Lab 1: Building Network Basics and Introduction to ArcGIS

To become familiar with the following:

• The three modules of ESRI's¹ ArcGIS Desktop software
• Data display
• Basic cartography

And to provide the background necessary for future lab exercises.

1.2 Introduction and background

Computers
ArcGIS software is designed to run on a variety of platforms (no Apple version, however).  This semester our lab computers are running ArcGIS version 10.6.1 under Windows 10.

About the software
ArcGIS desktop is an integrated software package available at three different licensing levels.  The lowest and least expensive of these is ArcView, once strictly a stand-alone program but now also a member of the ArcGIS family.  This is succeeded upward in price by ArcEditor and then by ArcInfo.  All contain the same three modules (see below) but differ in the type and number of tools available for editing and analysis.  We will be using ArcInfo, considered the industry standard by professional GIS users.  In its current incarnation (version 8 and above), ArcInfo  is a Windows-based GIS program - a significant departure from versions 7.x and below, which used command-line driven, DOS- or UNIX-based interfaces.

Importantly, ArcGIS at all three levels (ArcView, ArcEditor, ArcInfo) is structured around three key modules- ArcCatalog, ArcToolbox, and ArcMap.  These three modules represent the three basic necessities of GIS - Data Management, Data Analysis ("geoprocessing"), and Data Output/Mapping.  This lab examines these three modules, exploring some of their key functions.

ArcGIS Pro is a more recent offering that has most of the same functionality as ArcGIS desktop but designed to have the same look and feel as ArcGIS Online (more on that later).  We have licenses and installations(?) of this most recent alternative to ArcGIS desktop if you'd like to learn how to use it.  I have not yet adapted the lab exercises for it - a work in progress that may be completed this semester.

Cartography
This lab also discusses some basic principles of cartography.  Those familiar with cartography will likely find this a review.  The intent is to provide basic guidelines and requirements for all maps that you will hand in.  This is a very cursory introduction; your skills in this area should improve throughout the semester as you get feedback on your maps.  Among many good web sources, the ESRI Mapping Center is a good place to start for information on making great maps with ArcInfo.  See particularly the Maps pages for nice examples and techniques to emulate.

Additional Resources 
In lieu of software manuals, all ArcGIS v.10.x documentation is now distributed online at the ArcGIS Help Library.  Most of what you will need is in the "Professional Library", accessible in the menu on the left side of the web page (illustrated below).  This is your ultimate resource, and several specific links to it are provided throughout the lab.  Additional information on ArcGIS software can be found through the ArcGIS web site, and through the ESRI Virtual Campus web site, which offers several free modules on ArcGIS and ArcGIS extensions.

Lab equipment
There is no required lab equipment for this class, though it is recommended that you purchase a 2 Gb or larger flash drive to back up your lab material and data.  You are expected to store lab files and data on a network drive, your so-called "r: drive".  All students in this and other courses share the same local hard drive space on the lab computers, so there is the possibility that work saved on a lab computer could be overwritten or deleted by others.  To prevent this, we recommend copying all of your lab work to your network storage space (r: drive) and/or a flash drive.  Do not consider any work stored on a computer in this classroom to be permanent.  Use your network storage space!

Note also that all classroom and lab computers automatically reboot each evening at midnight.  This provides a "clean slate" for users each day but can result in lost work if not saved before then.

Other information about the lab
Be sure you have looked at your TA's  Lab Syllabus and the other information on the Labs page, such as Software Tips, Understanding the Lab Format, Layout Suggestions and the Software Bugs page.  Go no further, READ OR EXPLORE THESE NOW.

