ArcGis Post
Chapter 4 (page 68) of Booth and Mitchells book entitled Planning a GIS project looks at the process involved in preparing for GIS projects.
Booth and Mitchell lay out three steps.
Identify your objective where you decide what the problem is that you want to solve, understand who you are creating the products for – and how they will use them, what the requirements are for the data, and decide on final products.
Create a project database, where you design it, collect and convert data so that it is usable, and manage the database.
Analyze the data.
In this Discussion, discuss the importance of knowing who the end-consumer of GIS products and analysis is. Why it is critical to know how they intend to use the products and analysis? Feel free to use real-world examples, use the course content, or bring in the threat scenario presented in Discussion 3.
(250 words)
ArcGIS
9
Getting Started With ArcGIS
Copyright 19992005 ESRI
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
The information contained in this document is the exclusive property of ESRI. This work is protected under United States copyright law and other
international copyright treaties and conventions. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as expressly permitted in writing by ESRI.
All requests should be sent to Attention: Contracts Manager, ESRI, 380 New York Street, Redlands, CA 92373-8100, USA.
The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice.
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Scott Crosier, Bob Booth, Katy Dalton, Andy Mitchell, Kristin Clark
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Any software, documentation, and/or data delivered hereunder is subject to the terms of the License Agreement. In no event shall the U.S.
Government acquire greater than RESTRICTED/LIMITED RIGHTS. At a minimum, use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government is
subject to restrictions as set forth in FAR 52.227-14 Alternates I, II, and III (JUN 1987); FAR 52.227-19 (JUN 1987) and/or FAR 12.211/12.212
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ESRI, ArcView, ArcIMS, SDE, the ESRI globe logo, ArcGIS, ArcInfo, ArcSDE, ArcCatalog, ArcEditor, ArcMap, ArcToolbox, ArcPress, 3D Analyst,
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Other companies and products mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark owners.
Attribution.pmd 2/16/2005, 1:17 PM1
iii
Contents Getting to know ArcGIS
Introduction 3
1 Welcome to ArcGIS 5
What can you do with ArcGIS? 6
Unique projects to daily business 9
Tasks you perform with ArcGIS 11
Tips on learning ArcGIS 16
2 Exploring ArcCatalog and ArcMap 17
Introducing ArcCatalog 18
Viewing data in ArcCatalog 19
Connecting to your data 20
Introducing ArcMap 24
Working with maps 25
Exploring a map 26
Adding a layer to a map 29
Adding features from a database 30
Changing how features are drawn 31
Adding labels to a map 34
Working with the map layout 36
Saving a map 42
Printing a map 43
Whats next? 44
3 Exploring GIS data 45
Geographic data models 46
Formats of feature data 50
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iv GETTING STARTED WITH ARCGIS
12
Conducting a GIS project
4 Planning a GIS project 65
What is GIS analysis? 66
The steps in a GIS project 69
Planning your project 71
5 Assembling the database 77
Organizing the project database 78
Adding data to the project folder 83
Previewing the data in ArcCatalog 88
Examining the data in ArcMap 93
Cleaning up the Catalog tree 106
6 Preparing data for analysis 109
Data preparation tasks 110
What are coordinate systems? 111
Defining the coordinate system for the elevation data 113
Preparing your scripting environment 121
Projecting the river shapefile 122
Exporting the river shapefile to the geodatabase 128
Digitizing the historic park 130
Merging the parcel layers 150
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v
7 Performing the analysis 157
Setting up for analysis 158
Delineating the area the plant site should be within 159
Delineating the areas the plant site should be outside of 163
Finding the parcels that meet the location criteria 179
Finding the vacant parcels 183
Finding suitable parcels near roads and near the wastewater junction 186
Finding suitable parcels meeting the required total area 196
Reviewing the analysis results 200
8 Presenting the results 207
Designing the map 208
Setting up the map page 210
Creating the overview map 218
Creating the map of suitable parcels 224
Creating the map of highly suitable parcels 230
Creating the parcel report 242
Adding the list of site criteria to the map 245
Adding the map elements 246
Saving the map and printing it 260
Whats next? 262
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TOC.pmd 2/16/2005, 1:17 PM6
Section 1
Getting to know ArcGIS
Introduction.pmd 2/16/2005, 1:17 PM1
Introduction.pmd 2/16/2005, 1:17 PM2
3
Introduction
Welcome to Getting Started With ArcGIS. This book is intended to help
you get started using ESRI ArcGIS software and to illustrate the methods
and procedures involved in conducting a geographic information system
(GIS) project. If you are new to GIS, this book is a great place to start
you can learn how to use a GIS to solve problems while you are learning to
use ArcGIS.
