Getting Started with ArcGIS - School of Arts & Sciences

1 Getting Started with ArcGIS Bob Booth and Andy MitchellGIS by ESRI Copyright 1999 2001 rights in the United States of information contained in this document is the exclusive property of ESRI. This work is protected under United States copyright law and thecopyright laws of the given countries of origin and applicable international laws, treaties, and/or conventions. No part of this work may be reproducedor transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrievalsystem, except as expressly permitted in writing by ESRI. All requests should be sent to Attention: Contracts Manager, ESRI, 380 New York Street,Redlands, CA 92373-8100, information contained in this document is subject to change without GOVERNMENT RESTRICTED/LIMITED RIGHTSAny software, documentation, and/or data delivered hereunder is subject to the terms of the License Agreement.

2 In no event shall the Governmentacquire greater than RESTRICTED/LIMITED RIGHTS. At a minimum, use, duplication, or disclosure by the Government is subject to restrictionsas set forth in FAR Alternates I, II, and III (JUN 1987); FAR (JUN 1987) and/or FAR (Commercial TechnicalData/Computer Software); and DFARS (NOV 1995) (Technical Data) and/or DFARS (Computer Software), as is ESRI, 380 New York Street, Redlands, CA 92373-8100, , ArcView, SDE, and the ESRI globe logo are trademarks of ESRI, registered in the United States and certain other countries; registration is pendingin the European Community. ArcGIS , ArcInfo, ArcSDE, ArcCatalog, ArcEditor, ArcMap, ArcToolbox, ArcPress, ArcIMS, 3D Analyst, GIS by ESRI, andthe ESRI Press logo are trademarks and ArcData, , , and are service marks of names of other companies and products herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark , 7:42 AM1iiiContentsGetting to Know ArcGISI ntroduction 31 Welcome to ArcGIS 5 What can you do with ArcGIS ?

3 6 Unique projects to daily business 9 Tasks you perform with ArcGIS 11 Tips on learning ArcGIS 162 Exploring ArcCatalog and ArcMap 17 Introducing ArcCatalog 18 Viewing data in ArcCatalog 19 Connecting to your data 20 Introducing ArcMap 23 Working with maps 24 Exploring a map 25 Adding a layer to a map 28 Adding features from a database 29 Changing the way features are drawn 30 Adding labels to a map 33 Working with the map layout 35 Saving a map 41 Printing a map 42 What s next? 433 Exploring GIS data 45 Geographic data models 46 Formats of feature data , 8:15 AM3ivGETTING Started WITH ARCGIS12 Conducting a GIS Project4 Planning a GIS project 65 What is GIS analysis?

4 66 The steps in a GIS project 69 Planning your project 715 Assembling the database 77 Organizing the project database 78 Adding data to the project folder 83 Previewing the data in ArcCatalog 88 Examining the data in ArcMap 93 Cleaning up the Catalog tree 1066 Preparing data for analysis 109 Data preparation tasks 110 Defining the coordinate system for the elevation data 111 What are coordinate systems? 118 Projecting the river shapefile 120 Exporting the river shapefile to the geodatabase 126 Digitizing the historic park 128 Merging the parcel layers 1487 Performing the analysis 151 Setting up for analysis 152 Delineating the area the plant site should be within 153 Delineating the areas the plant site should be outside of 158 Finding the parcels that meet the location criteria 169 Finding the vacant parcels 173 Finding suitable parcels near roads and near the wastewater junction 176 Finding suitable parcels meeting the required total area 185 Reviewing the analysis results , 8.

5 15 AM4 CONTENTSv8 Presenting the results 195 Designing the map 196 Setting up the map page 198 Creating the overview map 206 Creating the map of suitable parcels 212 Creating the map of highly suitable parcels 218 Creating the parcel report 230 Adding the list of site criteria to the map 233 Adding the map elements 234 Saving the map and printing it 248 What s next? , 3:06 , 8:15 AM6 Section 1 Getting to Know , 8:44 , 8:44 AM23 IntroductionWelcome to Getting Started with ArcGIS . This book is intended to help youget Started using ESRI ArcGIS software and to illustrate the methodsand procedures involved in conducting a geographic information system(GIS) project.