1.3 Procedures

1.3.1 The Basics
 

Logging in, mapping drives and creating folders Log in on a lab computer.  The class folder and your secure network storage space should already be mapped to your profile.  To find them, go to My Computer and open the drive "files on austin disk R:".  There you should locate your UTEID, which is your network storage space, and a folder called "geo-class", which contains a folder with data for this course.  This is an essential first step - ask your TA for help if you can't do it. Creating folders for your labs and lab data Good computer file management in this class is essential.  Good computer file management in this class is essential. Good computer file management in this class is essential. There are two options for saving your data and lab work: a portable flash ("thumb") drive or your network storage space on the Austin disk.  In later labs, flash drives will work better during lab exercises than network storage (the software still has some bugs when working with data across a network). Flash drives are great for portability but can get lost, stolen or broken easily.  With many years of experience, your TA recommends working from a flash drive and backing up all work to your Austin disk space at the end of EACH work session. Whichever method you choose, begin today by creating a GIS class folder (give it a name less than 13 characters long without any spaces) and, within it, a "Lab_1" folder. Do not put this folder or any others within a "My Documents" folder.  Follow this convention for all your labs and life will be a little easier. Once you've created and saved files for a lab, your life will also be much easier if you don't move them from the location where they were first stored.  This can create broken links to data files, which can usually be fixed, but it is easier and simpler to avoid this problem.  We reiterate, don't move files or folders around unless it is absolutely necessary. Note: DO NOT PUT SPACES IN FILE OR FOLDER NAMES; use a "-" or a "_" instead.

1.3.2 The Data

Copying Data

Although it is possible to work directly from the Lab 1 data in the class folder, DO NOT DO SO.  Instead, copy the entire Lab 1 data folder, called "Lab_1_data", to your Lab_1 folder before beginning.  There are a number of ways to do this - perhaps the fastest is by dragging and dropping between two Windows Explorer windows.  Most importantly, when transferring these data, COPY THE FOLDER, not the individual files within it.  As will become apparent later, certain types of files become unusable if copied piecemeal without their hidden counterparts and without maintaining paths to other files.

Data for this lab are contained in two folders, Austin_Geo and Texas_data, both of which reside in the Lab_1_data folder.

The Austin_Geo folder contains:

•  7 shapefiles (with extensions .shp)
• a layer file (extension .lyr)
• a map document file (extension .mxd).

The Texas_data folder contains:

• state-wide data within a geodatabase (extension .mdb),
• a folder that contains a state transportation coverage
• a folder of geology layers and shapefiles
• a map document file that shows the geology of Texas
• a shapefile, "txtrct", the contents of which you will determine.

Nearly all of these files are accompanied by a number of other files with various 3 character extension, but having the same file name.  The differences among these data types will be discussed in upcoming class lectures and is briefly described below.  After copying the entire Lab_1_data folder (~94 Mb) to your Austin disk space or flash drive, you will browse and preview the various data using ArcCatalog.

1.3.3 ArcCatalog

Introduction to ArcCatalog

ArcCatalog is the ArcGIS module used to organize, browse, and manage your data and map files, as well as for viewing and editing metadata (data about the data).  In many ways, ArcCatalog is similar to Windows Explorer. For instance, when you modify a file's location, or create or delete a file, you do not need to save the changes -- it is done automatically.  Since it is easy to delete files this way, you should be careful to delete only when you are sure that you will not need the file any longer.  Keep in mind that what you see in ArcCatalog is simply an alternative view of your disk space(s), one designed specifically for GIS data.  Changes to data structure or files made with ArcCatalog are the same as any changes you might make on your disk space(s) with other software, like Windows Explorer.  The online resource for help with ArcCatalog can be found here.

Starting ArcCatalog
Start ArcCatalog by navigating to All Programs -> ArcGIS -> ArcCatalog.

The lay of the land, or, What is in ArcCatalog?

ArcCatalog is similar in structure to Windows Explorer -- on the left-hand side is a view of a Catalog "tree" showing how data are organized.   On the right hand are options for previewing the contents of the data shown in the Catalog tree. You will notice that there are different icons for different data sources. Simple folder icons link to and allow browsing of local disk space(s). Other icons store links other data sources, some on the internet.  As seen above, these are Database Connections, Toolboxes, GIS Servers, and Database Connections (not discussed at this time).

