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Introduction ............................................................................................................................................1
Part 1 - Opening ArcMap and adding data layers ..................................................................................2
Part 2 - Defining the general and symbology properties for a layer ......................................................5
Coloring the data layers .....................................................................................................................5
Part 3 - Drawing a layer based on an attribute field...............................................................................7
Symbolizing parcels by land use........................................................................................................7
Symbolizing general land use ............................................................................................................8
Saving layer files................................................................................................................................9
Loading a layer file ............................................................................................................................9
Part 4 - Labeling a layer based on an attribute field ............................................................................10
Changing the formatting of labels....................................................................................................10
Interactively labeling some parks ....................................................................................................11
Part 5 - Understanding Data Frame Properties ....................................................................................11
Accessing the Data Frame Properties ..............................................................................................12
Drawing a map to scale ....................................................................................................................12
Part 6 - Using digital orthophotos, scanned quad maps (DRGs), and shaded relief ............................13
Accessing and downloading orthophotos from MassGIS using an index sheet ...........................13
Downloading image data from MassGIS.........................................................................................15
Opening the orthophoto in ArcMap .................................................................................................15
Using Shaded Relief images ............................................................................................................16
Part 7 - Creating a layout for printing or graphic export......................................................................17
Setting up a layout............................................................................................................................17
Moving around in the page and the data frame................................................................................18
Setting the printed map scale ...........................................................................................................18
Resizing and moving the data frame................................................................................................19
Inserting title, scale, north arrow, and legend ..................................................................................19
Part 8 - Adding a data frame to show two or more maps on a layout..................................................20
Adding a second data frame.............................................................................................................21
Setting up a locator boundary box ...................................................................................................22
Part 9 - Printing or exporting layouts...................................................................................................22
Introduction
This tutorial shows you how to use the ArcMap module to create a simple map. ArcMap is one of the
modules in ArcGIS Desktop. You use ArcMap to create maps, query data, perform analysis, and most of
the other basic GIS operations. ArcMap is the module that you will use most frequently. The tutorial may
take 3-4 hours to complete.
If you havent already, download the GIS_tutorial_data.zip file that accompanies this tutorial and unzip it
in a location of your choice. The tutorial data comes from MassGIS (the Massachusetts GIS Repository)
and the City of Somerville, MA. However, you can do this tutorial with any GIS data.
This tutorial only shows the most basic functioning of ArcMap. For further information about ArcMap, go
to Help-ArcGIS Desktop Help - Contents tab - ArcMap.
A note about storing saved files from this tutorial or other work for your classes. The "map" files you will
be saving in this tutorial and in most of your GIS work are very small files with pointers to the data sets.
The mapfile does not contain the actual data, so if the data files are moved or deleted, your map file will
not find them and thus not display them this can be corrected using the data repair function which we
will learn. As you work, you should save map files to your own file storage area.
one data layer at a time and press ADD, repeating the process for each data layer):
Next, choose the Add Data icon again, and back up and navigate to the MassGIS Physical
Resources folder and add the two Hydro25k data files:
All the data layers added will appear in your map kind of a mess! Start unchecking them in the
Table of Contents (or, to turn them all off at once, hold down the CTRL key and uncheck one of
them - they will all turn off).
Turn on (check) just street centerlines (Streetscl), hydro25k_poly_clip, and parks
If you can't get your bearings, try clicking on the Identify icon ( ) and then click on street
centerlines or parks. Can you find Professors Row on the Tufts University Campus? (Hint:
Choose Edit Find, and type in Professors Row, then right-click on one of the results, and
choose Flash Feature or Zoom to Feature)
Right-click on the Streetcl layer in the table of contents (be sure you right-click on the actual name
and not on the line symbol) and then click on Label Features as you see here - this will label the
streets, although the labeling takes a minute to appear (a small earth icon revolves at the bottom of
the window to show that it is processing):
Try zooming and panning again with the labels on. It is much slower drawing, but it may help you
figure out where things are. When you are done, you can turn the labels off again if you wish by
right-clicking on the Streetcl layer, and unchecking Label Features.
Turn on the Building layer. If you dont see the buildings, they may be under another layer. You
can make them draw on top by left-clicking on the Building layer, holding down the left-mouse
button, and dragging it up above the other layers. This is how you move layers around on a map.
Turn the Building layer off again for now.
