Lab 1: Exploring ArcGIS

Outline

1. Purpose
2. Introduction and background
3. Getting started
4. About ArcCatalog
5. About ArcToolbox
6. About ArcMap
7. Conclusion
8. To turn in

1.0 Purpose

To familiarize you with the following:

• The main modules of ESRI's ArcGIS software
• Data display, queries, and publication
• Navigating the ArcGIS help files
• Basic cartography
• Provide the background necessary for future lab exercises.

2.0 Introduction and background

About the software
In this course, we will be working with ESRI's ArcGIS 9.x software. ArcGIS is considered to be the industry standard for professional GIS users. Since version 8.0 , ArcGIS has been a Windows-based GIS program -- a significant departure from the structure of versions 7.x and older, which used command line DOS- or UNIX-based interfaces. 

ArcGIS 9.x is structured around three main modules: ArcCatalog, ArcToolbox, and ArcMap. These modules represent the three basic necessities of GIS: data management, data analysis, and data output/mapping. In this lab we will cover these modules in greater depth, as well as discover some of their key functionality.

Cartography
In this lab we will also discuss some basic principles of cartography. This portion of the lab will provide you with the basic guidelines and requirements for all maps handed in with lab assignments. We will have a more in-depth lab on cartography in Lab 4.

Additional information
Additional information on ArcGIS software can be found through the ArcGIS web site, and through the ESRI Virtual Campus web site, which offers several free tutorials on ArcGIS and ArcGIS extensions.

Lab equipment
It is strongly recommended that you purchase a Flash (pen, flash) USB drive for storing your lab material and data, or use your personal space in your GIS account.  The Geography server can be slow to access, so we prefer that you use a personal flash drive to store files. You can use the local hard drives to store your files temporarily while working on the lab. Please copy the files to either your flash drive or server before leaving the lab and delete any files on the local drive. As the lab computers are used by many students, there is no guarantee that any work that you store on the local drives will be there the next time you come to lab!

Printing Instructions

For grading efficiency and to reduce the use of paper resources, we prefer that you turn in your assignment materials electronically through email.

If you do need to print out a hardcopy of your assignments in the lab, please print to the GIS lab printer, CASSINI. When you first log into your GIS student account, you will have to add CASSINI to your list of printers.

Windows XP: Go to the menu (bottom left) and select "Printers and Faxes". Then select "Add a printer", click "Next", and select the radio button "A network printer, or a printer attached to another computer". Select "Browse for a printer", and select "CASSINI".

Windows NT/2000: Go to the menu (bottom left) and select "Settings", then "Printers". Then select "Add Printer", click "Next", and select the radio button "Network printer". Click "Next". Select "CASSINI" and then "Deskjet 6122". Click "Next", then "Yes" to set printer as the default. Click "Finish".

3.0 Getting Started

Copying Data

You need to copy the data for Lab 1 to your work directory. To copy the data right click here and select Save Link Target As.  Save the zipped data file to your work directory in your flash drive, network drive, or a folder you created in C:\WorkSpace.

You need to unzip the file. Find the .zip file in Windows Explorer. Double click on lab1.zip and WinZip will open. Click the "Extract" button to extract the Zip archive contents to your work directory. After you successfully extract the files you can close WinZip. Then in My Computer open the "lab1" folder to verify that the files and folders have been extracted. 

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

Geodatabases:

• cotati_rohnert_park.mdb - Cotati and Rohnert Park personal geodatabase. Contains streets, land parcels, city limits, and schools

Coverages:

• usageog - Coverage of the lower 48 states

Shapefiles:

• uscnty - Shapefile of counties in the lower 48 states

• usriv - Shapefile of rivers in the lower 48 states

• usroad - Shapefile of roads in the lower 48 states

Maps:

• school_map.mxd - ArcMap document file displaying the schools of Cotati and Rohnert Park. Uses cotati_rohnert_park.mdb geodatabase layers.

4.0 About ArcCatalog

Introduction to ArcCatalog

ArcCatalog is the ArcGIS module used for organizing, browsing, and managing your data and map documents, as well as for viewing and editing metadata.  In many ways, ArcCatalog is similar to Windows Explorer. For instance, when you modify a file's location, or create or delete a file, you do not need to save the changes -- it is done automatically. 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 All Programs -> ArcGIS -> ArcCatalog.

What is in ArcCatalog?

ArcCatalog is similar in structure to Windows Explorer. On the left hand side is a view of the Catalog "tree" showing how the data is 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 initiated, it automatically looks for folders containing spatial data. Any spatial data it finds will be given a special icon to indicate the specific type of data in the file or folder.

