Department of Geography, New Mexico State University

Dr. Michaela Buenemann

CARTOGRAPHY & GIS

LAB #1: GETTING STARTED WITH ARCGIS

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES: KNOWLEDGE

a)

Discuss the major functions of a GIS.

b) Differentiate between features and attributes.

c)

Explain the ArcMap GUI and its major features (e.g., toolbars).

d) Differentiate between raster and vector format.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES: SKILLS

a)

Set the data source of layers.

b) Add and remove toolbars.

c)

Switch / activate data frames.

d) Use the Identify tool to provide descriptive information about features..

e)

Turn off / on layers.

f)

Expand and collapse the legend of layers.

g) Zoom in, out, to full extent, and to a layer.

h) Change the order of layers in the Table of Contents and, hence, how they are displayed in the Data View.
i)

Measure distances.

j)

Change the symbolization of a point layer.

k) Use the Find tool to locate features in a map.

l)

Determine the geographic coordinates of features of interest.

m) Rename map layers.

n) Remove map layers.
o) Add map layers.

MATERIALS/SOURCES NEEDED
a)

Lab-01_GettingStarted.zip (*.zip file on Canvas) or Lab-01_GettingStarted (folder on Mapper)

INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this lab is to introduce you to GIS, the ArcMap user interface, and some of the most common procedures
used in ArcMap. GIS is an acronym for Geographic Information System. A GIS has several integrated components: a
graphics program to visualize geographic information and create maps; a database that stores and links features (e.g., natural
or man-made objects on earths surface such as rivers or cities) and attributes (e.g., characteristics of features such as names,

Department of Geography, New Mexico State University

Dr. Michaela Buenemann

or sizes); and tools to capture, query, edit, manage, and analyze data about geographic objects. A GIS can be used to answer
many questions, both simple and complex ones. A simple question might be: which county in New Mexico has the highest
population density and where is it located? A more complex question might be: which site in Las Cruces would be optimal
for a given business? To answer this question, you might need information about number of residents within a certain
distance of the business, zoning, presence of other similar businesses, and so forth. A GIS can also be used to make maps,
two-dimensional representations of one or more geographic phenomena. Map-making is the focus of our Cartography &
GIS course and this lab introduces you to some of the most common procedures you will utilize throughout the term.
Important Notes Up Front

Geospatial datasets can be quite large and geospatial processing quite memory-intensive. To ensure all your data
get saved and processing speed is maximized, ALWAYS work with data stored on your hard drive. You may use
flash drives to transport your data or save them for later use but you should ALWAYS transfer data to a hard
drive before working with them.

ArcGIS can be quite picky about paths to data folders and file names. To avoid problems, ensure that neither
paths to data folders nor file names contain any spaces or special characters; underscores are okay. So, for
example, do NOT store your data under My Documents as there is a space between My and Documents.
Instead, create a folder on your C: drive labeled GEOG_381, GEOG571, Cartography, or something along those
lines and, in it, save the data for your labs, always without spaces or special characters.

All labs this semester should be straightforward. However, it is easy to make a minor mistake and end up with
big problems. When this happens, e.g., if you cannot resolve a problem within thirty minutes or so, ask your T.A.
or Dr. B. for help.

It is possible that you will run out of space on your hard drive share at NMSU. We thus recommend that you
always back up your data on a flash drive and/or your personal computer.

INSTRUCTIONS

If you are working with data posted on Canvas, first save the Lab-01_GettingStarted.zip file to a location on your
computer that you have write access to. When done, unzip the zip file in the same location. If you are working with the
already-unzipped Lab-01_GettingStarted folder posted for you on Mapper, simply copy the folder and paste it into a
location to which you have write access.

In Windows Explorer, browse to the location with the lab folder and double-click on the ArcMap project file Lab01_GettingStarted.mxd.

This may take a moment, but the ArcMap software program should open up.

Alternatively, start ArcMap by going to Start > Program Files > ArcGIS > ArcMap or by double-clicking the ArcMap
icon, which may be on your desktop. Once ArcMap opens, click the Open icon in the top left portion of the ArcMap
window, browse to the location where the ArcMap project file is stored, left-click on it, and click Open.

Department of Geography, New Mexico State University

Dr. Michaela Buenemann

Most likely, your window will look similar to what you see in the following screenshot: red exclamation marks next to
layers in the table of contents. If so, DO NOT PANIC!

