Exercise 1

1. GETTING TO KNOW ARCGIS

Introduction
People have used maps for thousands of years to present and analyze geographic information. The ArcGIS software
package is one of the latest extensions to this ancient tradition. The package is developed by the Environmental
Systems Research Institute (ESRI), one of the world’s leading companies in the field of geographic information
system (GIS) technology.

ArcGIS is not a GIS program itself. ESRI describes the software package as an ‘integrated collection of (more than
fifteen) GIS software products with which the user can build a complete GIS’. During this course you will get
acquainted with three of these ArcGIS software products. These are the desktop applications ArcCatalog,
ArcToolbox and ArcMap. You can find more information about the ArcGIS software package on the ESRI website:
www.esri.com.

ArcCatalog
The ArcCatalog application helps you to organize and manage all your spatial datasets. It includes tools that allow
you to explore, find and view your geographic information in the form of maps or tables. You can replace, rename
or delete your spatial datasets and view, create and edit the metadata linked to your data. ArcCatalog can be used as
a stand-alone GIS application, but is also integrated in ArcMap.

Warning: NEVER use the Windows Explorer for geodata management, e.g. renaming, replacing or deleting your
geodata. Instead, use ArcCatalog for these purposes.

ArcToolbox
The ArcToolbox application offers you a comprehensive set of GIS tools for geoprocessing and analyzing your
spatial data. Some common geoprocessing tasks include:
 Converting data (such as converting a vector to a raster dataset);
 Overlaying data (by merging or intersecting datasets);
 Extracting data (by clipping a subset of data or selecting data with certain characteristics);
 Finding what's nearby (by buffering data or finding points near other features);
 Managing data (by joining tables, copying datasets, or creating new datasets).

ArcToolbox is not a stand-alone GIS application; it is integrated in both ArcCatalog and ArcMap. You can only
access ArcToolbox via these two programs.

ArcMap
ArcMap is the central GIS desktop application of the ArcGIS software package. ArcMap gives you the power to
access, visualize, edit and process geographic data stored in various data formats. During this course you will mainly
work with data in shapefile format (*.shp), ArcMap’s own data type for vector datasets.

It is also possible to create your own geographic data in the form of maps. Once you have made the map you want, it
is easy to add tabular data, such as dBase files and data from database servers, to your map so that you can display,
query, process and organize your data geographically. In fact, while ArcMap lets you create great maps to show
your data, you will find the software’s true power lies in how easily it enables you to solve simple problems by
uncovering and analyzing trends and patterns.

In this exercise:
 Exploring datasets and metadata in ArcCatalog.
  Working with Data Frames, layers and tables in ArcMap.
 Symbolizing your data: choosing the correct map type.
 Getting help from ArcGIS’ extensive help system.
ArcMap Document: Intro_AM.mxd

Working with ArcCatalog

The ArcCatalog application window

The ArcCatalog application window (Figure 1) is built up of different components: the Catalog Tree (1), the View
Window (2), the Menu bar (3) and adjustable Toolbars (4).

Figure 1. ArcCatalog’s application window.

Catalog Tree (1)

The Catalog Tree works the same as the folder tree in Windows explorer. It allows you to browse through the
folders on your computer to find your stored spatial data. Besides the data on your own computer you can also
access GIS servers and databases on the web or a network if you have established a connection to these data sources.
If you have not, you can add a connection to a GIS server or database with ArcCatalog.

View Window (2)

The View Window contains three viewing tabs. The Contents tab lists the items of files or folders such as maps or
tables. The View Window in Figure 1 shows the content of the ‘elevheight’ dataset. With the Preview tab you can
examine the geographical and tabular data of the selected dataset. You can use the Description tab to access the
metadata (data about the data) of the selected dataset.

Menu bar (3)

This bar along the top of the ArcCatalog’s window contains ArcCatalog’s pull down menus. To choose a function
from one of the pull down menu, you can use the mouse or a keyboard shortcut. Some keyboard shortcuts are listed
in the menus.

Toolbars (4)

These bars, located beneath the Menu bar in the ArcCatalog window, contain buttons that give you quick access to
various controls and tools. Note that there are buttons to start ArcMap and ArcToolbox . With the tools of the
Geography toolbar you can easily explore geographic datasets in the View Window. You can add toolbars via the
Customize pull down menu on the Menu bar.