How data are represented: Main icons of ArcGIS 9.x   Folder connection containing geographic data (Workspace) Folder containing no geographic data Folder containing geographic data - inside a Workspace (second level) Map document Grid data     Geodatabase Coverage - Polygon Shapefile - Polygon Geodatabase feature dataset Coverage - Arc Shapefile - Arc     Coverage - Point Shapefile - 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     Geodatabase feature class - Annotation Coverage feature class - Label

Outside of the areas for exploring the catalog folders and their contents, there are several menus and toolbars associated with ArcCatalog.  To find out what a particular button does, hold your 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').

Connecting to your data

To access your data in ArcCatalog you have several choices. If there is already a connection to the drive with your data, you can navigate down the catalog tree until you find your data folder.  This, however, has the potential for causing quite a bit of clutter and confusion if your data is more than one or two folders down from the drive connection.  A second option is to create a direct connection to your data.  A direct connection will help avoid clutter in that you can make a connection straight to the folder holding your data, rather than having to navigate through other folders. It is also a necessary step if the drive with your data is not shown in the Catalog tree (i.e.,if you are using data saved on your network drive).  An example of a direct connection can be seen in the graphic above. -- C:\WorkSpace\Lab1 is a direct connection to a local data folder on the C: 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 CatalogTree.

Try this out and connect to your network drive, flash drive, or to the local folder that you will be using for your work. 

What can be done in ArcCatalog?

Earlier in the lab, it was mentioned that ArcCatalog is used for "organizing, browsing, and managing your data and map documents, as well as for viewing and editing metadata."  Let's explore that a bit more: 

For organizing data, ArcCatalog is quite easy to use.  However, if you delete, move, or otherwise alter the data using ArcCatalog, it is permanent (i.e., if you delete a coverage, it is GONE--you cannot retrieve it).   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, Ctrl-X and Ctrl-V for copy, cut and paste, respectively). 

Try this out by copying and pasting your lab data into a new folder. 

Browsing through your data is simple using 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. 

Take a moment 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.  For instance, select the usageog coverage.  If you then click on the "Contents" tab on the right hand side of the window, you will see a list of the files that comprise the coverage.  You can also see these files if you click on the plus sign to the left of the usageog icon. 

If you click on the "Preview" tab, you will see a preview of the data geography or the data attribute table. To change from geography view to table view (or vice versa), change the value listed in the preview pulldown menu at the bottom of the Window.

What can be done in ArcCatalog? (cont.)

Using the usageog coverage, if you select the "Metadata" tab you will see any metadata (or data describing the data) that is associated with the coverage.  No metadata has been created for the shapefiles and coverages in this lab, so most of the metadata file is not filled in for usageog.  ArcGIS automatically fills in a few fields in the metadata--under the Spatial and Attribute headings. 

Explore the metadata for the cotati_rohnert_park.mdb geodatabase layers. In a later lab we will be creating our own metadata.

Managing your data
Managing your data is also done in ArcCatalog.  You can examine and/or modify the properties of your data simply by right-clicking on the coverage, shapefile, or geodatabase and selecting Properties.  Try this with the usageog coverage file.   

For the usageog file you should see a window similar to the image on the left.  This is the properties page for the whole coverage. There are individual properties pages for the feature classes within the coverage which we will explore in a moment.  General -- describes the feature classes inside the coverage and provides information such as whether or not they have topology, number of features, and data precision.  Projection -- describes the projection of the data  Tics & Extent -- describes the geographic extent of the coverage and the location of the four (or more) Tic marks  Tolerances -- Shows the tolerances used when the coverage was last edited  When you are done exploring the coverage properties,click on OK to exit.

On your own, explore the property sheets for each of the feature classes for usageog.  To do this, expand the usageog coverage by clicking on the plus sign next to the coverage icon, right-click on the one of the feature classes (e.g., arc, polygon, tic, label), and select Properties.
 

5.0 About ArcToolbox

Introduction to ArcToolbox

ArcToolbox is the ArcGIS module used for data processing, analysis, and conversion. It contains a large set of tools that allow for more specialized or complicated operations than those available in the various other modules.  ArcToolbox also provides a means for the user to write scripts and create customized tools to fit specialized needs.

Starting ArcToolbox

To start ArcToolbox, click on the ArcToolbox icon in ArcCatalog or ArcMap.

What is in ArcToolbox?

Although ArcToolbox is one of the major ArcGIS modules, it is actually "embedded" in the other modules such as ArcCatalog -- rather than standing alone. It appears as a docked window inside them when you call it up:

ArcToolbox is organized in a fashion similar to the catalog tree in ArcCatalog.  If 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.  By clicking on the + next to a tool heading (Data Management Tools, Analysis Tools, etc.) you can view the tools available under that heading. 

For an overview of all of the functions of a tool set, click help after right-clicking. 

To run a tool, simply double-click on the specific tool you want to use. This will open a window for setting the various file inputs and outputs and other options related to the tool.

