Data Visualization

Francisco Olivera, Ph.D., P.E. Srikanth Koka Department of Civil Engineering Texas A&M University

Introduction
ArcMap Concepts Create a Map Step-by-Step

ArcGIS Applications
ArcGIS Desktop Applications
ArcMap ArcCatalog ArcToolBox

ArcMap

ArcToolBox

ArcCatalog

ArcMap is an application for displaying and analyzing GIS data. The application window consists of:
Map display area Table of contents (TOC) Menus, tools and buttons

ArcMap

Menu Buttons Tools

TOC

Map Display

Data Frame
Data Frames are ArcMap document objects where the geographic information of the digital spatial datasets is displayed. To insert a new data frame in a document, click Insert/Data Frame.

Data frame name Layer name Layer Visibility Legend Visibility Legend TOC Map Display

Data Frame Properties

General: Contains information such as name, display units. Data Frame: Used for defining whether the extent is fixed or not. Coordinate System: Used for defining or changing the coordinate system. Illumination: Used for defining Azimuth, Altitude and Contrast. Labels: Used for specifying the layer whose feature labels will appear in the map display.

Data Frame Display

Changing the display:
Zoom to full extent Zoom to selected features Fixed Zoom in (button) Fixed Zoom out (button) Go Back to previous extent Go to Next extent Zoom in (tool) Zoom out (tool) Pan

Cursor coordinates

Adding Data
A Layer is a digital spatial dataset that has been added to a data frame and that has specific properties. Layers can be added to a data frame either using the Add Data button in the map or by right clicking on the data frame and then clicking the Add Data menu.

Layer properties
General: Defines name and visibility. Source: Defines the extent and data source Selection: Defines the symbol and color used when a feature is selected. Symbology: Defines the legend of a layer

Layer properties
Fields: Defines field properties of attribute table Definition Query: Used to define a query on the features Labels: Used to define the field and symbol to be used for labeling. Joins and Relates: Used to define the data to be involved in joining and relating.

Layer Display
The Symbology tab in layer properties is used to set the legend of a theme. Legend can be based on:
Single symbol for all attribute values Unique symbol for each attribute value Graduated symbol for an attributes Charts for a attribute Multiple attributes

Tables
Tables are arrays of data organized in rows and columns (i.e. fields) Table can be:
Stand alone arrays of data with no geographic information included. Components of digital spatial datasets in which each row includes feature shape and a unique identification number for each feature called ObjectID.
Table Name

Field Name

Field

Object ID Feature Shape

Row

Table Properties
Table properties can be viewed using Layer properties/Fields. Primary properties are:
Primary field name Type Length Precision Scale

Properties that can be changed are:

Visible (used to hide or unhide fields) Alias (display different name)

Visible and Alias do not modify the tables original data, but do affect how a table is exported

Table Display
Rows in the table can be sorted in ascending or descending order based on a field. To sort a table, right click on a field name and then click on Ascending or Descending menu.

Graphs
Graphs are plots of table attribute values dynamically linked to Data frames and Tables. To create, manage and load graphs, click Tools/Graphs.
Chart name One bar per row

Graph Types
Graphs can be displayed in different formats: Area, Bar, Column, Line, Pie, Scatter, etc.

Graph Properties
In the Graph Wizard window, the user selects the Table, specifies if selected features or all features should be used, and the fields of the Table to be plotted.

Graph Properties
In the Graph Wizard window, the user specifies the title of the graph, the X-axis label, whether to label the data with values, and the legend location.

Layout
Layouts are used to communicate GIS information to non-GIS users. To create a layout, click View/Layout View.
Layout Title Data Frame

Legend

North Arrow Scale Bar To insert these objects in a layout, use the Insert menu on the ArcMap document.

Table

Chart

Layout Display
A Layout can have Live links to the Data Frames, Tables and Charts displayed in it. Live links update the Layout automatically whenever the Data Frames, Tables or Charts are modified. Live links should be disabled when the current display of the Data Frame, Table or Chart is satisfactory.

Macro Editor
Macro editors are text editors for writing macros in the ArcGIS programming language called Visual Basic for applications (VBA). VBA macros allow the user add further capabilities to ArcGIS that are not available in the original GUI.