Start the program ArcCatalog and access spatial data

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Start ArcCatalog. Click start, select All Programs ArcGIS ArcCatalog 10.
2. When the ArcCatalog opening banner disappears, you’ll see the ArcCatalog application window.
3. Select the folder in the Catalog Tree that contains your data. If the folder is not present in the Catalog Tree,
use the connect to folder icon to make it visible. Now your datasets are displayed in the View Window.
Make sure that the Contents tab is selected.

1.

Start ArcCatalog and select the folder that contains your spatial data in the Catalog Tree D:\IGI\Data.

Set the View Window setting to Contents.

a. Write down the different file types of this folder.

b. The shapefile is ArcMap’s storage type for vector datasets. In both the Catalog Tree and the View Window
you see an icon in front of each dataset name. There are three different icons related to the shapefile storage
type (check this). What do these icons represent?
Examining spatial data

Once you have located your datasets on your computer or a network, you can examine your data with ArcCatalog’s
Preview function. You can view your spatial data in the form of maps and tables that contain the thematic data of
your dataset. Besides the viewer functionality, ArcCatalog offers you some tools to analyze and edit the tables.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Select a dataset in the Catalog Tree.

2. View the dataset by selecting the Preview tab in the View Window.
3. At the bottom of the View Window a dropdown menu appears. You can examine the selected dataset either
by its Geography (default setting) or by its Table.
4. Click the Preview dropdown arrow, and choose Geography. A map is drawn in the View Window that
contains each feature in a vector dataset and each cell in a raster dataset. When you are viewing data in the
Geography preview, the Geography Toolbar is active. You can explore the map using the buttons on the
Geography Toolbar.
5. Choose the Table preview from the dropdown menu to view all rows, called records in ArcGIS, and
columns, called fields, and the value for each feature, called attribute values, in the selected dataset's table.
6. You can sort a table’s records by attribute values in one or more fields, get statistics describing a field’s
values, or delete a field by clicking on the column heading with the right mouse button.
7. Use the Table Options button in the lower left corner of the View Window to locate a specific value in a
table or to add a field to the table.

Note: you cannot edit table attribute values in ArcCatalog.

2.

Select the ‘Netherlands’ dataset in the Catalog Tree. Set the View Window setting to Preview.

A map of the Netherlands appears showing all features of this dataset. Click the Preview dropdown arrow and
choose Table.

a. How many records does the table contain? And how many fields?

b. Add a field to the table by using the Table Options button. Enter ‘capital’ in the ‘Name’ field of the window.
Choose Text from the dropdown menu of the ‘Type’ field. Change the field length to 20.
 c. Delete the field you just added.

d. Sort the province names (field: ‘PROVNAME’) ascending. How many records belong to the province of
Noord Brabant?

e. What is the total area of the Netherlands? Hint: use the Statistics function by clicking on the column heading
with the right mouse button .

f. Which province contains a feature that has a perimeter of 219934.719 meters? Hint: use the Find function by
clicking on the Table Options button. Uncheck ‘search only selected fields’. What is the value of the attribute
‘FID’ of this feature?

g. What does the attribute ‘FID’ represent?

Exploring the metadata of a spatial dataset

Metadata is critical for sharing data and maps and for searching to see if the resources you need already exist.
Metadata describes GIS datasets in the same way a card in a library’s card catalog describes a book. Once you've
found a dataset with a search, its metadata will help you decide whether it is suitable for your purposes. To make
this decision, you may need to know how accurate or up to date the resource is, and if there are any restrictions on
how it can be used. Metadata can answer these questions. Any item in ArcCatalog, including folders and file types
such as Word documents, can have metadata. Once created, metadata is copied, moved, and deleted along with the
item when it is managed with ArcCatalog.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Select a dataset in the Catalog Tree.

2. You view the metadata belonging to the selected dataset by selecting the Description tab in the View
Window.
3. You can add or modify metadata by clicking the Edit button in the upper part of the
View Window.
 4. The information in a metadata document is divided into six sections. You can type or edit information in
text boxes that are provided for each element.

3.

