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ArcMap - Lab 1
ArcMap - Lab 1
1. In ArcMap
Go to Start, or single-click the ArcMap Icon in ArcCatalog, to launch ArcMap
When ArcMap Starts you will get a “SPLASH” screen 3 options for starting to use ArcMap
o a new, empty map
o a template
o an existing map.
Select “An existing map”
If P:\briggs\g6382\DataSets\Maps\Ntexas.mdb appears in the list, select it directly
Otherwise, be sure Browse for maps is highlighted (click it if not), click OK
Browse to P:\briggs\g6382\DataSets\Maps & choose Ntexas.mxd and open it.
BE PATIENT. LET ARCMAP FINISH DRAWING BEFORE YOU TRY SOMETHING ELSE!
2. Toolbars
Hide and show toolbars from the View menu
Click View and point to Toolbars.
Check a toolbar to show it.
Uncheck a toolbar to hide it.
For now show only Main Menu, Standard, Tools, Draw and Layout Toolbars
Docking Toolbars
Any toolbar can be docked at the top or bottom or to the left or right side of the ArcMap or ArcCatalog
windows. Alternatively, toolbars can float on the desktop while functioning as part of the application. When you
dock a toolbar, it is moved and resized with the application’s window. To prevent a toolbar from docking, hold
down the Ctrl key while dragging it. To move a docked toolbar, grab it by the vertical line at the left side.
Play with the tool bars by docking, undocking, repositioning, etc.
Accessing toolbar list
You can also access the toolbars list without using the View menu. Simply right-click within the grey area of
existing toolbars, or the pull down menus
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In the right-side window, this frame is now surrounded by dashed line to indicate it is the active frame
(Also may have ‘handles’ which means you can reposition the frame in the layout. Click outside any frame
to remove handles.)
You can also click the frame in layout view to activate it.
Switch to data view
Make sure you have the Surrounding Dallas Counties Data Frame selected
Click the globe icon below the Spatial View .
(Alternatively, Click View on the Standard toolbar and select Data View.)
The ArcMap window displays the active data frame.
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7. Add Additional Frames (for maps) & Cartographic Elements (scale bar, north arrow, etc.)
These are all added via the Insert pull down menu
o To add additional frames, select Insert/Frame from pull down menu
o New empty frame is added to TofC, and shows on layout when in Layout view
o Go to Layout view and drag and resize new frame to a position below the zip code map
o Click New Data Frame title in TofC to select it, then click again & change name to Toxic Sites
o Cartographic features (scale bar, north arrow, etc.) are also treated as frames and inserted in the same
way when in Layout View.
o Select current north arrow and hit Delete key to remove it
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o Select Insert/North Arrow from pull down menu and select new one.
Drag and resize to desired location on map
8.1 Add Data to a Frame
Using Add Data icon (black plus)
Make the Toxic Sites frame active
Click the Add Data button in ArcMap general toolbar.
Navigate to the location of your data C:\USR\INI\ArcMap\ArcMap.gdb\Dallas
Click on dal_tri_sites_point and click Add.
The data is added to your map
Do the same for the somewhere in Dallas raster data layer, obtaining it from c:\usr\ini…
o Note how, even tho obtained from C:, the file reference is to Q:. Why?
Dragging from ArcCatalog
Make the Surrounding Dallas Counties frame active
Launch ArcCatalog from the standard toolbar within ArcMap, or Restore if already open
Arrange the ArcCatalog and ArcMap windows so that you can see both on the screen.
Navigate to the data source you want to add e.g. C:\USR\INI\ArcMAp\Geodatabase\Dallas\
dal_hospitals_point
Drag the data source from ArcCatalog to the ArcMap window (NOT the Table of Contents if using 8.1 .)
ArcMap creates a new layer on the map.
Minimize ArcCat
Copying from another data frames
In the table of Contents, right-click the layer you want to copy from (dal_hospitals_point) in the
Surrounding Dallas Counties Data frame and click Copy.
Right-click the data frame you want to copy the layer to (Toxic Sites) and click Paste Layers.
Using Group layers
Basically, these are folders which you can use to organize or group your layers
They allow you to turn on/off multiple layers simultaneously—very useful for complex maps
Right click on a data frame title in TofC and select Group Layer
o Right click on group layer and add layers as desired
Event Tables and Database Tables
All types of data are brought in the same way (unlike in ArcView 3.2): spatial data (shapefiles, geodatabase
layers, coverages), event tables (tables containing X,Y or lat/long coordinates for points), database tables
Tables will only show under the Source tab of the Tof C. They are not displayed under the Display tab.
