INTRODUCTION TO ARCGIS - Land Surface Hydrology Group

87 Pages·2014·6.62 MB·English

by  Elizabeth Clark

INTRODUCTION TO
ARCGIS
UW HYDRO GROUP COMPUTING
WORKSHOP
DAVID WAMPLER AND LIZ CLARK
JAN 27, 2014
OVERVIEW OF GIS
•  What is GIS?
•  Geospatial Information System
•  Why/when would I use GIS software?
•  When you need to organize geospatial data!
•  Quick viewing of geospatial datasets
•  Built-in processing with easy viewing of results
•  What types of GIS software are available?
•  ArcGIS—requires a license, but is available on PCs in lab,
in More basement computer lab, on most PCs at UW
libraries. Probably most commonly used and most user-
friendly. Some file formats are proprietary.
•  GRASS GIS
•  QuantumGIS/QGIS—included on Unix workstations
OVERVIEW OF GIS
•  What types of GIS software are available?
•  ArcGIS—requires a license, but is available on PCs in lab,
in More basement computer lab, on most PCs at UW
libraries. Probably most commonly used and most user-
friendly. Some file formats are proprietary.
•  QuantumGIS/QGIS—included on Unix workstations
•  GRASS GIS—free and open source
•  GRASS plug-in for QuantumGIS (SEXTANTE)
•  Google Earth—now possible to translate some types of
GIS data into Google Earth
TOPICS COVERED TODAY
•  Components of ArcGIS
•  Basics of ArcGIS
•  Understanding your data
•  Working with your data
COMPONENTS OF
ARCGIS
•  ArcCatalog*
•  Manage files
•  Create new shapefiles
•  Move and delete files and databases
•  ArcMap* & ArcToolbox*
•  View data
•  Edit and analyze data
•  Generate data
•  ArcScene
•  View data in 3-D
•  Create ‘fly-by’ movies
•  ArcGIS Server
•  Make maps and data viewable on-line
GIS FILE TYPES
ArcGIS typically uses 4 types of files:
•  Shapefiles—points, polygons, lines and associated
attributes
•  Raster (grid)—regularly gridded data, square pixels (to
projection)
•  Coverages—seem to be falling out of favor but still useful
for particular applications; similar to shapefiles
•  Geodatabases—basically a holding place for associated
shapefiles and grids; note: .gdb is a proprietary file format
and will not work with other GIS programs
Also, projects are saved as “maps” in files with denoted
by .mxd
GIS AUXILLIARY FILES
ArcGIS files have auxilliary information saved in additional
files:
•  Shapefiles—primary file is layername.shp, auxilliary files
are layername.dbf, layername.sbn, layername.shx,
layername.prj, layername.sbx, layername.shp.xml
•  Raster (grid)—auxilliary info saved to info directory for all
grids
•  Coverages—auxilliary info saved to info directory for all
coverages
COMPONENTS OF ARCGIS
ARCCATALOG
ARCCATALOG
Your #1 resource for file management in ArcGIS
•  Comes installed with ArcMap—can be opened inside
ArcMap or independently
•  Displays your computer's file system, as well as links to
GIS data through any folder connections you have set up
•  This is the BEST way to transfer or delete GIS files!!!
•  Most ArcGIS data files involve multiple auxilliary files
including projection information and processing history that
ArcGIS needs to function.
•  Moving or copying files in ArcCatalog preserves links
between these files. Deleting files in ArcCatalog deletes all
of the linked information.
•  This is particularly important for raster and coverage data.
ArcCatalog gives listing of
contents in selected folder