Advanced LandView Exercises

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Advanced LandView Exercises

• The exercises that follow focus on advanced
  theories and
• functions of Landview GIS. Each exercise builds
  on the last,
• so be sure to complete each before moving ahead.
• For the sake of this course imagine you are
  inventorying natural Wild Rice beds in Minnesota
  and you need to develop the following products
  for DNR staff to use in managing them
• Polygon overlay of lakes containing Wild Rice
  (with attribute table
• and hotlink to lake photos)
• Point List of lakes containing Wild Rice (so it
  can be searched)
• Polygon overlay of Wild Rice beds (with
  attribute table)
• LandView Scheme to share with DNR staff

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Exercise 1
The first step of any GIS project is to identify
existing items that you might be able to use.
Youve done some research and collected existing
data from four sources. Customize LandView for
the work youre going to do.

• Start LandView. Youre working out of the
  Brainerd office, so set Brainerd as your Base
  Point.
• Click the Search/find in list button.
• Choose the DNR Offices list, search for the
  Brainerd office, then double-click it and choose
  Cancel/close.
• Turn the Base Point function On, then click Set
  Base Point.
• What should you set as your Area of Interest
  (AOI)? You know youll be working statewide.The
  existing data youve collected is from Crow Wing
  County.
• Since your Brainerd office is within Crow Wing
• County, the Current Location is fine. Set the
  Display
• Radius to be 5 miles.
• Now go to the Display Window.

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Exercise 1

• Turn on the overlay layers and background map you
  think might prove useful inventorying wild rice
  beds.
• You turned the Lakes and Rivers overlay on,
  didnt you? The blue outlines symbol will
  probably be too thick for the visual checks and
  heads-up digitizing.
• Double-click the Lakes and Rivers overlay name to
  bring up its Properties.
• Click Symbol, make the outline size of 2, then
  click Apply.
• When was this overlay created?
• Who created it?
• What scale was it digitized at?
• These questions can all be answered by the
• overlays metadata.Click Metadata and
• find the answers.
• Close the Properties window.

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Exercise 1

• Did you also turn on the Counties overlay? The
  blue boundaries may be confusing when were
  viewing water features.
• Double-click the Counties overlay name to bring
  up its Properties.
• Click Symbol, change the outline color to grey,
  and click Apply.
• Close the Properties window.
• There is a custom background map that may prove
  useful go to Editgt Customize Background Map.

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Exercise 1

• Highlight a background to replace (one you dont
  anticipate using for your Wild Rice Inventory).
• Double-click Public Water Inventory Maps to
  select it, then click Apply.
• Turn on the new background map to see what it
  looks like.
• Customize overlay layers, as well. Go to Editgt
  Customize Overlay Information.

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Exercise 1

• On the left select an Active Overlay to replace.
• On the right click the plus sign beside the
  Administrative Features folder to open it, then
  highlight Native American Reservations.
• Click ltltlt to swap data.
• Name the new overlay and click OK.
• Finally, you want to load a shapefile from
  Bonnie, the person in Waters who was dabbling in
  this project before this mobility position was
  created.
• Highlight another overlay to replace, then click
  Browse.

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Exercise 1

• Navigate to c\projects\Wild_Rice_Lakes,
  highlight Bonnie_Wild_Rice_Lakes.shp, and click
  Apply.
• Name the new overlay and click OK.
• Close the Layer Editor window.
• Turn on your two new overlays. Can you see either
  overlay from your Current Location and Display
  Radius?
• To look at an overlay the easy way
• Click the Bonnie Wild Rice Lakes name to make it
  Active.
• Click the Zoom to Active Layer button.
• See the data now?
• Double-click the Bonnie Wild Rice Lakes overlay
  name to bring up its Properties.

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Exercise 1

• Alter the Symbol so you can readily differentiate
  Bonnies data from other lakes on the map (see
  steps 9-12).
• Save your Scheme. Go go Filegt Save as Scheme.
• Save the scheme to C\projects\Wild_Rice_Lakes\Wil
  d Rice Lakes.lvs and click Save.
• Minimize LandView.

