Getting Started with ArcGIS Desktop Module 1

1. Getting Started with ArcGIS Desktop Module 1 ESRI Virtual Campus Learning ArcGIS Desktop Training Course ESRI ArcGIS

2. Course Introduction • You benefit from GIS software every day • Regular delivery of your morning newspaper • Synchronization of traffic lights • Convenient location of your favorite park • All over the world, organizations are using GIS to • Manage the environment • Work more efficiently • Provide better customer service • Save money

3. Course Introduction • This course introduces the fundamental concepts of GIS and the major functionality contained in ArcGIS® Desktop software. • In the interactive course exercises, you will work with a variety of ArcGIS tools as you learn how to • create maps • find information • create and edit geographic data • solve a variety of geographic problems • By the end of this course, you should feel comfortable working with ArcGIS Desktop software on your own

4. Learning Objectives • Explore a GIS map and get information about map features • Preview geographic data and metadata • Add data to a map • Describe the structure of a GIS map • Explain how a GIS represents real-world objects • Change the way features are drawn on a map • Access feature information in different ways • Describe spatial relationships of map features • Describe how GIS can be used to solve problems

5. ArcGIS • In a GIS, data about real-world objects is linked to an onscreen map. • Geographic features are drawn quickly and can be displayed using different information in the database. • ArcGIS® is the name of the family of ESRI's software solution programs. • While the depth of functionality in ArcGIS is tremendous, as you'll see, it takes a friendly approach to GIS with easy-to-use tools that help you through the most complicated of tasks. • This module provides an overview of basic GIS concepts and standard ArcGIS functions, while remaining modules provide more in-depth information.

6. Exploring a GIS Map • What's the difference between a GIS map and a static paper or electronic map? • GIS maps are dynamic. • While you can look at a static map and see where features are located and even measure approximate distances between them, you can't do much more than that. • With a GIS map, however, you are in charge. • You can zoom in and out to see different areas with more or less detail • You can decide what features you want to see and how they are symbolized • Most importantly, you can access a database of information about all the features shown on the map

7. Exploring ArcGIS Desktop • ArcGIS Desktop is a scalable product that includes three license levels • ArcView® • ArcEditor™ • ArcInfo®

8. Exploring ArcGIS Desktop • All three software products look and work the same • They differ only in how much they can do. • ArcEditor does more than ArcView, and ArcInfo does more than ArcEditor. • This course teaches ArcView, but • everything you learn applies to all three products • and you can complete all course exercises using any of the three. • All ArcGIS Desktop products can share the same map documents and data.

9. Exploring ArcGIS Desktop • Each ArcGIS Desktop product includes two applications: ArcMap and ArcCatalog™. • ArcMap • The application you work with to explore and analyze data and make maps • ArcCatalog • The application you work with to manage data • ArcToolbox™ • An integrated application that contains many tools for GIS tasks. • You can access ArcToolbox from both ArcMap and ArcCatalog.

10. Excercise • Plan a Trip to San Diego

11. How is a GIS Map Organized? • A GIS map consists of one or more data frames • A data frame contains a collection of thematic layers. • Layers, in turn, contain a collection of features that represent real-world objects.

12. How is a GIS Map Organized? • On a GIS map, features have a location, shape, and a symbol. • Features grouped into a layer have the same shape and characteristics and are located within the same geographic extent. • To make a GIS map, you can add as many layers as you want.

13. How is a GIS Map Organized? • These four layers might be used by a city government to create a GIS map. • The layers all contain features located within the city's boundaries, but each one represents a distinct "theme." • The layers are drawn on top of each other to create an informative GIS map.

14. Representing the Real World • In the real world, geographic objects have a wide variety of shapes. • In a GIS map, geographic objects are primarily represented as point, line, and polygon features.

15. Representing the Real World • In this map of South America • Countries are represented as polygons • Rivers are represented as lines • Cities are points • Each feature shape has its own unique set of characteristics. • The geometry type used to represent an object depends on the amount of detail that needs to be shown • The same object may be represented as a polygon in one layer and a point in another layer.

16. Points • Composed of one coordinate pair representing a specific location on the earth's surface. • Used for objects too small to be polygons, such as cities, trees, and hospitals.

17. Lines • A sequence of two or more coordinate pairs. • Has length, while polygons have two intrinsic values, perimeter and area. • Represent objects too narrow to be polygons, such as streets, rivers, and telephone lines.

18. Polygons • Composed of one or more lines whose starting and ending coordinate pairs are the same. • Have two intrinsic values • Perimeter • Area • Represent objects large enough to have boundaries, such as • Countries • Building footprints • Lakes

19. Linking Features to Information • On a GIS map, there's more to a feature than its location and shape. • There's all the information associated with that feature. • For a road, this might include its name, speed limit, and whether it's one-way or two-way. • For a city, this might include its population, demographic characteristics, number of schools, and average monthly temperatures.

20. Linking Features to Information • A particular type, or category, of information associated with a feature in a GIS is called an attribute. • For example, population can be an attribute of a city, country, continent, and other features. • Feature attributes are stored in an attribute table. • In an attribute table, each feature is a record (row) and each attribute is a column, or field. • The attributes for all the features in a layer are stored in the same attribute table.

21. Linking Features to Information • This attribute table for a layer of cities stores each feature's • ID number • Shape • Name • Country in which it's located • Status

22. Linking Feature to Information • A feature on a GIS map is linked to its record in the attribute table by a unique numerical identifier (ID). • Every feature in a layer has an identifier.

23. Linking Feature to Information • Because features on the map are linked to their records in the table • you can click a feature on the map and see the attributes stored for it in the table. • When you select a record in the table, the linked feature on the map is automatically selected as well.