At the top of Window are several menus and toolbars.  We will explore a number of these.  Other toolbars can be displayed (or turned off), by using the "Customize">Toolbars menu option at the top of the window.

To determine what a particular tool does, hold your cursor over the button for several seconds.  A gray "tip" will appear, telling the function associated with the tool. A more informative description appears at the bottom of the ArcCatalog window.  For example, if you hold your cursor over the bent upward pointing arrow (the first button directly under 'File'), you will see the tip:"Up One Level"; the bottom of the window will, at the same time, read 'Go to the next level up in the catalog tree' (the ArcCatalog window must be the active window for this to work).

Introduction to the various symbols-icons in ArcGIS The following is a partial list of several icon types that you will encounter while working with ArcCatalog.  These icons provide a quick way to determine data types without having to browse file contents.  This list is not comprehensive, it covers the basics. A more complete list, is available in "Exploring our World" in the digital books folder.    Map document file (.mxd) Raster data; jpeg, tif, etc.     Geodatabase Coverage - Polygon Shapefile - Polygon Geodatabase feature dataset Coverage - Arc Shapefile - Arc Geodatabase feature class - Polygon Coverage - Point Shapefile - Point Geodatabase feature class - Arc Coverage feature class - Polygon     Geodatabase feature class - Point Coverage feature class - Arc     Geodatabase feature class - Annotation Coverage feature class - Tic         Coverage feature class - Label

Connecting to your data

To access your data in ArcCatalog you have several choices -- first, if there is already a connection to the disk space with your data, you can navigate down the catalog tree until you find your data folder.  If no such connection exists, you must create one.  You can make connections at any level of your disk space tree but it often most useful to create a direct connection to your data at the lowest level.  A direct connection will help avoid clutter because you can make a connection straight to the folder holding your data, rather than having to navigate through other folders.  An example of a direct connection can be seen in the graphic in section 1.3.3.: note that the connection is to "Z:\geo-class\GEO-327g_386g\2014_Fall_Lab_data" not simply to "Z:\geo-class\GEO-327g_386g".

• Connect to your Lab_1 data, using the "Connect to Folder" button  ; do not connect directly to the class folder. 

Navigate to the folder containing your data for this lab- in the example to the right (note: has not updated for Fall 2017 folders) Z:\...\2014_Fall_Lab_data\Lab_1_data.  Select the folder (it will highlight in blue), and then click "OK". A direct connection to your data folder will now appear in the Catalog tree.

Try this out again by connecting to a flash drive, and/or a folder within the class folder. 

What can I do in ArcCatalog?

Earlier in the lab, it was mentioned that ArcCatalog is used to  "organize, browse, and manage your data and map files, as well as for viewing and editing metadata."  We'll explore it a bit more: 

For organizing data, ArcCatalog is quite easy to use.  However, if you delete, move, or otherwise alter the data using ArcCatalog, it is permanent (i.e., if you delete something from your GIS folder, it is GONE - you can not retrieve it).   Data organizing in ArcCatalog is very similar to that in Windows Explorer - you can drag and drop coverages, shapefiles, or geodatabases into new workspaces, or you can use the Windows shortcut keys (Ctrl-X and Ctrl-V).

Try this out by copying and pasting your lab data into a new folder. (Delete the old folder when done.)

Browsing through your data is simple using ArcCatalog - the Catalog tree displays, in a hierarchical fashion, all of the items in the Catalog - much like how data browsing is done with Windows Explorer.  A folder that contains files will have a box with a plus or minus sign to the left of the file name. This indicates whether or not the folder has been expanded.

Take a moment to explore the data in the Catalog tree - use the arrow buttons on your keyboard or the mouse to navigate.  While navigating, pay attention to the changes that take place on the right hand side of the ArcCatalog window.

