inside a Workspace (second level)

Geodatabase

Coverage - Polygon

Geodatabase feature dataset

Coverage - Arc

Geodatabase feature class - Annotation

Coverage - Point

Geodatabase feature class - Polygon

Coverage feature class - Polygon

Geodatabase feature class - Arc

Coverage feature class - Arc

Geodatabase feature class - Point

Coverage feature class - Tic

Shapefile - Polygon

Coverage feature class - Label

Shapefile - Arc

Grid data

Shapefile - Point

 

 

Geodatabase feature class - Point

 

 

 

Accessing data in ArcCatalog

 You can access your data in ArcCatalog by using the following ways:

1.     By navigating down the catalog tree to your data folder if there is already a connection to the drive with your data. This is fairly straightforward if catalog tree is not extensive.

2.     Another option is to create a direct connection to your data.  A direct connection will help increase speed of accessing your data. This is procedure is also a necessary step if the drive with your data are not shown in the Catalog tree (i.e.,if you are using data saved on your network drive). 

To connect to your data, click on the "Connect to Folder" button.   Navigate to the folder containing your data for this lab- in this example: D:\data.  Select the folder (it will be highlighted in blue), and then click "OK." A direct connection to your data folder will now appear in the Catalog Tree.

 

 

Question 1

 

 

What is the function of each of the following buttons?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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LEAD Technologies Inc. V1.01

 

 

 

 

 

 

Working with ArcCatalog

 

ArcCatalog is used for "organizing, browsing, and managing your data and map files. It includes tools for browsing, and finding geographic information, viewing and editing metadata, and defining the schema structure for geographic data.

 

Data organizing in ArcCatalog is very similar to that in Windows Explorer - you can drag and drop coverages, shapefiles, or geodatabases into new workspaces, or you can use the Windows shortcut keys (CTRL-C and CTRL-V).   Please note that delete, move, or otherwise alter the data using ArcCatalog is permanent. You cannot recover a Coverage or Shapefile deleted using ArcCatalog.

 

 In ArcCatalog - the Catalog tree displays in a hierarchical fashion all of the items in the Catalog - much like how data browsing is done through programs such as "Windows Explorer."  A folder that contains files will have a box with a plus or minus sign to the left of the file name. This indicates whether or not the folder has been expanded. 

 

The ArcCatalog interface consists of the menu bar, table of content area and content viewing area. The Menu bar contains the dropdown menu, windows file management and metadata editing buttons. Please take a moment or two to explore the data in the Catalog tree. You can use the arrow buttons on your keyboard, or your mouse to navigate.  While navigating, pay attention to the changes that take place on the right hand side of the ArcCatalog window.

 

 

 

The right hand side of the Catalog allows you to examine the data further with three basic tabs- Contents, Preview and Metadata. The "Contents" tab will show a list of all the files that comprise the folder or coverage of interest.  These files can also be viewed if you click on the plus sign to the left of the folder or Coverage icon.

 

The "Preview" tab, will enable you to preview of the data geography or the data attribute table.  You can change from geography view to table view (or vice versa) using the preview pulldown menu at the bottom of the Window.

 

 

Question 2:

List the new set of icons that become active in the menu bar when you select the Preview Tab.  Why?  What do they do?  Are they always active when previewing data?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Question 3

List the names of icons that get turn on when you select the Metadata tab. What does each do?

 

 

 

Working with Data Management Tools

Within ArcCatalog, you can create folders, geodatabases, datasets or feature classes  (Shapefiles, Coverages and tables).

 

To Create a new folder, geodatabase or new layer, right-click on the drive you want to create in and select new as shown below.

 

LEAD Technologies Inc. V1.01

To Delete dataset, folder select the item in the table of content and delete with LEAD Technologies Inc. V1.01

 

Quickly explore the rename, copy and paste functions work.

 

NOTE: NEVER use Microsoft windows file manager to manage your geographic data like Coverages and grids. This may cause irreparable damage to your data.

 

 

Question 4

Right-click on the ny_cities feature class and select properties. What are the five menu tabs that show up?

 

a.

 

 

 

b.

 

 

 

c.

 

 

 

d.

 

 

 

e.

 

 

Searching Data in ArcCatalog

You can search geographic information locally (on your machine) or cross the network (including the Internet) using one or a combination of the following search criteria- Name & Location, Geography, Date or Metadata element.

 

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Metadata Tools

Metadata is the supporting descriptive information about data. Metadata includes information such as date, creator, geographic extent, coordinate system, and attribute domains. The ArcCatalog Metadata tab helps display metadata for a selected data. If Metadata does not exist for a selected data ArcGIS automatically fills in some of the fields in the metadata.  You can create thumbnails of your data as part of the metadata. To create thumbnail locate one of the data layers (shapefile, feature class or grid) in the table of content. Select the Preview tab and the Thumbnail icon gets turned on. Click on the Thumbnail icon to create the Thumbnail.

 

 

Question 5

Using the ny_cities as  name search for all shapefiles, in the New York Geodatabase.  Use Identify tool within Preview tab to locate any three towns:

 

 

a.                                                         Lat                   Long

b                                                          Lat                   Long

c                                                          Lat                   Long

 

 

 

Question 6

Which of the metadata fields are automatically filled?

 

 

 

1.4.2 ArcToolbox

ArcToolbox provides the tools for data management, analysis and conversion tools. Also provides an option for the user to write scripts and create customized tools on their own.