When you are done looking around, click on the full extent icon (
) in the Tools menu. If that
takes you too far out (it goes to the fullest extent of the layer covering the greatest area), then
zoom in a bit so that you see most of Somerville on your screen.
Now choose File-Save. Name the map file basemap1.mxd. This action creates a map file (.mxd).
A map file is a very small file that contains pointers to your data sets and remembers what you had
up in your session. If you quit ArcMap at this point, the next time you start it, you can choose to
start with an existing map (the one you just created) and it will automatically pop up all the data
layers you added in your first session, with the layers turned on when you first saved the map file,
and with the view of the data just as you left it. Thus, map files are easy ways to save work. But
beware - map files do not actually contain the data layers, they only have pointers to the data
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layers. If you copied your basemap1.mxd file and tried to open it on a computer without the
appropriate GIS data layers, an ArcMap session would start and list the data in the table of
contents but nothing would appear because it would not be able to find the data it is pointing to.
When you finish working at a computer, always save your map files to your storage folder or onto
a USB drive.
In the next section you will learn about how to color the data layers to start making a more interesting and
readable map.
Click on a color from the choices on the left, or click on the small colored box next to Fill Color,
to see a wider range of colors to choose from choose a blue color for water:
Press OK when you are finished, and OK again to return to your map.
Color the parks layer green
Color the buildings a light gray for now. Note that they still appear fairly black thats because
each building still has a black outline. You (and your map's viewers) do not need to see these
outlines. You can turn them off by going back to the layer's properties and the Symbology tab.
Once again click on the colored box under Symbol. Then click on the small box just right of
Outline Color, and choose No Color. Press OK and OK again to get back to your map. This is how
you turn outlines off (you can also change their color or thickness)
Turn on the neighborhoods layer and go to its symbology properties. Use the Hollow coloring
(no fill color, with an outline), and make the outline width thicker (e.g., 2) as shown below:
Turn on the labels for Neighborhoods (right-click on Neighborhoods layer, choose Label
Features)
Using what you have learned, give appropriate colors to your other layers (dont color the
Parcels2004 layer for now). A tip about coloring roads. The road centerlines, at least for nonmajor roads, often look best in a map if they are colored a light gray. That way they show up but
won't dominate the map.
When finished, choose File-Save again. Now your basemap1.mxd file will remember all the
colors and names you have assigned. It's starting to look better....
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Looking at the class codes together with the detailed use descriptions, it is fairly clear that the codes are as
follows:
Code and Use
Standard Land Use Color
R Residential
yellow
C Commercial
red
I Industrial
gray
E Exempt (from property taxes, indicating
pink
government, educational, religious, or other
tax-exempt civic use)
Fill in the dialog box as you see below note that in the Label column, you can type a label for the
code and then press OK:
If you go back to the Symbology properties, you can move the classes around (e.g., to make
Residential come first, etc.) by highlighting the class and using the arrow keys to the right to move
it up or down.
Click on the add data icon and navigate to the MassGIS / Infrastructure folder
Add the two files that end in .lyr as show below:
This means that the layer file cannot find the actual data source (for the major roads, this is the
EOTMAJROADS_clip shape file). To solve this problem, right-click on the layer name (Major
Roads) and choose Data Repair Data Source. In the navigation box, look for the folder
containing the EOTMAJROADS_clip.shp file (in the MassGIS\Infrastructure folder), click on the
shape file and ADD it. Make sure to checkmark it in the Table of Contents to turn it on.
Youll see that these layer files include colors, line styles, and labels, including highway shields for the
interstate and state routes.
Save your basemap1.mxd mapfile again.
If the Neighborhoods labels are not turned on, turn them on now (right-click on the
Neighborhoods layer and check Label Features).
Open the layer properties of Neighborhoods (right click on the Neighborhoods layer name and
choose Properties).
Click on the Labels tab.
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Make sure that the Label field says Hood_Name. All the attribute fields are listed here, so you
could choose a different one if you needed to.
You can choose the font, size and color of your labels by clicking on the Symbol... button make
the Neighborhood name bold with 12pt font.
When you are done, return to your map.
If you dont like the results, adjust the label format again as you wish. Check out some of the
predefined label styles.
Before we can label with an attribute field, we have to know which attribute field would be good
as a label. Open the Parks attribute table (right-click on the layer name and choose Open
Attribute Table).