Take a few minutes to explore the Toolbox and get a sense of what kinds of tools are available.

6.0 About ArcMap

Introduction to ArcMap

ArcMap is the ArcGIS module used for mapping -- creating, viewing, querying, editing, composing, and publishing maps. ArcMap is what you will be using for the majority of your GIS work.

Starting ArcMap

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

When you first start ArcMap, you may see the"Welcome to ArcMap" window. This window provides the options to 1) create a new map, 2) create a new map using a map template, 3) open an existing map,or 4) open the last map you were using.  This semester, we will most often use options 1 and 3 (creating a new map, and opening existing maps).

If you do not see the Welcome window, someone has probably turned this option off. Don't worry, you can still access all of the options through the main menu.   For the sake of description, open the prepared map document provided with the lab data (school_map.mxd ). You can open this from the Welcome window, or when ArcMap is open, click on File -> Open File, and navigate to the location of the map document.  You will notice that the school_map.mxd file is not particularly stunning from a cartographic standpoint.  Later in the lab, you will modify the map to make it a bit more cartographically pleasing.

What is in ArcMap?
 

Adding data / creating your own map

Now that we have spent some time with a created map, let's make our own.  In ArcMap, you cannot have two map documents (.mxd files) open at the same time, so to open a new map document, we either need to open a new ArcMap window or close the existing map document. Since we will not need to use the school_map.mxd map document for this portion of the lab, click on File -> New (or you can use the shortcut key "Ctrl-N" or click on the new file button on the menu bar), and select "Blank document" in the My Template tab. Do not save changes to the school_map.mxd map document.

To add data to a map document, there are several options: 

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 and ArcMap open, left click on the data that you want to add to your map document--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 in ArcMap, drag the data straight from ArcCatalog to the view window in ArcMap. Release the mouse button and drop the data in ArcMap.   If you can not see both the Catalog tree and the ArcMap view window, click on the data in ArcCatalog, drag it down over the ArcMap button in the menu bar (still pressing the mouse button) until the ArcMap window opens. Then drop the data in the ArcMap view window.

Try each of these methods, and add the usageog coverage, and the uscnty, usroad, and usriv shapefiles to your new map document. 

Since it is likely that you will open data from both your network drive and from copies on your local drive, it is helpful to use a "relative path" to your data.  This will be handy if you copy your lab data folder to a local drive to work, or if you move it from one drive to another. If you do not store your data sources as relative path names, you will run into the problem of ArcMap looking for the data on the last drive which you used. For example suppose you create a map document with your data located in C:\WorkSpace\lab1 and you then copy the entire folder to another drive. When you open the map document from the new folder, it will still look for the data in C:\WorkSpace\lab1.  The relative path name tells ArcMap to look for the data in the same relative location to the map document (e.g., in the same data folder, or wherever it is in relation to the map document). 

To set your map document to use relative path names, click on File -> Document Properties, select "Data Source Options", and "Store relative path names to data sources" Click OK.  Note: You will probably want to do this with ALL map documents that you create in this course.

Occasionally, even if you set the map document to use relative path names you will still have problems with "broken sources."  These will be indicated by a red ! next to the layer's name:  . 

To fix this problem, go to Properties -> Source ,and re-set the appropriate data source by clicking on the "Set Data Source" button. 

Symbology and data appearance

Order of data layers:  Depending on the order in which you added the data, your states may be "on top" of your counties. You can change this by clicking and dragging data layers "on top" of other data layers.  This example shows moving the blockgroups_polygon layer "on top" of the railroads_arc layer.

Data properties: In ArcMap, to view the properties of a data layer, double click on the data layer's name.  This will take you to the properties window. Note: The ArcMap properties window will provide different information than was found in the ArcCatalog Properties window.

You can also do this by right clicking on the data layer and selecting the properties option.  From the properties window you can view and modify the display properties of a dataset, including the layer's transparency, labeling options, symbology, and source. This lab will only cover a few of the options (display, symbology, and labels), but you will want to take a few moments to familiarize yourself with the other functions in the properties window. 

Symbology:  Under the symbology tab are the options for changing the display of data.  From here you can decide to display the data as Features (single symbol), Categories (unique values, unique values many fields,or match to symbols in a field), Quantities (graduated colors, graduated symbols, proportional symbols), or Multiple attributes (quantity by category).  You can also decide which color(s) and symbol(s) to use to represent the data. 

For example, if you want to use usroad to display type of road rather than simply location, double-click on usroad to open the Properties window, and click on the Symbology tab.  As the default, usroad is drawn as a single symbol. Since we want to show all of the different road values, we will use Categories -> Unique values. 

Let's divide the road by administrative class (Value Field = ADMN_CLASS).  To add these values to the display, select "Add all values."  If you do not want all of the values to be displayed, you can add values individually using the "Add values" button.  To change the symbology of other data layers (even of other types of data: shapefile, coverage, or geodatabase) the process is the same.

