Introduction to ArcGIS 10 exercise
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This exercise is designed to help you get familiar with elements of ArcGIS – specifically
ArcMap and the “Catalog” window (also called “ArcCatalog”).
Note: Data for all exercises are available at:
http://courses.umass.edu/nrc592g-cschweik/data.html
Lab Setup
1. Get data files
a. The data we will use is available on the course calendar under today's date. It
is a zip file. Create a folder on your C: drive called “C:/temp/gisdata”. Click
on the link under today's class entry on the course calendar and save to
c:/temp/gisdata (unless I tell you otherwise in class).
b. Using My Computer, navigate to c:/temp/gisdata. Right-click and unzip the
introArcGISdata.zip (use unzip to here). You should see the following files
appear:
• cut_tm_reg_chitwan_00.rrd (satellite image file of an area of Nepal)
• cut_tm_reg_chitwan_00.img (satellite image file of an area of Nepal)
• fmisheadworks.mdb (geodatabase file of irrigation headwork points)
• headworkcov, info folders (arc info coverage)
• a bunch of files with the first name “hw”. One has an extension of
.shp (ArcView shape file).
Getting Started: Let’s look at the Menus of ArcMap
1. Start up ArcMap 10 (Start, programs, ArcGIS, ArcMap 10).
Create a new “blank map.” Click “OK” on the ArcMap – Getting Started page.
An untitled, ArcMap document should appear.
Note the “Table Of Contents” section on the left side of the screen.
There are the Magnifier and other tools in one of the icon rows below the main
menus. 2
The main “map area” is the large area below the menu and icon bars that covers
the middle and the right side of the screen.
Look at the main menu. It follows the general standard kind of menu system
File – Add layers, print functions, open or new ArcMap, save, page
properties, etc.
Edit – copy, cut, paste, paste special, find
Bookmarks – this menu allows you to create and manage particular
geographic locations that you can save and reference later. This might be a
study region, for example.
View – Data view, Layout view (map making); Graphs and Reports.
Insert – Data frame (a collection of layers drawn in a particular order for a
given map extent), also mapping (cartography) functions such as text on
the map, legends, north arrow, scale bar, etc.
Selection – This is an important menu for “querying” the GIS database.
Here you can highlight spatial features using different “selection”
approaches, such as “Select by Attributes,” Select by Location,” or “Select
by Graphics”. We’ll use some of these functions later in the course.
Geoprocessing – This menu provides a number of tools used for analysis.
Buffering, Clipping (cookie cutting) out a region of interest layer editor,
intersecting two layers, doing a union between two layers, etc. This is also
where you can invoke the “Modelbuilder” tool. (We’ll be doing an
exercise on that later) and you can program “scripts” using a language
called Python. There is also a “Search for Tools” option on this menu and
you can access ArcToolbox here which has all the analytic tools ArcGIS
provides. There are a ton of tools!
Customize – This is an important menu because this is where you can turn
on various “extensions” needed. For example, to do work with raster data
(such as a Digital Elevation Model – a grid of elevation data that is
commonly needed for environmental management applications) you
would need to invoke the “Spatial Analyst” extension. You need to first
use the Customize, Extensions option to select the extension you want,
and then once that is “clicked on,” you can go into Toolbars to display the
toolbar for that particular extension.
Click on the Extensions menu. What do you have available to you? Make
sure Spatial Analyst is clicked on. Then go to Customize, Toolbars and
select the Spatial Analyst. You should see a new menu appear labeled 3
“Spatial Analyst.” You’ve just invoked that tool. You can close it using
the “x” on the right of that toolbar.
Windows – Changes the mapping window. You can invoke the
“magnifier” tool window here (we’ll use that in georeferencing), and other
important windows like Catalog (the file management tool in ArcGIS), the
Table of Contents (displayed on the left side of ArcMap).
Help – help system
2. Review the main icon menu – This is much like other software you may be familiar
with. Icons for: New map file, open (a map) , save a map document, print, cut
(scissors), copy, paste, X (delete selected element), arrows (undo, redo), + (add data),
map scale, editor toolbar icon (pencil), Invoke Table of Contents window, Invoke the
Catalog window (the very small file cabinet icon), the Search window, Invoke the
ArcToolbox window (toolbox icon), the show the Python scripting language window,
the invoke the Model Builder window and the “What’s This?” pointer tool.