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Exercise 2
Add and review the three other existing Wild Rice
data sets, then combine them into master data
sets.

• Maximize LandView.
• As you think about the type of work youll be
  doing in this project, you guess you may often be
  zoomed out beyond a 20 mile radius, the trigger
  for the Shaded Relief background map appearing.
• Of course, if you zoom out far with air photos
  or the Protected Waters Inventory Maps as a
  background, they make take a very long time to
  draw . . .
• Change that now. Go to Editgt LandView
  Propertiesgt System.
• Check the box Open Display Window with background
  none, uncheck the Show Shaded Relief box, and
  click OK.

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Exercise 2

• The second data set you obtained was from the
  Mille Lacs Reservation - a point shapefile of
  lakes with Wild Rice beds.
• You could add the data as either an Overlay or a
  List . . .
• Loading it as a list will allow you to search
  its features, important when comparing and
  combining data from multiple sources.
• Go to Editgt Customize Lists.
• Select Points Saved by User as the list to
  replace. Whatever List is placed on the bottom
  will become the editable User List.
• Click ShapegtList.
• Navigate to C\projects\Wild_Rice_Lakes,
  highlight Mille_Lacs_Res_Wild_Rice_Lakes, and
  click Open.

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Exercise 2

• Enter the following
• File name Mille Lacs Wild Rice Lakes
• List name Mille Lacs Wild Rice Lakes
• Point name Lakes
• Point type name Lakes
• and choose LAKE_NAME as the field to
• retrieve Point Data and Point Type data,
• then click Create List.
• When the process is complete click OK.
• Highlight Points Saved by User list as the Active
  Layer, highlight the new Mille Lacs Wild Rice
  Lakes list on the right, and click ltltlt.
• Close the List Editor window.
• Take a look at the contents of the new List by
  clicking the Search button, then selecting the
  Mille Lacs Wild Rice Lakes List. Its contents
  will appear.

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Exercise 2

• To make it easier to view this data amidst
• your other Wild Rice layers, turn on List
• markers and labels. Use LabelsgtList Labels.
• Check the boxes beside both the markers and
  labels for Mille Lacs Wild Rice Lakes, make other
  changes as desired, then click Apply.
• Your work may involve referencing Major Watershed
  numbers for each lake. It would be helpful to
  search for/zoom to a major watershed.
• You could label the overlay in the Display Window
  and zoom/pan to locate specific watersheds, but
  it is more efficient to convert the watersheds to
  a list that could then be searched.
• Re-open the List Editor EditgtCustomize Lists
• Highlight a list to replace, then click
  ShapegtList.
• Navigate to V\drs\data\wat\state\mn\, highlight
  wsh_maj81py3.shp and click Open.

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Exercise 2

• Enter the following
• File name Major watersheds
• List name Major watersheds
• Point name Watershed
• Point type name Major
• and choose MAJNAME as the field to retrieve
  Point Data and MAJOR for Point Type data, then
  click Create List.
• Click OK when the conversion is complete.
• Highlight the new Major watersheds list on the
  right, and click ltltlt.
• Take a look at the contents of the new List by
  clicking the Search button.
• Re-save your Scheme (see Exercise 1, steps
  35-36) and minimize LandView.

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Exercise 3
The third data set you have obtained is a file of
Garmin GPS waypoints of Wild Rice lakes that a
fisheries intern collected. He emailed it to you
and youve saved the file to your hard drive. You
can use the GPSgt menu to bring the data into
LandView.

• Maximize LandView and go to GPSgt Open DNR Garmin
  Program.
• The program will try to connect to a GPS. After
  several seconds a message will appear.
• Click OK to acknowledge that no GPS is
  communicating with the program, but that you want
  to use the program anyway.
• Go to Filegt Load from gt File.
• Navigate to c\projects\Wild_Rice_Lakes,
  highlight Intern_Wild_Rice_Lakes.txt and click
  Open.

