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ArcGIS 10.x Basic Exercise– GMU Libraries/Data Services

Goals of this exercise:

Be familiar with basic functions available in ArcGIS to create a thematic map

You are going to create a thematic map using VA county data for elderly population (65 years old and

above). The skills you will learn from this exercise including : adding data, joining tables based on a

common variable, calculating new field, classifying functions by quantity, symbology, labeling, and

layout data using ArcMap 10.x

Add data to ArcMap

1. Create a folder (with your name) on the desktop (in S Drive on the data

lab computers) or your removable drive.

2. Download the tutor ial data (“ArcGISBasicTutData.zip” ) from:

http://infoguides.gmu.edu/gis/tutorials (ArcGIS Basics tutorial session);

Dropbox on the lab computers and click on GIS Workshop Files>ArcGIS Basic Workshops;

the Library Geodata Server (http://inf oguides.gmu.edu/gis> and click on the first link on

the Key Links on your left hand side. You need your GMU E-mail login infor mation to

download Basic ArcGIS exercise data.)

3. Use a zip tool such as WinZip to extract the files (VA County shape file) to your own

folder.

4. Open ArcMap. For most computers this can be done by going to Start->Programs-

>ArcGIS>ArcMap 10.x

5. C lick the A dd Da ta button located on the toolbar.

6. Navigate to your local f older where you extracted the above f iles using Connect to your Folder.

6. Select “tl_ 2010_51_county10.shp” and click Add.

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7. Click the Add data button again and add the “VA_CountyPopulation.xls” file.

8. Right click on the “tl_2010_51_county10.s hp” layer on the table of contents menu on

your right hand side and select “Properties”

9. Click on the “General” tab of the layer properties dialog box and change the layer

name as “VA_County”.

Join Excel table to S hape file (boundary file) table

You are going to join VA County population data to the attribute table of the VA C ounty layer based on a common variable with same property.

1. Right-clic k “VA C ounty” layer in the table of contents again, point to Joins and

Relates, and click Join.

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2. Clic k the dr opdow n arrow in the first te xt box and clic k Join attr ibutes from a table.

3. Clic k the dr opdow n arrow in the next text box, scroll down, and c lick GEOID 10.

4. Clic k the dr opdown arrow in the next text box and c lick VAC ountySeniorPopulation $.

5. In the ne xt te xt box, c lick J ointID. 6. C lick OK to join the table to the la yer.

The n right click the “VA County” laye r again and se lect “Ope n Attribute table”.

If you scroll to the end of the table, you will notice the newly joined data available in the shapefile.

Save your File as a Map D ocu me nt

1. C lick on the file menu on the top and Select “S ave As” option. Save your map

document in your student folder.

Add (create) ne w fields to the attribute table

1. Right Click pointing to the “VA_County” layer in the table of contents window and click Open

Attribute Ta ble. If a message appears indicating the table is in use by another user, make sure

ArcCatalog is close d.

2. In the Table Options choose Add Fie ld, Type “Senior_Pop” as a field na me.

3. Clic k the Type dr opdown arr ow and clic k Long Integer.

4. C lic k O K .

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Now add another field, called “SeniorPopDen by using the following step.

1. In the Table Options choose Add Fie ld, T ype SenPopDen as the f ie ld na me.

2. Clic k the Type dr opdown arr ow and clic k Float. 3. Enter the prec is ion as 4 and Sca le as 4.

4. C lic k O K .

The two new fields should be appeared at the end of the attribute table.

Calculate Attribute Values

1. Click the Editor Toolbar button on the Standard toolbar. If the toolbar is not present, Right Click on

the Standard toolbar to make sure it is checked

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2. C lic k Editor and c lic k Start Editing.

3. Right-click “Senior_Pop” and click Field Calculator. The Fie ld Calculator appears.

This ne xt part re quires a little math, DON’T BE SCARED. It is simple .

Se nior_Pop nee ds to re pre se nt total senior citize n population, which is e qual to the addition of all the fields starting with “PCT” e xce pt for “PCT005001” which is the total county population.

The formula you have to enter is below. You can type the formula directly into

the box or use the buttons on the dialog. Follow the ste ps below for

assistance with e ntering this formula.

[VACountySe niorPopulation$.PCT005020] +

[VACountySeniorPopulation$.PCT005021] +

[VACountySeniorPopulation$.PCT005022] +

[VACountySeniorPopulation$.PCT005023] +

[VACountySeniorPopulation$.PCT005024] +

[VACountySeniorPopulation$.PCT005025] +

[VACountySeniorPopulation$.PCT005044] +

[VACountySeniorPopulation$.PCT005045] +

[VACountySeniorPopulation$.PCT005046] +

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[VACountySeniorPopulation$.PCT005047] +

[VACountySeniorPopulation$.PCT005048] +

[VACountySeniorPopulation$.PCT005049]

4. Double -Click e ach field listed above in the formula,

5. Click the addition symbol.

6. The n repeat adding ne xt fields in the formula

7. C lick O k. When the dialog box closes, you can see the senior population values for each county in

the table.

Let’s now re peat the above steps to calculate the senior population percentage

1. Right-click “Sen_PopDe n” and click Field Calculator. The Field Calculator appears.

(Make sure you click on the “Clear” button to clear the already present formula be fore you proceed another calculation step)

Se nior_Pop nee ds to re pre sent senior population percentage , which is calculated using the below formula

[Se nior_Pop] / [PCT005001]

Do the same step you did for the above using “field calculator”

You will see percentage value s for e ach county in the table.