Look through the table. You will see that a field called Park_Name contains the park name. We
want to use this field for labels.
Close the table, and open the layer properties of Parks.
Click on the Labels tab.
Make sure that the Label field says Park_Name.
Make the park name italic.
When you are done, return to your map.
No labels appear yet. Try labeling all the park features at once by right-clicking on the layer name
and choosing Label Features. There are a lot of labels and this makes for a rather messy map. We
want to label only the largest parks.
Turn off the Label Features function.
To label features interactively (one by one) you need the Draw toolbar. Choose View-Toolbars,
and click on the Draw.
In the Draw toolbar, click on the "A" icon to see your label options as shown below:
scale, you must be aware of the coordinate system and map units. These are accessible in the data frame
properties. You can also give a name to a data frame (right now your data frame is called "Layers").
Accessing the Data Frame Properties
To access the data frame properties, right-click on the word "Layers" at the top of your Table of
Contents and choose Properties.
Click on the General tab.
For Name, type in a name for your map (e.g., Someverville)
Note that for Units, the Map Units are likely designated as feet (grayed out) and the Display units
are also set to feet (if you added the MassGIS data first, it might say meters). The Map Units are
the actual units of the coordinate system in use - you cannot change these. The Display units can
be changed - these are what appear if you measure distance on the map or are the default units for
a scale when you create a map layout. Don't change the map units and return to your map.
Click on the Measure tool (
) in the Tools toolbar. Click somewhere on the map to start a
measuring line. Drag the line somewhere else and click again. You will see two measurements
reported in the Measurement window. The first, segment, gives the distance (in Display units) of
the line you just drew. The second, Length, gives the total distance. Click on a third point in the
map. You will see the new segment distance plus the total distance of both segments. Double-click
on the map to stop measuring (or choose a different tool).
Try changing the Display Units in the Data Frame properties (e.g., to miles) and use the measure
tool again to see your measurements in your chosen units.
Go back to the Data Frame properties (right-click on the data frame name at the top of the table of
contents).
Click on the Coordinate System tab - you will see that the data is most likely in the
NAD_1983_StatePlane_Massachusetts_Mainland_FIPS_200_Feet1 coordinate system. Don't
change anything here right now. We will discuss coordinate systems more in class because they
are very important and can cause a lot of problems. But this is where you check or change
coordinate systems of a data frame. Return to your map now.
As long as the data frame has a known coordinate system, you can draw a map to scale by setting
the scale in the scale area of the Standard toolbar:
Click on the 1:10,000 scale and view your results. Try other scales. You can also type in a scale
yourself (you only have to type the denominator, e.g., 24000, no commas). These are unitless
scales. 1:24,000 means that one unit on the map (or your computer screen) equals 24,000 of those
same units in the real world. For example, one inch on the map equals 24,000 inches in the real
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world, or 2000 feet. The scales provided are standard paper map scales in the United States.
1:24,000 is the map scale of the USGS topographic quadrangle maps (sometimes known as 7.5
minute maps because the cover 7.5 minutes of latitude and longitude). If you typed in 12000 in the
scale box, you would be drawing a scale of 1:12,000 (1 unit onscreen = 12,000 units in the real
world) which is the same as 1 inch = 1000 feet.
Part 6 - Using digital orthophotos, scanned quad maps (DRGs), and shaded relief
Aerial photos are another extremely useful data source in a GIS. To be useful in accurate mapping and a
GIS, aerial photos are processed to take out distortions. This process is called ortho-rectification, and the
resulting product is called an orthophoto. Unlike a normal aerial photo in which space is distorted, you
can use an orthophoto to make measurements, just like you would with a regular map. Orthophotos for
use in GIS also come with an additional file that indicates the locational position of the photo, so that it
will appear in the correct location with your other data sets.
Orthophotos can be very large files and cover relatively small areas. Many states and cities have them
available online for download. In this section you will download orthophotos for Somerville. The
orthophotos we will be using were created by the state of Massachusetts.
The USGS has scanned and geo-referenced all of its 1:24,000 topographic quadrangle maps. These are
called DRG's (for digital raster graphics). The maps for this area typically date from the late 1980s, but
they can still be useful as topographic maps. They are also available online.