VBA code

Macro Editor
To open a VBA editor, click Tools/Customize/Commands. In the Categories list, click on UIControls. To create a button, UIButtonControl option, create a tool, UIToolControl option and click Create. select or to select finally

A new button or tool will be created in the commands list box. Drag it and place it on one of the toolbars in document. To start writing macros, right click on the button or tool added and then click View Source.

ArcMap Interface
Default pull-down menus, buttons, tools and extensions constitute the standard ArcMap interface. The ArcMap Interface can be customized, which means that the user can develop his/her own scripts, define pull-down menus, buttons or tools to launch them and consolidate them in extensions.

ArcMap Interface
Pull-down menus are controls that launch scripts that perform system functions (i.e., File/Save) or spatial analysis (i.e., Zoom to themes). Buttons are controls that launch scripts that perform system functions (i.e., File/Save) or spatial analysis (i.e., Zoom to full extent). Most buttons are shortcuts for pull-down menus. Tools are controls that launch scripts that perform spatial analysis based on additional on-screen input (i.e., Zoom in). Extensions are systems of scripts and corresponding controls, consolidated in a single entity, that can be added-in to ArcView.

ArcMap Documents
ArcMap Documents are stored with extension .mxd. ArcMap Documents store the data and how it is displayed. ArcMap Documents contain pointers to the digital spatial data, table data and extensions used in the project, but do not contain the data or extensions themselves. However, unless a macro is part of an extension, it will be stored in the ArcMap document. ArcMap Project files cannot be opened in other computers unless they are repathed and the data are transferred with them.

Re-Pathing
The default type of data path used by ArcMap documents is the full path. To make an ArcMap document store relative data paths:
Click File/Map properties. In the Map properties form, click Data Source Options. Finally, in the Data Source Options wizard, select Store relative path names.

Introduction

ArcMap Concepts Create a Map Step-by-Step

Data Frame
Open ArcMap from the Start button. To change the data path type from full path to relative path, click File/Map Properties/Data Source Options/Store Relative Path Names. A data frame by the name of Layers would have been created in the Table of Contents. If needed, insert a new data frame in the map document by clicking Insert/Data frame. To add Layers to the data frame, click on the Add Data button and navigate to the folder \\esri\esridata\usa if available, and select the cities.shp, rivers.shp, roads.shp and states.shp datasets.

Data Frame

Data Frame
To modify the Data Frame properties, right click on the <Data Frame Name>/Properties. Under General, overwrite the name of the Data Frame to United States. Under General, set the Display Units to kilometers. In the data frame Properties form, under Frame, change the Background Color to blue.

Data Frame

Layer
To modify the States layers properties, right-click on the layer name. Overwrite the name of the layer to US States using the Layer Properties/General tab (note that the data source does not change). Label the Theme with the state name. It can be done using the Layer Properties/Label tab. Select the label field as State_Name and then insert a check in the box asking if the features are to be labeled or not. Select the conterminous United States. In the data frame, Zoom to conterminous United States using Selection/Zoom to Selected Features.

Layer

Table
Modify the properties of the Cities attribute table. Open the Cities table by right-clicking on the layer and then clicking Open Attribute Table. To modify the Attributes of Cities, right-click on the Layer and then click on Properties/Fields tab. Make the fields City_name, State_name, Pop1990 and Married visible by clicking on each field name and then checking or unchecking the Visible box. Write City, State and Population in the Alias box for fields City_name, State_name and Pop1990, respectively.

Table

Graph
To create a Graph in the document, Click Tools/Graphs/Create. Click on the Scatter type graph in the Graph Wizard. Select Cities layer as the one whose attributes will be graphed. Select Population on X-axis and Married on Y-axis in the Graph Wizard.

Graph

Layout
To view the Layout, click on View/Layout view. Insert:
a title (USA), by clicking Insert/Title. Then type USA inside the title box. a neat line (border) to the data frame using Insert/Neat Line. a legend using Insert/Legend. a North Arrow using Insert/North Arrow. a Scale Bar using Insert/Scale Bar. the Table using Options button in the table. Click Options/Add Table to Layout. the graph using Tools menu on the document. Click Tools/Graphs/Manage/Show on Layout.

Layout