This book is divided into two sections. The first section, Getting to know
ArcGIS, discusses the basics of ArcGIS and GIS data. The second section,
Conducting a GIS project, begins with Chapter 4, Planning a GIS project,
and is a sample GIS project that you can work through. The project is
designed to let you work at your own pace, without the need of additional
help. Readers who wish to complete the entire GIS project section of the
book should plan to spend about eight hours of focused time on the project.
In order to get started, you will need ArcGIS installed on a Windows
machine. You will also need to install the ArcTutor tutorial data on your
machine or on a networked drive. Proceed to Chapter 1, Welcome to
ArcGIS, when you are ready to get started.
Introduction.pmd 2/16/2005, 1:17 PM3
Introduction.pmd 2/16/2005, 1:17 PM4
IN THIS CHAPTER
5
Welcome to ArcGIS 1
What can you do with ArcGIS?
Unique projects to daily business
Tasks you perform with ArcGIS
Tips on learning ArcGIS
Welcome to ArcGIS, ESRIs premier GIS software. You can do virtually
any GIS job at any scale of complexity with ArcGIS, from conducting a
single analysis project on your own to implementing a vast, multiuser,
enterprisewide GIS for your organization.
Use this book to learn what GIS is all about, and in just a short time you can
begin to apply ArcGIS for all of your GIS needs.
Today, GIS is used by thousands of different organizations and hundreds of
thousands of individuals to access and manage fantastically varied sets of
geographically related information.
In this chapter, you will find samples of real-world uses of ArcGIS, a brief
discussion of the different ways GIS is used, some examples of how
ArcGIS lets you use central GIS functions, and finally, some directions for
learning more about ArcGIS.
Ch01.pmd 2/16/2005, 1:17 PM5
6 GETTING STARTED WITH ARCGIS
What can you do with ArcGIS?
A wastewater department
prioritizes areas for repairs
after an earthquake.
A transit department produces
maps of bicycle paths for
commuters.
An engineering department
monitors the condition of roads
and bridges and produces
planning maps for natural
disasters.
A police department studies
crime patterns to intelligently
deploy its personnel and to
monitor the effectiveness of
neighborhood watch programs.
A water department finds
the valves to isolate a
ruptured water main.
A tax assessors office
produces land use maps for
appraisers and planners.
Ch01.pmd 2/16/2005, 1:17 PM6
WELCOME TO ARCGIS 7
A meteorologist issues
warnings for counties in the
path of a severe storm.
A biologist studies the impact
of construction plans on a
watershed.
A hydrologist monitors water
quality to protect public health.
An electric utility models its
circuits to minimize power loss
and to plan the placement of
new devices.
A pipeline company finds the
least-cost path for a new
pipeline.
A telecommunications
company studies the terrain to
find locations for new cell
phone towers.
Ch01.pmd 2/16/2005, 1:17 PM7
8 GETTING STARTED WITH ARCGIS
A business evaluates locations
for new retail outlets by
considering nearby
concentrations of customers.
A water resource manager
traces upstream to find the
possible sources of a
contaminant.
A police dispatcher finds the
fastest route to an emergency.
A fire fighting team predicts
the spread of a forest fire using
terrain and weather data.