Finally, we will also use a hillshade (shaded relief) raster data set originally from MassGIS. MassGIS
shaded relief raster data is also available online, but we have prepared a smaller version covering the
Boston metro area in the tutorial data set. (Note: the USGS has created shaded relief data sets for the
entire country - these are available online through the National Map http://nationalmap.gov/)
Accessing and downloading orthophotos from MassGIS using an index sheet
Note: for this part of the tutorial, you must have a high-speed internet connection!
Orthophotos, DRGs, and some other data sets are frequently tiled (split up) by using the boundaries of the
USGS 7.5 minute quadrangle maps. So you need to know the mapsheet number or name to be able to find
the correct data set for your area. MassGIS has an index GIS file that allows us to see which mapsheet
number we need. In this example, we will use Somerville.
In your ArcMap session, click on the Add Data icon and navigate to the MassGIS \ Index folder
and add OQMAIN_POLY.shp
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Change the symbology properties of the OQMAIN_POLY.shp so that it is hollow with a large red
outline as shown below.
Zoom out to see the entire city of Somerville and move the OQMAIN_POLY.shp layer to the top
of the table of contents (left-click and hold on the layer as you ad drag it to the top)
Go back to the OQMAIN_POLY.shp properties and click on the Labels tab change the label field
to Sheet_ID and make the font size 18 and bold:
Next, turn on the labels for the OQMAIN_POLY.shp layer (right-click on layer name in table of
contents, check Label Features).
Note that there are three boxes (quadrangle map sheets) covering Somerville 233902, 233906,
and 237902 make note of these and decide which sheet you would like to download first (e.g.,
the one covering an area of interest to you). You can turn off this layer when you are finished.
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If you are working in the GIS Lab, you can download orthophotos on the M: drive by drilling
down to the MassGIS imagery folder - M:\State\MA\MassGIS\Imagery\Orthos2005\Sid)
Click on Name at the top of the Name column to sort by name.
Select the files you need (as shown below) and save them to your personal folder.
As of 1/30/07, Scanned 1:25,000 USGS Topographic Quads are not available on the M: drive.
You will have to get these from Mass GIS as instructed above.
Return to ArcMap and add the orthophoto to your map (choose File - Add Data or use the Add
Data tool). If when you are navigating to your orthophotos file, and you see three choices (band1,
2, 3), you have gone a click too far - go back up to the folder just above it and you will see just
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one file choice (e.g., 233902.sid) - open this one. (Images come in color bands, so if you chose
just one of the bands, you would not be getting all the colors).
Zoom in to the orthophoto. Turn off layers above it to be able to see it.
You can display layers above the orthophoto to be somewhat transparent if you like. For example,
to show land use by parcel over an orthophoto (assuming you still have parcels colored by land
use), turn on the parcels and right-click on the parcels layer to get the layer properties. Go to the
Display tab. Set the Transparent entry to 50 (for 50%) and press Apply to see what happens
Also add the USGS scanned quad map. Since the map was drawn at the 1:24,000 scale, it looks
best on the screen at this scale as well.
Now that you know how to find a worksheet ID, you can if you wish download and add more
orthophotos or scanned maps (e.g., to cover all of Somerville).
Click on the Add Data icon and navigate to the MassGIS \ Shaded_relief folder and add the
shd_clip image data set. (Note: this is located in your Tutorial data folder and not on the M: drive)
If it is being covered by other data layers, turn them off for now.
Rightclick on the Shd_clip layer name and choose Zoom to Layer - this takes you to the full
extent of the data layer. The Shd_clip layer is showing topography as if illuminated by the sun
shining from the northwest.
Zoom in the Somerville area. Zoom in until the shaded relief starts to pixellate (you can see
individual squares or grid cells) - what scale are you at?
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If the orthophoto is below the shaded relief layer, drag it up in the table of contents so that it is
above it.
Change the transparency of the orthophoto so that you can see the shaded relief below it (e.g.,
50%)
You can change the coloring on a shaded relief layer by going to its symbology properties and
choosing a different color ramp.
With shaded relief as background, you can make some very good looking shaded-relief maps. Or you can
make some really bad ones!
Save your mapfile when you are done examining these data sets.
Before you start a layout, it is important to have thought through what you want to do and how
you want your map to look. What do you want to show? How large do you want your final map to
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be? Portrait or landscape? Do you need space for additional text or graphics? This tutorial example
will assume a paper size (8x11 inch) map but you can choose any size.
