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Student and instructor introductions and general class information will be discussed.

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Welcome to Working With the ArcGIS Fire Incident Mapping Tool (FIMT) This course prepares the GIST for fire incident mapping in ArcMap using the custom FIMT toolbar. Students may or may not have a working knowledge of ArcGIS products at the start of the class. Lesson 1 is geared to get everyone on the same page as it introduces you to ArcGIS applications and the geodatabase. Instructor and student Introductions The instructor and the students will introduce themselves to each other.

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Distribution of course materials These training materials can be obtained in a digital form from the GTAG committee. Someone from that group will be responsible for determining who may have access to the materials. Prerequisites Basic ArcGIS proficiency is assumed throughout this course. The Introduction to ArcGIS I course will provide a minimum of these skills and the Introduction to ArcGIS II course is recommended as well for users without significant hands-on experience with the software. Class intention This class is designed to teach students FIMT and ArcGIS functionality. It is not meant to be a replacement to the current GISS course.

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In this course you will learn general ArcGIS and geodatabase concepts and apply them when using the Fire Incident Mapping Tool (FIMT). You will use the FIMT to create and edit new incidents, edit and modify existing incidents, and manage an incident geodatabase. Questions are always welcome in class. Please feel free to participate anytime.

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Day 1 During the first day of class you will learn about ArcMap and the geodatabase, how to create new incidents, work with assignment breaks, and history. Day 2 The second day of class you will learn many of the FIMT commands that were not covered in the first day of class. Many of these tools involve feature-level metadata and creating new incident features (fire lines, fire points, fire polygons) from scratch.

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ESRIs primary resource for software support is the ESRI Support Center at http://support.esri.com. Knowledge Base The Knowledge Base is a searchable database of focused technical articles. It includes answers to frequently asked questions, step-by-step directions for performing common tasks, and workarounds for known software limitations. The Knowledge Base also contains topic- focused white papers organized by product, system requirement information, and product documentation. Downloads Obtain the latest software correction, software and code samples, utilities, tutorials, user contributed scripts and sample code (ArcScripts), data models, and evaluation software from ESRIs download page. User forums In the user forums, you can ask questions, provide answers, and exchange ideas with other ESRI product users. Resources include several discussion forums, and two subscription e-mail discussion lists moderated by ESRI. ArcView-L is for ArcView users, and ESRI-L is for users of all other ESRI products. Contact ESRI Through the ESRI Support Center, you can contact ESRI to request technical support, report a software bug, submit a software enhancement request, and learn more about registration, licensing, and updates.

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ESRI Software Documentation Library The ESRI Software Documentation Library is a digital collection of the books that accompany ArcGIS. This collection is available online at the ESRI Support Center under Product Documentation for each software type, and is also on a CD in the ArcGIS Media Kit (once this CD is installed, all books will be available in <installation_directory>\ESRI_Library). GIS Dictionary The GIS Dictionary defines terms commonly used in ArcGIS applications and general GIS. Many terms originate from GIS operations, uses, and contexts; others, from closely allied fields and major application areas of GIS. The GIS Dictionary is available online at the ESRI Support Center or through ArcGIS Help. ESRI Data and Maps The ESRI Data and Maps CD, included in the ArcGIS Media Kit, contains many types of map data at many scales of geography. All vector data is in Smart Data Compression (SDC) format; raster data is in various formats, including ESRI Grid and MrSID image formats. Be sure to review all information about the data, including redistribution rights and metadata documentation, before redistributing any of this data.

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ESRI training options Depending on which ESRI software your organization has licensed, your skills, and your plans for upcoming projects, you may benefit from additional training on advanced topics, on specialized software, or on background topics to refine your understanding of GIS and related technologies. Detailed information about Instructor-led and Web-based coursesincluding a list of topics covered, intended audience, duration, schedules, and pricingis available in the ESRI Course Catalog. You can access this catalog on the Web at http://www.esri.com/training/index.html. Web-based courses offer convenience and savings. Also, many ESRI Virtual Campus courses include a free lesson, called a module. You can create a free account and begin training with these free modules within minutes at http://campus.esri.com. In addition to Web-based courses, the Virtual Campus also offers free live training seminars, training seminars, and Web workshops. Live training seminars are focused lectures on a variety of GIS topics for all levels of users. Training seminars are free recordings of live training seminars, viewable at your convenience. Workshops are recordings of live training seminars, viewable at your convenience, plus printable slides of the presentation, questions and answers from the live training seminar, a software exercise with accompanying data, an optional exam to assess understanding, and a certificate for successfully completing the exam. Learning Pathways Learning Pathways are collections of instructor-led and Virtual Campus courses organized to generate job-specific knowledge and skills for particular subjects. There are no extra fees, and each Learning Pathway ends with a certificate of completion. Learn more about Learning Pathways at the ESRI Training Web site.