An emergency management
agency plans relief facilities by
modeling demand and
accessibility.
Ch01.pmd 2/16/2005, 1:17 PM8
WELCOME TO ARCGIS 9
You can use ArcGIS in different ways, depending on the
complexity of your needs.
Some people use ArcGIS primarily as a single-user mapping
and analysis tool, usually in the context of a well-defined,
finite project. This common use of ArcGIS is sometimes
called project GIS. Other people use ArcGIS in a multiuser
system designed to serve an organizations ongoing needs
for geographic information. Multiuser GIS is sometimes
divided into departmental and enterprise GIS according to a
systems level of complexity and integration with the day-
to-day operation of an organization.
This book presents ArcGIS in the context of project GIS
because a project is a good, self-contained way to explore a
variety of basic GIS functions.
Project GIS
In a GIS analysis project, an analyst faces a variety of tasks
that can be grouped into four basic steps.
The first step is to convert a question, such as Where is
the best place for a new building? or How many potential
customers are near this store?, into a GIS database design
and analysis plan. This involves breaking the question into
logical parts, identifying what layers of data will be needed
to answer each part, and developing a strategy for
combining the answers to each part of the question into a
final answer.
The next step is to create a database that contains the
geographic data required to answer the question. This may
involve digitizing existing maps, obtaining and translating
electronic data from a variety of sources and formats,
making sure the layers are of adequate quality for the task,
making sure the layers are in the same coordinate system
and will overlay correctly, and adding items to the data to
track analysis result values. Personal workspaces of file-
based data and personal geodatabases are used to organize
project GIS geodatabases.
The next step is to analyze the data. This usually involves
overlaying different layers, querying attributes and feature
locations to answer each logical part of the question,
storing the answers to the logical parts of the question, and
retrieving and combining those answers to provide a
complete answer to the question.
The final step in a project-based analysis is to
communicate the results of the analysis, usually to people
who do not use GIS and who have different levels of
experience in dealing with maps. Maps, reports, and graphs
are all used, often together, to communicate the answer to
the question.
Multiuser GIS
In a multiuser GIS, people in an organizationfrom a few
in a single office to hundreds in different branchesuse
GIS in different ways to support their daily tasks.
Departmental GIS refers to systems developed within a
single department to support a key function of the
department. For example, a planning department might
routinely use GIS to notify property owners of proposed
zoning changes near their property.
A departmental GIS is usually managed within the
department and often has specialists devoted to different
Unique projects to daily business
Ch01.pmd 2/16/2005, 1:17 PM9
10 GETTING STARTED WITH ARCGIS
tasks. For example, a department might have its own
system administrator, digitizer, and GIS analyst.
Departmental GIS is often customized to automate and
streamline procedures. For example, a planning department
could use a GIS application that finds the names and
addresses of parcel owners within a designated area and
automatically generates notification letters.
An enterprise GIS spans departments in an organization.
These large systems support multiple functions of an
organization, from daily business to strategic planning. An
enterprise GIS is usually managed as a part of the
organizations information technology infrastructure. For
example, a citys enterprise GIS integrates the business
functions of building and maintaining the city. The
engineering department builds the infrastructure for a
subdivision using the same geodatabase that the planning
department and assessor use to do their jobs.
An organizations entire network becomes the platform for
an enterprise GIS. To provide access to many users, an
enterprise GIS stores data in commercial relational
database management systems (RDBMSs), such as
Oracle, Informix Dynamic Server, and
Microsoft SQL Server, that have been spatially enabled
by ESRIs ArcSDE (formerly SDE) software.
Using ArcSDE allows GIS data to be viewed and edited by
many people simultaneously. To make the most of a
networked systems capabilities, multiple seats of key
applications, such as ArcCatalog, ArcMap, and
ArcToolbox, are deployed on desktop machines across
an organization. Servers supply them with data and perform
processor-intensive tasks.
