Introduction to GIS

Introduction to the
Architecture of ArcGIS

By-Gaurav Agrawal
Sch. No.-092110208
Branch –Remote Sensing & GIS
In guidance of:
Dr. S.K. Katiyar
.
Dr. P.K. Singh
MANIT, Bhopal( M.P.)
 Introduction to GIS

What is ArcGIS?
• ArcGIS Desktop is a software product from ESRI
• It comes in three versions:
• ArcView – basic desktop package, $
• ArcEditor – ArcView +Advanced editing, $$
• ArcInfo – ArcEditor + Comprehensive Geoprocessing, $$$

• We are using ArcInfo

 Introduction to GIS

Components of Arc GIS

• All installation levels of Arc GIS come with
– ArcMap (now includes toolbox in Arc 9.0)
– ArcCatalog

• ArcInfo installation
– ArcInfo Workstation
– ArcReader
– ArcObjects Developer Tools

– ArcScene
 Introduction to GIS

Components of Arc GIS

• How do you access these?
• Go to the start menu>>programs>>ArcGIS
 Introduction to GIS

ArcCatalog
•for organizing and managing spatial and tabular data
•This button allows you to connect to a local folder or a
network place
Main menu
Standard Toolbar

Catalog tree

Catalog display
 Introduction to GIS

Arc Catalog

•Once you’ve mapped

your network drive, you
can open an Arc Catalog
connection to it, or to a
subfolder in it
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Arc Catalog
•For instance, here are the contents of my nr143
folder on my Z: account, which I made a connection
to:
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Arc Catalog
•There are five types of data shown here
Geodatabase

Coverage

Tabular data
Arc Map
Project file

Shapefile
 Introduction to GIS

Data types
• Shapefile: native file format for the ArcView 3.x;
• Coverage: native file format for old ArcInfo 7.x Is
not a file, but a complex directory structure
• Dbase/tabular data: non-spatial data table that can
be used in a GIS, spreadsheet or database--.dbf
• Map document: a project file—it stores your map
view and preferences in ArcGIS
 Introduction to GIS

Data types
•Geodatabase: This is ArcGIS’s new data model for
storing geographic information
•It can contain any number of layers within it, known as
“feature classes.” Shapefile have only one feature class
•As an example, here is a geodatabase with three layers,
as seen in Arc Catalog
 Introduction to GIS

Feature classes
•In a geodatabase there are features classes for
points, lines and areas (polygons) as well as for
rasters (surfaces), annotation (labels) and dimensions

Polygon, or area feature class

Line, or arc feature class

Annotation class: stores info about displaying

labels on a map layer; important for roads and
utilities
 Introduction to GIS

Feature dataset
• Feature dataset: a thematic grouping of feature
classes
• Feature classes can be stand alone

Feature data
sets
Feature
classes
 Introduction to GIS

Geodatabase
•Geodatabases offer numerous advantages:
• Multiple spatial layers and non-spatial data sources can
be stored in a single file and organized thematically
• Rules can be easily defined that can apply to all classes
• These rules can include relationships between layers
• For instance if you have one subclass with water lines
and one with water valves, you can ensure that if you
move a water line, the water valve that connects that line
will move as well, or it ensures that, say, if the material
attribute for a water line is set to copper, the water valves
that connect to it will also be copper
 Introduction to GIS

Geodatabase
•Other advantages:
• Spatial layers maintain the same measurement and
geographic reference systems, because new layers added to
the geodatabase can “inherent” properties of existing ones
• Labeling “behavior” can be stored as an annotation
feature class, making it easier to keep labels consistent
• “Domains” can be established, which specify the valid
ranges of values for attributes, which reduces input error.
 Introduction to GIS

Geodatabase
•Types: Personal or multiple user
• We will use personal geodatabases. These are actually
Microsoft Access files with the .MDB file extension.
• A multi-user (SDE) geodatabase is for organizations that
wish to have many people accessing the same database.
These are used with enterprise database systems, like
Oracle, Informix or SQL Server
 Introduction to GIS