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Exercise 3

• Click OK when the loading is complete.
• Go to Filegt Save togt LandViewgt User List.
• The points will be appended to the User List
  (Mille Lacs Wild Rice Lakes). Click the Search
  button to see for yourself.
• Ah! There are some double records. Are these a a
  residual effect of combining many data sources,
  or is there really multiple Camp Lakes in Crow
  Wing County that contain Wild Rice?
• To answer this question you need to see all the
  User Points on the display map at once. You
  already turned on the markers and labels for the
  List in the last exercise.
• Double-click the first Camp Lake in the Search
  Window (leave the search window open).
• Take a look at the Nearest Five in the Where
  Window. Is there another Camp Lake listed?

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Exercise 3

• You cant tell from the List or the Where Window
  if there are two separate Camp Lakes, or if there
  are two points representing the same Camp Lake.
• Go to the Display Window. Are there two markers
  inside the same lake basin? Is one of the markers
  outside any lake basin? If yes to either of these
  questions, delete the (erroneous) duplicate.
• Not sure which Camp Lake to delete? Double-click
  one of the records in the list. This will become
  your Current Location
• Highlight the record in the Search list, then
  press ctrl and del on your keyboard (this
  hint for deleting records is always listed in the
  Search window).
• Repeat steps 9-12 to check the remaining
  duplicates in the list.
• Save your Scheme (see Exercise 1, steps 35-36)
  and minimize LandView.
• You have now completed Exercise 3.

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Exercise 4
The fourth and final source of Wild Rice lake
information is a hand-typed list from 1971.
Someone from Waters forwarded it to you and said
there is no spatial data set, only the list . .
.

• Minnesota Lakes with Natural Wild Rice 1971
  (list in progress)
• Name Watershed County
• Borden Rum River Crow Wing
• Cedar Mississippi River-Brainerd Aitkin
• Edward Crow Wing River Crow Wing
• Gull Crow Wing River Cass
• Lizzie Pine River Crow Wing
• Mary Pine River Crow Wing
• Nokay Mississippi River-Brainerd Crow Wing
• Pelican Pine River Crow Wing
• Platte Mississippi River-Sartell Crow Wing
• Rabbit (east and west) Mississippi
  River-Brainerd Crow Wing
• Red Sand Crow Wing River Crow Wing
• Ross Pine River Crow Wing
• Stewart Pine River Crow Wing

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Exercise 4

• How best to enter the typed list of lakes into
  LandView? There are two options
• Use the Area Measure tool to select features from
  the Lakes and Rivers overlay, convert them into
  graphics, then save them as a new
• shapefile and load it as a custom overlay.
• Unfortunately when overlay features are
  converted to Measure tool graphics, all
  attributes are lost (even Lake Name!). You then
  must repopulate the attribute table . . .
• Use the Lakes List in the Search window to find
  the lake names on the typed list, saving those
  points to the User List.
• Since the User List already has data from a
  variety of sources, and since the typed list
  contains information youll need to Search for
  in LandView anyway, select the second option.

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Exercise 4

• Tear page 17 (the typed list) out of the
  exercises and set it beside you to reference,
  then maximize LandView.
• Open the Search window, select the Lakes List to
  search, and type in the first lake name on the
  list, Borden.
• Double-click the name to make it the Current
  Location (leave the Search window open).
• Now look at the Display Window. Is the Current
  Location marker within a lake that is otherwise
  marked/ labeled?
• If yes, this lake already exists in either
  Bonnies Lakes data or in the User List. Continue
  to step 6.
• If no, click Add Point to Users List, type in
  the Lake Name, and click Apply.
• Repeat steps 2-6 for all the lakes on the typed
  list.