The functions of a multiuser GIS are similar to those of a
project GIS but on a larger scale and operating in a
continuous, cyclical fashion. Planning is crucial for multiuser
systems, but the rewardsincluding increased operational
efficiency, better allocation of scarce resources,
consistency of information, and better-informed
decisionsare tremendous.
Ch01.pmd 2/16/2005, 1:17 PM10
WELCOME TO ARCGIS 11
Whether you use GIS in a project or multiuser environment,
you can use the ArcGIS Desktop applications to do your
work.
ArcCatalog is the application for managing your spatial data
holdings and database designs and for recording and
viewing metadata. ArcMap is used for all mapping and
editing tasks, as well as for map-based analysis.
ArcToolbox is a dockable window in the ArcGIS
applications used for data conversion and geoprocessing.
Using these three applications together, you can perform
any GIS task, simple to advanced, including mapping, data
management, geographic analysis, data editing, and
geoprocessing.
ArcCatalog
ArcCatalog lets you find, preview, document, and organize
geographic data and create sophisticated geodatabases to
store that data.
ArcCatalog provides a framework for organizing large and
diverse stores of GIS data.
Different views of your data help you quickly find what you
need, whether it is in a file, personal geodatabase, or remote
RDBMS served by ArcSDE.
Tasks you perform with ArcGIS
Ch01.pmd 2/16/2005, 1:17 PM11
12 GETTING STARTED WITH ARCGIS
You can use ArcCatalog to organize folders and file-based
data when you build project databases on your computer.
You can create personal geodatabases on your computer
and use tools in ArcCatalog to create or import feature
classes and tables.
You can also view and update metadata, allowing you to
document your datasets and projects.
Ch01.pmd 2/16/2005, 1:17 PM12
WELCOME TO ARCGIS 13
ArcMap
ArcMap lets you create and interact with maps. In
ArcMap, you can view, edit, and analyze your geographic
data.
You can query your spatial data to find and understand
relationships among geographic features.
You can symbolize your data in a wide variety of ways.
Ch01.pmd 2/16/2005, 1:17 PM13
14 GETTING STARTED WITH ARCGIS
You can create charts and reports to communicate your
understanding with others.
You can lay out your maps in a what-you-see-is-what-you-
get layout view.
With ArcMap, you can create maps that integrate data in a
wide variety of formats including shapefiles, coverages,
tables, computer-aided drafting (CAD) drawings, images,
grids, and triangulated irregular networks (TINs).
ArcToolbox
ArcToolbox contains many GIS tools used for
geoprocessing. It is a dockable window integrated into all
the ArcGIS Desktop applications.
Ch01.pmd 2/16/2005, 1:17 PM14
WELCOME TO ARCGIS 15
Geoprocessing tasks are accomplished through form-based
tools.
Accessing the ArcGIS Desktop applications
The ArcGIS Desktop applications can be accessed using
three software products, each providing a higher level of
functionality.
ArcView provides comprehensive mapping and analysis
tools, along with simple editing and geoprocessing tools.
ArcEditor includes the full functionality of ArcView,
with the addition of advanced editing capabilities.
ArcInfo extends the functionality of both to include
advanced geoprocessing.
ArcToolbox for ArcView contains nearly 150 tools and
ArcEditor contains nearly 170 commonly used tools for data
conversion, analysis, and management.
ArcToolbox for ArcInfo comes with a comprehensive set of
toolsmore than 250 of them, including ArcInfo
Workstation coverage geoprocessing tools.
You can use this book with ArcView, ArcEditor, or ArcInfo
since it uses functionality common to all three software
products.
For more information on ArcView, ArcEditor, and ArcInfo,
see What is ArcGIS?
Ch01.pmd 2/16/2005, 1:17 PM15
16 GETTING STARTED WITH ARCGIS
This book is intended to help you learn the basics of
ArcGIS. You can use the other books that come with
ArcGIS to supplement the information in this book and to
learn more about other tasks you can perform using
ArcGIS.