6 If you are new to GIS, this book is a great place to start youcan learn how to use a GIS to solve problems while you are learning to book is divided into two sections. The first section, Getting to KnowArcGIS , teaches you the basics of ArcGIS and GIS data. The secondsection, Conducting a GIS Project , begins with Chapter 4, Planning aGIS project , and is a sample GIS project that you can work through. Theproject is designed to let you work at your own pace, without the need ofadditional help. Readers who wish to complete the entire GIS projectsection of the book should plan to spend about eight hours of focused timeon the order to get Started , you will need ArcGIS installed on a Windows machine.

7 You will also need to install the ArcTutor tutorial data on yourmachine or on a networked drive. Proceed to Chapter 1, Welcome toArcGIS , when you are ready to get , 8:44 , 8:44 AM4IN THIS CHAPTER5 Welcome to ArcGIS1 What can you do with ArcGIS ? ArcGIS as a single-user GIS ArcGIS as a multiuser GIS Sample GIS tasks Tips on learning ArcGISW elcome to ArcGIS , ESRI s premier GIS software. You can do virtuallyany GIS job at any scale of complexity with ArcGIS , from conducting asingle analysis project on your own to implementing a vast, multiuser,enterprisewide GIS for your this book to learn what GIS is all about, and in just a short time youcan begin to apply ArcGIS for all of your GIS , GIS is used by thousands of different organizations and hundreds ofthousands of individuals to access and manage fantastically varied sets ofgeographically related this chapter, you will find samples of real-world uses of ArcGIS , a briefdiscussion of the different ways that GIS is used.

8 Some examples of howArcGIS lets you use central GIS functions and, finally, some directions forlearning more about , 9:17 AM56 Getting Started WITH ARCGISWhat can you do with ArcGIS ?A wastewater departmentprioritizes areas for repairs afteran transit department producesmaps of bicycle paths engineering departmentmonitors the condition of roadsand bridges and producesplanning maps for police department studiescrime patterns to intelligentlydeploy its personnel and tomonitor the effectiveness ofneighborhood watch water department finds thevalves to isolate a ruptured tax assessor s office producesland use maps for appraisers , 9:17 AM6 WELCOME TO ARCGIS7A meteorologist issues warningsfor counties in the path of asevere biologist studies the impact ofconstruction plans on hydrologist monitors waterquality to protect public electric utility models itscircuits to minimize power lossand to plan the placement of pipeline company finds theleast-cost path for a telecommunication companystudies the terrain to findlocations for new cell , 9.

9 17 AM78 Getting Started WITH ARCGISA business evaluates locationsfor new retail outlets byconsidering nearbyconcentrations of water resource manager tracesupstream to find the possiblesources of a police dispatcher finds thefastest route to an fire fighting team predicts thespread of a forest fire usingterrain and weather emergency managementagency plans relief facilities bymodeling demand , 9:17 AM8 WELCOME TO ARCGIS9 You can use ArcGIS in different ways, depending on thecomplexity of your people use ArcGIS primarily as a single-usermapping and analysis tool, usually in the context of a well-defined, finite project. This common use of ArcGIS issometimes called project GIS.

10 Other people use ArcGIS ina multiuser system designed to serve an organization songoing needs for geographic information. Multiuser GISis sometimes divided into departmental and enterprise GIS,according to a system s level of complexity and integrationwith the day-to-day operation of an book presents ArcGIS in the context of project GISbecause a project is a good, self-contained way to explore avariety of basic GIS GISIn a GIS analysis project, an analyst faces a variety of tasksthat can be grouped into four basic first step is to convert a question, such as Where isthe best place for a new building? or How many potentialcustomers are near this store?