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Downloading Data from Internet Sources
NOTE: Some STORET Data and USGS Data may overlap but you should
make sure of this when combining the data from these 2 sources
See notes on surface & groundwater data acquisition for specific details
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Importing Data into ArcGIS
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- New Jersey GIS Database: http://www.state.nj.us/dep/gis/stateshp.html
1. NJ DEP Maintains various statewide Shapefiles for use in ArcGIS
2. On the opening page simply choose the data layer of interest from the dropdown box
3. You can view a GIS image of the data, the Description, or download the files
4. If you click on Download you can download the zip file to your computer
5. Unzip the file and add the shapefiles to your GIS
6. The files you download will contain:
a. Description
b. Shapefiles
c. Associated Attribute Tables
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c. Description: lets you view some details about the data (spatial attributes,
projections, etc.)
Exercise 1: Preview the Data and Descriptions using ArcCatalog
1. Go to http://www.state.nj.us/dep/gis/stateshp.html and download the ‘Watershed
Management Areas’ shape file aka ‘depwmas.zip’ to your local D drive and unzip it
- Adding Shapefiles/Coverages
1. Open ArcGIS
2. Click on the Add Data button (yellow square with black + ) or go to File Add Data
3. Find the shapefile/coverage/table/layer that you would like to add, and Open it.
Note: Arc 10 includes ‘Adding Data from ArcGIS Online,’ which is an online GIS
database supported by ESRI.
NOTE: Use Joins to Add Data to an existing attribute table. Use Relate when
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You have a 1-many or many-many relationship among data tables
2. Editing Tables
a. To edit values in an attribute table, you must open the editor toolbar (under
Customize Toolbar Editor
b. In the Editor Toolbar, click on Start Editing
c. Open the attribute table of interest and you can now change values and
manipulate columns/rows
a. Click on Stop Editing when finished to save changes
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a. In ArcToolBox:
1. Go to Data Management Tools Projections & Transformation
Define Projection Wizard
2. In the dialog box, find the shapefile/coverage, etc. that you need to
define a projection for and click NEXT
3. Choose Select a Coordinate System
4. Then choose Select to use a predefined coordinate system
5. Navigate through either the Geographic or Projected Coordinate
Systems until you find the one you need. Usually you will determine
which coordinate system to use based on other shapefiles or layers you
are using in your project (look at the Description) or perhaps from the
literature
6. Once you have selected the appropriate coordinate system, it now
becomes one of the attributes of your shapefile and you can match
other layer’s coordinate systems to the one you just defined
b. In ArcCatalog:
i. Right click on the file. Go to Properties XY Coordinate System
Select
4. Matching Coordinate Systems among layers
a. Matching a projection or coordinate system is similar to defining a completely
new projection for a GIS object
b. In ArcToolBox:
1. Go to Data Management Tools Projections & Transformations
Define Projection
2. Choose Select a Coordinate System then choose Import
3. Find the layer/shapefile/etc. that already has a projection defined
which you would like to use and click Apply now both projections
should be defined in the same way
c. In ArcMap:
1. Go to View Data Frame Properties Coordinate System Tab
2. You can then select either a predefined projection or import a
projection from another shapefile or coverage to match to the existing
layer (using the Import button)
NOTE: Making sure your projections are consistent first will save a lot
of time later when you are combining layers, etc.
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Manipulating Data within ArcGIS
- Categorizing Data
1. Changing Layer Properties
a. Right click on the layer that you are interested in Properties
b. Within properties you have several options (most useful are listed):
1. General: Change the layer name
2. Source: View coordinate system/source file
3. Symbology: View Data using categories/quantities/graphs
a. Categories are useful when you have unique values
b. Quantities are useful when you have data you want to
aggregate and represent on the map
4. Fields: List the fields in your attribute tables
5. Joins/Relates: Lists any tables/layers that are joined to the current layer
2. Selecting Specific Data
a. Selection by location
1. Go to Selection Selection by Location
2. Follow instructions to select features from one layer that interact
(i.e. intersect, contain, etc.) features from another layer
b. Selection by Attribute
1. Go to Selection Selection by Attribute
2. Use the simple query editor to define your selection
a. double click the attribute on the left
b. select an operator (AND/OR, >, < , =) and create an expression
c. select a value for the expression
c. Selection within a Table
1. Right click the layer and go to Open Attribute Table
2. You can click on a specific row in the table and select that feature
it will then be highlighted both in the table and on the map view
d. Saving Selections
1. Once you have created a subset of selected features from a layer you
can save that selection as a new layer, to do this:
a. right click the original layer you made the selection from
b. go to Selection Create Layer from Selected Features
c. right click the new layer that was just added Save As Layer
File
2. A new layer may be automatically created when using Select by Loc.
Or Select by Attribute, in that case just right click this new layer
Save as layer
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- Other Useful Tools in ArcGIS
1. Buffer Wizard: Create buffers around features at a distance you specify
2. Geoprocessing Wizard: Lets you merge features in a layer, intersect layers, etc.
3. Geostatistical Analyst: Explore Data with graphs/charts
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Saving GIS Data
NOTE: Before saving shapefiles make sure ‘relative path names’ is set in
File Map Properties
NOTE: Simply saving a layer will not save the data associated with the layer
(i.e. symbology/categories etc. that you defined) You must save as a shapefile to include all
attributes
3. After you have saved all the shapefiles, you can save all of your work in a project file
which will keep all of your active layers, their attribute tables, and any manipulation
you have done to the files. Go to File Save As to save a project
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Exporting GIS Shapefiles to Matlab
For BMElib track
NOTE: You can look at an .e00 file with any text editor (wordpad/notepad)
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2. Convert the shapefile to coverage
3. Create the .e00 file from the coverage file
4. Open Matlab
5. In the BMELib directory, type ‘startup’
6. Go to the directory where your interchange file is located and type:
pVal=readARCe00(‘filename’);
7. To display the shapefile in a Matlab figure type:
for i=1:length(pVal)
plot (pVal{i}(:,1),pVal{i}(:,2)
hold on
end
8. Your NJ Watershed Management Area shapefile should be displayed!
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