When you want quick information about how to do a
specific task, you can look it up in three handy reference
books: Using ArcCatalog, Using ArcMap, and
Geoprocessing in ArcGIS. These books are organized
around specific tasks. They provide answers in clear,
concise steps with numbered graphics. Some of the
chapters also contain background information if you want to
find out more about the concepts behind a task.
Building a Geodatabase provides a step-by-step guide to
building a geodatabase and implementing your geodatabase
design in ArcGIS.
Three other books, Modeling Our World, Designing
Geodatabases, and The ESRI Guide to GIS Analysis,
present the concepts behind GIS data models and
geographic analysis.
Tips on learning ArcGIS
The Desktop Help system in ArcGIS also provides a wealth
of information on using the software. Just click the Help
button on any toolbar or dialog box. For more information,
see the Help topic Getting help.
The Whats next? section at the end of this book lists
additional resources for learning ArcGIS and for getting
help in completing your own GIS projects.
Ch01.pmd 2/16/2005, 1:17 PM16
IN THIS CHAPTER
17
Exploring ArcCatalog and ArcMap 2
Introducing ArcCatalog
Viewing data in ArcCatalog
Connecting to data
Introducing ArcMap
Working with maps
Exploring a map
Adding a layer to a map
Adding features from a database
Changing how features are drawn
Adding labels to a map
Working with the map layout
Saving a map
Printing a map
Whats next?
Maps are the most commonly used tools for understanding spatial informa-
tion. Whether you do analysis or editing, produce wall maps or illustrate
reports, design GIS databases or manage themwhen you work with GIS
you work with maps. ArcMap allows you to work with all of your geo-
graphic data in maps, regardless of the format or location of the underlying
data. With ArcMap, you can assemble a map quickly from predefined
layers, or you can add data from coverages, shapefiles, geodatabases, grids,
TINs, images, and tables of coordinates or addresses.
ArcCatalog is designed to work with ArcMap. In ArcCatalog, you can
browse, organize, and document your data and easily drag and drop it onto
an existing map in ArcMap. Using the tools in ArcToolbox, you can perform
sophisticated geoprocessing operationsfrom a dockable window available
in all the ArcGIS Desktop applications. It has never been easier to use the
power of GIS.
In this chapter, you will create a map for a planning meeting of the
Greenvalley City council. You will use ArcCatalog to find the data and
produce the map in ArcMap.
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18 GETTING STARTED WITH ARCGIS
Introducing ArcCatalog
ArcCatalog is the tool for browsing, organizing, distributing,
and documenting an organizations GIS data holdings.
In this exercise you work for the (fictitious) city of
Greenvalley. The city council is debating a proposal to build
additional water mains downtown. As part of the process,
the council is reviewing water use in the downtown area.
You have been asked to make a map that shows the water
mains in downtown Greenvalley and the relative water use
at each parcel downtown.
To make the map easy to read, you will add the data to a
general-purpose map of the town.
Starting ArcCatalog
1. Click the Start button on the taskbar.
2. Point to Programs to display the Programs menu.
3. Point to ArcGIS.
4. Click ArcCatalog.
ArcCatalog starts, and you see two panels in the
ArcCatalog window.
The Catalog tree on the left side of the ArcCatalog window
is for browsing and organizing your GIS data. The contents
of the current branch are displayed on the right side of the
Catalog window.
Ch02.pmd 2/16/2005, 1:17 PM18
EXPLORING ARCCATALOG AND ARCMAP 19
When you need more information about a branch of the
Catalog tree, you can use the Contents, Preview, and
Metadata tabs to view your data in many different ways.
In this example, the ArcInfo coverage cl contains street
centerlines. It is located on a computers E: drive in a
folder called City.
If you select a data source in the tree, you can view it in
several ways, depending on the tab that you choose. Each
tab has a toolbar associated with it that allows you to
modify how you see your data.