Personal Geodatabase
• With Access you can edit and query attribute tables and
manage relationships between feature classes
• But it can only be viewed spatially in ArcGIS
 Introduction to GIS
Arc Catalog: data
management
•Arc Catalog is where you can create and modify
geodatabases.
•You can create new
feature classes, tables or
relationship classes within
a geodatabase
•You can also import
existing shapefiles or
coverages into a
geodatabase or export a
feature class to a shapefile
 Introduction to GIS
Arc Catalog: data
management
•Through right clicking, you can access the
properties of a feature subclass and make changes to
fields for the feature class’ attribute table
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Arc Catalog: Online

data
• Arc Catalog also allows you to access some data
directly from the Internet
• It comes preloaded with a connection to the
Geography Network, where many layers are
available through the Arc Internet Map Server (IMS)
service ; other Internet connections can be added
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Arc Catalog: Online data

•Geography
network data
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Arc Catalog:Functionality
•Arc Catalog allows you to preview geographic data,
including geodatabase feature classes

Use these
buttons to
zoom and pan
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Arc Catalog:Functionality
•You can also preview online data sets, like those
from the geography network
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Arc Catalog:Functionality
…and you can preview and browse tabular attribute
data
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Arc Catalog:
Functionality
• Preview, create and modify the “metadata,” or data
about the data

Arc Catalog
standardizes this
information and
allows you to import
and export metadata
between layers
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Arc Map
• Arc Map is where you’ll do most of your mapping
and visualization of spatial data
• This is the default upper tool and menu bar

Change map’s Zoom tools Zoom to Find

Add new display scale full feature
layer (zoom factor) extent
measure
Select
feature
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Arc Map: overlaying data

•Using the add data button, you can overlay any
number of layers for which geographic reference
information exists.

Display
TOC Window
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Arc Map: overlaying data

•The window on the left side of Arc Map is the Table
of Contents, where loaded layers are listed
•There are 2 modes for the TOC: display and source
Display: Source mode:
note that can see that the
it gives a first 3 layers are
from 1
symbol geodatabase and
for the the fourth is
feature from a stand
type alone file

TOC
 Introduction to GIS

Arc Map: properties

•You can access many functions by right clicking on
the layer in the TOC.

•You can
access, edit
and query
attribute
tables from
a special
interface
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Arc Map: Layer
properties
•You can access layer properties by double clicking on that
layer: much functionality is found there
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Arc Map: Layouts

•Arc Map can view
in two modes:
•data view: for
viewing,
analyzing and
manipulating
data
•layout view: for
laying out data
for presentation
 Introduction to GIS
Arc Map: Measurement
Units
• Map and Display units.
•With reference info
• Map units are already set; Display units are still
changeable

•Without reference info

• Define map units (This turns into guesswork)
 Introduction to GIS

Arc Map: Units

•Once you’ve set display units, future geographic
measurement functions should be in those units, even
if they’re different from the Map units; however, this
does not apply to non-spatial attribute values
•If you use the ruler tool for instance, measurements
will be in the selected Display units at the bottom of
the page
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Arc Map: Scale

• Translation factor between one unit on the map and
same unit in the real world
• map units: ground units (ratio)
• 1:10,000:1 inch equals 10,000 inches in real world
• Scale is a dimensionless number
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Large vs. Small Scale

• Large scale
• Lots of detail
• Shows small features
• Small scale
• No much detail
• Shows large features
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Large vs. Small Scale

USA
Washington State

1:21,197,708 1:3,125,078

Clark County, Washington

highway interchange
Clark County, Washington

1:30,137 1:5,269
 Introduction to GIS

ArcGIS: Extensions
• Specialized applications
- 3D Analyst
- Spatial Analyst
- Geostatistical Analyst
- Tracking Analyst, X Tools…
- Others…
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ArcGIS: Extensions
• Activate by going to Tools>>extensions
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Arc Map: toolbars

•When you load Arc Map it
defaults to a state with a
minimum of toolbars. You can
add more toolbars representing
more functionality, including
extensions from the view menu.
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Arc Toolbox
• Used to be a separate interface, now part of ArcMap
Introduction to GIS

Arc Toolbox
 Advanced Analyses
• Extract
• Overlay
• Proximity
• Statistics
Introduction to GIS

Arc Toolbox
• Data Conversions
– Change formats
from one file type to
another …
Introduction to GIS

Arc Toolbox
• Data Management
– A collection of
tools for data
management…
 Introduction to GIS

Arc Scene
•Primarily for viewing 3D data
Thank you