If you browse through the metadata of the ‘Netherlands’ dataset you will notice that the metadata document is far
from complete. You will now use the metadata editor to create some information that is missing.

a. Click on the Edit button, go to the Summary text box and delete its current content. Now you can type your
summary, something like: ‘The dataset supplies information about the 12 provinces of The Netherlands’. Save
your edits.

b. Check the change in your metadata document.

c. Keywords or Tags are very useful when you are searching for a dataset in a database on the web. The
‘Netherlands’ dataset is lacking tags in the metadata document. Use the editor to add some tags. They should
be provided as a comma-separated list.

d. Again, confirm the change in your metadata document.

e. Close ArcCatalog.

Working with ArcMap

The ArcMap application window
The ArcMap application window is built up using different components (Figure 2): the Table of Contents (1),
ArcToolbox (2), the View Window (3), the Menu bar (4) adjustable Toolbars (5), and two components that are
hidden in Figure 2: the Catalog Window (6) and the Search Window (7). By using the Windows menu, you can
change the components of the ArcMap application window. By dragging the components, you can relocate them or
attach them to a certain side of the ArcMap window. When attached you can chose to auto-hide the component, to
have a larger working canvas.

Figure 2. ArcMap’s application window.

Table of contents (1)

The Table Of Contents (TOC) lists datasets present in an ArcMap session. This is shown in
cascade fashion, with the primary slots (for instance Wag_south2 in Figure 3) depicting the
different Data Frames under which different geographical datasets are organized. Each
dataset represents a particular type of geographical features, e.g. land use (Figure 2).
ArcMap is only capable of showing one Data Frame at a time, which has to be active to do
so. The active Data Frame is depicted in bold type (Wag_south2 in Figure 2).

ArcToolbox (2)

ArcToolbox can be seen as the power center of ArcGIS, because ArcToolbox contains all
the tools to create new geographical datasets and to do the geographical conversions, Figure 3. Detail of the Table of
calculations and spatial analysis, i.e. do your geoprocessing. ArcToolbox can be opened Contents (TOC).
and closed by using the ArcToolbox button in the toolbar.
When the ArcToolbox window is initially opened (Figure 4), a list of available toolboxes (1) is displayed in the
window. Each toolbox contains toolsets (2), which contain geoprocessing tools (3) that can be run. If you select a
tool (e.g. intersect, see Figure 4) a user-friendly dialog-driven interface will appear, the dialog box. You can enter
the input en output datasets in text boxes as well as the required parameters for the processing tool you selected.
View Window (3)

In the View Window interactive maps are drawn, which you can explore, query, and analyze. The View Window in
ArcMap is linked to the Table Of Contents, making it easy to understand and control what is displayed. Note that the
datasets in the TOC are sorted by drawing order. Datasets at the top of the list are drawn on top of datasets lower in
the list, so that lower datasets can become (partially) invisible.

Menu bar (4)

This bar along the top of the ArcMap’s window contains ArcMap’s pull down
menus. To choose a function from one of pull down menus, you can use the
mouse or a keyboard shortcut. Some keyboard shortcuts are listed in the menus.

Toolbars (5)

These bars, located beneath the Menu bar in the ArcMap window, contain
buttons that give you quick access to various controls and tools. The tool
remains selected until you choose another one. You can add toolbars via the
Customize pull down menu on the Menu bar.

Catalog Window (6)

The Catalog Window allows you to use some of the functionality of ArcCatalog
directly in ArcMap.
Figure 4. The ArcToolbox tree You can for example search datasets in the Catalog Tree, and drag and drop
structure. them into the TOC.

Search Window (7)

In the Search Window you can search for maps, data or tools on your computer or in the database of ArcGIS online.

Start the program ArcMap and open an ArcMap document

An ArcMap Document (*.mxd) is a file in which you store the work you do with ArcMap. A document links to all
datasets, tables, layouts, and scripts that you use for a particular application or set of related applications. An
ArcMap document is nothing more than a desktop screen of your computer. If you remove, add or change the way
the data is presented (other colors in the legend) you don’t alter or remove data sets!