To spatially display data in event tables, right click on the table name in Tof C and select Display XY data
o As an example, bring the table dal_tox.dbf (in Datasets/Tables) into the Toxic Sites Frame
o Activate the frame where you wish to display the data (does not have to be same frame as table)
Activate Toxic Sites
o Right click dal_tox table (you will need to be under Source tab in TofC) and select Display XY
o In the X Field box, select the variable containing horizontal coordinate values (LONGDD)
o In the Y Field box, select the variable containing vertical coordinate values (LATDD)
o Click OK—a dal_tox Events layer is created
--note: this is not a spatial data file: you need to use Data/Export to create a shapefile, etc.(#14)
o Note that the new data overlays correctly even tho its spatial reference was listed as “unknown”
Why? (see #8.2 below)
o We are not going to need these, so remove the table and the events layer by right clicking on
their names in T of C and selecting Remove
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coordinate values are examined and if they in the range –180 to +180 for X, -90 to +90
for Y, they are assumed to be latitude/longitude (but datum still unknown)
otherwise frame projection is unknown
subsequent layers will be projected “on the fly” to display correctly if their original projection is defined
and the projection of the data frame is known
o if the input projection is not defined but coordinate values are in the range –180 to +180 for X,
-90 to +90 for Y, they are assumed to be latitude/longitude and projected to the data frame
projection
o if the projection of the first layer, or subsequent layers, is unknown (e.g. was not defined in
ArcCatalog), a warning is issued but the data is still brought in. It may or may not be correct.
you can change (or define initially) the frame projection by right clicking the frame name in TofC,
selecting Properties and clicking the Coordinate system tab (see # 9.2 below)
Example:
right click Texas/Surrounding Dallas Counties frame name in TofC, select Properties/Coordinate
system tab: note that the frame is State Plane
go to P:\briggs\g6382\DataSets\Coverages\txcounties_ll in ArcCatalog, right click, select
Properties/projection: note that it is geographic
drag this geographic projection into the state plane frame in ArcMap: it overlays correctly!
In ArcMap TofC, check projections for txcounties_ll and txcounties_sp: they are different but they
overlay!
You can now re-project the frame to UTM if desired:
Right click frame name, select Properties/Coordinate System tab and go to
Predefined/Selected Coordinate System/UTM/NAD83/UTM ZONE 14N (N is for northern
hemisphere)
o Changing the frame’s projection does not affect the projection of the source data files.
ArcToolbox is less sophisticated with projections! Consequently, if you are using ArcToolbox within
ArcCatalog, be sure that all your layers are in the same projection. This is often the explanation for why something
“works” with ArcMap but not in ArcToolbox!
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Labels offer the fastest and easiest way to add descriptive text to your map for individual features. For example,
you can turn on dynamic labeling for a layer of major cities to quickly add city names to your map. Their
downsides include:
They are dynamically generated each time, so can affect speed of redrawing.
Only their properties are stored, not the actual label itself which is derived from the feature class table
Although your control groups of labels (e.g. all capital cities have different font from other cities), you
cannot edit individual labels, which is often necessary to get exact position, etc..
As Annotation
Annotation can be used very similarly to labeling, but it differs in that:
it is stored as its own layer which records its own position (in geographic space), text string, and display
properties.
you can control each individual piece of annotation so far more control over appearance, position, etc.
o but downside here is that its harder to change all pieces of annotation simultaneously, which you
can do with labels!!!
There are two types of annotation:
Group (Map document) annotation
Organized into groups
Stored in a map document in annotation groups within each frame (or in one group for all frames)
Edited with graphic tools on Draw tool bar
Can be edited with ArcView level of ArcGIS
Do not use if you have more than a few hundred pieces of text (use geodatabase annotation)
Geodatabase annotation
Stored as an annotation class in a geodatabase
Can be linked to a feature class by a relationship class (all must be in same Feature Dataset)
Can include graphics as well as text
Can be edited with special ArcMap editing tools.
Requires ArcEditor level of ArcGIS for full editing functionality
Labels can be converted to annotation (but not the reverse), which is the normal way to create annotation,
ArcGIS will create the annotation feature class from the label
Optionally, if you want them linked to the features, ArcMap will create the relationship class to maintain
the link.
