Working with GIS: Introduction to ArcGIS

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Working with GIS Introduction to ArcGIS
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In preparation for the first lab, you will

• Be briefly introduced to the ArcGIS product
  family of ArcView, ArcEditor, and ArcInfo
• learn the fundamental differences in
  functionality between them
• learn about the basic functionality of
  ArcCatalog, ArcMap, and ArcToolbox, which we will
  use in Lab 1 and all subsequent labs.

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Overview of ArcGIS

• ArcGIS is a comprehensive, integrated, scalable
  system designed to meet the needs of a wide range
  of GIS users. The three desktop GIS components of
  ArcGIS are
• ArcView
• ArcEditor
• ArcInfo

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• Depending on your requirements, you may employ
  one or a combination of the ArcGIS components
  across your network. With all three ArcGIS
  components, you can view databases managed by
  ArcSDE, but it's only with ArcEditor and ArcInfo
  that you can write to such databases.
• (ArcSDE is a client/server software program that
  enables spatial data to be stored, managed, and
  quickly retrieved from leading commercial
  database management systems (DBMS).)

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All three ArcGIS components are built from the
same core technology.

• ArcView includes ArcCatalog, ArcMap, and
  ArcToolbox, which allow you to browse, manage,
  analyze, edit, and document your data.
• ArcEditor has all the functionality of ArcView
  plus powerful tools for editing shapefiles and
  geodatabases.
• ArcInfo provides the most functionality and
  includes all of the capabilities of ArcEditor
  plus additional geoprocessing tools and a full
  version of ArcInfo Workstation (comprised of ARC,
  ArcEdit, ArcPlot, INFO, and ARC Macro Language or
  AML).

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In this class, we will be working with some of
the components in ArcView 8
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• ArcView 8 is a powerful GIS data visualization,
  query, analysis, and map creation solution
  designed for Microsoft Windows NT/2000. It
  provides interactive tools for exploring,
  selecting, displaying, editing, analyzing,
  symbolizing, and classifying data as well as for
  automatically creating, updating, and managing
  metadata. ArcView 8 includes ArcCatalog, ArcMap,
  and ArcToolbox.

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More details

• Additionally, ArcView is "Web-enabled." This
  means you can dynamically browse and retrieve
  geographic data available on the World Wide Web.
  ArcView's File menu has a direct connection to
  the Geography Network.
• Because it is built on COM (Component Object
  Model) technology, you can customize ArcView 8
  either by writing macros in Visual Basic for
  Applications (included with ArcView) or by
  creating extensions using standard development
  environments like Visual Basic, C, and Delphi.

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ArcView 8 works with all core ArcGIS software
products, including ArcSDE and ArcIMS. It also
works with all new ArcGIS extension products,
including

• Spatial Analyst
• ArcView 3D Analyst
• ArcPress
• Geostatistical Analyst
• StreetMap

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With ArcView8 you can

• explore, display, and query spatial data
• access a comprehensive suite of editing tools for
  shapefiles and perform simple feature editing on
  personal geodatabases
• perform geoprocessing operations
• create presentation-quality maps with a
  comprehensive suite of cartographic tools and
  wizards
• create reports and sophisticated two- and
  three-dimensional graphs
• perform layer-level projection (including
  imagery)
• create and manage annotation
• view maps from the Internet
• import data from and export data to a variety of
  common formats

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Other ESRI GIS products
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ArcEditor

• ArcEditor is the intermediate ArcGIS
  applicationit provides more functionality than
  ArcView but less than ArcInfoand is designed for
  organizations that employ an enterprise GIS
  system. As its name implies, ArcEditor adds
  significant editing functionality to the GIS
  enterprise.
• An example of how ArcEditor fits into a GIS
  enterprise solution would be an organization that
  has one ArcInfo seat and ArcSDE, a relational
  database management system (RDBMS), a small staff
  of geodatabase editors using ArcEditor, and many
  staff querying and viewing the geodatabase using
  ArcView.

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• ArcEditor contains all of the functionality of
  ArcView plus additional functionality for editing
  shapefiles and geodatabases. With ArcEditor, you
  can create and update databases and database
  schema for personal and enterprise geodatabases.
• You can also perform advanced geodatabase
  editing, such as adding and modifying feature
  behavior, relationships, and rules. Of course,
  you also have a complete set of mapping and data
  query tools.

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ArcInfo

• ArcInfo is the most powerful and functionally
  rich application in the ArcGIS product family. In
  addition to all the functionality included in
  ArcView and ArcEditor, ArcInfo includes a
  complete ArcToolbox application and a full
  version of ArcInfo Workstation (ARC, ArcEdit,
  ArcPlot, AML, and all extensions). ArcInfo is the
  complete GIS data creation, update, query,
  mapping, and analysis system.

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• With ArcInfo, you have open access to data
  processing functions so that you can integrate
  ArcInfo with other applications. Because ArcMap
  and ArcCatalog are based on COM (Component Object
  Model) technology, you can model the diversity
  and complexity of real-world features and
  concepts by assigning rules and behaviors to
  objects.

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The Applications we are going to be working with
include ArcCatalog, ArcMap, and ArcToolbox
People typically interact with a GIS through
data, maps, and tools.
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ArcCatalog

• Think of ArcCatalog as a window into your
  database. In ArcCatalog, you can browse,
  organize, distribute, and document your GIS data.
  ArcCatalog resembles the Microsoft Windows
  Explorer but is designed for viewing geographic
  databases, maps, and metadata.
• To access data on your computer's hard drives or
  your local network, you click the Connect to
  Folder button and navigate to the data.
  ArcCatalog also includes a Database Connections
  dialog to help you access ArcSDE and OLE DB
  databases.

