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INTRODUCTION TO A R C G I S - 1 0
This training session provides an overview of ArcGIS, and the basic functionality of ArcMap and ArcCatalog. This document will go over what is GIS and why to use GIS, what is ArcGIS Desktop, and system requirements for installing the software. This document will give an outline of various components of ArcGIS and its interfaces. It will also cover how to open GIS dataset, examine layers, data and metadata, connect to folder, add/remove data, examine attribute table, understand Data View and Layout View, finalize map and save/export the map.
Roadmap: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. INTRODUCTION ARCGIS DESKTOP COMPONENTS EXAMINING DATA USING ARCCATALOG LAUNCHING ARCGIS DESKTOP UNDERSTANDING THE INTERFACE BRINGING DATA INTO ARCMAP VIEWING DATA FINALIZING / SAVING MAP

1. INTRODUCTION
What is GIS? Geographic Information System Definition: A geographic information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data to capture, store, analyze, manage, and display various forms of geographically referenced information. Todays GIS involves collaboration of various technologies and disciplines like geography, cartography, surveying, remote sensing, satellite imagery, photogrammetry, spatial statistics, mathematics, geometry, topology, computer science, information science, library science, webtechnology, etc. Why GIS? There are several applications of GIS technology. It can be used for urban planning, historic mapping, archeology, environmental studies, transportation studies, emergency management, health studies, ecological studies, asset management, natural resource management, marketing, economic studies, demographic studies, crime-stats mapping, affordable housing analyses, and many other purposes. GIS integrates variety of data with a spatial component regardless of its source. It stores and manages the data, analyzes the data as a whole and display it in various formats, leverages visualization to make critical business and planning decisions, and saves tremendous time and money.

Illustration:
Point (landmark, tree, etc.) Line (street, river, stream, etc.) Polygon (land parcels, buildings, etc.) Topography (terrain, contours, etc.) Raster Image (satellite imagery, historic photos, etc.) Integrated representation and management of data

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Page |2 1. INTRODUCTION ArcGIS Desktop packages: 1. INTRODUCTION What is ArcGIS Desktop? ArcGIS Desktop is a GIS product created by ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute) that allows you to analyze your data and author geographic knowledge to examine relationships, test predictions, and ultimately make better decisions. It is a family of three packagesArcInfo, ArcEditor, and ArcViewthat share the same core applications, user interface, and development environment. Each package provides an additional GIS functionality as you move from ArcView to ArcEditor to ArcInfo.

System Requirements:

Operating System: OS
Windows 7 Ultimate, Enterprise, Business, Home Premium (32-bit and 64-bit (EM64T)) Windows Vista Ultimate, Enterprise, Business, Home Premium (32-bit and 64-bit (EM64T)) Windows XP Professional Edition, Home Edition (32-bit and 64-bit (EM64T))

Min. Version SP1

Max. Version SP2

Key Features: ArcGIS allows performing basic visualization (map authoring), spatial query, editing and data integration, and basic modeling and analysis of your data. Visualization: Map authoring: e.g. predefined map templates to save time, easy to create a consistent style maps, etc. Spatial query: e.g. measure distances and areas, find features in the map, select data by location or attribute, switch the selection, access layer properties, etc. Simple feature editing and data integration: e.g. create/edit point, line, and polygon features and attributes, integrate variety of data types including demographics, facilities, CAD drawings, imagery, web services, and multimedia. Basic modeling and analysis: e.g. model spatial relationships, generate charts/reports from findings, etc. Ready-to-Use Datasets: e.g. ESRI Data & Maps Media Kit, which is updated annually and preconfigured to work specifically with ESRI software. Enabled for extensions: e.g. add even more capabilities - Analysis, Productivity, and Solution-based extensions perform extended tasks such as raster geoprocessing and three-dimensional analysis.

