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Introduction to ArcGIS
-Select data
-Measure distances
-Use raster
-Create map layouts to print
-Add legends, titles, North arrows, and
other elements
-Print a map to a PDF
Data for this exercise are located in the L1 subdirectory or the class web page.
Videos for this exercise are located in the class web page.
What Youll Produce: Four maps, one of lakes and roads, one of wetlands, a
third map of the Cloquet Forestry Center, and a fourth a map of topological
errors.
Background: This is the first in a series of introductory exercises for
ArcGIS/ArcMap. These are practical skills that complement the theory and
practice of GIS described in the textbook GIS Fundamentals: A First Text on
Geographic Information Systems, by Paul Bolstad. These exercises use
datasets available at the course web page:
undergraduates: http://paulbolstad.cfans.umn.edu/Courses/FR3131/FR3131.html
or
grad. students: http://paulbolstad.cfans.umn.edu/Courses/FR5131/FR5131.html
If you wish refer to the video Start ArcMap on the class web page.
Each lab assumes you have a copy of the needed data files on your personal
jump drive. Before each lab copy the needed files from the Network directory,
S:\FR3131 or S:\FR5131 or download from the class web sites.
Introduction to ArcGIS
Part 1: Starting ArcGIS, adding data and creating your first map
First, find the ArcMap icon, shown to the right. The icon is often located
1) as a desktop or taskbar shortcut,
or
2) in an ArcGIS folder
In Windows XP it may often by found by left clicking on the Start button in the
lower left of the screen and selecting Programs ArcGIS ArcMap.
Double left click on the ArcMap
icon, and be patient while a start
banner displays. Depending on
your startup option you may or
may not see the ArcMap
Getting Started screen (below to
the right). If you do get this
window then elect to open an
existing map, create a new,
empty map from a custom
template, or from a standard
template.
You indicate your choice by left
clicking on the entry in the left
pane, as shown. (Note: you may want
to check the Do not show this dialog in the future as all of our labs begin with a Blank Map)
Now single left click on the OK button in the lower right corner of the popup
window.
Table of
Contents
window
pane
Data View
pane
Introduction to ArcGIS
Introduction to ArcGIS
Introduction to ArcGIS
Left click on the blue patch (shown highlighted in the figure on previous page), or
another that suits your fancy, and left click on the OK near the lower right.
Repeat this process for the Roads layer.
Your map should look something like
the picture to the right.
Within the data pane, there can be two
views on the data. We have been
working with the Data View. This is an
uncluttered view, used primarily when
were working with our data. There is
also a Layout View, used to prepare
maps for output. A layout view allows
you to add a north arrow, scalebar, and other elements we usually expect to find
on a printed or other published map.
You left click to switch between the Data View (icon near the lower left of the
Data Pane, shown by the left arrow above) and the Layout View (icon, right
arrow).
Note that second set of zoom tools that appear when we activate the Layout
View (see below). These allow you to
control the zoom and pan within the
layout view, without changing the
zoom in the data view.
Using the Layout View, Adding a
Legend and North Arrow
Left click on the Layout View icon to
prepare your map for printing.
Select Insert from the list at the top of
the main ArcMap menu (see figure at
the right).
Left click to select Title from the drop
down menu. A text box for typing a
title appears on the layout view page.
Type in something logical; for example Lakes and Roads in Hugo, Minnesota.
After you have typed in your title, left click and hold over the title, and drag the
mouse to reposition it.
Introduction to ArcGIS
Introduction to ArcGIS
Switch to the data view (click the map icon in the lower left of the data pane)
Left click on the layer name Lakes in the table of contents, and a dark blue box
should appear. Right click on the blue box.
Left click on Properties in the drop-down menu (see right).
Select the tab labeled General and change the layer name
from Lakes to Hugo Lakes and click OK.
Similarly, change the roads layer to Hugo Roads
Notice the layer names in the legend change on the fly, as
you change them in the Table of Contents, they are changed
on your layout.