24. Linking Feature to Information • In this map of India, the city of Bombay is selected. • Its record is also selected in the attribute table. • The unique identifier for Bombay is stored in the FID field.

25. Linking Feature to Information • Links between features and attributes make it possible to ask questions about the information stored in an attribute table and display the answer on the map. • This linkage makes GIS maps much more informative than static maps.

26. Understanding Map Scale • Scale is the relationship between the size of features on a map and the size of the corresponding objects in the real world. • Scale is commonly expressed as a ratio, or representative fraction, such as 1:24,000. • This scale means one unit on the map is equal to 24,000 units on the earth. • Another way of thinking about it is that the objects on the earth are 24,000 times larger than the features on the map which represent them.

27. Understanding Map Scale • You will commonly see references to two types of maps: • Large-scale • Covers a small area in more detail • i.e. a map of city streets or a building plan • Small-scale • Covers a large area in less detail • i.e a world map,. • GIS maps are dynamic—you can change the scale to see more or less detail as desired.

28. Understanding Map Scale • Map on the left • Large scale • A small area of the earth's surface (the city of San Diego, California) • Features such as roads are visible. • Map on the right • Small scale • Bigger area of the earth's surface (the continental U.S.) • But with less detail

29. ArcMap • Use ArcMap to • explore and edit geographic data • perform analysis • create professional-quality maps, graphs, and reports • When you work in ArcMap, you work with a map document file, which has the .mxd file extension.

30. ArcMap • ArcMap interface consists of • Table of contents • The map display area • A number of toolbars and menus for working with the map and its data. • The order of layers within the table of contents is important; • the layers at the top of the table of contents draw on top of the layers below them. • Therefore, you should put the layers that form the background of your map, such as the ocean, at the bottom of the table of contents.

31. ArcMap • There are two views for working with data • data view • layout view. • In data view, you • explore • edit • query • analyze • symbolize data. • In data view, you can view only one data frame at a time.

32. ArcMap • Layout view • arrange data frames • add other map elements • scale bars • titles • legends • Create a map layout that can be published in print or digital form. • In layout view, you can view multiple data frames.

33. ArcCatalog • Designed for browsing, managing, and documenting geographic data. • A window into your GIS database. • From ArcCatalog you can access data stored on your computer's hard drives, local networks, and even the Internet. • To access data, you create a connection to its location • Collectively, the connections you create are called the Catalog.

34. ArcCatalog • The ArcCatalog interface consists of • Catalog tree on the left and • Preview pane on the right. • You use the Catalog tree to navigate and browse data.

35. ArcCatalog • Preview pane view • Contents of a folder • Geography (feature shapes) • Attributes stored with individual datasets • Metadata

36. Arc Catalog • ArcCatalog and ArcMap work together. • You can find and preview data in ArcCatalog • Then drag and drop the data into ArcMap to work with it.

37. ArcToolbox • Provides an organized collection of tools used for • GIS analysis • Data management • Data conversion • Accessible from both ArcMap and ArcCatalog. • The number of tools you have depends on your ArcGIS license: • ArcView supports a core set of GIS tools • ArcEditor adds more • ArcInfo provides the most comprehensive set of tools

38. Metadata • “Data about data” • Information that describes, or documents, a geographic dataset • Real world example of unofficial metadata • Can be found almost everywhere • Handwriting on the back of a photograph

39. Metadata • Standardized metadata • Type of metadata used to describe data used in a GIS • Official • Government organizations create rules for standardizing metadata • Federal Geographic Data Committee • Organization for U.S.

40. Metadata • GIS metadata typically includes • information about why the data was collected (its purpose) • what geographic area the data covers (its geographic extent) • who collected the data • when the data was collected • what processes were performed on the data • who should be contacted for more details about the data

41. Metadata • You create and edit metadata in ArcCatalog. • ArcCatalog automatically derives and documents some data properties, such as the geographic extent. • Other properties, such as when and how the data was collected, must be documented by the data creator.

42. Metadata • ArcCatalog provides different style sheets for viewing metadata. • The FGDC ESRI style sheet consists of three tabs: • Description • Spatial • Attributes

43. Description Tab • Displays • Thumbnail graphic of the data • Keywords • Abstract • Purpose statement • (not shown here). • Publication information

44. Spatial Tab • Displays the coordinates that define the data's geographic extent.

45. Attributes Tab • Where you find information about each attribute stored with a dataset. • Clicking an attribute name displays specific information about that attribute • such as its definition and data type

46. Metadata • Members of the GIS community like to share data and methods. • Metadata is critical for sharing data—people who are thinking about using a dataset for a project first view its metadata in order to determine whether the dataset is appropriate for the project. • If a dataset lacks metadata, it may be used inappropriately—and any analysis results or measurements made with the data may be inaccurate.

47. ArcGIS Desktop Help • Provides comprehensive explanations of • Procedures • Tools • Buttons • Commands • Access it from multiple locations within ArcMap and ArcCatalog • Context-sensitive Help • Click a tool or button and get information about it right there

48. ArcGIS Desktop Help • Four tabs that provide different ways of accessing information

49. Exercise • Calculate Tornado Damage

50. Using GIS to Solve Problems • Solving problems relies on good decision making. • Good decision making relies on accurate information. • In the real world, people make decisions, not computers. • Computers help people make decisions by providing useful and accurate information. • A GIS is a computer-based tool that helps us visualize information and see patterns and relationships that aren't otherwise apparent. • The ability to ask complex questions about data and analyze many features at once, then instantly see the results on a map makes GIS a powerful tool for creating information.