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Start ArcMap. Click start, select All Programs ArcGIS ArcMap 10.
2. When the ArcMap opening banner disappears, you’ll see the ArcMap application window which says:
ArcMap – Getting Started. On the left hand side under Existing maps select Browse for more....
3. Select the ArcMap Document you wish to work with and click Open.
4. When you close ArcMap or open a new ArcMap Document, don’t forget to save your current ArcMap
Document. To stop ArcMap: choose Exit from the File Menu.
 4.

a. Start ArcMap. Click Browse for more... and browse to D:\IGI\ArcMap documents. Open the ArcMap
document called ‘Intro_AM.mxd’.

Warning: an ArcMap document does NOT store the actual spatial datasets contained in your Table Of Contents. It
only stores references or links to the location of the datasets in the Table Of Contents, (such a reference can for
example be: D:\IGI\Morning\ArcGIS\Data\Landuse.shp). When you open a document, ArcMap looks for the
datasets on the hard drive of the pc using these references. If it cannot find the dataset, for example when you have
moved, renamed or deleted it with ArcCatalog, the dataset cannot be drawn in the View Window; it has a broken
link. When a dataset has a broken data link it shows a red exclamation mark (!) next to its name in the Table Of
Contents, and the check box next to the layer is unavailable, as shown below. When this happens, you can ignore the
broken link and display the content of the ArcMap document without the dataset. The dataset will still be part of the
map and listed in the TOC, but it will simply not display. However, broken links can be easily repaired.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Locate the layer with the broken link in the TOC.

2. Right-click the layer and select Data Repair Data Source....
3. Navigate to the source dataset and click Add.
4. ArcMap repairs the link to the dataset.

5.

a. Repair the broken link of dataset ‘Soil_types’. The source dataset is stored as ‘Soil_types.shp’ in folder
D:\IGI\Data.

Working with Data Frames, datasets (layers) and tables

In the View Window datasets of geographic information of a particular area are displayed. Each dataset is a
collection of geographic features, such as land use units or roads. Datasets are often referred to as layers in ArcMap.
Layers are, in this context, visual representations of spatial datasets. However, layers do not necessarily refer to
spatial datasets. In this practical manual, the ESRI term ‘layer’ is only used when referred to layer files (see section
‘Working with layer files’), otherwise the generic term ‘dataset’ is used to refer to digitally stored spatial data.
All datasets present in an ArcMap document are listed in the Table Of Contents, under one or more
Data Frames. The Table Of Contents also shows the symbols and colors used to draw the features of each dataset.

Activate a Data Frame and turn the visibility of a dataset on and off

The order of datasets within the Table Of Contents determines the drawing order; a dataset is drawn on top of those
below them. Thus, you have to put the datasets that form the background of your map, e.g. the ocean, at the bottom
of the Table Of Contents. Note that for a dataset to be visible in the View Window, the Data Frame that contains the
dataset has to be active. The active Data Frame is indicated by its bold font (Figure 2).

INSTRUCTIONS:
 1. To activate a Data Frame, right-click the Data Frame you wish to activate, and select Activate from to
appearing context menu.
2. A dataset can be turned on and off by clicking the check box.
3. To add a Data Frame click Insert Data Frame on the Menu bar.
4. You can rename the inserted Data Frame. Right-click the Data Frame and select Properties. The Data
Frame Properties window opens. Alternatively, double-click the Data Frame. Select the General tab and
type in the name of the Data Frame in the ‘Name’ text box.

6.

The ArcMap document ‘Intro_AM.mxd’ contains a number of Data Frames and datasets, which are listed in the
Table Of Contents.

a. How many Data Frames does the document ‘Intro_AM.mxd’ contain?

b. How many datasets does Data Frame ‘Wag_south1’ contain?

c. Turn the visibility of the datasets contained in the Data Frame on and off.

d. Activate the Data Frame ‘Wag_south2’ to view the dataset ‘LU_raster’.

e. Insert a new Data Frame. The inserted Data Frame is immediately activated. Name this Data Frame

‘Soil and Land use’.

Adding datasets

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Activate the Data Frame you want to add data to.

2. Click the Add Data button , browse to the directory where the dataset is stored.
3. Select the dataset you want to add to your Data Frame and click Open.
4. The new layer appears at the top of the Table Of Contents within the active Data Frame. ArcMap has
chosen a default color for this dataset.
5. You can remove layers by right-clicking the layer and selecting Remove from the context menu.

