NCSU GIS/MEA582:
Geospatial Modeling and Analysis

Data acquisition and integration

Resources: ESRI virtual campus

Instructions: LMC, RMC mean left and right mouse click. The geodatabases: ncshape.mdb, ncrast.mdb. If you don't already have these geodatabases downloaded, you can find them here: ncshape, ncrast.

You can put the geodatabases in any suitable directory where you have permissions to write and in these instructions we will refer to this directory C:\Users\myname\arcdata.

Move both geodatabases to the directory: C:\Users\myname\arcdata

Data management

Adding data to ArcMap: Add the Bridges feature class (located in ncshape.gdb) to your project. Examine the descriptive attributes associated with the bridge features.

RMC on the Bridges entry in the Table of Contents and select Open Attribute Table from
the context menu.

• How many attributes (data fields) are associated with the Bridges feature class?
• How many bridges are shown in the Bridges feature class?

Create a new geodatabase to store data:

Find the Catalog tab along the right side of the ArcMap map window and LMC to expand.
Navigate in the catalog tree to C:\Users\myname\arcdata.
Create a new folder called 'Assign1' in the arcdata folder.
RMC on the newly minted Assign1 folder icon in the Catalog window and
choose New -> File Geodatabase from the context menu.
Name it 'Assign1'.

Copy data from one geodatabase to another:

Open ncshape.mdb geodatabase in the [Arc]catalog tree
LMC on ncshape.mdb to open it.

Copy a feature class from one geodatabase to another:

Find and RMC bridges->Copy.
Navigate to the Assign1 geodatabase; On the geodatabase icon: RMC -> Paste.
Click 'OK' in the Data Transfer dialog.

Note: you can also remove the data layer using the same menu

Convert a feature class to a shape file:

Open ncshape.mdb in the ArcCatalog window.
RMC bridges->Export->To Shapefile (single).
Set Output Location to C:\Users\myname\arcdata\Assign1 (your Assign1 folder).
Set output Feature Class to 'bridges_shp'.
Click 'OK'.

Metadata

Find information about your data:

Add the bridges feature class from the Assign1 geodatabase (the original bridges feature class from ncshape and the newly created bridges shape file should already be in your project's table of contents (TOC). If not, add these two, as well.

RMC bridges (the first one listed in the TOC)->Properties
From the Layer Properties Source tab:
		-What is the data type?
		-What is the Geometry Type for the bridges feature class?
		-What is the Coordinate System and Map Projection?
		-What are the Linear Units?
		-What is the geographic Extent (i.e. xMin, xMax, yMin, yMax) of the data?

	Repeat the above for each of the remaining two data layers in the TOC.
		-What is/are the differences between the three layers?

View and add some (simple) Metadata:

From within the expanded Catalog tab in ArcMap, RMC on Bridges feature class in the
Assign1 geodatabase and select Item Description. Here, in the dialog that displays,
you can obtain some basic metadata describing your feature class/layer. More importantly
perhaps, it is also where you can add metadata (albeit only a tiny subset of what is
recommended) describing the data you create. Since this is an important, yet so often
overlooked, step in the data creation process, let's add some descriptive info to the
Bridges feature class in the Assign1 geodatabase.

From the Catalog tab: RMC on the bridges feature class in the Assign1 geodatabase
Select Item Description from the context menu
LMC on the Edit button near the top of the dialog presented and enter the following,
or your own similar content, to the fields:

	Tags field: "Bridges, transportation, roads, highways"

	Summary field: "Point layer depicting the location of  North Carolina Department
	of Transportation maintained bridges."

	Description field: "This ARCGIS point feature class contains locations and select
	non-maintenance related record information for North Carolina Department of Transportation
	maintained bridges and flyovers (highway overpasses). Points represent the geographic
	center (centroid) of the bridge structure. Data is stored in the North Carolina State
	Plane Coordinate System (NAD83 - EPSG: 32119)."

	Credits field: "North Carolina Department of Transportation - Geography and GIS Group"

	User Limitation field: "There are no restrictions on use of these data."

RMC->Save

This is a quick way to associate some important information (metadata) with your new data. Consider adding these few simple descriptors to each permanent layer that you create.

Data view and symbology

Adding Raster Data into Data Frame:

File->Data->Add Data...
Navigate to the ncrast.mdb geodatabase and add the elev raster layer

Turn the Bridges Layers Off:

LMC the check boxes (to remove the existing checks) next to each
of the three bridge entries in the TOC.

Zoom to the elev raster layer:

RMC on elev and select Zoom to Layer

Change color scheme:

RMC elev->Properties and select the 'Symbology' tab
Change the Color Ramp (Color Ramp drop down menu) to one that
represents elevation intuitively (it makes sense to you)

Add hillshade data into the data frame:

File->Data->Add Data...
Add elev_sh from the ncrast.mdb geodatabase

Change the transparency of the hillshade:

RMC elev_sh->Properties
Click on the 'Display' Tab
Set Transparency to 70%
Click 'OK'

Display vector points and lines:

File->Data->Add Data...
Add streets_wake, roadsmajor, schools_wake from the ncshape.mdb geodatabase
Hint: press and hold the control key to add multiple data layers

Change the line style:

RMC roadsmajor->Properties and select 'Symbology' tab
Click on the button displaying the current symbol
Change the color to red and the width to 1.6
Click 'OK'
Click 'OK'

Change the point style:

LMC directly on the symbol for schools_wake in the Table of Contents (shortcut to the
symbol selector)
Select 'School 1' It's about half way down in the symbol palette
Change the size to 14
Click 'OK'

Trim the Vector Display to Match the Raster's Geographic Extent:

RMC Layers at the top of the TOC
Select Properties->Data Frame->Clip Options->Clip to shape
LMC Specify Shape button
LMC Custom Extent
Uncheck the Degrees Check box
Enter the following in the top, botton, left, and right fields,
respectively: 228500, 215000, 630000, 645000. (FYI: These coordinates define
the geographic extent of the elev and elev_sh raster layers.)
Click 'OK'
Click 'OK'

Your display should now clip the roads and schools data so that these only: display in the are covered by the elev and hillshade rasters.

Save the map for your report:

LMC File->Export map  (Save the file to your Assign1 workspace as pdf or png)

Exit ArcMap. You can choose to save your project, if you wish, however, it's not necessary.