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Before you begin your first exercise, you need to recognize the typographic conventions used in your exercise coursebook. Descriptive text This text can provide an overview of the next sequence of actions, a review of actions just completed, or an interpretation of output on your computer monitor. Descriptive text may introduce what is about to happen with phrases like Next, create a new map in ArcMap; the actual instruction follows, indicated by the checkbox symbol. Action Actions are taskslike starting an application, clicking a button, or typing a commandthat you must perform during the exercise. The square checkbox symbol indicates an action; act only on instructions that are prefaced with the checkbox symbol. You can mark the checkbox symbol in your exercise coursebook as you complete each task. This is especially helpful when shifting your attention between your book and your computer monitor. Control name Names of objects on your monitor with which you interact are italicized in your exercise coursebook. These include windows, menus, and buttons. Many buttons reveal their names when you hold your mouse pointer over them. Other conventions Throughout the exercises, a shorthand method is used for menu and submenu selections. For instance, if the directions indicate Selection > Select by Attribute, it means to go to the Selection menu and choose the Select by Attributes option.

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Note Paragraphs prefaced with Note: provide inconsequential information, such as an optional way to perform an action or platform-specific syntax for a script. Warning The large exclamation point symbol and bold text signals critical information for performing the next action. Warnings may alert you to a subtle syntactical rule in a command you will type or inform you that the next button you click will produce an error intentionally. If you have questions about a warning, ask your instructor for clarification before proceeding. Keyboard input Text you need to typelike commands in a Command Prompt, entering a file name in a Save dialog, and pressing Ctrl + Alt + Deleteappears in bold, constantly-spaced font. Question with hint Questions require you to record answers in your course book. Questions are renumbered within each exercise and may be followed by a hint. Sometimes the answer to one question depends on your answer to a previous one. Courses that use this teaching technique extensively will include an exercise worksheet as an appendix in your lecture course book, enabling you to record all answers on the worksheet for easier crossreferencing. Answers to questions immediately follow each exercise.

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In this exercise you will install the course training data CD.

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The two main applications you will work with in the class (ArcCatalog and ArcMap), will be introduced and discussed.

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Using ArcCatalog ArcCatalog is the application where you can assemble connections to all the data you need to use. When you select a connection, you can access the data to which it is linked, whether it is located on a local disk or a database on the network. Together, your connections create a catalog of geographic data sources. You can browse your data holdings three ways using three tabs in ArcCatalog: The Contents tab, the Preview tab, and the Metadata tab. The Contents tab shows what a selected item, perhaps a folder or database file, contains. The Preview tab will give a preview of the selected items geographic or tabular data. The Metadata tab will show the metadata for a selected item. Within ArcCatalog you can move, copy, rename, and delete geographic data. You can create, manage, and edit associated metadata, and you can perform some modifications to the data, such as adding fields to tables, defining subtypes, creating domains, and building table relationships.

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Connecting to folders This operation makes it much easier and faster to navigate when in ArcCatalog and when adding data in ArcMap. For example, if you were navigating to C:/Colgate/base_data/images every time you wanted to add an image those three mouse clicks would get pretty old. You could connect to that folder one time and a persistent entry for that path will exist in the Catalog tree and in the ArcMap Add Data dialog. Rather than clicking three times to get to the images, you can click one time to see them all and then make your selection. Connecting to root drives It is recommended that you do not have any root (C, D) drive connections in ArcCatalog. It will make your navigation process slower and will make ArcCatalog run slower as well. Disconnect all root drive connections and make folder connections down to the specific folder for optimal performance.