SP2

SP2

SP2/SP3

SP2/SP3

Memory: 2 GB RAM or higher Processor: Intel Core Duo, Pentium 4 or Xeon Processors CPU Speed: 2.2 GHz dual core or higher Display Properties: 24 bit color depth Screen Resolution: 1024 x 768 recommended or higher at Normal size (96dpi)- 24 bit capable graphics accelerator Disk Space: 2.4 GB+

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Page |3 3. ARCGIS DESKTOP COMPONENTS ArcGIS Desktop has 4 components: ArcMap ArcCatalog A r c T o o l b ox Search 2. EXAMINING DATA USING ARCCATALOG ArcCatalog can be launched by clicking Start > Programs > Statistics > ArcGIS > ArcCatalog. ArcCatalog can also be launched by clicking on the icon on the Standard tool bar in ArcMap. Main Menu toolbar Standard toolbar

A r c M a p : Integrated map display, editing, and production environment. ArcMap is used to display, query, edit, create, and analyze your geographically referenced data.

A r c C a t a l o g : Data management application. ArcCatalog helps users to browse, search, explore, view, and manage data (with metadata creation and editing capabilities) and maps. It also helps GIS database administrators maintain spatial and tabular GIS data for use by others in their organization.

A r c T o o l b o x : Geoprocessing tool. ArcToolbox helps users to perform geoprocessing operations such as data conversion, overlay processing, buffering, proximity analysis and map transformation. Each tool has a menu-driven interface with wizards or dialogs.

Catalog Tree Main Menu:

Contents/Preview/Metadata (CPM) window

S e a r c h : Allows to find data, maps and tools by keywords or data types.

default tool bar with pull-down menu that contains: File, Edit, View, Go, Tools, Windows and Help. Standard: allows connecting to any folders on hard drive as well as folders on the network drives, copying, pasting, deleting, viewing and searching files and folders. Catalog Tree: displays all connected files and folders, and their directory tree. CPM Window: allows examining name and type of the file, previewing content (geography and tabular data) and viewing metadata of the file

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Page |4
3. EXAMINING DATA USING ARCCATALOG

3. EXAMINING DATA USING ARCCATALOG Click on the Preview tab in the C/P/M Window. Click on Geography tab from the pull down menu at the bottom of the C/P/M Window to view the physical shape of the file. Click on the Table tab from the pull down menu at the bottom of the C/P/M Window to view the tabular data associated with that geography/shape.

Connect to Folder: Click on the File tab on the Main Menu toolbar and select Connect to Folder or Click on the icon Navigate to the desired folder in the Connect to Folder dialog box and click OK. For instance, C:\Users\Poonam\Documents\Him.

Preview spatial data and metadata: Select the shapefile (e.g., select "Woodside_Lots_2007") in the Catalog Tree to preview its spatial data and meta data.
Click on the Content tab in the C/P/M Window to view the name of the file and the type of the file.

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Page |5 3. EXAMINING DATA USING ARCCATALOG Click on the Metadata tab in the C/P/M Window to view the metadata of the file. Description tab displays brief description (Abstract, Purpose, Supplemental Information, Place, Status of the Data, Time Period, etc.) about the shape file. Spatial tab displays information about various coordinate systems used to create the shape file, coordinates, and sources of the file. Attributes tab displays features and attributes of the data associated with the shape file. 4. LAUNCHING ARCGIS DESKTOP Launch ArcGIS Desktop Application: ArcMap can be launched by clicking Start>Programs>ArcGIS>ArcMap Click on Blank Map under New Maps. You can specify the default geodatabase (where any new files will automatically be directed)

5. UNDERSTANDING THE INTERFACE Title bar and toolbars:

Title bar: Toolbars: Main Menu:

Draw:

displays the name of the ArcMap document. contains many toolbars viz. default tool bar with pull-down menu that contains: File, Edit, View, Insert, Selection, Tools, Windows and Help. Click on these menus to select various options within each menu. allows drawing and editing graphics/text on the map and layout.