These are the Contents views:
Viewing data in ArcCatalog
These are the Preview views:
These are the Metadata views:
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20 GETTING STARTED WITH ARCGIS
When you start ArcCatalog for the first time, the Catalog
tree has a branch for each local hard drive. Branches for
coordinate systems, database connections, geocoding
services, Internet servers, and search results can be added
by clicking the Tools menu and clicking Options, then
checking the check boxes next to the branches you want to
add to the Catalog. You can view the contents of a branch
by double-clicking it or by clicking the plus sign beside it.
You can also create new branches in the Catalog tree to
make it easier to navigate to your data. These branches are
called connections.
Before continuing, you will need to know where the tutorial
data has been installed on your system.
Making a connection to the tutorial data
Now you will add a connection to the folder that contains
the tutorial data. This new branch in the Catalog tree will
remain until you delete it.
1. Click the Connect to Folder button.
When you click the button, a window opens that lets you
navigate to a folder on your computer or to a folder on
another computer on your network.
2. Navigate to the ArcGISArcTutorGetting_Started
Greenvalley folder on the drive where the tutorial data is
installed. Click OK.
The new connection shows up as a branch in the
Catalog tree.
Connecting to your data
1
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EXPLORING ARCCATALOG AND ARCMAP 21
Exploring the Greenvalley folder connection
You can now look at the tutorial data that you have added.
1. Click the ArcGISArcTutorGetting_StartedGreenvalley
folder to view its contents on the right side of the
ArcCatalog window.
2. Click the plus sign to expand the connection in the
Catalog tree. This branch of the tree contains a folder,
map documents, and a layer.
The Greenvalley folder has a special icon to show that it
contains GIS data. By default, ArcCatalog recognizes many
different file types as GIS data including shapefiles,
coverages, raster images, TINs, geodatabases, projection
files, and so on. It also shows all available file types,
including the metadata files with the .xml extension, by
default. If the list of recognized file types does not include a
file type that you use in GIS analysis, you can customize
ArcCatalog to recognize additional file typesfor example,
text filesas GIS data.
You will turn off the option to show files with the .xml
extension to provide a less cluttered view of the ArcCatalog
tree.
1. Click the Tools menu and click Options.
2. Click the General tab and uncheck Metadata documents
in the second panel, then click OK.
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22 GETTING STARTED WITH ARCGIS
The Greenvalley map document is a general-purpose map
of the city.
The Water Use layer shows a set of parcels in Greenvalley
with a color scheme that indicates relative water use at
each parcel.
Maps and layers
Maps and layers are important ways of organizing and
displaying data in ArcGIS.
Maps, such as everyday paper maps, can contain many
kinds of data. The data on a map is organized into layers,
which are drawn on the map in a particular order. Each
map contains a page layout where graphic elements, such
as legends, North arrows, scalebars, text, and other
graphics, are arranged. The layout shows the map page as
it will be printed.
Layers define how a set of geographic features will be
drawn when they are added to a map. They also act as
shortcuts to the place where the data is actually stored
not necessarily the same place as where the layer file is
stored. In this case, both the map and the layer refer to data
that is stored in the Data folder.
If you store your geographic data in a central database, you
can create maps and layers that refer to the database. This
makes it easy to share maps and layers within an
organization and eliminates the need to make duplicate
copies of your data.
Viewing the thumbnail sketch of the Greenvalley
map
The right panel of ArcCatalog displays datasets in many
different ways. You can click an object in the left panel to
view it in the right panel. One of the views that can be
useful when you want to select a particular map is the
thumbnail view.
1. Click the Thumbnails button on the Standard toolbar.
You can see the thumbnail sketch of the map.
1
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EXPLORING ARCCATALOG AND ARCMAP 23
Launch ArcMap button
Opening the Greenvalley map
You will use the Greenvalley map to provide context for the
information that the city council wants.
1. Double-click Greenvalley in the Catalog tree.
Double-clicking a map in the Catalog tree opens the map in
ArcMap.