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ArcMap ArcMap provides tools for creating visual displays of your data, querying, and creating presentation-quality maps. ArcMap makes it easy to lay out your maps for printing, embedding in other documents, or electronic publishing. It also includes analysis, charting, reporting functions, and a comprehensive suite of editing tools for creating and editing geographic data. When you save a map, all of your layout work, symbols, text, and graphics are automatically preserved. ArcMap is the primary ArcGIS application for displaying, querying, editing, creating, and analyzing data. FIMT The FIMT toolbar can only be used within ArcMap.

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Layers Layers store the path to a data source as well as the display properties of that data source. In the example above, there are two layers: Fire Points and Fire Perimeter. Every data source you add to ArcMap becomes a layer, or a pointer to a data source (shapefile, geodatabase feature class, DRG, etc.). Data frames A data frame is a container for layers. When you create a new empty map, a default data frame named Layers is automatically added to the top of the Table of Contents (TOC), but you can highlight and change its name. In the example above, the data frame name was changed to Colgate Fire. Like the layers they contain, data frames also have properties that you can manipulate. One of the main properties of a data frame is its coordinate system. Map A map is the document that stores the data frames, layers, and any map elements such as graphics and text. A map may contain several data frames. For example, you might create a map that contains one data frame with layers that show an entire country and another data frame that displays layers of a particular region.

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ArcMap makes it easy to change both a layers symbol color (right-click on the symbol) or the symbol itself (click on the symbol). Right-clicking the symbol will open a color palette which will allow you to change the color while left-clicking opens the Symbol Selector which allows you to change additional symbol properties like line thickness and color. Although ArcMap allows you to choose many symbols and colors, it is important to remember that too many symbols or colors in a map can be distracting. The symbology you choose for displaying layers greatly affects how readers interpret the map. Learning how to display your layers clearly and efficiently will help your audience understand your data and may also reveal patterns not otherwise apparent.

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Every layer in ArcMap has properties that you can change. Right-click the layer and choose Properties to open the Layer Properties window. All changes made here only affect the layer in the map, not the source data on disk. Depending on the type of layer you right-click on, there may be different tabs and options available. For example, a raster layer will have different properties than a vector layer.

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Interactive selections In ArcMap you can select features in a number of ways. Using the Select Features and Edit tool allow you to interactively select features by clicking on them or drawing a box around them. The following slide will discuss the importance of the setting which layers are selectable in the current map. Selection menu options You can also select features by attribute or by their spatial relationship to other features in the map using Select By Attributes or Select By Location from the Selection menu.

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Set selectable layers One option for working with selection layers is using the Set Selectable layers dialog in ArcMap. This will show you which layers are currently or unselectable. A check mark indicates you can select features from that layer and the absence of one indicates that features in that layer are unselectable. Selection tab The Selection tab contains all of the functionality of the Set Selectable Layers dialog, plus several enhancements. The Selection tab is a tab in the ArcMap Table of Contents so you do not have to go to an additional menu to locate it. You can quickly and easily toggle the selectable layers, view the number of selected features in each layer, and you can also right-click a layer (while in the Selection tab) and get a context menu that only contains choices pertaining to selections. When working with incident data you often have many layers in the map. Either of these methods will make your experience selecting features easier.

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Editing in ArcMap All general editing in ArcMap begins with the Editor toolbar. When editing an incident, you will use the FIMT toolbar to do most, if not all of the editing. However, the Editor and FIMT toolbars work together while editing an incident. For example, if you click certain buttons on the FIMT toolbar, the Task and Target on the Editor toolbar will change. Commonly used operations Whether you are editing an incident or non-incident related layers, you will use the Editor toolbar in some capacity. Some important functionality on the Editor toolbar are the Editor menu where you can save your edits and set up snapping tolerances, the Edit tool which is used for selecting and modifying features, and the Sketch tool which is used for creating new features, reshaping existing features , or doing whatever you have set as the task. The Target is whatever layer you want to add new features to. The Attributes button allows you to edit attributes for the selected feature(s) in the map.

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In order to be able to edit a feature attributes in this dialog, you must have feature(s) selected in ArcMap. You can edit individual values for a single feature or update the field for all selected features. If you click the feature in the left panel to see its geometry flash in the map you can get a better sense of which attributes to update. You can also choose from a list of domain values if that field has a domain applied to it. Using this dialog is generally faster than opening the attribute table to make edits, but you can choose to edit the table directly if you wish.