The annotation class and relationship class are created inside the same feature dataset in which the
feature class is stored
Or you can create annotation directly.
As Display-only Text
ArcGIS can display text information (often confusing referred to as ‘annotation’!) from certain other sources:
ArcInfo coverages annotation
CAD annotation
VPF annotation
To work with it (move, edit, etc), you must convert these to geodatabase or map document annotation
ArcGIS provides the tools to do this conversion.
Once the information is converted, any changes will not display in the original source (e.g. the CAD
document).
Generally there is no tool to convert back to the original (e.g. CAD) document
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o Put check in Label Features in this layer box (top left).
o Click the Label Field dropdown arrow and click the field you want to use as a label CNTY_NAME.
o If desired, click the Expressions button and you can write VB code to control exact label display
(click HELP button for examples of this code)
o If desired, click the Symbol button to select font, size, color, etc
o If desired, click Label Placement Option button to control overlap with other labels and features,
duplicative names, etc.
o If desired, click Scale Range button to have labels display at certain scales only.
Click Apply.----and labels for the features are displayed. Modify customization as desired and click OK
There is a lot of control available for labels.
o Scale dependent
o Hierarchical: different fonts/size depending on feature subtypes
o On/off depending on a variable’s value (e.g. on only for road segments > 50 miles long)
o For examples, open: P:\ArcData_9\StreetMap USA\ StreetMap USA.mxd
Review the main box and be sure it looks as follows, the click Convert.
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10.5 Using Annotation Layer
After processing finishes, the new annotation class is automatically added to map.
o You can toggle this on and off.
o Go into data display
Go to Editor>Start editing
Double click on text (e.g. Denton)
Edit box opens—you can modify individual pieces of annotation
Go to View/Toolbars and open the Annotation toolbar
--this gives you more control on the annoation
Launch ArcCatalog and look at the new relationship class, and feature annotation class. You may have
to use View/Refresh before they show up.
View this in ArcCatalog---go to Arcmap.gdb on your c:/drive
dalareacount_polygon is the original feature class (it was re-labeled as Dallas Area Counties in the map)
DallasAreaCount_Anno is the annotation feature class
Anno_1_13 (or similar) is rthe relationship class
Open the Properties for Anno_1_13 (or similar)
This is the relationship class which links the feature class (dalareacount_polygon) to its annotation feature
class
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6. Create a point by digitizing
On Editor toolbar, click the Task dropdown arrow and click Create New Feature.
Make sure the Target Layer dropdown list is still on dal_tri_sites_point layer.
Click the tool palette dropdown arrow and click the Sketch tool (looks like a pencil).
Click on the map to create the point. The point or vertex is created on your map and marked as selected
(blue)
Open the attribute table and begin adding attribute information to the new feature.
Tip - The snapping environment can help you create points or vertices at more exact locations relative
to other features. For more information, see Use the snapping environment in ArcGIS Help.
7. To delete a point
Select the point to be removed (use tailless arrow icon) so it is highlighted in blue and press Delete key
o You can delete the feature you just entered if you like.
8. Stop Editing
o On the Editor Toolbar, select Editor/Stop Editing
o When prompted to Save Edits?, say yes.
9. Some general hints on editing
1. You need ArcEditor level of ArcGIS to edit coverages (Editing coverages no longer supported in 9)
2. Use of topology tools essential when editing polygons (and lines)—deal with this later.
3. Move the layer to be edited to the top of the table of content in ArcMap so you can see it best
4. If it’s a polygon layer with color fill, double click its legend box in the the ArcMap T of C and choose
hollow file, widen line to at least 1, and change color to something distinctive (eg. red) if you are
editing against an image background.
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Go to Selection/Options and click on one of the three choices at top then click OK (modify others if
needed)
o Partly or completely within (selected even if part is outside box)
o Completely within (if a part is outside, not selected)
o Selected feature must completely enclose the box (box inside the one selected feature)
You may also need to set Selection tolerance fairly small (try default of 3 pixels)-otherwise you may
select >1 feature if clicking with the mouse.