You also should see the magnifier (+,-) icons which allow you to zoom in and out of
you map. The little white hand is the Pan tool that allows you to move around the
displayed map. The Globe icon zooms out to the full extent (the largest geographic
area of all your layers). The arrows in and out zoom you in and out. There is a lback
arrow (the select elements tool), there is an “i” in a circle which is the Identify tool –
you can click on spatial features to look at their corresponding database record using
this tool) and the binoculars is a find tool. There are a few less important icons that
we haven’t mentioned.
3. For map construction, there is a Drawing toolbar (Customize, toolbars, Draw) that has
the standard tools like “A” for writing text, and then ways to set the font used, make
the text bold, etc. This is useful for when you make maps (we’ll do that in a later
exercise).
4. Note on the ArcMap screen, bottom right, there is information on the coordinate
system used. In a blank map they will have 0,0 somewhere near the bottom left of the
map area on the screen. Move your cursor around to see the coordinates change –
they are reporting the location of where your mouse cursor is. Not also that currently
the map is set to “Unknown Units” meaning it doesn’t know whether you want to use
meters, feet or some other unit.
Using the “Catalog” Window
We jumped the gun with ArcMap. Typically before we start mapping layers, you begin
work in the Catalog Window of ArcGIS.
The Catalog (also called “ArcCatalog) is the tool for browsing, organizing, distributing,
and documenting an organization’s GIS data holdings. In this exercise you will explore 4
ArcCatalog and ArcMap while creating a basic map of some farmer irrigation
“headwork” points in Nepal collected using a GPS and a motorcycle.
5. Invoke the Catalog. Click the “Catalog window” icon in ArcMap (the icon with the
very small file cabinet) or
a. Start button
b. Programs
c. ArcGIS
d. Click ArcCatalog 10
e. ArcCatalog starts, and you should see two panels in the ArcCatalog window.
The Catalog tree on the left side of the ArcCatalog window is for browsing
and organizing your GIS data. The contents of the current branch are
displayed on the right side of the Catalog window. Your window should look
something like this (this is an older snapshot from ArcGIS v9 but it looks
much the same):
6. Note on the left side you should see some hard disk references (e.g, C:\) and also
some entries for
a. Folder connections – allow you to connect to various folders on your
computer.
b. Toolboxes – This is where you can store some of the models you make or get
access to other ArcGIS tools.
c. Database Servers – These are to access larger, enterprise level database
servers that store geodatabases (we’ll talk about geodatabases more in future
exercises)
d. Database connections. This is another component of using a larger database.
We won’t really use this in this class.
e. GIS Servers – these are remote servers that can be accessed over the Internet.
7. Connecting to your data
a. When you start a new project, you’ll have a folder location where this data is
stored. Let’s connect to the data folder for this exercise (recall above
c:\temp\gisdata). 5
File, Connect Folder. Navigate to the c:\temp\gisdata folder where the data
we copied are stored. Click OK.
b. The new connection appears as a branch in the Catalog tree (left half of the
window).
8. You should see some new files listed in the right window.
Note that in Catalog there is an icon that has four little boxes called the “Contents
View Type” icon. If you click the down arrow, you’ll see that you can list your
files or see the details of them. I like the “Details” option for it provides more
information about your data files. Click on the “Details” icon (a little table-like
structure).
a. Fmisheadworks.mdb (Personal geodatabase)
b. Headworkcov (an old ArcInfo coverage)
c. Cut_tm_reg_chitwan_00.img (a raster dataset)
d. Hw.shp (a Shapefile format)
These are a set of GIS data that are from Nepal, where I was studying farmer
managed irrigation systems in a remote area in the southern part of that country.
A “headwork” is the location where an irrigation system meets a river. These are
point locations that were collected using Global Positioning Systems (GPS).
The Geodatabase, coverage and shapefile are the same point data in different GIS
data formats.
These file formats match the history of the ArcGIS software. In the early days it
was a “coverage.” Then “Shapefile”. Then personal geodatabase. Now there’s
also a “File Geodatabase” (we’ll build that later in the class).