You can start ArcToolbox, using either one of two ways: Through the start menu, you can click on the Start button and navigate to Programs -> ArcGIS -> ArcToolbox. 

From ArcCatalog, you can click on the  icon.

 

LEAD Technologies Inc. V1.01If you click on any of the headings, a short description of the tools under that heading is listed at the bottom of the ArcToolbox window. 

 

You can view the tools available under each of the major headings by clicking on the + next to a tool heading (i.e. Data Management Tools, Analysis Tools and My Tools).

For an overview of all of the functions of a tool set, select the "About..." topic (e.g., About Analysis Tools, as seen in the image to the right). 

Inside the tool folders (such as Extract, Overlay, Proximity, etc. listed under "Analysis Tools"), to select a tool, double-click on either the specific tool you want to use , or select the Wizard tool  if you are unsure which specific tool you need to use.

Take a few minutes to explore the toolbox and the geoprocessing options provided and answer the following question.

 

 

Question 7

 

a. What does the view tab under the Tools/Options selection show?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

b. What happens to the ArcToolbox interface when you turn on and off the check marks?

 

1.4.3 ArcMap
ArcMap is the ArcGIS  application for displaing, querying, editing, creating and analyzing data. ArcMap makes it easy to layout your maps for printing, embedding in other documents, or electronic publishing.  When you save a map, all your layout work, symbols, text and graphics are automatically preserved.

 

Starting ArcMap

ArcMap can be opened via the Start menu (Start -> Programs -> ArcGIS -> ArcMap) or from ArcCatalog (click on the  ArcMap icon).   In addition, you can open ArcMap by double clicking on a map file  in ArcCatalog.
 

When you first start ArcMap, you may see the"Welcome to ArcMap" window. This window will provide the options to:

1.)   Create a new map,

2.)   Open the last map you were using,

3.)   Open an existing map, or

4.)   Create a new map using a map template. 

 

The ArcMap Window

 

LEAD Technologies Inc. V1.01

 

 

The top portion of the ArcMap window contains the menu and toolbars. You can change which toolbars are displayed by right-clicking on the top portion of the window (the gray part) and selecting which menu you need or don't need (below).

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 The left portion of ArcMap shows the table of content. This displays the layers (the "layer tree") added to the map (and whether or not they are currently displayed).  There are two ways to explore included data - by "Display" or "Source."  You can toggle between the two by selecting the appropriate tab on the bottom of the layer tree: 
    

The Display tab shows the layer name, whether or not the layer is displayed.  A check mark in the box next to the name indicates the layer is being displayed. A ì+î or ì-ì sign against the name indicates how the layer is displayed.

 

 The Source tab shows the appropriate layer icon (same as seen in ArcCatalog), as well as the location (or "source") of the data.

The right portion of ArcMap provides a view of the data. This is very much like the view window in ArcView 3.x GIS.  The icon  allows you to toggle between "data view" (the globe) or "layout view" (the paper icon) mode.

 

 

Data view mode enables you to zoom in and out, pan, identify, select, etc. the data in this portion by using the following tools:




The Layout view is similar to the layout in ArcView.  A new set of tools are provided for exploration of the layout: 

 

    

In layout view, you also may use the tools to zoom in / out / pan, etc. that are available in the data view. 

 

Go examine how zoom in /zoom out tools in both the layout and data view affect your map and map elements.

 

Working with data in ArcMap

Unlike ArcView 3.x GIS ArcMap do not allow you to open more than one view at the same time. To open a new map file we either need to open a new ArcMap window or close the existing map file.

Several options to add data to a map file:

1.     Use the "Add data" button on the ArcMap toolbar 

2.     Navigate to File -> Add data

3.     Drag and drop data from ArcCatalog. 

With both ArcCatalog andArcMap open, left click on the data that you want to add to your map file- hold the mouse button down, do not release the button yet.  If you can see both the Catalog tree  in ArcCatalog and the view window inArcMap, drag the data straight from ArcCatalog to the view window in ArcMap. Release the mouse button and drop the data in ArcMap. 

Try each of these methods, and add the data layers from the New York geodatabase.

 

Order of data layers 

ArcMap automatically organizes data layers as they are added. From top to bottom, Point layer is placed on top followed by lines, polygons and grid data. Layers added last are placed on top of their counterparts. For instance rail layer would be placed on top of line layers below points.

 

The order in which layers appear in the table of content can be changed re-organized by clicking on a layer and dragging to the desired location.

 

Data properties: You can view the properties of a data layer by either double click on the data layer's name or right-click on the data layerís name and selecting properties option.  The Data Properties window has several tabs through which you can view and modify the display properties of the data layer. Spend the rest of this lab exploring the various tabs and functions within the Data Properties window.


 

Question 8

What do the options under the scale range in the General Tab do?

 

 

 

 

 

Question 9.

Under which tab can you view the spatial extent of your data set?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Question 10

In the Display Tab what does changing the transparency value do to your map?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.5 Conclusion
In this lab, we have explored the three basic applications of ArcGIS, namely ArcCatalog, ArcToolbox, and ArcMap have been covered.  Please note that one lab session would not be enough to completely master the various functions of the ArcGIS.  In the coming weeks we will work on specific applications of the software.

Please turn in your answer sheets

Please check your answers before turning them in. You must turn in all your answers before the start of next weekís lab.