7.

Activate the Data Frame ‘Soil and Land use’.

a. Add shapefile ‘Landuse.shp’, stored in D:\IGI\Data to the Data Frame ‘Soil and Land use’.

Working with layer files

You can save datasets as layer files. Layer files do not store spatial datasets; they only reference to spatial data
contained in shapefiles or rasters stored elsewhere. This means that when you rename or delete a shapefile, the
associated layer file cannot be displayed anymore because the stored link to the shapefile is broken.

Layer files store symbology, display and labeling. They define how spatial data is drawn in the View Window. For
example, a layer might select specific cities from a shapefile, draw them as blue squares, and label them with text
stored in a related table. Layers are not spatial datasets!!

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Right-click the dataset in the Table Of Contents you want to save as layer file. Click Save as Layer File from the
context menu. Layer files have the ‘.lyr’ extension and can be recognized by the layer icon.

8.
 a. Activate the Data Frame ‘Wag_south1’. Add layer ‘Landuse.lyr’ and dataset ‘Landuse.shp’ to the Data Frame.

You can see that the land use features of dataset ‘Landuse.shp’ are displayed in a single color. The layer file
‘Landuse.lyr’ contains an appropriate symbology to display the different land use types.

b. Open the Layer properties window of the land use layer file. Click the Source tab. What is the data source of this
layer file?

c. What happens with the layer ‘Landuse.lyr’ when you change something in the dataset ‘Landuse.shp’?

To keep your Table Of Contents organized you can group (thematically) related datasets in one Data Frame into a
group layer. For example, suppose you have two datasets in a Data Frame, one representing railroads, the other
highways. You might choose to group these datasets and name the resulting group layer ‘transportation networks’.
Once you have grouped related datasets, you can rename the group layer and subsequently save it as a layer file,
which you can add to other Data Frames or ArcMap documents.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. There are two ways to create group layers:

 Select the layers you want to group by clicking on the layers while holding down the CTRL key. A
blue box appears around the layer name when it is selected. Right-click on one of the layers you have
selected and choose Group from the context menu that appears. A new group layer appears in the
Table Of Contents in which the selected layers are organized.
 You can also create a group layer by right-clicking the Data Frame. Select New Group Layer. A new
group layer appears in the Table Of Contents. Now you can add layers to your group layer. If the layer
you want to add to a group is already present in the Table Of Contents, you can drag and drop it into
the group layer.
2. To save a group layer as layer file right-click on the group layer and select Save as Layer File from the
context menu.
3. You can rename a group layer. Right-click the group layer and select Properties. The Layer Properties
window opens. Alternatively, double-click the group layer to do so. Select the General tab and type in the
name of the group layer in the Name text box. Note that only the name as it appears in the Table Of
Contents is changed, NOT the name under which the layer is stored.
4. To ungroup the group layer, right-click the layer name and select ungroup from the context menu.

9.
a. Activate the Data Frame ‘Wag_south1’. Select the layers ‘Soil_points’ and ‘Soil_types’ and group them into a
group layer. Name the group layer ‘Soil data’ and save the group layer as a layer file in the workspace
directory. Name the layer file ‘soil_data’.

b. Create another group layer in Data Frame ‘Wag_south1’. Use this time the function New Group Layer. Name
the layer ‘Infrastructure’.

c. In the group layer you have just created you want to organize datasets that are related to infrastructure. In this
case these are the datasets ‘Roads’ and ‘Trails’. These datasets are already present in your Data Frame so you
can drag these layers into the ‘infrastructure’ group layer. Save the group layer as a group layer file in your
Workspace directory. Name the layer file ‘Infrastructure’.

d. Drag the group layer ‘Soil data’ to the top of the Table Of Contents. What has happened to the other layers in
the Data Frame? Explain your answer.

e. Turn off the visibility of the group layer ‘Soil data’. What happens with the visibility of the layers that are
contained in this group layer? Explain your answer.

f. Ungroup the group layers ‘Soil data’ and ‘Infrastructure’.

g. Activate the Data Frame ‘Soils and Land use’ and add the layer file ‘Soil data’.

h. Remove Data Frame ‘Soils and Land use’ from your ArcMap document.