In ArcMap, choose View - Layout View from the main menu.
The view changes to show your data frame on a page layout and a new toolbar appears - the
Layout toolbar.
The first thing you should do is to set up your Page properties. Choose File Page and Print
Setup.
In the Page Setup dialog box, make sure that the page size is set to Letter. Also check either
Portrait or Landscape (which would be better for the map you want to create?) Set the Output
Image Quality to normal. Press OK to return to the map.
Layout
Tools
<=Use these to navigate
around the page layout.
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you later move or zoom, remember to reset to the desired scale before printing:
To resize and move the data frame, use the Select Elements pointer (
Use the small grab points on the corners and sides to resize
Place the cursor anywhere over the data frame to move it.
Selecting elements Remember, you always have to select an element before you can move, resize, or
change its properties. Use the select pointer icon
Toolbars.
Text font
properties and
graphics
You can select more than one element by holding down the CTRL key as you
click on each element.
You can change font properties on selected elements by using the Draw toolbar
(usually at the bottom of the screen).
If you don't see the Draw toolbar, bring it up by choosing View-Toolbars and
clicking on Draw.
Finding elements
after insertion
You can also add graphics to the map using this toolbar.
When you insert a title or other element, it is often very small and hard to see if it
inserts into the data frame area.
If you don't see your title at first, just type your title anyway, press Enter. It will
automatically be selected, so that if you make its font bigger using the Draw tools,
you can see it better and then move it.
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Insert Legend
The scale bar you select will be in the Display units of your data frame (e.g., feet).
If you want a different unit, click on Properties in the Scale Bar Selector dialog
box, and select a different Division Unit.
There are lots of ways to improve your legend - we will work on a Legend Tips
section of its own. For now, just experiment with changing the number of columns
so that the legend box fits well on your map
You may not have to have all the layers on your map feature on your legend often water is self-evident is colored blue, and sometimes roads are as well (but
not if you have different line color or width for different types).
Note that in the Legend Wizard you can control what items go into the legend, and
the order in which they are listed.
Modifying an
element after
insertion
Delete and trying
again!
Inserting text
Insert Picture
frame you want). But in the layout, all the data frames will appear. This can be handy for showing two
maps on one poster, or for putting in a small "locator" map as in the example below:
You can select one data frame for moving or resizing by using the Select pointer icon ( ). Play
around with moving and resizing data frames. To switch data frames, you must select it with the
pointer icon. This is what can get confusing, but when you finally get the hang of it, it can be a
very powerful tool.
In Layout view, you can activate one of the data frames by double-clicking on it. For example, say
you want to set the scale of one data frame to 1:24,000 and the other data frame to 1:100,000.
Double-click on the first one, and set the scale, then double-click on the second one to set the scale
for that one.
Try making a small locator map using a second data frame - it should have the major roads, town
boundaries, and rivers in it.
As you play, make sure you save your map file, preferably under a new name so that if you mess
up you can reload an earlier version.
Click OK
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The ability to export to a digital format is very useful. If exporting to an image, remember to set your page
size to the appropriate dimensions - this may mean custom dimensions, e.g., a small image to fit on a
computer screen, a powerpoint presentation, a web site, or word document. When creating a layout for
digital export, you should think ahead about what size you want your final image and lay out the map
accordingly.
When you have your layout the way you want it, choose File - Export
In the Export dialog box that appears, navigate to your personal folder and give the image a name.
For Save as Type:, choose a format - we recommend .pdf format because they come out well
(often better than jpegs), they print easily, and are readable across a variety of platforms. The only
problem with PDF formats is that they do not recognize all text fonts, so stay simple with your
font types - e.g., Arial or Times New Roman.
Before you export, press the Options button to adjust resolution. Digital images meant to be seen
on a computer screen do not need high resolution. 96 or 150 should be fine depending on image
size, 300 should be the maximum.
For .jpg formats, set the quality scroll bar to somewhere in the middle. The higher the quality the
larger the file size and the longer it will take to load on a viewer's screen or to print/plot.
Press Export when you are ready to go - the process will take a few minutes.
Check your results - if not pleased, experiment with different resolutions and compare file sizes.
That's the basics. Now practice what you have learned by creating several maps showing different aspects
of the Somerville area.
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