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Exercise 4

• All of the existing data for Wild Rice Lakes has
  been entered into LandView, but you dont have a
  master data set - Bonnies overlay is not yet
  incorporated into the User List. Do so now.
• Click on the Bonnies Wild Rice Lakes name to
  make it Active, then click the Zoom to Active
  Overlay button.
• Look at one of Bonnies lakes. Does it have a
  User List marker/label?
• If yes, it already exists in the User List and
  should not be entered again.
• If no,
• Open the Search, window, select the Lakes List,
  and enter the name of Bonnies lake.
• Double-click the lake name to make it the Current
  Location.
• Click Add Point to Users List, type in the Lake
  Name, and click Apply.

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Exercise 4

• Repeat steps 8-11 for all of the lakes in
  Bonnies overlay.
• You should now have one master data set one of
  the products you need to produce.
• Save this data with a more meaningful name and to
  a place where it is less likely to be
  overwritten.
• Open the DNRGarmin program (see Exercise 3,
  steps 1-2).
• Go to Filegt Load fromgt LandViewgt User List.
• Once the data has loaded go to Filegt Save Togt
  File.
• Save the file to c\projects\Wild_Rice_Lakes\Maste
  r_Wild_Rice_Lakes.txt. (You are appending the
  data to this existing text file.)

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Exercise 4

• The next product you need to produce is a Master
  Wild Rice lakes polygon overlay.
• You could make the Lakes and Rivers overlay
  active, use the Area Measure tool to select all
  of the User List Lakes, save them to a shapefile,
  then add that shapefile to LandView as a custom
  overlay.
• Unfortunately, as noted, all feature attributes
  are lost when overlay features are converted to
  graphics and then back to overlay features. This
  is a limitation of LandView.
• But in ArcView 3.x and ArcMAP this is a snap . .
  .

• So youve emailed your Master Wild Rice Lakes
  List to a colleague with ArcView 3.x. She has
  selected those lakes from the DRS Lakes and
  Rivers shapefile and emailed you a new shapefile,
  which you have saved in the same location as your
  other data for this project.
• Add the shapefile as a custom overlay. Go to
  Editgt Customize Overlay Information.
• Select Bonnies Wild Rice Lakes as the Active
  overlay to swap out, then click Browse.

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Exercise 4

• Navigate to c\projects\Wild_Rice_Lakes, select
  the file Master Wild Rice Lakes.shp, and click
  Open.
• Close the Customize window and turn on the new
  Master Wild Rice Lakes overlay to see the
  results.
• Double-click the Master Wild Rice Lakes overlay
  name to bring up its Properties.
• Turn on its labeling and symbolize it as you
  prefer, Apply the changes, and close the
  Properties window.
• Turn off the User List markers and labels (see
  Exercise 2, step 14).
• Re-save your Scheme (see Exercise 1, step 35)
  and minimize Landview.
• You have now completed exercise 4.

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Exercise 5
The third product you need to create is a polygon
overlay of specific wild rice beds themselves.
You found no existing data of such, but you do
have a GPS file of two wild rice beds from the
fisheries intern to get you started, and you can
digitize two more that you know of using the
2003-4 FSA air photo background map . . .

• Maximize LandView. In the Display Window turn on
  the FSA photos background map.
• Open the DNR Garmin program to access the
  interns GPS data on Wild Rice beds (see Exercise
  3, steps 1-2).
• Go to FilegtLoad FromgtFile.
• Navigate to c\projects\Wild_Rice_Lakes\Beds\ and
  highlight Intern_Wild_Rice_Beds.txt, then click
  Open.
• Once the data has loaded, go to Filegt Save togt
  LandViewgt Measure toolgtArea.

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Exercise 5

• Zoom to the Measure tool graphics. Go to
• ViewgtZoom to Measure Shapes.
• See the GPSd wild rice beds?
• If the Measure tool symbol prevents you from
  seeing the wild rice beds in the photo, go to
  Editgt LandView Properties.
• Click the Area Measure tool symbol, make the
  desired changes, then click Apply and close the
  Properties window.