ArcGIS is pretty picky about locations of files. Sometimes, when you copy an entire folder with GIS data and an
ArcMap project to a totally new location, ArcMap is incapable of making connections between data that it knows should
be there and the location of the data on your hard drive. When the connection between data and their locations cannot be
made, you get red exclamation marks next to the data.

To get the data back, left-click on one of the little boxes next to the exclamation mark. Then left-click again. A new
window, the Set Data Source window, opens up. In that window, browse to the location where the data are stored (in
this case our Lab-01_GettingStarted lab folder), select the appropriate file and click Add. For example, if you wish to
connect the Campgrounds data indicated in ArcMap to the actual Campgrounds file, select Campgrounds in the Set
Data Source window. If all your files are stored in the same location, all other red exclamation marks will disappear
automatically, because ArcMap can now make the connection on its own.

Vector and raster data (explained below; details not important now) may not behave in the same manner, however. That
is, if you set the data source for a vector file, ArcMap may be able to automatically make the connection to all other
vector files, but not to the raster files. If this is the case, and you still have an exclamation mark behind one or more of
your layers, repeat the procedure outlined in the previous step to set the data source for those layers.

Alright, keep all this in mind, because you will need this info at one point or another. Having said that, you
should now be all set to proceed.

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Dr. Michaela Buenemann

Ideally, the window should look like this:

Have a look at the ArcMap GUI (Graphical User Interface). It includes drop-down menu buttons (File, Edit, View, etc)
and a number of toolbars (button menus). Also note that the GUI is divided into two panes: the Table of Contents on the left
and the Data View on the right. If you do not see the Table of Contents, it may be turned off. To turn it on, click Windows >
Table of Contents.

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Dr. Michaela Buenemann

ArcMap also has a number of toolbars with buttons that, when activated, allow you to perform various functions. Buttons in
the Standard Toolbar, for example, allow you to open new projects, save and print projects, add layers, or open other
programs of the ArcGIS package like ArcToolbox or ArcCatalog. The Tools Toolbar includes buttons that allow you to
zoom in and out, pan around, identify features, and much more. The Layout Toolbar has buttons that allow you to do
similar things when you are in the Layout View instead of the Data View. The Drawing Toolbar includes buttons that allow
you to draw points, lines, or areal shapes, add new text elements and change their appearance, and much more. ArcMap has
many more toolbars (see screenshots below), however, and you can add and remove them as needed.

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Dr. Michaela Buenemann

Add the Data Frame Tools Toolbar. To do so, left-click into an empty space next to the existing toolbars. From the list
of toolbars that pops up, select Data Frame Tools by moving your mouse over the item and left-clicking it. The
toolbar should now be included in your ArcMap GUI.

Next, note that the toolbar contains a few buttons. Tell us the function associated with this button:

. To do so, move

your mouse over the button and pause for a moment: note that a brief description of the buttons function pops up.

Q#1: Which function is associated with the button? ---Note: all questions in our labs are always repeated at the
end of the lab instructions document for your convenience; we recommend you copy and paste those questions
into a new document, insert your answers under the corresponding questions, and then submit the new document
with the completed lab exercise to your T.A.

Remove the Data Frame Tools Toolbar when done. To do so, left-click into an empty space next to the existing toolbars.
From the list of toolbars that pops up, select Data Frame Tools by moving your mouse over the item and left-clicking
it. The toolbar should now be removed from your ArcMap GUI.

Note that all toolbars movable. You can anchor them to in the top and bottom parts of the ArcMap GUI, or you can have
them hovering above the ArcMap window. To move the toolbars around, simply left-click on the vertical bar that

Department of Geography, New Mexico State University

Dr. Michaela Buenemann

appears to be indented into the remainder of the toolbars on the far left side, hold the mouse button, and move the cursor
to the desired location.
Within the Table of Contents, notice that information is organized into a nested structure. You should see Study Area with
Campgrounds, Streams, and other items below it as well as New Mexico with items below it. Study Area and New
Mexico are Data Frames, which are essentially individual maps made up of map layers. The Study Area data frame has
ten map layers: with the exception of the DEM layer, which is in
raster format (composed of pixels), all layers are in vector
format (composed of paths; e.g., point, line, and polygon
shapefiles). The Data View pane can only show one data frame
at a time, the active one. The active data frame is shown in bold
in the Table of Contents.
In your ArcMap project, Study Area is currently the active data
frame. In the Data View, various themes from that data frame
are displayed, including land cover, roads, streams, and
campgrounds. While the display is quite colorful, its difficult to
judge where the study area is located in relative terms. The other
data frame, New Mexico contains a layer of the counties in
New Mexico as well as a layer of the study area. Perhaps this
layer is more revealing concerning the study areas location.