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Main Menu Toolbar

Tools Toolbar Table of Contents

Standard Toolbar

Title Bar

Layout Toolbar

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Layers

Data Frame

Catalog

Search

Data View tab Layout View tab

Status Bar

Shapefiles

ArcToolBox

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Page |7 6. UNDERSTANDING THE INTERFACE Layout: Standard: allows display, zoom and scale layouts. allows creating a new document, opening an existing document, saving and printing a document, editing functions, adding/editing map and data, opening ArcCatalog and ArcToolbox, opening Model Builder, and activating help. allows working with data view frame or work space viz. displaying, zooming, selecting, identifying, finding and measuring features. Several other toolbars can be made active by right-clicking on the Main Menu toolbar or by clicking on Main Menu/View/Toolbars Table of Contents (TOC) displays and manages (group, ungroup, activate, access layer properties, etc.) all the layers (and its source) and symbology of the layers. The layers can also be displayed by their source location. work space that allows displaying and working with maps. Data Frame displays maps as layers that are checked in the Table of Contents. Each displayed layer does not store the actual geographic data but it references data stored in shapefiles, geodatabases, etc. displays coordinates/units of the cursor in the Data View or Layout View. A layer contains information about how to display the dataset, but not the dataset itself. Each data frame contains one or more layers. Any datasets you add to the map are represented as layers in the Table of Contents. Checking the box next to each layer will display the map elements. The order of the layers will display map elements in that order. 5. BRINGING DATA INTO ARCMAP Bringing data into ArcMap by adding layers. Add and remove layers: To add layers for display click on Add Data icon Standard Toolbar.

located on the

Tools:

There are three ways to add data: adding a shapefile stored on your computer, adding a streaming basemap, or using an online search feature to add data.

TOC:

Data Frame:

i. Add Data stored on a local drive: Choose the Add Data option. In order to navigate to the location, first connect to the folder where the data is stored by clicking on the Connect to Folder icon. When prompted, choose the folder or drive where the data is located and click OK. Navigate and select the file; click Add.

Status Bar: Layers:

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Page |8 6. BRINGING DATA INTO ARCMAP ii. Add a Basemap: Choose the Add Basemap option. Select the preferred map (aerial, road map, physical). Click Add. 7. VIEWING DATA Notice that all the layers are added to the Table of Contents as well as displayed (if checked) in the Data View or Layout View (whichever is active). Every time you bring in any layer, it will be displayed with random colors, which can be changed. Remove Data from the Map: Select the layer then right click on the layer and click on remove.

iii. Search and Add Data Online: Choose the Add Data from ArcGIS online option. Enter a search for data (i.e. counties, watersheds, zip codes). Select the desired search result and click Add.

View data examine Attribute Table of a layer: Select the layer and right click on the layer and then select open Attribute Table. Examine the table rows and corresponding columns.

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Page |9 7. VIEWING DATA Examine Layer Properties: Right click on a layer and click on the Properties. This will display Layer Properties window. You can view, edit and change various properties of the layer. 8. FINALIZING / SAVING MAP Data View and Layout View: Data View: allows displaying, editing, analyzing and working geographic data. Layout View: allows preparing finished maps for printing and publishing. Click on the icon for Data View & for Layout View.

Finalize and save the map On the Layout View, you can insert toolbar title, legend, scale and north arrow, via Insert tab on Main Menu, to finalize the map. Save the map by clicking on the File tab on the Main Menu toolbar. The Save dialogue box will pop up. Name the document, navigate to the location and click Save. The map will be saved as ArcMap Document (.mxd), which will contain all the working layers and referenced data. - General tab allows changing the name of the layer, adding description, and make the layer invisible at a certain scale. - Source tab allows viewing the metadata and editing the data source of the layer. - Selection tab allows customizing selection symbology. - Display tab allows changing transparency of the layer. - Symbology tab allows customizing and importing symbology of the layer via Features, Categories, Quantities, Charts and Multiple Attributes. - Fields tab allows displaying fields. - Definition Query tab allows to write scripts to query the data via Query Builder. - Labels tab allows displaying, changing symbology, and defining placement, scale and style of the labels. - Join & Relates tab allows joining various datasets. - HTML Popup tab allows showing the content of the layer using HTML Popup tool. - etc... To save the map as PDF or JPG, click on File tab on the Main Menu toolbar and click on Export Map. Navigate to the location, select the type as PDF or JPG from pull down menu, and click Save.

Aug. 2012 | Data Service Studio, 5th Floor, Bobst Library, New York University | data.service@nyu.edu | (212) 998-3434 | Source: ESRI