Zooming in and out

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Click the Zoom In button or Zoom Out button on the Tools toolbar.
 2. Move the mouse pointer over the map display and click once to zoom around a point. Alternatively,
click and drag a rectangle defining the area on which you want to zoom in or out. The view redraws to
show you the area of the rectangle you defined.
3. If you make a mistake, click the Zoom to Previous Extent button to go back to where you were before
you zoomed in.
4. Click the Zoom To Full Extent button to zoom to the full spatial extent of all the layers in your Data
Frame.
5. Use the Fixed Zoom In or Fixed Zoom Out buttons for stepwise zooming.
6. Click the Pan button to pan around the dataset.

10.

a. Zoom in to the ponds in the top-left corner of dataset ‘Landuse’ and zoom back to ‘full extension’.

Viewing a dataset’s attribute table

Attributes describe the characteristics of geographical phenomena in a GIS. For example, attributes of a river might
include its name, length and average depth. They are usually stored in a table and linked to the spatial features of a
dataset by a unique identifier. The attribute table is arranged so that each row, called record, represents a feature
and each column, called field, represents one attribute.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Right click a dataset.

2. Click Open Attribute Table to open the attribute table.
3. For quick access to the attribute values of one particular feature, click the Identify tool on the Tools toolbar
and click the feature in the View Window whose attributes you want to examine.
4. The feature's attribute values are presented in the Identify Results window.

11.

Activate Data Frame ‘Wag_south1’. Open the attribute table of dataset ‘Roads’.

a. 1. What feature type does this table contain?

2. How many attributes does this table contain? Write down the attributes of this table.
3. How many records does this table contain?
b. Do the same for the datasets ‘Soil_points’ and ‘Soil_types’.

c. Describe in your own words what kind of information a record contains.

d. Use the Identify tool to view the attributes of one of the features of the ‘Soil_types’ dataset. Note that the
attributes are displayed of the Top-most layer, which is the default setting. This means that when features from
different datasets overlap, only the attribute information of the feature that is on top is displayed. You can
change the default setting by clicking the dropdown arrow in Identify Results window.

12.

Activate the Data Frame ‘Wag_south2’. Open the attribute table of dataset ‘LU_raster’.

a. How many attributes does this table contain? Write down the attributes of this table.

b. How many records does this table contain?

c. What is the meaning of ‘Value’ and ‘Count’?

d. What is the size of one raster cell? Zoom in until you are able to distinguish individual raster cells.

Use the Measure button on the Tools toolbar. Check your result by looking at the properties of ‘LU_raster’
(Right-click the dataset, open the Properties window and select the Source tab).

Symbolizing spatial vector data

Symbolizing spatial data involves choosing colors and symbols to represent spatial features. The basic colors and
patterns of the features can be changed by clicking on the dataset’s legend symbol(s) in the Table Of Contents, but
when you want to change the map type, you need the symbology editor. The basic options of the Symbology editor
(Figure 5) are described in this section. Note that this is a description for symbolizing vector datasets. Raster
datasets have limited options for visualization!

Show field (1)

There are many ways to display the features of a dataset in a map. The choice of a map type depends on the nature
of the spatial data (e.g. categorical, classes, quantitative) and the purpose of your map. You can define the map type
in the Show field of the symbology editor. The most important ones are:

Features
 • Single symbol All the features in the dataset are drawn with the same color and symbol. This is useful
when you only need to show where a dataset’s features are located.

Categories
• Unique values Each unique value (class) of a dataset’s attribute is displayed with a different color or
symbol. This is the most effective method for displaying categorical data. For example, a land use map
shows each unique land use type with one a specific color.

Quantities
• Graduated color The color of the features changes (e.g. from light red to dark red) according to the values
of a particular attribute. This is useful when you want to map quantities or for showing data that is ranked.
• Graduated symbol The size of the symbol representing a feature is drawn with changes according to the
values of a particular attribute. This map type is the best way to symbolize data that expresses size or
magnitude. Graduated symbol is only available for point and line data.

Figure 5. The symbology editor; where you can change the way your data is displayed.

When one of these map types is chosen, which can be done by clicking on it, different sets of options become
available. Figure 5 and the text below, explain these options for the map type Categories – Unique values, but
similar options are available for the other map types.