You map should look something like the image below.
This will
open an export window (right).
Typically, you restrict the output to
the graphic extent (check box in
the extreme lower left of the
export window).
PDF files are often chosen when
the map page is to be distributed.
One of the graphic formats (e.g.,
.TIF, .JPG) is selected when the
graphic is to be incorporated into
another document.
Introduction to ArcGIS
Introduction to ArcGIS
Youre usually best served when saving the map in the lesson directory that
contains the associated data files, in this case,
our
L1 directory. The map is saved with the file
extension .mxd.
Introduction to ArcGIS
In this case the path is hard-wired to the data set, and the
ArcMap project youve created knows to look there when you
ask it to display this map.
Unfortunately, this storage arrangement isnt very flexible, or
portable. If you move your project files, including all data, to
another computer, the drive letter or directory you save the
data into will likely be different, for example, C:\ or D:\ instead
of E. The path to the data will then be incorrect, and the data
wont be displayed.
If anything is different in the path, the project will not be able
to locate and display the data. In the current state, the map
project is difficult to move between computers.
Perhaps worse, even if you dont move the data, but do
something as simple as rename the directory, the map
project wont locate the data correctly.
This isnt a problem if you always work on a computer with fixed drives, and you
never change the subdirectories. But many folks want to move their data and
projects around.
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Introduction to ArcGIS
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Introduction to ArcGIS
the data, among other information. If I havent also moved my data to the new
computer, then there will be nothing for the map project file to display.
Think of the .mxd file as the recipe, and the data as the ingredients. You need
both to make a map. If you save the .mxd in the same directory as the data, then
you can easily move both the .mxd map project and the data the same time.
You can avoid this problem by
1) making path names relative, and
2) saving the .mxd file in the same directory as the data, in this case, into \L1
directory.
You should follow this two-step process for all class exercises, saving data
onto your portable thumb drive, and saving the .mxd with relative paths,
into the same subdirectory as the data.
Manipulating Symbology
Remove the roads layer (right click on the name in the TOC, then left click on
Remove), and add the layer wet_land.shp from the L1 subdirectory. This layer
shows polygons that depict the wetlands of the Hugo USGS quadrangle, in
Minnesota.
After adding the data, left click on the name of the layer (wet_lands.shp) and right
click to select Properties.
This opens a Layer Properties window, with several actions you can begin by
activating tabs along the top of the
window (see the graphic a few
pages above).
Video: More Symbols
Use the General tab (furthest to
the left) to change the Name of the
layer to Hugo Wetlands.
Left click on the Symbology tab
(located near the top center of the
tabs). This will open a window, a
bit simpler to that shown at right.
1) In the upper left select
Categories, then Unique
Values.
2) Select Wetland_ty using the down arrow next to the Value Field.
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Introduction to ArcGIS
3) Click on the Add All Values. All the wetland types will now be shown.
Uncheck the box to the left of the all other values.
4) Change the color scheme for the map to colors you prefer.
Since the U value (which means Uplands) is such a large part of the map lets
make it blank to make the map more readable.
Left click twice quickly on the colored box to the left of the U value.
Left-click Hollow from the symbol selector window and then OK.
Select Apply and then OK.
As before, switch to the Print Layout View and add a Title, Legend, Scale Bar,
North Arrow and your name/date. Practice selecting the map, title, legend and
resizing each item. Move these
objects around into a pleasing
arrangement. Your map should look
similar to the image at the right/below.
Export this map to a PDF.
Finally, save this map as a map project
file; File Save As. (Video: Saving
Project). Note that as noted above,
with simple projects it is usually a good
idea to save the project in the same
directory as the data, and set the path
names relative.