Question 8: What information is provided in the symbology tab when we select the ADMIN_CLASS field?  From this window, in what ways can we change data representation?

Symbology and data appearance (Cont.)

To change the representation of Interstate, State Highway, and US Highway, double click on the line next to the name and select an appropriate line symbol from the Symbol Selector.  Change to appropriate symbols.  Since there are no "other values," you can deselect the <all other values> symbol.  When the display is to your liking, click OK. 

Display

An important feature on the display tab is the option to set transparency.  This allows for a layer to be seen through another layer. For instance, with the uscnty layer displayed, the usageog layer can not be seen.  By setting the top layer to some level of transparency, both layers can be seen.

To explore this, we'll make the uscnty layer partly transparent.  Open the properties window for uscnty and select the Display tab.  Under "Transparent: % " enter 75 and click on OK.  Now the state boundaries are shown clearly, and the county boundaries are less pronounced in the display.

Labels

Using the Labels tab under properties is an easy way of inserting the names of features on a map.  We will try this with the usriv layer and add labels for river names.  Go to the Labels tab in the usriv property window.  To insert labels, check the "Label Features" box and select which field to use for labeling (we will use "Name").  From here you can change the style, symbol, font, font size, and location of the labels by selecting from the button options under "Label" in the window.  Take a few minutes to explore these options.

Question 9: How would you remove duplicate labels?

 

While ArcCatalog allowed us to find text strings in attribute tables, as you can see in the image to the right, ArcMap provides significantly more options for querying data.  Let's explore these options using the attribute table from the counties shapefile.  Right-click on the counties shapefile,and select "open attribute table."  This will open a new, floating window containing the attributes of the shapefile.  The window has a button for "options". B y selecting this, you will have available the options seen to the right.  Some of the functions explained: Find & Replace - to find text strings in the attribute table and/or replace them with another string Select By Attributes / Select All / etc. - allows for writing a query to select records matching the criteria specified in a structured query, allows for changing of the selection Add Field - allows for fields to be added from ArcMap (rather than switching to ArcCatalog) Related Tables - lists which tables are connected as "Related tables" Create Graph / Add table to map layout - options for displaying the attribute table data Reload Cache - Re-loads the table, in case of changes Export - Exports the table as a .dbf file Appearance - Changes the way in which the table is viewed (i.e., selected record highlight color)

EXTRA CREDIT: Querying data in ArcMap
 
Choose the Select By Attributes option, and select the "Help" option in the new window.  Read the help file on building a query and then write a query to select the counties that meet the following criteria: 

• Name - Washington

• Population per square mile (1990) - at least 115

• Area - greater than 800

• Not located in Arkansas

Hint - you can write the query as one string, or you can use the procedure options (Create new selection, Add to current selection, Remove from current selection, Select from current selection). If you have not had much practice writing queries, you may wish to write each part of the query seperately and use the select from current selection option. 

When doing searches of this type, it can be handy to display only those records selected.  To do this, change the option to show selected: 

Notice that the selected counties are highlighted in the attribute table and the display map.

Miscellaneous bells and whistles in ArcMap

When you have zoomed to an area of interest, you can set a spatial bookmark. A spatial bookmark will allow you to zoom to the area whenever you want.  To set the bookmark, select View -> Bookmarks -> Create.  Rhonert Park/Cotati and Cotati bookmarks have already been created for you.

7.0 Conclusion

In this lab, the basic functions of ArcGIS's ArcCatalog, ArcToolbox, and ArcMap have been covered.  Hopefully you will now feel comfortable navigating around the software and the lab computers.  If not, the best way to become comfortable is to keep at it. Spend as much time as possible working with the software and with the computers!

As with any new software, these basics do not come close to being comprehensive. To really grasp the software, you will need to spend quite a bit of time just exploring, trying out different functions, seeing what works (and what doesn't), and just clicking on buttons, menus, bits of data, and especially the help files.

In the remaining labs this semester, we will spend time examining more specific ArcGIS functions.

8.0 To turn in

• The question sheet, with typed answers (Word document)

• One map of your favorite state

• One corrected school_map layout
  
  Submit electronic files via email to klacefie@sonoma-county.org, with the subject "G387, Lab 1, [your last name]".

The bulk of this lab module was developed by the Department of Geography at UC Santa Barbara. Created by Sean Benison, Sunhui Sim, and Jordan Hastings and based on a previous lab by Sarah Battersby and Nicholas Matzke. UC Santa Barbara (© 2000-2005, Regents of the University of California). Used with permission.

The original UCSB lab was tailored for instruction at Sonoma State University by Matthew Clark

This page was last modified on Sep. 3, 2008 by Matthew Clark