USING ARCVIEW

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Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

In a GIS, we can assemble, store, manipulate, analyze, and display spatial information. We can examine any type of data that is spatially referenced. As these exercises indicate, we can include environmental, spatial, economic, and socio-cultural variables in a GIS. No only is it a useful tool for analysis but it also assists in the formulation of hypotheses about spatial relationships.

A key dimension in a GIS is using our powers of visualization to reveal relationships among variables. Most importantly, GIS will encourage you to think spatially about your data.

Objective

You will:

1. Display map information.
2. Visually overlay map layers.
3. Identify features on a map.
4. Load new information into ArcView.
5. Create maps based on your data classifications.
6. Analyze spatial data.
7. Understand the tables that are the databases for ArcView.
8. Create charts to help interpret spatial data.
9. Create new variables from existing data.
10. Print your maps.

Steps to Learning ArcView

• Step 1: Starting ArcView
• Step 2: Starting a New project and Saving Projects
• Step 3: Navigating in ArcView
• Step 4: Exploring Themes
• Step 5: Changing Legend Colors and Display
• Step 6: Identify Features on a Map
• Step 7: Classifying Data in Themes into Classes
• Step 8: Creating Layouts and Printing Maps
• Step 9: Spatial Analysis I: Querying the Data
• Step 10: Spatial Analysis II: Finding Data that Meet Spatial Criteria--the Role of Distance
• Step 11: Spatial Analysis III: Using and Creating New Variables in a Database Table
• Step 12: Spatial Analysis IV: Working with Graphs
• Step 13: Adding, Editing, and Importing Data
• Step 14: Advanced Features in ArcView

Step 1: Starting ArcView

From the Programs choices select ESRI and then ArcView GIS Version 3.0a and ArcView GIS Version 3.0a again.

ArcView may take at least a minute or so to load. Be patient. While it is loading, nothing may seem to be happening.

ArcView starts with an empty window.

Once this ArcView window is visible, you may need to re-size the ArcView window so that it fills the computer screen. If your ArcView window does not fill the screen, click on the small box in the upper-right corner

in both the large and small windows (the latter has "Untitled" in its heading) in ArcView to expand them to fill the screen.

ArcView Terminology: Projects, Views, and Themes

• Project: A project is the file in which ArcView stores your work. You can keep all related work in a single project, including tables, charts, spatial views of your data, map layouts, etc. A project is saved with an .apr file extension. Thus, the file "CARDI.apr" would have all material, such as maps and tables, related to that project. When you open that project file again, all its component parts will be just as you left them, ready to use again. Each project has a window.
• Project Window: The project window is the smaller window on the left of the initial ArcView window. When you first open ArcView, the title of the Project window is "Untitled." After you save a project, this window contains the project file's name ( with an .apr extension). It lists all the components of the project, organized by type (Views, Tables, Charts, etc.). You use this window to add new components to a project or to open existing ones.
• View: A view is the interactive map that you use to display, query, and analyze data in ArcView. Several map layers--called THEMES--are normally displayed in a single view. You can have more than one view in a project (The name of each View will be listed in the Project Window).
• Theme: "Theme" is the term used for a map layer in ArcView containing both spatial and attribute data (the latter are in database tables, which you do not see at first). A Theme is a file containing graphic information required to draw a set of geographic features together with information about those features. Themes are listed on the left side of the view window in the Table of Contents along with their legends that represent them on the map. Examples of themes are streets, buildings, cities, rivers, countries, railroads, etc. Themes can cover geographic phenomena at any scale, from small gardens to the entire world.
• Table: A Table is a data file that contains rows of information about items in a particular geographic category (such as hotels, cities, streets, counties, countries, etc.), with each row representing a different named item (ie, for cities, one row could represent Kingston, another Ocho Rios, etc.). Tables also have numerous columns, with each column representing a particular attribute (variable); for example, one column might represent pesticide used, another population size, etc.

Getting help in ArcView

You can also get "context-sensitive help" for many of the buttons located below the menu at the top of the screen by first clicking on the right-most button (the one with the question mark on it) and then clicking on the item in question.

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