Data Frames
When you first started ArcGIS, it automatically created a working area, called a
Data Frame. It named this first working area Layers, as
shown by the yellow stack in the table of contents. It is perhaps
easiest to think of this data frame as analogous to a desktop,
onto which you place data layers. Just as you may have several desks in a room,
you may have several data frames in an ArcMap project.
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Introduction to ArcGIS
To carry this analogy further, you may place different data on each desktop
represented by each data frame. You may also display a different area, use
different symbology, and different coordinate systems for each desktop, or data
frame.
A map may have several DATA FRAMES. When you add data layers to a map
the data will be placed in the active frame; by default this is active frame is
called Layers. This exercise will only use the default DATA FRAME called
Layers.
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Introduction to ArcGIS
40_corners,
Cl_roads (NOTE: CL_ROADS NOT ROADS)
Streams
Iverson_drg
Drag it this
way
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Introduction to ArcGIS
Measure
the
Distance
between
the
Lookout
Tower and
the Gravel
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Introduction to ArcGIS
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Introduction to ArcGIS
Create your map similar to the figure below, with a title, name, legend, north
arrow, and scale.
NOTE: Do not include the Iverson_drg in your legend.
(Use the < to move the iversong.drg back from legend items to map items in the Legend
Wizard)
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Introduction to ArcGIS
the Layers
have several
Each data frame specifies a different map, with its own data layers, coverage,
and coordinate system, and other map properties
Activate the data frame called Layers
and use the Add Data to add the vegetation.shp and the iverson_drg.img data
layers found in the \L1 directory
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Introduction to ArcGIS
Right click over the data frame named Layers in the table of contents
From the drop-down menu, select Properties (at the very bottom, just below
Activate)
This should display a Data Frame Properties menu.
Select the General tab. Specify a Name of Inset. Then
left click on Apply and OK
Your data view and table of contents should be similar
to the figure at right. Note that you have changed the
names for your data views in your table of contents
window.
Select the New Data Frame then right click and Activate this data frame.
Load the vegetation, cl_roads, and streams data layers in this new data frame,
and rename the frame as Main Panel.
Activate the layout view, set the page to landscape (File -> Page and Print
Setup), and left click on one of the data frame panes to activate it. Use the
blue edge handles to resize it so you have an inset and main panel to create an
inset map, similar to that shown below.
Note that you dont need to print this map, but you should understand the
process, as
next week and
in future labs
youll have to
produce multipanel map.
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Introduction to ArcGIS
Part 2: GeoDatabases
You may wonder about the data layers you have just used for your two maps,
Lakes, Roads, and wet_land. These layers are shapefiles, a special file type
defined by ESRI for storing spatial data. Shapefiles are a group of files that
share a file name but have different extensions, such as .shp or .dbf or .prj.
ESRI subsequently created a more complex data structure, called a
GeoDatabase.
You typically create the GeoDatabases (or the simpler/older shapefiles) by leftclicking on the catalog tool:
You may right-click on a folder in the directory tree, then scroll down to New,
Personal GeoDatabase (see
figure) to create a new
geodatabase.
You will now create files to hold data layers, data tables, or other information.
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Introduction to ArcGIS
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Introduction to ArcGIS
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Introduction to ArcGIS
Topologies in GeoDatabases
Open a new project (Blank Map), and display the following layers found in the
L1\Example_topology GeoDatabase, in the testdata feature dataset:
-point_layerX
-line_layerC
-line_layerD
-layerA
-layerB
These are very simple data layers that well use to introduce vector topology.
Now, we want you to look at the video topology.
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Introduction to ArcGIS
25
4) Create a layout of
the data and
topological errors,
with an appropriate
legend and name,
scale bar, north
arrow, export this to
a pdf, and turn it in.
The data view will
look something like
the figure right:
To Turn In (via
Moodle)
Remember, you have four maps to turn in:
1) The lakes and roads map,
2) The wetlands map, and
3) The Cloquet Forestry Center Map.
4) The topology/errors example map.
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Introduction to ArcGIS