Lab 1: Introduction to ArcMap and ArcCatalog



1 Lab 2: Introduction to ArcMap and ArcCatalog

2

3 Introduction

4 This lab will introduce ESRI’s ArcGIS software including the ArcMap and ArcCatalog modules. 

5

6 Instructions

Read Chapter 1 of GIS Concepts and ArcGIS Methods and answer questions in Part I.  Continue with the tutorial exercises in Part II.  You should copy any data you use from the course website onto your flash drive.

As you read through Chapter 1, you should follow along in ArcMap and ArcCatalog. You will be expected to use the text as reference for Part II –it will emphasize the application of tools introduced in the text.

7

8 Deliverables

Answer the following questions.  All labs should be typed, well organized, and stapled together. When you turn in your lab, you only need to include your name and responses (not the questions or instructions). You can turn in a hard or electronic copy of your lab.

PART I: Introduction to GIS & ArcGIS (pgs 1-30)

What is a geographic information system? (Put it into your own words - do not give me the quoted definition in the book)

Explain the three main characteristics of GIS.

How is GIS different from maps?

List the four functions that a GIS can provide.

How is geographic data created?

What is the difference between the applications ArcMap and ArcCatalog?

Are datasets directly stored in map documents? Why do you need to know this?

What is the difference between relative and absolute pathnames?

What does the Table of Contents display?

How do you change the name of a layer in a map document?

Why is the order of layers in the Table of Contents important?

What is the difference between the display, source, and selection tabs in the Table of Contents?

What are the four ways you can “view” your geographic data in ArcMap?

If you want to compose your map – adding a legend, scale bar, labels, etc – which view would you need to be in?

What are the 2 ways you can add data to a map?

What is a .lyr file?

What rules must you follow in your naming conventions for data file and path names?

What is ArcIMS?

What is the difference between a dataset (i.e. shapefile) and a layer file?

What is a spatial bookmark?

What is metadata?

When would you use a model over a tool in ArcToolbox?

Choose one extension and give an example of when you might use one.

PART II: ArcMap & ArcCatalog

Goal - Explore geographic data of the United States including cities, rivers and census data.

Follow the instructions below and answer the questions (bold). Answers should be typed and organized.

Introduction

You will start by exploring ArcCatalog, the application in ESRI’s ArcGIS suite for managing your geographic data. It is similar to Windows Explorer, but provides more information about your geographic data than Windows can provide. You can move, copy, and delete data; explore your data before adding it to a map; and create new data.

Geographic data comes in many different formats – we will be exploring these in more detail in Lab 3. In this lab, you will only use shapefiles – the most common and universal geographic data type and layer files – a file that only stores the symbology of a dataset, not the actual data. In ArcCatalog you can differentiate between different geographic types a few ways: the file extension, the icon used in the data tree, or by looking at the metadata.

Downloading Lab 2 Data:

FIRST you will need to download the Lab2Data from the course website onto your flash drive. It will be in a zipped data format. Unzip the folder using the Windows unzip tool by double- clicking on the zipped file to open a new folder. On the left hand side of the window, under Folder Task, click on Extract all Files. Save the extracted files to your flash drive. Remember DO NOT leave ANY SPACES in your file or path name!!

Open ArcCatalog by either going to the Start Menu>programs>Engineering>ArcGIS>ArcCatalog.

[pic]

The Catalog tree on the right hand side will display all the current drives that you are connected to – by default, it will include all drives on your local hard drive. You will want to connect to the your flash drive or the C: drive where your Lab 2 GIS data is stored. The Connect to Folder icon is highlighted below - connect to the F: or another drive and click OK.

[pic]

The F: drive and folders and its contents should now appear in the Catalog tree – browse to the Lab 2 folder by expanding the file folders in the Catalog tree.

What does the shapefile icon look like? There are 3 different icons for shapefiles (look at States, Cities, Rivers), explain how the 3 file icons look different. What does this difference represent?

What other file types are in the Lab 2 folder?

Copying Data: To copy the shapefiles, right-click on the file>copy. Navigate to another location, right-click on the file>paste.

Create a New Folder: Right-click on the desired location and from the drop down menu, go to new>folder.

[pic]

Now, let’s explore these three datasets. Click on States in the Catalog tree. In the Catalog display on the left-hand side, you will see three tabs. Explore your three datasets – Spend some time using the zoom, pan, and full extent tools and then answer the following questions:

What are the three tabs in the Catalog Display?

What attribute fields are included in the Rivers shapefile?

Go to the table view of the Rivers shapefile. Right click on the Miles column and go to ‘sort descending.’

What is the name of the longest river?