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Exercise 5

• You fished Lake Emily a few weeks back and saw
  two Wild Rice beds there digitize them now.
• Use the Search button to make Emily Lake in Crow
  Wing County your Current Location.
• The wild rice beds are in the northeast corner of
  the lake in a cove behind some trees. Zoom to
  that location.
• Click the Area Measure tool, then and draw an
  area around what you think is a wild rice bed
  (remember to double-click to end the shape).
• Repeat the process for a second Wild Rice bed
  (use your imagination and the photo background).
• Make a mistake and need to delete what youve
  digitized? If it is the most recent measure
  graphic drawn, it is already the Active graphic.
  Simply press del.

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Exercise 5

• If you have drawn several measure graphics, hold
  shft and click on the graphic to make it
  Active, then press del.
• Measure graphics are vulnerable to being deleted
  or disappearing when you close LandView, so save
  them to a file for safekeeping.
• You could go to FilegtSave Measure Polygons to
  Shape File. But you know youll be appending more
  rice beds to this data set, and there is no real
  way to edit/append an overlay - you must
  continually create new overlays . . .
• So a better option is to use the DNR Garmin
  Program to save the measure shapes to a .TXT
  file.They can be added to the Display map at any
  time, just as you did in steps 3-5.
• Open the DNR Garmin program (see Exercise 3,
  steps 1-2).
• Go to Filegt Load Fromgt LandView gt Measure
  tool.

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Exercise 5

• Once the data has loaded go to Filegt Save togt
  File.
• Navigate to c\projects\Wild_Rice_Lakes\
• as Master_Wild_Rice_Beds.txt, then click Save.
• You have now created a master data set for Wild
  Rice beds that you can easily load and append at
  any time (you anticipate appending this data set
  for quite some time).
• When you are comfortable that the data set is
  complete, you may wish to then save it as a
  shapefile and populate its attribute table . . .
• Minimize LandView.
• You have now completed Exercise 5.

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Exercise 6
With your data sets now combined it is time to
think about attributes. You have photographs of
wild rice beds for a few lakes youd like to
hotlink these to the features of Master Wild Rice
Lakes overlay. You also need to add more lake
attributes including the date that lakes wild
rice beds were checked, the overall quality of
the beds, and who performed the check.

• When you added Bonnies lakes as User List
  points, the attributes from the overlay were not
  transferred to the points, and are therefore not
  a part of the new master shapefile.
• Did she have attributes worth adding back into
  the master?
• Oh, no! We got rid of Bonnie Wild Rice Lakes
  overlayer from the Where window. Lets add that
  back to the Where window Overlay layer list. Do
  you remember how to do it?
• Click on the Bonnie Wild Rice Lakes
• overlay name to make it Active.
• Go to Tablegt Load Table for Active Overlay
  Layer.
• The attribute table appears.
• There appear to be quite a few
• attribute fields . . .

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Exercise 6

• What fields does the new master shapefile
  contain?
• Click the Master Wild Rice Lakes overlay name to
  make it Active.
• From the open table go to FilegtLoad Table from
  Active Overlay Layer.
• The first table is immediately replaced, and it
  appears the Master Wild Rice Lakes overlay
  contains the same fields
• as Bonnies overlay table. Good! The less data
  entry to do, the better!
• Although you may not understand or need all
  these attribute fields right now, dont delete
  them. They provide a link back to the parent data
  set and may prove useful in the future . . .
• There are several fields youd like to add,
  however. Go to Editgt Add Field.

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Exercise 6

• Enter the field parameters as seen on the right
  and click Apply.
• Create another new field (see step 6), entering
  the field parameters on the right, then click
  Apply.
• Create another new field (see step 6), entering
  the field parameters on the right, then click
  Apply.
• Create another new field (see step 6), entering
  the field parameters on the right, then click
  Apply.
• Scroll to the right side of the table to see the
  new fields.