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Classify features by quantity

1. Right-c lic k “VA_County” in the table of contents and c lick Properties.

2. Click the Symbology tab. All tracts are currently drawn using the same symbol (the same solid f ill

color)

3. Clic k Quantities in the Show box on the left. Graduated c olors are automatically highlighted.

4. Click the Value dropdown arrow and click “Sen_PopDen” as the field to use to shade the layers.

5. Clic k the Color Ramp dropdow n arrow and choose a color ramp.

ArcMap chooses a classification scheme and the number of classes for you. You can modify these by

clicking the Classify button on the right in the Layer Properties dialog box. For now, just use the

default classification.

6. Now we see that the percent data is not displayed correctly, to correct this select the “Fields” in the Layer Properties window.

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7. Then select the “Senior Population Percent” column and then click on the “…” ellipsis button next to the number format field on the right panel.

8. Select the percentage format in the left panel of the number format dialog window. Also sele ct the “The number represents a fraction” radio button on the right panel.

9. Click on the “Numeric Options” button. Then change the number of decimal places from 6 to 1.

10. Then click OK twice>click Apply to see the new percentage displayed correctly (hint: you have to

click “symbology” tab again and click on “quantities and graduated colors”, and choose the variable,

Senor population percent again to reflect the change).

11. Y o u w ill notic e t he newly c r e a ted t hemat ic ma p d is p la ye d a s be low .

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Pick up a different symbol such as “graduated symbols” (under Quantities) to see what happens.

Display Multiple Attributes for one map

1. Add your “VA_ County” layer that contains elderly population

2. Click the Symbology tab in the layer properties and Click “Multiple Attributes”

3. Under the value fields in the layer properties, select Select “NAMELSAD10” in the Value field

drop down box> click on “Add all values” button (you will see here that there are 134 different rows of

data added). Now you can categorize the data into several groups using the following steps, “Grouping

by Quantities.”

Grouping by Quantities:

you will group the 134 rows into 2 group categories (counties and cities) by selecting all city

and county names by holding down (Control Key) and then, right click on a selected row and

select “Group Values” option

you will see that all city data are collected into one row (40 cities). Click on the labe l fie ld on the

that row and enter “Cities” as the label

Similarly select all the remaining county data and group the m in to one row. Then rename the

label as “C ounties.”

click on “Ok” to see the categorized result on a map (change color for each category by

clicking on the individual box symbol)

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4. Under variation by, select symbol size

Under value: select “SenPop_Den”

Click Background and select the Hollow symbol and click OK

Click OK in the Draw quantities using a symbol size to show relative values window

Click OK in the layer properties window to see the result on the map.

5. You will see a map similar like this below:

Note: Another way to show multiple variables on one map is to overlay separate layers (one map with

graduated color symbol and another map with proportional symbol)

Add Layouts to the Map:

1. Click on the View menu, select Layout View(data publishing mode). The window would

resemble a piece of paper with your map on it. Go to Insert tool bar> Insert essential map

elements such as title, le ge nd, sca le bar, north-south arrow, and additional information such

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as data source and your name on your map.

Note: Be sure to explore changes of your font size and colors by clicking on “properties” within your

selected object. Also insert other object such as pictures or statistical chart on your map layout. Also

double click on the legend box to choose a particular layout style (Items>click on “Style” from

Legend Properties (selected “Horizontal Single Symbol Label Only” option for the below map).

2. Then, F ile>Export Data> Save your map in pdf or bmp format to publish or insert to other

window environment

Label the counties: 1. Right-Click “VA_County” layer in the table of contents and select “Properties”.

2. In the layer properties dialog box select “Labels” tab.

3. Check the “Label features in this layer” check box (in the upper left corner).

4. Select the appropriate field to label in the “Label Field” dropdown box. In this example,

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select “N AME10” to label the counties.

5. Click OK twice and have a look at the labels.

Customizing the labels (This is Optional)

If you feel that your labels look messy, you can improve their appearance by placing only

some of the labels and also creating a halo (a white outline) around labels.

1. Right-Click “VA_County” in the table of contents and select “Properties”.

2. In the layer properties dialog box select “Labels” tab.

3. Click on the “P lacement Properties… ” button to view the P lacement

Properties dialog box.

4. Select the “Conflict Detection” tab.

5. In the Buffer properties section, enter 2 as the Buffer ratio. This will place only

few labels in the map and make it look better to read.

6. Click OK twice to view the customized map.

For More Labels:

1. To place a halo around your labels, right-click “VA County” in the table of

contents and select “P roperties”. Then go to “Labels” tab.

2. Click on the “S ymbol” button to make changes to label fonts.

3. To apply the halo, click the “Edit S ymbol” button and select the “Mask” tab.

4. Select the halo option and then click OK.

5. In the “S ymbol Selector” dialog, if you want to make your labels bold, then click

on the “B” button and then click OK.

We can also add Label styles as follows,

Click on Label styles button on the layer properties tab.

Scroll down in the label styles on the left hand side and select “Banner,

Rounded”.

Click OK twice to view the updated layer with all customized features.

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For more information, contact Joy Suh( hsuh1@gmu.edu)

Update Spring 2016.

Copyright: by GIS staff, Data Serv ice Group at GMU Libraries.