ArcGIS Overview

Introduction

The ArcGIS program group utilizes shapefiles to build up GIS layers. Shapefiles are created and set-up in ArcCatalog. They are manipulated and modified in ArcMap and ArcTools. ArcCatalog and ArcTools may be launched from inside ArcMap or as independent, stand-alone programs. Documents, maps in the ArcGIS world, are built up layer-by-layer in ArcMap.

ArcMap Desktop

The ArcMap desktop is divided into two main areas. The small block to the left is the Table of Contents, the larger block to the right is the map area. Icons are arranged along the top taskbar and along the bottom taskbar, above and below the Table of Contents and map area respectively.

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Icons are standard buttons that open dialogs, wizards, pop-up and drop-down menus. Their functions may be ascertained by hovering the mouse over them, launching an explanatory pop-up. Many icons are available for specific tasks and may be added to the taskbars as desired via the Customize drop-down menus on the main taskbar.

The yellow icon with the black plus sign, immediately below Bookmarks on the taskbar accesses the add data routine for shapefiles. The xy icon with three pluses is the add data routine for text or excel file xy files that have not been converted to shapefiles. They are mutually exclusive.

After selecting the Add Data icon, the Add Data dialog opens.

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The Property Boundary shapefile is now listed in the Table of Contents and the project boundary is displayed in the map area.

The Add xy Data routine works essentially the same way for data found in an excel file or in an ascii text file.

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Note the Added xy Data now is listed in the Table of Contents ('collars meters$' Events) and the data points are displayed in the map area. The order of layers, from top to bottom in the Table of Contents controls the order in which data is displayed in the map area. In this example, the 'collars meters$' Events layer is shown above the Project Boundry layer.

And visa versa. Note the ‘collars meters$’ layer is hidden beneath the Project Boundary layer.

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Layers are moved by highlighting them in the Table of Contents, holding down the left mouse button and dragging up or down as needed.

Symbols, Colors, Patterns

Here the ‘collars meters$’ layer has been moved to the top of the Table of Contents and we’ve zoomed in to look at these particular drill hole collars. First thing, change the awkward ‘collars meters$’ to something more palatable. Just highlight the ‘collars meters$’ layer in the table of contents and press the F2 button. Change the name to CollarsXYZ.

You can also change the name of an item in the table of contents by a right click of the mouse, navigating to Layer Properties and then going to the General Tab. Here the layer name has already been changed to CollarsXYZ. By the way, the right click on the mouse navigating to the Layer Properties command is something you’ll find yourself doing quite frequently.

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Note the individual collars are small dots and are all the same color. Highlight CollarsXYZ in the Table of Contents, right click the mouse and go to the Symbology tab. Many styles are available, I like the Circle 17 symbol, modified from size 18 to size 10.

Just click OK.

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You may have noticed the Label command on the right click drop down. Selecting it with a left mouse click will place labels on the individual collars. Going through the Layer Properties commands and the Labels tab brings up this dialog. Labels can be quite simple or complex; basically any data notation in the layers attribute table can be used as a label.

Symbology and colors for polylines and polygons are manipulated in the same way as these points have been changed. The only difference is the symbol libraries change to reflect shapefile types.

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Saving

ArcGIS documents are saved with the file extension *.mxd by selecting Save or Save As in the drop-down menu under File on the Taskbar. Make certain the file is saved to the desired folder-ArcGIS will save it to Slovenia if one is not careful and deliberate.

A few comments about ArcMap documents are in order. Maps are simply a virtual construct, built up shapefile by shapefile in to a collection in a certain order with certain symbols and colors. The *.mxd file is simply a small file that tells ArcGIS which shapefiles to retrieve and how to display them. Existing mxd files are accessed through the File Open dialog as is common to all Windows based programs.

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