The GIS Institute

Course Description

ArcGIS for Natural Resource and Field Conservation – 3 days

Overview

ArcGIS Desktop software is an integrated system that includes all the tools needed to

get the most out of a GIS. This course teaches the range of functionality available in the

software and the essential tools for visualizing, creating, managing, and analyzing

geographic data. The hands-on course exercises emphasize practice with ArcMap and

ArcCatalog (the primary applications included with ArcGIS Desktop software) to perform

common GIS tasks and workflows. The tools for creating and managing geographic data,

displaying data on maps in different ways, and combining and analyzing data to discover

patterns and relationships are highlighted, and you learn how ArcGIS Desktop provides a

complete GIS software solution. Course exercises leverage GIS datasets from Kruger

National Park, South Africa, Lighthouse Reef, Belize, Orangutan Foundation International,

Indonesia, and the USDA Forest Service, USA.

Understanding how and when to apply ArcGIS tools and functions is the key to creating

efficient GIS workflows. The course progresses to show how to apply ArcGIS tools in a

workflow context with a focus on working with data stored in a geodatabase and

performing geoprocessing and analysis. In the later course exercises, students organize

and edit data stored in a geodatabase, prepare data for analysis, create and edit

geoprocessing models using ModelBuilder, and work through a challenging analysis

project. By the end of the course, you will be well-prepared to start working with the

software on your own.

Who Should Attend & Prerequisites

This course is designed for those who have no prior education or workplace experience

with GIS or ArcGIS software. Managers and GIS support staff members who infrequently

use ArcGIS software and would simply like to understand how GIS fits into their

organization will also benefit. Those with an education in or workplace experience with

GIS but no ArcGIS software experience will also benefit greatly. Knowledge of Windowsbased

software for basic file management and browsing is required. The course is entrylevel,

and quickly runs up to intermediate-level GIS topics.

Goals

After completing this course, students are able to;

• Understand how you and your organization can benefit from a GIS.

• Describe key concepts in GIS map creation.

• Understand data formats and how to effectively organize data in a GIS

database.

• Ask questions about your data and analyze the spatial relationships within

your data in order to solve problems with GIS.

• List common GIS tasks and identify which ArcGIS Desktop application is used

for each task.

• Understand what the geodatabase offers for GIS data storage.

• Create and edit geodatabase features.

• Control the appearance and display of data layers in ArcMap.

• Classify and symbolize map data.

• Label map features.

• Change the coordinate system and map projection used to display a dataset.

• Access feature information in tables and control table display properties.

• Query and analyze GIS data.

• Create presentation-quality maps and graphs.

• Add data from different sources to a geodatabase.

• Run analysis tools using dialog boxes and models.

• Build a complex model using ModelBuilder.

Software Used

ArcGIS Desktop 9.3 – ArcView license

Topics Covered

􀂃 The big picture of GIS: Basic functions of a GIS; Real-world applications.

􀂃 Exploring GIS maps: Defining features, layers, and data frames; Exploring map

scale; Understanding the relationship between features and attributes.

􀂃 Exploring a GIS database: Exploring attribute tables; Identifying features;

Symbolizing features based on their attributes; Labeling features based on their

attributes.

􀂃 Creating map layouts: Understanding data view and layout view; Using the Layout

toolbar; Using map templates; Modifying map elements; Printing maps.

􀂃 Understanding location: Defining coordinate systems and map projections;

Reading and finding location coordinates on a map; Measuring area and distance

on a map.

􀂃 Understanding raster and vector data: Representing geography; Storing realworld

locations; Symbolizing rasters; Using raster and vector data together;

Understanding geodatabases.

􀂃 Acquiring geographic data: Data formats; Methods of creating geographic data;

Using ArcCatalog to explore geographic data; Using metadata.

􀂃 Querying data: Understanding and performing attribute queries; Understanding

and performing spatial queries.

􀂃 Analyzing spatial relationships: Understanding overlay; Understanding buffer;

Accessing tools in ArcToolbox; Performing Union and Intersect; Buffering features.

􀂃 Solving problems with GIS: Applying the geographic inquiry process; Using GIS

tools to solve a geographic problem; Creating a map to show results.