9. If you double-click on the FMISHEADWORKS personal geodatabase, you will see
its contents.
a. Headworksgeodb (a point “feature class”)
b. This geodatabase only has one layer in it. The headwork points.
c. You can right-click on any of the datasets and click “Item Description” from
the “context menu” (context menus are menus that popup when you right
click).
In these datasets I’ve been a bad GIS manager – something you should never
do! I haven’t entered any data description information about the dataset –
referred to as “metadata.” In a future class, we’ll do more work with metadata.
d. Close the Item Description window to return back to Catalog. 6
Using ArcMap
ArcMap is the tool for creating, viewing, querying, editing, composing and publishing
maps. For those of you who have seen or used the older ArcView 3.2 product (something
some government agencies still use), it is like the “View” component of that system.
10. If you don’t have ArcMap open, start it up (Start, Programs, ArcGIS, ArcMap 10).
Organize the windows of ArcMap and Catalog so you can see both of them. I usually
have ArcMap on the left and taking up the majority of the screen. I have Catalog on
the bottom right and smaller. But however you organize your screens, just get them so
you can see both at the same time.
11. In the Catalog window, double click in the fmisheadworks geodatabase so that the
Headworksgeodb appears. Left-click and drag the “Headworksgeodb” point layer
over to the ArcMap table of contents. You should see a point layer appear in the right
window and a checked entry in the TOC.
12. Now let’s display the raster Landsat image file. Click back on the Catalog window.
13. Use the “go up one level” yellow arrow icon to move to the next higher folder
(C:\temp\gisdata).
14. Click on the raster file (cut_tm_reg_chitwan_00…) and drag it over so that it is listed
BELOW the point layer. You might get a message about data sources using different
coordinate systems… just click close. We’ll discuss the important concept of
coordinate systems in a future class.
15. You should eventually see the image of a portion of Nepal (Himalayan foothills
toward the north) displayed and the points overlaid.
16. Note the coordinates from the map projection being used at the bottom, right hand
corner and how they change as you move the cursor around the map. Notice too that
the units of this coordinate system is Meters.
Map Tools
The tools toolbar provides functions that help you navigate around the map. The
below is a snapshot of the toolbar from ArcMap 9.3, but it looks much the same in
ArcMap 10.
Specific tools:
• Zoom in and out (the magnify tool + and -). Zoom in and notice how the map
scale at the top of the window changes. GIS is “scale-less” which is why it is 7
important as to what scales input maps were at so you don’t try to use the GIS at
inappropriate scales!
• Back button (left arrow) – Jumps you back to the previous spatial extent.
• Full extent button (the globe) – Displays the fill extent of the map.
• Find a feature (the binoculars) –
o Let’s try finding the point that is called “bk1” in the headworksgeodb.
o Click the binoculars.
o In the Find Window’s “Find:” field, enter “bk1”
o In the “In:” field, choose the “headworksgeodb” layer.
o In the Search: option, click on “in field:” and choose the “System_Cod”
database field.
o Click “Find”
o BK1 should appear as a value in the find window.
o Move the Catalog window down so you can see most of the ArcMap
screen and the gps locations on the Landsat image. Move the Find window
off to the right so it is not blocking the point locations.
o Click on the BK1 entry in the bottom of the Find window and watch the
points on the map. Do you see one of the points flash with a large green
dot (or some colored dot)?
o Right click on the BK1 in the bottom of the Find window and in the
context menu select “Zoom to” – this will zoom in the map to show you
the point more clearly. (You also start to see the pixels in the landsat
image at this finer scale).
o Use the Globe icon in the ArcMap icon menus to zoom back to the full
extent of the layers (zoom to a broad scale view). Now you’ll see the
entire Landsat image including its boundaries.
o Close the Find window.
Adding New Layers
• So right now we’ve added one geodatabase layer and the raster image using
“drag” from ArcCatalog
• You can add datasets to ArcMap using the “Add Data” icon (the yellow diamond
with a black plus sign) to add the headwork ArcInfo coverage (headworkcov).
You might have to navigate in the Add Data window to the c:/temp/gisdata folder.
This is the same point data as the headwork layer in the geodatabase, it is just
stored in a different format (ArcInfo coverage) which is the oldest but still
somewhat common format of GIS data found on the Internet.