Value field (2)

With the Value Field dropdown arrow you can select the attribute you want to display in your map.
When an attribute is chosen, press the Add All Values button to add all unique instances of this attribute.

Color Ramp (3)

You can choose a predefined color scheme for the coloring of your attribute values by selecting a color ramp.

Symbols and Labels (4)

The central part of the symbology editor contains four columns: Symbol, Value, Label and Count.
• Double-click one of the colored symbols in the Symbol field to change its style, color or size.
• You can also right-click in symbol field to change outlook of all symbols at once or to reverse the colors of
the chosen color scheme.
• The Value shows which attribute values are displayed.
• In the Label column you can type a description for the features represented by the symbol, which is then
legible in the legend next to the symbol in the Table Of Contents.
• The Count gives the number of features or grid cells present within each symbol class.

Import (5)

If you want to use the same symbology for different datasets or layers, you can use the Import button to select the
dataset or layer you want to copy the symbology from.

INSTRUCTIONS (example for map type ‘Categories – Unique values’):

1. Double-click the dataset for which you want to change the symbology
2. Click on the Symbology tab, click Categories in the Show field and select Unique values.
3. Click Value Field dropdown arrow; choose the attribute that you want to display in the map.
4. Click the Add all values button and uncheck the <all other values> check box.
5. If you want to change the labels that will appear next to the symbols in the Table Of Contents, type label
text into the Label field.
6. You can choose a pre-defined color ramp, or double-click the symbol in the Symbol field to set the
properties of each attribute value manually.
7. Click Apply to redraw the map using your new symbology.

13.

Activate the Data Frame ‘Wag_south1’. Open the Layer Properties window of dataset ‘Soil_types’ and click the
Symbology tab.

a. Which map type is used to display dataset ‘Soil_types’?

b. Display the attribute ‘Soilname’. Which map type did you choose? Explain your answer.

c. Display the attribute ‘pH’ of the ‘Soil_points’ dataset.

d. Which map type did you choose? Explain your answer.

e. In which part of the study area are the highest pH values found?

14.

Open the Layers properties window of dataset ‘Roads’.

a. Give every road a different color based on the attribute ‘STREETNAME’.

b. How many different street names does this dataset contain?

c. Open the attribute table of dataset ‘Roads’. How many road features does the table contain? When the answer is
different from the answer of 14.b, explain the difference.

Using the ArcGIS Desktop Help

ArcGIS is equipped with an extensive help system, the ArcGIS Desktop Help, which explains different topics and
tools, and provides steps to guide you through specific tasks. The Help system also includes a glossary of ArcMap
and GIS terms.

Help topics

To browse through the contents of the ArcGIS Desktop Help, go to the Menu bar click Help ArcGIS Desktop
Help or press the F1 key. Then click the Contents tab and expand the tree until you find the required topic. To search
ArcGIS Desktop Help for a particular word, use the Search tab.

Help for tools, dialog boxes, windows and menu commands

A quick way to learn what your software application can do is to get help about the tools, buttons, menu commands,
and dialog boxes that appear in the application window. For example, when you position the mouse pointer over a
button or menu command, the name of the item pops up in a small box. Simultaneously, a brief description appears
in the status bar at the bottom of the application window. You can also access additional help about any command,
button, or control in the application.
• To get help on a command in a pull down menu or button in a toolbar, click the What's This tool on the
ArcMap or ArcCatalog standard toolbar, then click the item.
• To get help on a command in a context menu (menu launched by right-clicking), highlight the command
and press Shift + F1.
• To get help on a control in a dialog box, click the question mark button at the top of the dialog box and
click the control. On some dialog boxes there are also About or Help buttons, both of which provide
additional Help information specific to the dialog box.
• To get help on a window, such as the Table Of Contents or the Identify Results window, click inside the
window, then press Shift + F1.

Online help

You can access additional online help provided by ESRI in the ArcGIS Resource Center. You can find
a shortcut to this site in the Help pull down menu on the Menu bar.

15.

a. Try to find out what the definition of a join is in ArcMap, using the ArcGIS Desktop Help system.

b. Try to find out information about the ArcToolbox button using the What’s This? button.