The right hand side of the Catalog allows you to examine the data further.  For instance, in the "Texas_data" folder, click the "USGS_TX_boundaries_GRS80.mdb" geodatabase.  If you then click on the "Contents" tab on the right hand side of the window (shown above), a list of the feature datasets and feature classes in the geodatabase are displayed as icons (c.f. the icons in the table above).  You can also see these if you click on the "plus" sign to the left of the USGS_TX_boudaries icon on the left hand side, so it's not very interesting to see these on the right.

For something a bit more interesting, click on the "Preview" tab to see a preview of the data or the data attribute table. To change from geography view to table view (or vice versa), use the "Preview:" drop-down menu at the bottom of the Window, outlined in red below.  The screen capture below shows a Preview of the "counties" feature dataset.

Click on the "Description" tab and browse to "protected_areas">"state_parks".  The right window, as seen below, shows "Metadata" for this dataset, including a thumbnail image, Summary, Description, Credits, Access and Use Limitations.  The metadata can be edited (or created) using the "Edit" tool at the top of the Description tabs.  If the metadata must meet a certain standard (e.g. such standards exist for Federal datasets) than it can be "Validated" with the "Validate" tool.  It can similarly be "Imported" from another data source.

Finding data and tools - The Search window New in ArcGIS version 10 is a robust search capability.  If set up and used properly, it allows quick access to data and tools that might otherwise be very hard to find.  Search is accessed through a search window, available in both ArcCatalog and ArcMap. We will try it first in ArcCatalog. Click the search window icon near the top of the ArcCatalog window.  This brings up a window that is docked on the right side of the ArcCatalog window.  It can be undocked by clicking the pin in the blue bar at the top of the window, then dragging the window by the blue bar to a new location. It can be collapsed and hidden while docked by clicking the "pin" icon in the blue bar, and it can be re-docked by dragging the window back into ArcCatalog. **A data search will only be successful if the data storage area/folder/internet resource/etc. is first indexed.**  You will want search capability for your network drive, so it needs to be indexed.  With appropriate modification, duplicating the steps below will allow searching of other locations as well. Open the "Index/Search Options" (in red below); Use the "Add..." button to browse to your network disk space and then click "Select". Set the Indexing Options so that new items on your disk space are Indexed every 60 minutes and are Re-Indexed from scratch every 6 days, starting at 1 AM. Click Apply and Indexing will begin.  Click OK and indexing continues while you work on other things. Once indexing is complete, the software searches by file names, words in metadata ("Tags") and key words in the software (for software tools).  This will be an extremely valuable tool as the semester progresses; learn to use it! After waiting a few minutes to build an Index, give it a try:  We will search for Data, so click the underlined "Data" (shown with red box below) before typing in "Texas counties". The result should look something like that below.  Mousing over a result provides a preview of the data; clicking the green link will take you to it in the ArcCatalog tree.   Question 3:  Within the USGS_TX_boundaries geodatabase, the "counties">"texas_counties_shape" feature dataset's attribute table contains fields for AREA and PERIMETER.  The values are in square meters and meters, respectively.  Use Table Preview to find areas and perimeters of the counties in the table below.  Convert your answers into square kilometer and km. Hint: right-clicking on a column heading in the table allows you to sort/reorder the table rows. County Area (square km) Perimeter (km) Travis     Llano     Williamson     Question 4:  Examine the metadata for the geo.shp file in the Austin_Geo folder.  Where did these data come from and upon what are they based? Managing your data Managing your data is also done in ArcCatalog.  You can examine and/or modify the properties of your data simply by right-clicking on the file icon in the Catalog tree and selecting "Properties.  Do this for the faults.shp shapefile in the Austin_Geo folder. Different file types have different Properties windows. For shapefiles, like that you are now examining, you should see a window like the one below. The tabs contain various types of properties:   General -- for shapefiles, a name and alias (a more complete or different name) is listed.  The same tab for a coverage (see highways_dd in the Texas_data folder) or geodatabase contains other information, discussed in later labs. Fields -- lists the attribute table field (column) names and their types and properties.  Clicking on the "Name" Field Name brings up a description of the Field Properties, (a Text field with a length of 20 characters, as shown in the image on the left.  Field Properties will be discussed later. Indexes -- contains a list of fields for which indexes can be created, speeding search and query operations. XY Coordinate System -- all spatial datasets (e.g. points, lines, areas) are stored as tables of x and y (also sometimes z) coordinates.  Coordinates are referenced to a set of X and Y axes (a coordinate system), and to a particular model of the shape of the earth (a datum).  This tabs show the datum and coordinate system used by the dataset. Explore the Properties for the highway_dd coverage and the geo.shp file.    Question 5: What is the "Spatial Reference" (i.e. XY Coordinate System) for highway_dd and geo.shp? 1.3.4 ArcToolbox Introduction to ArcToolbox ArcToolbox is the ArcGIS module for geoprocessing.  ArcToolbox also provides an option to write scripts and create customized data processing/ analysis/conversion tools.   Starting ArcToolbox To start ArcToolbox, click the toolbox   icon in the ArcCatalog toolbar. What is in ArcToolbox? As you can see when looking at ArcToolbox, it provides tools for "geoprocessing" - Data Management, Analysis, and Conversion.   Let's explore the organization of ArcToolbox a bit more: ArcToolbox is organized in a fashion similar to the catalog tree in ArcCatalog.  By clicking on the + next to a toolbox heading (Data Management Tools, Analysis Tools, etc.) you can open that toolbox to view its tools or other toolboxes.  In the figure to the left, the "Analysis Tools" toolbox is open to show the "Extract", "Overlay", "Proximity" and "Statistics" toolboxes. To use a tool, double-click on the icon for the tool. Doing so brings up a "wizard" window that provides brief explanations of the fields where you will enter information.  It also contains a "Help" button that takes you to a full explanation of the tool.  We will have many occasions to use tools within some of the toolboxes, beginning next week with Data Management Tools for Projection and Transformation. As stated above, one of the principle differences among the three licensing levels of ArcGIS (ArcView, ArcEditor, ArcInfo) is the type and number of tools available in ArcToolbox.  Our ArcInfo license includes every tool available. With so many tools available, searching for the right tool by simply looking in each tool box becomes onerous.  A better approach is to instead use "Search" window described above, but with the "Tools" option instead of the "Data" option.