􀂃 Investigating geographic data: How geographic data is stored; Vector and raster

data; Geodatabase basics and advantages; Shapefiles; Coverages; CAD data;

Managing data in ArcCatalog; Displaying data in ArcMap; ArcMap basics; Data and

layers.

􀂃 Managing map layers: Zooming to layers; Bookmarks; Display windows; Scale

ranges; Group layers; Selection layers; Layer files; Creating hyperlinks.

􀂃 Symbolizing categorical data: Symbology; Choosing symbology; Types of symbols

(marker, line, fill); Creating symbols.

􀂃 Symbolizing quantitative data: Symbology options (graduated colors, graduated

symbols, proportional symbols, dot density, charts); Classification methods

(Natural Breaks, Equal Interval, Quantile, Manual); Excluding data from a

classification; Rendering raster data.

􀂃 Labeling map features: Label placement for different feature types (points, lines,

polygons); Label symbology; Controlling label display using scale range and SQL

query; Label classes; Label expressions; Label ranks and weights; What is

annotation?; Geodatabase annotation; Map annotation.

􀂃 Using coordinate systems and map projections: What is a coordinate system?;

Geographic coordinate systems; Datums; Projected coordinate systems; Map

projections; Feature classes and coordinate systems; Data frames and coordinate

systems; Geographic transformations; Working with an unknown coordinate

system; Projecting data; Defining a projection.

􀂃 Making a map layout: Working in layout view; Tools for arranging map elements;

Data frame properties for layouts; Adding legends, scale bars, and other map

elements; Exporting maps; Working with map templates.

􀂃 Managing tables: Table structure; Layer attribute tables; Nonspatial tables;

Getting information from tables; Field properties; Table appearance; Creating

graphs and reports; Connecting tables using joins and relates; Cardinality.

􀂃 Editing features and attributes: Reasons to edit data; Working with the Editor

toolbar; Edit sketches; Common editing tools; Edit tasks; Snapping to features

while editing; Editing attributes; Calculating values for geometry fields; Working

with coincident geometry in a map topology; Typical editing workflow.

􀂃 Creating geodatabases and feature classes: Types of geodatabases; Geodatabase

organization; Feature class organization; Feature class properties and attributes;

Metadata; Creating, viewing, and editing metadata; Importing and exporting

metadata; Creating features in a new feature class.

􀂃 Getting locations from attributes: Adding x,y coordinate data; Finding places and

addresses; Finding routes and nearby places; Geocoding; Geocoding components

(address table, address locator, reference data); Address matching overview;

Geocoding workflow; Reference data sources.

􀂃 Solving spatial problems with query and analysis: GIS analysis basics; Typical

analysis workflow; Common analysis operations (attribute and spatial queries,

clipping data from layers, buffering features, overlaying features); Overview of

geoprocessing; Analysis results.

􀂃 Customizing ArcGIS Desktop: Why customize the interface?; Customize dialog

box; Locating commands; Adding new toolbars, commands, and menus; Saving

customizations; Saving to a template; Storing templates.

􀂃 Getting data into the geodatabase: Advantages of migrating data to the

geodatabase; File and personal geodatabases; Loading and importing data; Data

sources available for conversion; ArcToolbox conversion tools; Importing and

exporting data in ArcCatalog; Importing and exporting data using XML; Copying

and pasting data between geodatabases; Batch and single conversions; Loading

data into existing feature classes using the Simple Data Loader; Displaying x,y

coordinate data from a table; Accessing tabular data using an OLE DB connection;

Adding data from a GIS server; Working with map projections and datums.

􀂃 Editing GIS data: Creating new data (digitizing, copying and pasting features,

Editor menu commands); Constructing an edit sketch using constraints (direction,

length, parallel); Creating adjacent polygons using the Auto-Complete Polygon

task; Modifying existing features; Reshaping existing features and boundaries;

Exploding multipart features; Editing using domains, subtypes, and topology.

􀂃 Aligning spatial data: Common data alignment problems; Georeferencing CAD

data; Matching layer boundaries; Transformation; Rubber sheeting; RMS error.

Course Instructor – Drew Stephens, Director, The GIS Institute, 17 years GIS teaching

experience, former ESRI intructor and course author.