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Edit tool The Edit tool is used for selecting features and modifying the vertices of existing features. Sketch tool The Sketch tool is used to perform any of the edit tasks in the Task list. To digitize in ArcMap, simply choose the Sketch tool and then left-click the mouse to add the first vertex and then continue left-clicking to add more vertices. Double-click to finish the sketch. Sketch tool context menus You can also construct your sketches using context menus. If you right-click anywhere off of the sketch you will open the Sketch tool context menu (the larger one on the right). This context menu contains many constraints you can use in order to build your sketchs geometry. There are angle and length constraints and you can make your next segment parallel or perpendicular to another segment. Right-clicking anywhere on your sketch with the Sketch tool or the Edit tool will open the Sketch context menu (smaller menu on the left). This menu allows you to modify the vertices of a sketch. Both menu choices contain the option to Finish or Delete an existing sketch.

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This lesson will talk about the geodatabase data format and basic editing in ArcMap.

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Shapefiles

The shapefile is an ESRI data format native to ArcView 3.x. Shapefiles consist of at least three files with the same prefix name and suffixes of .shp, .dbf, and .shx. For example, if you had a shapefile named FirePerimeter you would have the following files: FirePerimeter.shp, FirePerimeter.dbf, and FirePerimeter.shx. If you were to do additional operations to this shapefile, you may get additional files created in the same naming convention. Shapefiles can be created and edited with any license level of ArcGIS and are a very common data format, especially in the fire community.
Geodatabases

The geodatabase is an ESRI data format native to ArcGIS products. The geodatabase can be either personal or enterprise. A personal geodatabase consists of one Microsoft Access file (.mdb) and that .mdb file will contain many tables that store information about your geographic features and tabular data. When you use the FIMT extension to create a new incident you will be creating a new personal geodatabase. An enterprise geodatabase would not be a viable solution in the field due to the lack of network connectivity. Personal geodatabases can be local on each individuals machine and shared easily. The next few slides will focus on the geodatabase since you will be working with them in the class and in the field with the FIMT toolbar.
Coverages

Coverages are an ESRI data format native to ArcINFO workstation. This legacy data format consist of many files in a directory referred to as a workspace.The workspace also contains an INFO directory that contains additional information that the coverages require. The coverages themselves are subdirectories with numerous files within.
Note: No matter what data formats you are working with, always use ArcCatalog to manage them.

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Geodatabase In contrast to file-based formats, like coverages and shapefiles, which store feature coordinate and attribute information in separate files, the geodatabase has the ability to store the two types of information in one database. This centralization of storage offers many advantages. Each geodatabase feature class can only store a single feature type, but you can easily group them into a feature class collection called a feature dataset as long as they have the same coordinate system. The geodatabase is a native data format for all ArcGIS applications. It stores point, line, and area data in an RDBMS table (e.g., Access, Oracle, DB2, and SQL Server). ArcEditor and ArcInfo can create, edit, and delete ArcSDE and personal geodatabase feature classes. ArcView can create, edit, and delete personal geodatabase features and use ArcSDE geodatabase features for various processes, such as queries, joins, and relates. Both kinds of geodatabases can contain the same types of objects. You will learn about some of these in subsequent slides.

Note: The term geodatabase is used to refer to a storage format. You should be aware that ArcEditor and ArcInfo support two physical implementations of the geodatabase: a personal geodatabase and an ArcSDE geodatabase. The personal geodatabase is designed for smaller-scale projects and is stored in MDB format. You do not need to purchase any additional software programs to access and manage personal geodatabases. The ArcSDE geodatabase is designed for larger enterprise GIS applications and databases and is stored in one of the supported RDBMS formats (e.g., Oracle, DB2). These applications require you to purchase the supported RDBMS software for data storage. ArcInfo provides the necessary interface between your chosen RDBMS and the desktop applications. Regardless of the physical implementation, you can perform the same display, query, and analysis operations on both types of geodatabases. Note that there are some differences in functionality due to physical storage issues. Read the online documentation for more information.
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Feature classes contain a collection of geographic features that have the same type of geometry. They are either all points, all lines, all polygons or all annotation. There cannot be mixtures of the various geometry types in a feature class. The shapefile data format also stores geographic features as feature classes, however, they are stored in a file-based system rather than in a database. When you store feature classes in a geodatabase you can access all of the additional properties offered by this data format.