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Exercise 6

• Entering data for this many new cells may seem
  daunting, but you can automate the process. For
  instance, you have checked each feature in this
  data set today. You can populate all the
  Check_Date and Check_Name cells with your name
  and todays date.
• Highlight the Check_Date field name.
• Go to Fieldgt Assign Value.
• Enter todays date in as YYYYMMDD, then click OK
  (this is the format that ArcView and ArcMAP use).
• Now highlight the Check_Name field.
• Enter your name for the new cell value, then
  click OK.

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Exercise 6

• Entering data into other cells will involve more
  individual typing, but you can save time by
  entering part of the information . . .
• For instance, you only have a handful of photos
  to hotlink to the lake features, but you know
  where theyll all be stored.
• Highlight the FileName field, then go to
  FieldgtAdd Value.
• Type in c\projects\Wild_Rice_Lakes\\photos\ and
  click OK.
• Now youll be able to double-click on a cell and
  simply type the filename onto the end of the
  path.
• Add your hotlink file paths to the attribute
  table.
• Open Windows Explorer (right click on the
  windows START button) and navigate to
  c\projects\ Wild_Rice_Lakes\photos. There are
  four hotlink photos, each named for the lake they
  represent.
• Look carefully at one of the names and remember
  it.

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Exercise 6

• Scroll through the attribute rable to find the
  record of that Lake, then double-click its cell
  for the field FileName.
• Double-click the cell value and add the file name
  to the end, then click OK.
• Repeat steps 22-24 for the remaining three image
  files.
• When you are finished, in the Table menu go to
  Filegt Save.

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Exercise 6

• Close the Table window and click the new
  Lightning tool in the Display window.
• Use the Pan and Zoom tools (or the Search button)
  to find Big Trout Lake.
• Once youve located it, click on the lake with
  the Lightning tool.
• The hotlink image should appear. And if it
  didnt? The path to the file is misspelled or
  erroneous open the overlays attribute table
  again and check the path . . .
• Repeat steps 28-30 to verify the other hotlinks
  are functioning.
• Save your edits if you edited the attribute table
  again (step 26), then close the table.

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Exercise 6

• One of the attribute fields you created, Quality,
  is a numeric field to contain a code assessing
  the quality of the lakes Wild Rice beds.
• Code fields are a good way to keep a lid on
  table size, but people unfamiliar with the codes
  may not understand the attribute table. You can
  create Lookup tables to reference the codes.
• Go to TablegtOpen Table Window.
• Use Editgt Add Field to add the two fields shown
  to the right.
• Use EditgtAdd Record to add five records to the
  table.
• Populate the table as seen on the right. Click on
  a cell, then enter a value.

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Exercise 6

• Go to Filegt Save.
• Navigate to c\projects\Wild_Rice_Lakes\, name
  the table Quality_ Lookup_Table.dbf and click
  Save.
• There is one final product to create for this
  project a LandView Scheme to share with
  coworkers.
• Take a look at your Display Window. Is this what
  youd like them to see when they load your
  Scheme?
• Turn off the User List labels and markers (Use
  the pull-down menu option LabelsgtRemove All
  Labels)
• Using the List Editor, create a List from the
  Master Wild Rice Lakes shapefile (see Exercise
  2, steps 4-10), then replace the State Parks
  List with it.
• Using the List Editor, replace the Mille Lacs
  Wild Rice List with the default Points Saved by
  User (see Exercise 2, steps 4-10).
• Label the Master Wild Rice Lakes overlay (see
  Exercise 2, step 13).

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Exercise 6

• Make sure you are zoomed to the extent of the
  Master
• Wild Rice Lakes overlay (see Exercise 1, steps
  31-32).
• Save the Scheme one final time (see Exercise 1,
  steps
• 35-36).
• Close LandView.

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You have now completed Advanced LandView.You
may now wish to take the DNR Garmin course or
one of the other GIS courses offered by DNR GIS
staff . . . contact your local GIS Coordinator
for more information. Course listings at
http//dnrnet.state.mn.us/mis/gis/training.html