What do you know about where the States shapefile came from (Hint: metadata)? Would you consider this a reliable source?

Using the Tools toolbar, zoom into Oregon and Washington by making a box around the two states with the zoom in tool.

What do you notice about the shape of the two states?

In the Geography Preview tab, use the Identify tool to click on Oregon in the States shapefile –

What was the population of the state in 2000?

From ArcCatalog you can launch both ArcMap and ArcToolbox. We will not spend too much time with ArcToolbox in GEO 265, but launch the icon [pic] that looks like a red toolbox and explore the contents. If you right-click on any of the toolboxes or tools inside the toolbox, you will find a Help option that will open the Help window and provide an explanation of the tool. We will revisit ArcToolbox when we get to Map Projections.

You can also launch ArcMap using the icon to the left of ArcToolbox that looks like a globe with a magnifying glass in front of it. Launch ArcMap and on a new blank map document, add the States, Cities, and Rivers shapefiles by dragging them from the Catalog tree to the ArcMap window.

ArcMap

You are going to create a map of major cities and rivers in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii.

Once you have the three datasets on the map, save the map onto your flash drive as ExploreUS.

What three letter extension does your map document have?

Close the map document. Re-launch ArcMap and open an existing document or browse to your map document – ExploreUS.

How is opening a map document different from Adding Data?

You want to make sure that your map layers (displayed in the Table of Contents) are all visible. Move the layers around in the TOC so that the states layer is on the bottom, and Rivers and Cities are visible on top of the states. By default, you should be in Data View.

Zoom into the San Francisco Bay area in Northern CA using the Zoom In tool. There are a number of cities in this area. Use the Identify tool to click on a few of the points.

What are the names and populations of two cities in the Bay area?

What makes it possible to ask questions about information in an attribute table and bring the answer up on the map?

Click on the Full Extent tool so you can see all 50 states again. Right-click on the Cities layer in the table of contents to open the attribute table.

After opening the attribute table, find the field ‘POP2000’, right-click and then click on Statistics. This tool gives you the statistics on the selected attribute field.

[pic]

What is the total sum of the all cities populations in 2000?

Close the statistics box and sort the POPS2000 field in ascending or descending order. Scroll up or down to find the city with a population closest to and greater than 50,000.

What city had just over 50,000 people in 2000?

Select the city by clicking on the left-hand column (with black arrow in image below). Hold the Shift key and scroll to the city with the largest population – selecting all the cities with a population greater than 50,000.

[pic]

What color are the selected features on the map?

Now you are going to make a new layer file with only the Cities that are larger than 50,000 people – To create a new layer of just those features, right-click on the Cities layer>Selection>Create Layer from Selected features.

[pic]

Creating a layer file this way is temporary and will only exist within this map document. If you wanted to save to include in other maps, you would have to use the ‘Save as layer file’ on the same menu displayed above.

Click on the ‘De-select tool’ on the Tools toolbar. Shut off the original Cities layer, so that only the cities larger than 50,000 people are showing.

Zoom into the state of Utah. Using the Identify tool, find the cities: Provo and Salt Lake City. Click on the ‘Measure Tool’ on the Tools toolbar and change the units to Miles.

[pic]

How many miles (straight-line distance) is it from Provo to Salt Lake City?

Now you will make a few changes to the symbology of these layers. Double-click on the States polygon symbol in the table of contents. Change the color to grey with a black outline color.

[pic]

Change the Rivers to a shade of blue and Cities selection (over 50,000) to a black triangle – size 10.

Switch from Data View to Layout view (small icon in the lower left-hand corner in the Map Display window).

Add two data frames (below you will find a screen on how to add a data frame) – re-naming them to Alaska and Hawaii (single-click on the name after adding). Re-name your original dataframe to Lower 48. You can re-name the dataframe by single clicking on the name. You will be creating a map layout that includes 3 data frames: One of the lower 48 states, one of Hawaii, and one of Alaska.

Move the three map layers into both new data frames (Cities Selection, States, Rivers) by dragging them from your original data frame.

[pic]

Activate the Alaska data frame by right-clicking on it in the data frame and going to Activate. Then use the zoom tool to center on Alaska. Create a bookmark called Alaska. Repeat the same steps to create the Hawaii data frame (zooming into Hawaii).

[pic]

Continue in Layout View to arrange all three data frames so that all the information is clearly present. Make the Lower 48 data frame the largest and the center focus of your map, with Alaska and Hawaii respectively placed in relation to the continental US (AK in the NW corner, and HI in the SW).

Insert a title box (Insert menu then Title) and put your name in the box.

Print out the map and turn it in with your lab.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download