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• The collection of connections you set up to your
  geographic data is called the Catalog. The
  Catalog Tree gives you access to all of the
  Catalog's contents. In the ArcCatalog window
  shown here, the Catalog Tree is on the left side.

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• Inside ArcCatalog there are three tabs, each of
  which provides a unique way to view the contents
  of a selected item in the Catalog Tree. The
  Contents tab shows you a list of the selected
  item's contents. The Preview tab lets you see the
  data (both geographic and tabular) contained in
  the selected item. The Metadata tab gives you
  access to documentation about the selected item.

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• There are different ways to preview geographic
  data. You can create thumbnail images of your
  data to display it graphically, or you can
  display it with large icons, with small icons in
  list view, or in details view which displays
  small icons and the data's properties.
• It is important to keep records of your GIS data
  inventory. You may need information about the
  data's accuracy or how a set of measurements was
  collected. An item's metadata includes this type
  of documentation, along with many properties
  derived from the data automatically. ArcCatalog
  provides metadata editors, which you can use to
  create, edit, and view metadata.

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ArcMap

• ArcMap is the application you use to view and
  edit geographic data and create
  professional-quality maps, graphs, and reports.
• A map is the fundamental component you work with
  in ArcMap. Maps help you visualize geographic
  data by showing you where things are and what
  they look like. You can drag and drop data from
  ArcCatalog directly into ArcMap. When you want to
  work with a map, open ArcCatalog, find the
  desired map document, and simply drag it onto the
  ArcMap display area.

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• Geographic information is displayed on a map as
  layers, where each layer represents a particular
  type of feature. In ArcMap, the Table of Contents
  lists all the layers shown on the map. By
  default, the Table of Contents is located on the
  left side of the ArcMap application window, but
  you can move it to a different position if you
  like. The order of layers within the Table of
  Contents is important the layers at the top of
  the Table of Contents draw on top of the layers
  below them. Thus, you should put the layers that
  form the background of your map, such as the
  ocean, at the bottom of the Table of Contents.

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• Sometimes, however, just looking at a map isn't
  enough. You need to find specific information
  about features on the map to solve problems. In
  ArcMap, just by pointing and clicking on
  features, you can find out what they are and
  access the information about them that's
  contained in the database.
• ArcMap makes it easy to design maps for printing,
  embedding in other documents, or publishing
  electronically. For some data, other presentation
  methods are more effective than a map. Graphs and
  reports can show at a glance the information of
  interest. ArcMap provides many options for
  creating sophisticated graphs and reports.

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ArcToolbox

• ArcToolbox is the application you use to perform
  advanced GIS analysis tasks and sophisticated
  geographic data processing jobs, like projecting
  your data or creating and integrating a variety
  of data formats into usable GIS databases. If
  you've identified the datasets you want to work
  with in ArcCatalog you can drag and drop them
  into ArcToolbox or you can use ArcToolbox's
  browse functions to locate the datasets you want
  to use.

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• Using the Add a Custom Tool wizard, you can add
  your own custom tools to ArcToolbox. The tools
  you create must have a .exe or .dll extension.
• ArcInfo's ArcToolbox contains a more extensive
  set of tools (over 140) compared to the
  ArcToolbox included with ArcView and ArcEditor.
  With ArcInfo's ArcToolbox, you can convert
  virtually all major spatial data formats. You can
  generate and maintain topology join, clip, and
  split map sheets, and use advanced modeling
  tools. It also provides wizard interfaces for
  complex tasks like data conversion, overlay
  processing, buffer creation, projection, and map
  transformation.
• ArcInfo's ArcToolbox provides a link to ArcInfo
  Workstation's ARC, ArcEdit, and ArcPlot because
  it seamlessly accesses their functionality
  through the Open Development Environment (ODE).
  This also allows ArcInfo users to execute
  existing AML programs in addition to system
  executables and DLL files.

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HELP!! HJELP!! AYUDA! HILFE!

• Learning a new software product can be
  frustrating without useful online documentation.
  ArcGIS online help provides comprehensive
  explanations of procedures, tools, buttons, and
  commands.

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• The ArcGIS Desktop Help consists of a help viewer
  with two panes a navigation pane (on the left)
  and a topic pane (on the right). The navigation
  pane has four tabs Contents, Index, Search, and
  Favorites. The topic pane is for viewing help
  topics.

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• Clicking the Contents tab displays the Table of
  Contents for help topics. You can see general
  topics and how they are organized.
• Clicking the Index tab allows you to search
  through the index for topics by entering one or
  more keywords, such as "Layer" or "Table."
• Clicking the Search tab allows you to find every
  help topic containing a word or phrase that you
  specify, whether the word or phrase is in the
  index or not (of course, it will take longer if
  it's not in the index).
• Clicking the Favorites tab allows you to create a
  personalized list of favorite help topics. The
  list is saved and appears each time you open the
  help system.

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• Clicking on a topic in the Contents tab opens
  that topic in the topic pane on the right. In the
  Index, Search, and Favorites tabs, clicking the
  Display button opens the selected topic.
• In ArcCatalog, ArcMap, and ArcToolbox, button and
  tool names are displayed when you move the mouse
  over them (these are called tool tips).
  Additionally, you can click the What's This?
  button, then click a button or tool to access
  additional help about it (this is called
  context-sensitive help).

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