GIS4043 - ArcGIS Overview

GIS4043 - ArcGIS Overview Lab Parts I & II

Process Summary:

ArcGIS Overview

PART I: ArcMap Overview

Part I of Week 1 ArcGIS Overview Lab covered basic ArcGIS Tools ad Views and adding data in ArcMap in order to learn how to:

• ·         Locate and Launch ArcGIS/ArcMap

• ·         Review the individual file components of a shapefile

• ·         Locate and use commonly used tools in ArcMap

• ·         Navigate ArcHelp (online version)

• ·         Construct a basic Map in ArcMap

• ·         Identify MXD map file and Export map images to JPG or PNG format

1.      The Part I lab prompted for an examination of the Metadata in ArcCatalog for the following files:This information was gathered from the metadata for each of the layers using methods provided in Part I lab.

      

Layer	Data Type	Publication Information: Who Created The Data?	Time Period Data Is Relevant	Spatial Horizontal Coordinate System	Data Summary / Description
Cities	Point	USGS	2008	GCS_WGS_1984	World Cities represents the locations of major cities of the world.
World_Countries	Polygon	USGS	2008	GCS_WGS_1984	World Countries (Generalized) represents generalized boundaries for the countries of the world as they existed in January 2008.

 

2.       The following file paths define the location of all files used or created by this project:

Working data folder filepath:

S:\My Documents\GIS4043\Week1Orientation\Data\OverviewArcGIS

Working MXD(s):

S:\My Documents\GIS4043\Week1Orientation\Document\mr_overview_map.mxd

Other Working Documents:

S:\My Documents\GIS4043\Week1Orientation\Document\mr_overview_map.jpg

S:\My Documents\GIS4043\Week1Orientation\Document\mr_overview_ps.doc

PART II: ArcGIS Overview

Part II of Week 1 ArcGIS Overview Lab covered using ArcGIS Help using:

• ·         ArcGIS Resource Center Site through the internet browser

• ·         ArcGIS Help within ArcMap

• ·         Search Tool within ArcMap

PART III: ArcGIS Overview Process Summary

Week 1 – ArcGIS Overview started with setting up folders in network drives to extract project files to and store files created during the lab.  I ran into my first problem here by not being sure what would be required and added more folders than necessary, creating a very long path.  By the time I realized my mistake I already had a path set within my map that required I maintain my current set up or restart the whole process to enter a new path.

In Step 1: Launch ArcMap and Prepare Data, when I checked the data files I had extracted to my S drive I realized I was missing my Cities.sbx file.  I viewed the source files on the R drive thinking somehow that one file had gotten dropped during the extract process but it wasn’t there either.  Since this file wasn’t one of the three files listed as mandatory I posted a query regarding the file on the Discussion Board and moved on with my lab.  The TA responded she checked my S drive and saw it there with the other files, but it’s still not visible to me.  I still don’t know why, but it didn’t seem to interfere with my lab at all.  Everything else in Step 1 went fine. 

Step 2: Explore ArcMap ad Add Data brought me my second challenge.  When I clicked on the Add Data button then Folder Connections from the dropdown menu nothing happened.  I tried exiting out of the program and reentering, clicking other options in the dropdown menu then going back to Folder Connections, but couldn’t get it to do anything.  I skimmed through the Discussion Board and luckily found a post by another student who had the same problem, but knew a work around and posted that.   I went back to my Add Data box and saw the little icon of a folder with a plus sign on it.  When I clicked that Connect to Folder icon it allowed me to navigate the drives and select the files I needed.

Everything else went fine until I got to #7 of Step 3: Explore the Data.  When I opened the Cities.xml file I couldn’t make much sense of it.  I was able to find the information required for this assignment, but that was only because I knew specifically what to look for.  I’m looking forward to learning about more metadata in the later labs so I can better understand what I was looking at.