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Feature datasets containers for spatially related feature classes. Assignment breaks are coincident with the fire polygon boundary which is coincident with the perimeter line (sector). These feature classes are all spatially related (coincident) so they can be placed into a feature dataset. All feature classes in a feature dataset must have the same spatial reference.

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Domains are a property of the geodatabase that allow you to create a list of valid values for a particular attribute field. The example above shows a domain list for the various types of fire lines (uncontrolled fire edge, completed dozer line, etc.). No matter what incident you are working on, these fire line types will all be the same. When the GISS goes to update the FLType field for a fire line they will not be able to type in the cell, but only choose from a list of domains (valid values). This will greatly reduce the risk of data entry errors. Many domains get created once you create a new incident with the FIMT toolbar. Throughout the class you will get to use and view most of them. Domains are not available for shapefiles. This is one of the advantages of working with the geodatabase over shapefiles.

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Incident Feature Dataset Contains five feature classes that store all of the current fire features. History Feature Dataset If you use the FIMT tool Copy Incident Layers to History, features are copied into these feature classes along with a time stamp so that fire progression maps can be produced. These feature classes act as archives to collect snapshots of the incident feature classes.

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Incident feature class relationships The grey area encompassing the FirePolygon, PerimeterSector and AssignmentBreak feature classes denotes that the FIMT tools automatically maintain perfect coincidence between features in these feature classes. The most important relationship is that the FirePolygon always creates or updates the line(s) in the PerimeterSector feature class. Therefore, never try to modify the PerimeterSector feature class directly as the FIMT tools are set to automatically update these features for you based on any modifications to the FirePolygon feature class. However, the relationship between the PerimeterSector and the AssignmentBreak features classes is less stringent. The break points associated with the AssignmentBreak feature class only move automatically if they were previously created by the user. The violet area encompasses the FireLine and AnnoBreaks feature classes which have no automated coincidence with each other or any of other feature classes. However, FireLine features can be copied from the PerimeterSector feature class using the Copy to Firelines FIMT tool. In many cases, though, FireLine features may be manually created by the user and may not bear any relationship to the PerimeterSector feature class (other than existing outside of the FirePolygon and PerimeterSector feature classes). The labels of the PerimeterSector features can be manually copied to the AnnoBreaks theme to ensure the text does not move and to manually assign the way it looks. Suggested strategy for updating incident feature classes It is very important to always try to update the FirePolygon first because that will automatically update the PerimeterSector feature class and possibly the AssignmentBreak feature class as well. If that is not possible, then work down in the diagram above to update the other feature classes. For example: Instead of trying to make a new fire line that you intend to move the fire perimeter to be coincident with, just move the fire perimeter first, then use the Copy to Firelines tool to make the coincident fire line.
Fire Incident create the point and automatically set Mapping Tool for ArcGIS

Enter the text for the label of the fire point each time you create the point. At that time, it will the label at a 1 to 24,000 reference scale to prepare Introduction to produce the IAP maps.

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Terminology FirePolygon = fire polygon = fire area - can be referred to as perimeter somewhat interchangeably (ex: Change Perimeter tool) PerimeterSector = fire perimeter = perimeter AssignmentBreak = breaks = break points = symbols FireLine = fire line(s) [not the same as fire perimeter] FirePoint = fire points [not the same as assignment or break points] AnnoBreak = Text for defining the assignment areas AnnoPoint = Text for describing the fire points

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Spatial reference When using the Create Incident tool, FIMT automatically calculate a precision and extent so that the minimum storage unit is at least 1 cm or better. This roughly will translate to an extent of a couple of states so users would never run out of storage space for a given incident. Therefore, be very careful not to Import the spatial reference from an existing shapefile (or other non-incident geodatabase source) as this will result in an incorrect precision being set. Incident geodatabase schema Since the FIMT tools are designed to perform actions like updating certain attributes, enforcing coincidence, and applying domains, it is important to never alter the schema. In some cases, as with adding additional attributes, the consequences would be minimal. You would only have a problem if you exported to shapefiles and re-imported the shapefiles back into an incident. Any added attributes would be dropped since the FIMT tools do not expect them to exist. In other cases the consequences would likely be in the form of software failure, as with deleting attributes that FIMT expects to exist.

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These two exercises will reinforce the items we discussed in the lecture sections. Only now, you will get some good hands-on experience using the software. Remember to ask questions if you need assistance.

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