To switch from the Study Area to the New Mexico data frame, right-click on the New Mexico data frame and
click Activate. Your Data View should now show outlines of New Mexicos counties, a red polygon of the study area,
and a polygon with lines of the Las Cruces Metro area (may be difficult to see).

Q#2: Which county is the study area located in?

If you do not know the answer to this question by heart, use the Identify tool to acquire descriptive information about the
county the study area is located in, including the countys name.

Left-click on the Identify button in the Tools Toolbar to activate the tool:

Move your mouse over the target county and left-click on the county. A new window, the Identify window, will pop up

with information about the county.

When done, close the Identify dialog by clicking the

Next, switch back to the Study Area data frame as described above.

button in the upper right corner of the dialog.

Paper (analog; hard-copy) maps are static: you can fold them or cut them apart, but you cannot remove a layer that is not of
interest to you, for example. In contrast, GIS maps are dynamic: they exist temporarily on your screen and you can

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Dr. Michaela Buenemann

manipulate them in many different ways. This is one of the really neat things about GIS: its ability to allow users to really
interact with the data, to visualize data. Lets have a look. At the present time, your data view should show an outline of
your study area and land cover in 2007 (the colored polygons outlining areas characterized by floodplain, row crops, pecans,
desert, rural residential, and urban) and superimposed on those themes, roads, streams, and five hypothetical campgrounds.
What you cant see are other layers listed in the Table of Contents, including LC_MetroBnd, dem, LC_1955, and LC_1980.
You cannot see some of the layers (LC_MetroBnd, dem, LC_1955, and LC_1980) because they are not turned on in the
Table of Contents (the box next to the layers names are not checked). One of the layers (NM_Counties) you cannot see,
because it is extends well beyond the study area. So, lets examine the data more closely.

First, turn off the following layers by unchecking the box next to their names in the Table of Contents: Campgrounds,
Streams, Roads, LC_2007. All you should be able to see in your Data View now is an outline of the Study Area.

Turn on the LC_2007 layer again by checking the box next to it in the Table of Contents.

Next, visually examine the other land cover layers and how they all compare to one another. To do so, turn the layers off
and on and off and on and observe in the Data View how the landscape has changed over time, from 1950 to 1980 to
2007. You may be unsure about the legend of the 1955 and 1980 layers: the 2007 legend is displayed in the Table of
Contents, but not the other legends.

Expand the legend of the LC_1955 and LC_1980 layers. To do so, left-click the Plus symbol next to the layers in
the Table of Contents. Ah, fortunately, all three land cover maps use the same legend: pecans are always shown in a dark
green, rural residential always in orange, and so forth.

Collapse the legend of the LC_1955 and LC_1980 layers. To do so, left-click the Minus symbol next to the layers in
the Table of Contents.

Alright, this is great, but there are so many changes across the area that its difficult to focus. Lets focus on only one part of
the study area.

Zoom into the valley portion of the study area, the area along the Rio Grande that is NOT characterized by desert. To do
so, click the Zoom In button in the Tools Toolbar:

Then, move your mouse over the northwest corner of the study area and left-click. Hold the mouse button down and
move the mouse to the southeast corner of the study area, roughly where the desert begins. When done, release the
mouse button. Your Data View should now show the following part of the study area:

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Dr. Michaela Buenemann

Now turn on and off the LC_1955 and LC_1980 layers, observe the changes, and answer the following question:

Q#3: How has land cover in the study area changed from 1955 to 1980 to 2007? List a minimum of three types of
changes (e.g., row crops dominated the valley in 1950 and were increasingly replaced by pecans and rural
residential).

Earlier, you zoomed into a specific region. You can also zoom in by selecting the Zoom In tool and simply left-clicking
into the center of an area of interest. Alternatively, you can zoom in using the Fixed Zoom In tool. Try zooming in both
ways.
Zoom In;

Fixed Zoom In

Okay, you are probably very zoomed in to one portion of the study area by now. Lets reverse the process. Use the
Zoom Out and Fixed Zoom Out tools to display more of the study area again. Dont zoom out too far, however. Be
sure to zoom out to such an extent that you can still only see parts of the study area.
Zoom Out;

Fixed Zoom Out

Okay, this is pretty cool, but you can also pan around, and change whats displayed in the Data View at a particular scale
from one portion of the study area to another. To do so, select the Pan tool from the Tools Toolbar, left-click on the map
in your Data View and move the mouse while keeping the left mouse button pushed. Neat how you can push the study
area around in your Data View, right?