Change TOC information
17. Let’s change the Table of Contents information for these layers in ArcMap.
a. Right click on the headworks coverage entry: “headworkcov point”. 8
b. Choose “properties” from the menu. This is an important function, and it
shows you lots of information about the particular dataset you are working
with.
c. Notice what tab is opened (General, Source, etc.)
d. Click the General Tab
e. Change the Layer name to “Headwork coverage”
f. Click OK. The TOC entry should be changed.
18. Change the color of this point layer to yellow
a. Right click on the “dot” below Headwork coverage
b. Choose yellow.
c. Notice that the points on the map change to yellow. Whatever layer is at the
top of the TOC will be displayed on top.
19. You can move what layer is viewed “on top.” For example, move the raster image to
the top of the table of contents
a. In the Table of Contents, there are several icons. The first one on the left is
called “List by Drawing Order”. Click on that and you’ll see theTOC entry
format change.
b. Left-click and hold on the “cut_tm_reg_chitwan_00” image
c. Holding the left click, drag this up to the top of the TOC
d. You should see the points disappear because the raster grid is overlaying on
the points.
e. That provides an example of how to move the order of the “draping” of layers
in ArcMap. Whatever is listed on top is viewed on top. Raster images on top
“blanket” vector (point, line or polygons). So usually rasters are left at the
bottom with often the vector on top.
View Attribute Data
20. Some of the real power of GIS is that you can store data associated with layer
features. So for example, there is a small database associated with the head work
point locations. We’ve already used it when we did the “Find” command to look for
the headwork named “BK1”. But let’s look at the entire database associated with this
point layer.
a. To look at the associated attribute database for the headwork features,
b. Right click on a table of contents entry for the “headworkgeodb” point layer
c. Choose “Open Attribute table.” A “Table” screen will appear.
d. Scroll to the right to view various records of data
e. These are various irrigation systems, their names, and various field data we
picked up doing surveys of the farmers. For example, the “conflict” field is a
measure from a survey instrument on the extent of conflict they have over
water resources.
f. Click on the left gray area for system code “BK5”
g. Move the attribute table window so you can see the points on the map.
h. The associated BK5 point will be highlighted, or “selected.” This is an
example of a very simple database query. By clicking on the row, you’ve
asked the system “Show me this point on the map.” 9
i. Note at the bottom of the database window it says 1 out of 39 selected. The
computer remembers features that are selected when we do database queries.
This is important to remember because in later analyses if a subset of records
is selected this could cause you problems.
j. One way to clear the selection, is to push on the “Clear Selection” icon in the
icon menu on the Table window. At the bottom it should reset to 0 of 39
selected.
k. Close the attribute table window.
To conclude today’s lab, let’s look at the files on the harddisk to see how all this is
stored.
21. Click on the X in the right hand window of ArcMap to close it.
22. At the question “Save changes to untitled?” say “yes”
23. Navigate to your work folder (c:/temp/gisdata). Save as “Nepal Irrigation.mxd”
a. Important note! You’ve just stored a new “ArcMap document.” The
Windows extension name is “.mxd”. This is basically the Map View of your
datasets with the table of contents as you’ve organized them. It has links to the
datasets and displays them, but those datasets are stored in their own files. So
our Nepal GIS project now contains both the Nepal Irrigation.mxd document
(the ArcMap document) and also the dataset files that it uses.
24. Close ArcCatalog
25. Find Windows Explorer
26. Navigate to c:\temp\gisdata
27. View details if you don’t have that option on.
28. What files\folders do you see?
What are the files\folders associated with the Geodatabase (New ArcGIS format)?
Fimisheadworks Microsoft Access Database (.mdb)
What do you think are the files\folders associated with the shape file (Old
ArcView format)?
Hw.shp
Hw.shp XML document
Hw.shx
Hw.dbf (this is the database or “attribute table”)
Hw.prj – this is a file that stores the “projection” information. We’ll be
talking about that in future classes.
What do you think are the files\folders associated with the older ArcInfo
coverages? Look in the folders to see all the various files.
Two folders and all their contents
Headworkcov
info 10
Among other things, Geodatabases are an improvement because things are all stored in
the one database file. Rather than all of these separate files. Data backup is a big and
important issue in GIS given all the files a project usually has associated with it.
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