Sometimes you may want to start ArcMap without opening
an existing map. You can start ArcMap by clicking the
Launch ArcMap button in ArcCatalog.
You can also start ArcMap as you would any other program
on your system, whether the Catalog tree is open or not.
1
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24 GETTING STARTED WITH ARCGIS
Introducing ArcMap
ArcMap is the tool for creating, viewing, querying, editing,
composing, and publishing maps.
Most maps present several types of information about an
area at once. This map of Greenvalley contains three layers
that show public buildings, streets, and parks.
You can see the layers in this map listed in the table of
contents. Each layer has a check box that lets you turn it on
or off.
Within a layer, symbols are used to draw the features. In
this case, buildings are represented by points, streets by
lines, and parks by areas. Each layer contains two kinds of
information. The spatial information describes the location
and shape of the geographic features. The attribute
information tells you about other characteristics of the
features.
In the park layer, all the features are drawn with a single
green fill symbol. This single symbol lets you identify areas
that are parks, but it does not tell you anything about the
differences between the parks.
In the street layer, the features are drawn with different line
symbols according to the type of street that the lines
represent. This symbol scheme lets you differentiate streets
from other types of features and tells you something about
the differences between the features as well.
In the buildings layer, the features are drawn with different
point symbols. The shapes and colors of the symbols allow
you to differentiate the institutions that they represent. All
of the schools are grouped together and drawn with a
particular symbol, so you can easily differentiate schools
from the hospital or from City Hall. Each school symbol is
drawn with a different color, which lets you differentiate
Pine Elementary from Greenvalley High.
ArcMap table of contents
Point features
Line features
Area features
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EXPLORING ARCCATALOG AND ARCMAP 25
ArcMap offers many ways to interact with maps.
Exploring
Maps let you see and interpret the spatial relationships
among features. You could use the map you have just
opened to find City Hall, to identify parks near schools, or to
determine the names of the streets around the library.
Analyzing
You can create new information and find hidden patterns by
adding layers to a map. For example, if you added a layer
of demographic information to the Greenvalley map, you
might use the resulting map to define school districts or find
potential customers. If you added layers of geology and
surface slope, you might use the map to identify areas at
risk for landslides.
Presenting results
ArcMap makes it easy to lay out your maps for printing,
embedding in other documents, or electronic publishing. You
can quickly make great maps of your data. When you save
a map, all of your layout work, symbols, text, and graphics
are preserved.
ArcMap includes a vast array of tools for creating and
using maps. In the rest of this chapter, you will use some of
these tools.
Working with maps
Customizing
Maps are tools for getting a job done. You can create maps
that have exactly the tools you need to help you complete
your job quickly. You can easily customize the ArcMap
interface by adding or removing tools to or from existing
toolbars or by creating custom toolbars. You can save these
changes to the interface with a particular map or for every
map that you open.
You can also use the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)
programming language included in ArcMap to create new
tools and interfaces. For example, you can create a VBA
tool to make a table of the addresses of houses in a
selected area. Once the tool is created, you can associate it
with a custom toolbar and save it with a map for anyone to
use.
Programming
You can build completely new interfaces for interacting
with your maps and create new, specialized classes of
features. ArcGIS is built using Microsofts Component
Object Model (COM); all of the COM components are
available to developers using a COM-compliant
programming language.
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26 GETTING STARTED WITH ARCGIS
Exploring a map
You can explore a map in several ways. The Tools toolbar
contains frequently used tools that let you navigate around
the map, find features, and get information about them.
Zooming in and getting information
If you want to see an area of the map in greater detail, you
can zoom in to the map.
1. Click the Zoom In button.
2. Drag a box around one of the parks to zoom in to it.
When you drag a box on the map after clicking the
Zoom In button, the map zooms to the new area. You
can click the Back button to jump back to the previous
map extent.
3. Click the Identify Features button and click the park.
When you click a feature with the Identify Features tool,
the Identify Results window appears. You can inspect the
attributes of the feature from this window.
If the tool finds several featu