Take a few minutes to explore the toolbox and the "geoprocessing" options provided.  Few will make sense to you now, but you will at least get a feel for their vast numbers.

1.3.5 ArcMap

Introduction to ArcMap

ArcMap is the ArcGIS module for creating, viewing, querying, editing, composing, and publishing maps.  We've saved the best for last...

Starting ArcMap

Similar to ArcCatalog, ArcMap can be opened via the Windows Start menu (Start -> All Programs -> ArcGIS -> ArcMap) or from ArcCatalog (click on the  ArcMap icon). In addition, you can open ArcMap by double clicking on any  map document file  visible in the catalog tree of ArcCatalog or Windows Explorer.

When you first start ArcMap, you get the "Getting Started" window - this window provides the options to: 1) Create a new empty map; 2)Open an existing map; or 3) Create a new map using a map template.  This semester we will most often use options 1 and 2.

The other important feature of this opening window, as shown above in the red box, is the "Default geodatabase for this map:".  By default, this is set to a location on the local computer, usually your My Documents\ArcGIS folder (this is automatically created when you open the software), where you may or may not be able to find your work.  Read the "What is this?" hyperlink, highlighted by the red arrows above, for a complete explanation of this feature.  In later labs, when we begin to work with Geodatabases, you will change this default location.

Using the "Browse for more..." option, open the prepared map document Austin_Geo_G-Y.mxd in the Austin_Geo folder. You can open this from the Welcome window, or when ArcMap is open, click on File -> Open..., and navigate to the location of the map file.

From within ArcMap, Open ArcCatalog and Search with the buttons at the top of the window (shown below). Dock them on the right side of the ArcMap window, and reduce them to tabs.

What is in ArcMap?