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Dr. Michaela Buenemann

If youd like to go back to a previous view of your study area, click the Go Back to Previous Extent tool in the Tools
Toolbar. Alternatively, to go back to a later view, click the Go to Next Extent tool in that toolbar.
Go Back to Previous Extent;

Go to Next Extent

Theres one more zoom tool in ArcMaps Tools Toolbar, the Full Extent tool. Click it.
Full Extent

Oh, gee, what happened? Where did the study area go? Well, there is one layer in the Data Frame, the NM_Counties
layer, that refers to an area much greater than the study area. When you click the Full Extent tool, ArcMap zooms out to
show the full extent of the layer with the largest areal coverage.

We dont want that view. We want the full extent of the study area. To get to that, we can certainly try to zoom in using
tools described above. We can also zoom directly to that layer, however. Lets do this. To zoom to the extent of a
specific layer, go to the Table of Contents, right-click on the layer to whose extent you wish to zoom (use
StudyArea_All), and in the pop-up menu, left-click on Zoom to Layer. Your Data View should now display the study
area to the fullest extent possible.

Okay, and now one last thing on the zooming business. Well talk about map scale soon, but for now, note that as you
are zooming in and out, you are changing the map scale (i.e., ratio of distance on a map to distance on the ground). In
ArcMap, the map scale is given at all times in the Standard Toolbar.

Play around for a moment. Note how the map scale (given as a representative fraction or fractional scale) changes as
you zoom in and out. Note that it does not change when you are just panning around, because you are not changing the

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level of detail with which data are displayed.

Q#4: What happens to the denominator of your fractional scale (the larger number) as you zoom in? What
happens to it as you zoom out?

Now that you are more familiar with the zoom tools, Id like for you to revisit the New Mexico data frame to get an even
clearer picture of the study area.

Activate the New Mexico data frame using techniques described earlier.

Zoom in to the Study Area_All and LC_MetroBnd layers. The LC_MetroBnd layer shows the boundary of the
Las Cruces Metro area, which includes Mesilla and University Park, for example.

Uhmmm, does the study area boundary really end exactly where Las Cruces begins? Or is the Study Area layer
covering up parts of the LC_MetroBnd layer? In ArcMap, layers that are listed above others in the Table of Contents
are displayed on top of them in the Data View. Lets find out...

Move the LC_MetroBnd layer above the StudyArea layer in the Table of Contents and, hence, the Data View by
left-clicking on the LC_MetroBnd layer in the Table of Contents, holding the mouse button, and moving the mouse
such that the cursor is located above the StudyArea layer. Release the mouse button when done. Ah, it looks as if
there is some overlap of the study area and metro area.

Q#5: Where is the study area located relative to the Las Cruces Metro area? Is it north, east, south, west; is it
miles away from the Las Cruces Metro area, located centrally within it, or in the periphery of the city?

When done with Q#5, activate the Study Area frame.

Turn the Campgrounds, Roads, and Streams layers back on using techniques described earlier. Have a closer look at
those items as well as the land cover layer in the Data View. Note that all of the features are made up of either individual
points or points making up lines and polygons. These are all so-called vector data.

Now turn on the DEM layer.

Next, zoom into the area around the central campground.

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Zoom in more and more, especially in areas of elevation changes around the campground where the colors vary, until
you can see individual pixel (or cell) elements. As you can see, the DEM layer is NOT a vector layer, but a raster layer,
a layer made up of pixels. Raster data come at various spatial resolutions or pixel sizes. All satellite images are made
up of pixels and some (e.g., AVHRR) have resolutions as coarse as 1 km (e.g., length and width of pixels are 1 km) while
others (e.g., QuickBird) have resolutions as fine as 1 m (e.g., length and width of pixels are 1 m).

Q#6: Whats the spatial resolution of our DEM?