Select the selection tool (white arrow with blue/white square to its upper right) and drag a box
o features are highlighted on the map
o if you open attribute table, corresponding rows will be highlighted in yellow
Right click on the layer in the TofC and select Selection. You can:
o Zoom to selected features
o Clear selection
o Switch selection (so selected are unselected and unselected are selected!)
o Copy records for selected features (which copies the selected rows of the table to the Windows
clipboard where they can be pasted to another Windows application)
o Save features to their own layer
Again, to display only the selected features, you can right-click on layer in TofC and create a display layer
via Selection/Create layer from selected features., and turn off the original layer
To remove the selection, you can also go to Selection/Clear Selected Features pull down menu
After you have selected a set of features using methods 1-4 and 6 above, you can
Create any of the three types of spatial data sets and layers discussed below in # 14
right click the layer, choose Selection and (among other things):
o zoom to selected features
o clear the selected features
o create display layer
15 Buffering
There are at least three ways to buffer.
1.1 Via ArcToolbox>Analysis Tools>Proximity>Buffer (or Multiple Ring Buffer)
This works with geodatabases and shapefiles. For coverages, go to:
ArcToolbox>CoverageTools>Analysis>Proximity>Buffer for coverages.
experiment with this by building 1 mile buffer around the dal_hospitals_point in Toxic Sites frame. You
have several options
o Before running the tool, go to Selection/Clear Selected features (assuming you wish to buffer
all features in a layer)
o Input Features: dal_hospitals_point
o Output feature: c:\usr\ini\ArcMap\ArcMap.gdb\Dallas\dal_hospitall_buff1mile (i.e.in Dallas
feature dataset)
o Linear Unit: 5280 feet (buffer can be set in different units--miles, kms, etc)
--the Field Option allows you to use a variable (field) in the table to establish the buffer
distance, thus you can have a unique-sized buffer for each feature being buffered.
o Side Type and End type apply only when buffering arcs and polygons
determines if corners are rounded or not.
o Dissolve Type: None
None: keeps saparate buffer for each feature
All: Dissolve buffer boundaries when overlap occurs
List: will dissolve if have same value(s) in their dissolve field(s)
o Click Environments button to make any modifications to Environment Settings
o Click OK to run the Buffer tool
o you may need to move the original point file to top of frame in TofC to see it
Use the Multiple Ring Buffer tool to create multiple, incremental buffers
To buffer selected features rather than all features:
o Create a selection before running the tool;
o The tool buffers selected features only if a selection is in place
o Its good practice to go to Selection/Clear Selected features prior to running the tool to make
sure none are selected if you wish to run a standarad buffer on all features.
2. Buffer tool under Editor. This is a special purpose tool intended just to buffer one or a few
manually selected features while editing. Note that:
only works with geodatabase data (I think!)
only buffers arcs and polygons; will not buffer points
buffers manually selected features only; you can select multiple features (hold down shift key) or
drag a box, but each gets a separate buffer
buffers are created as part of the file that you are buffering
To use this:
--use Dalarearoads in Surrounding Dallas Counties frame
From Selection pull down menu, select “Set Selection Layers” , and select desired layer(s)
--On Edit toolbar, click Editor button and select “start editing” (you may need to open Edit toolbar)
--In Target downarrow box, select specific layer to use
--Select edit tool (tailless black arrow)
--Click on desired feature—it will be highlighted, or drag a box
(To select multiple features, hold shift key when clicking with pointer—do this for a road segment)
--click Editor button and select Buffer
--type in distance in map units (not display units: 1 mile=5280 feet in this case) & press Enter
--to save the buffer as part of your data set, click stop editing (under Editor button) and click
YES when asked “save edits?”
--if you don’t wish to save buffers, click NO when asked “save edits?”
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3. Selection/Select by Location. This doesn’t actually draw a buffer, rather it selects features within a
buffer. It selects features from one (or more) layers which are within a designated distance from features
in another layer, which is conceptually a buffering. For example, in the Surrounding Dallas Counties:
frame we could identify all hospitals within 1/2 mile of a freeway or major highway:
--clear all existing selections via Selection/Clear Selected Features (if its not greyed)
--go to Selection/Select by Location pull down menu
--in 1st box (I want to): specify “select features from” (usually)
--in 2nd box (the following layers), check layers to select from (e.g. dal_hospitals_point)
--in 3rd box (that) select “are within a distance of “
--in 4th box, specify the layer buffer is to be based on (dalarearoad_ arc)
--in last box, specify buffer distance (0.5 miles)
--click Apply button and a subset of the hospitals should be highlighted in
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