• With the "Drawing Order" view, the TOC shows the layer name, whether or not the layer is turned on (a check in the box next to the name indicates such), and symbology for the layer (to see this, click on the + to the left of the name to expand the tree; the expanded tree is shown above).  Alternatively, the "Source" view shows the location (or "source") of the data.  We generally work with the TOC in Drawing Order rather than Source mode, but Source mode is useful when trying to keep track of where data are stored, and it is needed to see stand-alone tables.  A third choice, "List by Selection", provides an important way to choose which layers are available for "selection" by tools we will explore later.
• The central portion of the ArcMap window provides a view of the layers that are turned on in the TOC, in other words, the map!  Three very important small buttons in the lower left corner of the map viewing window provide a means of viewing data in "Data View" , "Layout View" or a way to refresh (redraw) the view. The left icon brings the 'data view', the middle icon brings the 'layout view' and the circular arrows redraw the map window.  These buttons are easily lost among everything else, but they are extremely handy.  The same functions are available under the "View" menu at the top of the ArcMap window.
• While in either Data View or Layout View, you can zoom in, out, pan, identify, select, measure etc. map data in the map viewing window by using the tools of the "Tools" toolbar:

Tools Toolbar - I like to dock this on the left side of the ArcMap window.

A table in the Help files explains the function of each of the tools in this toolbar. 

After exploring the map in Data View, go to the Layout View - you can do this by either clicking on the sheet of paper icon at the bottom of the view window , or by selecting View->Layout View from the menu at the top of the ArcMap window. 

Before going any further, carefully ready and study "A quick tour of page layouts".

Layout View gives a What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get preview of a printed page.  A page, its margins, a set of rulers and the Data Frame layers that are turned on are shown. The size of the page that is displayed, landscape vs. portrait mode, etc. are set under the File ->Page Setup menu.  We will explore Page Setup properties during a later lab - for this lab leave them alone.

The actual Data Frame is visible by clicking on the map, which brings up a dashed box with blue vertices that can be used to enlarge or reduce the size of the Data Frame.  Try it and see.

A somewhat confusing aspect of Layout View is a new set of tools on a Layout Toolbar, shown below.  While these tools superficially appear to perform nearly identical functions to those of the Tools Toolbar, they do not. 

The Layout toolbar.  I keep this docked on the right side of the ArcMap window.

The key thing to remember about these tools is that they operate on the page itself, not the Data Frame.  For example, zooming with the magnifier tool of the Tools toolbar will change the map scale (displayed near the top of the ArcMap Window), whereas zooming with the magnifier on the Layout toolbar simply gives you a closer look at the page; the scale of the data frame remains the same.

Adding data / Creating your own map

Now that you have spent time with a pre-made map file, it's time to make your own.

In ArcMap you cannot have two map document (.mxd) files open at the same time, so to open a new map file we either need to open a new ArcMap window or close the existing map file. In this instance, since we will not need the Austin_Geo_G-Y map document for this portion of the lab, click on File -> New (or you can use the shortcut key "Ctrl-n", or click on the new map file button on the menu bar), and select "Blank document." 

Before proceeding, read Adding layers to a map.

Highlights:
Three ways to add data to a map: 

1. Use the "Add data" button on the ArcMap toolbar 
2. Navigate to File -> Add data
3. The quickest method: Drag and drop data from ArcCatalog.  With ArcCatalog open within ArcMap, left-click and hold onto the data file in the ArcCatalog tree that you want to add to your map - hold the mouse button down, do not release the button yet.  Drag the data straight from ArcCatalog to a Data or Layout View window in ArcMap, or into the TOC.  Release the mouse button and the data will load into ArcMap.

Order of data layers:  Depending on the order in which you added the data, your counties may be "on top" of your faults (in which case the latter would not be visible on the map).  You can change this by clicking and dragging data layers "on top" of other data layers, just as you might do in Photoshop or Illustrator. 

This example shows moving the clip_TX_Faults on top of the texas_counties_shape  layer.