To answer this question, first zoom into the DEM a bit more until you can clearly see the boundaries between pixels.
Then select the Measure tool from the Tools Toolbar. Finally, left-click on one corner of the pixel (note the Measure
window that pops up), hold the mouse button, and move the cursor over the opposite pixel corner (either straight up or
sideways, not diagonally). What does the Length Line Measurement in the Measure window tell you? Note two things:
(a) there are other ways to determine the pixel size more accurately and well talk about those later; (b) you can use the
Measure tool to determine distances of features in vector layers as well. Same procedure

When done, close the Measure dialog and zoom back out to the full extent of the DEM layer, using techniques
described earlier. Expand the legend of the DEM, if its not already expanded, using techniques described earlier. Note
the maximum and minimum elevation of the study area in meters.

Q#7: What are the maximum and minimum elevations of the study area?

Then examine the DEM and note the Valley portion (in brown) along the Rio Grande, and the increase in elevation as
you move eastward, onto the East Mesa (light brown) and eventually into the Organ Mountains (green).

When done, turn off the DEM layer using techniques described earlier.

In addition to interacting with maps using zooming tools and so forth, you can also change the way layers are displayed. You
will change the appearance of layers a lot over the course of the term, but for now, lets illustrate the point using one example.

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The Campgrounds layer currently symbolizes each campground using a boring black triangle. There is a cartographic
convention for campgrounds that is much neater. Lets
apply that one.

Left-click on the campground symbol in the Table of

Contents.

A new window, the Symbol Selector window, will

open. Note the diversity of symbols already included
in the list. Use the scroll bar to the right of the
symbols to see even more symbols. But thats not
all: there are even more symbol categories that you
can add by clicking on Style References in the
window and left-clicking on the category of your
choice.

Add the Forestry symbol category, i.e., check the box next to Forestry and click OK in the Style references dialog.

Now go back to the visual list of symbols and scroll down (fairly far) until you find the Campground symbol.

Left-click on the symbol to select it.

Click OK in the Symbol Selector window. Note how campgrounds in your Data View are now displayed using the
Campground symbol. Much better, but the symbol is awfully big. Lets decrease the symbol size just a bit.

In the Table of Contents, click on the Campground symbol.

In the Symbol Selector window, under Options, change the Size to 12.00. Click OK to the Symbol Selector Window.
Alright, much better

Youve used the Identify tool earlier in this lab. Lets revisit it for just one moment. Click the Identify tool. Then left-click
on the campground in the central part of the study area (circled in red in an earlier figure). The Identify dialog opens.
Depending on how accurately you clicked on the campground, you may or may not get information about the campground.
Why? Because the Identify window currently shows descriptive information for the Top-Most Layer only. If you clicked

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just slightly next to the campground, you may end up getting information on land cover or so, but not the campground. To be
on the safe side (i.e., get information about the campground), change the settings such that the Identify window shows
information for the location about ALL layers in your Data Frame, including the Campgrounds layer.

To show information concerning ALL layers for a particular location, left-click the drop-down arrow next to Identify
from: in the Identify window, and left-click on <All layers>.

Click again on the central campground in your Data View. In a few moments, your Identify window will be populated
with lots of information. Campgrounds information is displayed first, followed by the DEM, LC_1955, and so
forth.

Q#8: What can you tell us about that campground? Specifically, whats the campgrounds name, whats its
elevation, and what was the land cover at that location in 1955, 1980, and 2007? Hint: to get the most accurate
information, zoom as far into the campground as possible before clicking on it.

Close the Identify dialog when done.

Excellent. Now, in addition to identifying features directly in the Data View, you can also find them. This is particularly
useful when you are dealing with lots of features (e.g., 1,000s of campgrounds rather than one). Lets find the Pecan Heaven
campground.

First, zoom to the extent of the Campgrounds layer.

Click on the Find button in the Tools Toolbar. A new window, the Find window, opens up.

In the window, be sure the Features tab is selected (not the Places, Addresses, or Route Locations tabs). If it is not, leftclick on it.

Then click the drop-down arrow next to In: to see within which layers you are allowed to find stuff and then select
Campgrounds.

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Once selected, enter Pecan Heaven in the Find: box.

Click the Find button.

After a moment, Pecan Heaven will be shown in the bottom part of the Find window.

Move the Find window to the side, if it is covering up your Data View. When done, left-click on the Pecan Heaven row
in the Find window and look at your Data View. Note that the campground will be flashed.

Now right-click on the Pecan Heaven row and note that there are many other things you can do: you can zoom in to the
Pecan Heaven campground, select it, add it to your library of places, and much more.

Q#9: Describe the location of the Pecan Heaven Campground, e.g., is it the eastern-most campground,
southwestern-most campground, ?

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Click Cancel when you are done.

Okay, so now weve done a lot of things, including describing feature locations in relative terms. The cool thing about maps,
however, is that each feature also has an absolute location expressed in latitude and longitude or other types of coordinates.
In ArcMap, you can determine the absolute location of any feature very quickly.

Move the cursor over the study area and look at your Status Bar (see figure on page 4). If the Status Bar is not shown,
click View > Status Bar to enable this feature. Note how the latitude and longitude coordinates are constantly updated.

Now lets identify the absolute location of the Concrete Meadow campground in degrees, minutes, and seconds of
latitude and longitude (DMS system). Move your cursor to the location of the campground (you may have to find it
first and zoom in to it increase the accuracy of the coordinates) and rest right there. Now look at the Status Bar.

Q#10: What are the geographic coordinates of the Concrete Meadow campground? Note: in the DMS system,
latitude (north or south) should always be reported before longitude (east or west).

Okay, youve almost made it through your first lab. You wont be making a map today, but you will make some in the near
future. Every map contains a legend, a key that helps map readers analyze and interpret the map. In ArcMap, the legend is
created automatically based on what is shown for features of interest in the Table of Contents. This includes the layers
names. At the present time, our layers have very weird names (e.g., LC_1955) that may not mean much to our map readers.
So, lets rename all layers such that they are more meaningful. To rename map layers, go to the Table of Contents, left-click
on the layer you wish to rename, wait a second, and left-click on it again. The layer should now be highlighted in blue and
ready for you to be modified. Simply type in the desired text.

Alternatively, right-click on the layer of interest in the Table of Contents, select Properties , select the General tab in the
Layer Properties dialog that opens, and type the new layer name into the box next to Layer Name: before clicking OK.

Rename the following map layers as follows:

-

LC_MetroBnd > City of Las Cruces

dem > Elevation (meters)

LC_1955 > Land Cover (1955)

LC_1980 > Land Cover (1980)

LC_2007 > Land Cover (2007)

StudyArea_All > Study Area

NM_Counties > New Mexico Counties

Ignore the New Mexico Data Frame. I think you get the idea

Finally, you can add and remove layers from a data frame.

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Remove the New Mexico Counties and City of Las Cruces layers from the project. To do so, right-click on the
layers and select Remove from the pop-up menu.

Now, add a new layer called The End. To do so, click on the Add Data button in the Standard Toolbar.

In the Add Data window that opens, use your Windows skills to browse to the location of the The End layer, which is
saved in the Lab-01_GettingStarted folder.

Click on the TheEnd.lyr file (not the one with the *.shp extension!).

Click Add.

Next, set TheEnd.shp as the data source (see page 3 above) for the TheEnd.lyr file.

There you have it. You did it! You are a hero!

Save the ArcMap project. Click the Save button in the Standard Toolbar and save the project in a location of your
choice. Note: normally, you should save the ArcMap projects after every major step to avoid losing data. In
the case of this rather low-key lab, saving frequently wouldnt have made much of a difference.

Submit answers to the questions below to your T.A. for evaluation. If you have questions about the questions / answers,
please contact your T.A. or Dr. B.: we are here to help you!

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TASKS
1.

Which function is associated with the button?

2.

Which county is the study area located in?

3.

How has land cover in the study area changed from 1955 to 1980 to 2007? List a
minimum of three types of changes (e.g., row crops dominated the valley in 1950 and were increasingly replaced by
pecans and rural residential).

4.

What happens to the denominator of your fractional scale (the larger number) as you
zoom in? What happens to it as you zoom out?

5.

Where is the study area located relative to the Las Cruces Metro area? Is it north, east,
south, west; is it miles away from the Las Cruces Metro area, located centrally within it, or in the periphery of the city?

6.

Whats the spatial resolution of our DEM?

7.

What are the maximum and minimum elevations of the study area?

8.

What can you tell us about that campground? Specifically, whats the campgrounds
name, whats its elevation, and what was the land cover at that location in 1955, 1980, and 2007?

9.

Describe the location of the Pecan Heaven Campground; e.g., is it the eastern-most
campground, southwestern-most campground, ?

10.

What are the geographic coordinates of the Concrete Meadow campground? Note: in
the DMS system, latitude (north or south) should always be reported before longitude (east or west).

11.

What was the muddiest (e.g., most confusing) aspect about this lab?

12.

What did you like best about this lab?

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