Lab 1: Introducing ArcView

Table of Contents

 

1.     Lesson goals

2.     What is ArcView GIS?

1. Geographic features
2. Feature attributes
3. ArcView themes

3.     The ArcView project

1. The ArcView GUI
2. The Project window

4.     Project documents

1. View
2. Tables
3. Charts
4. Layouts
5. Scripts

5.     Exercises

1. Explore ArcView
2. Navigate ArcView help

6.     Lab summary

 

1.    Goals

 

In this lab, you'll become familiar with the ArcView GIS interface and begin to see how data is organized and linked inside ArcView. In particular, you will learn:

1.     what features and attributes are

2. about ArcView's document types
3. how the Project window relates to all ArcView documents
4. how to work with ArcView's help system

 

 

2.    What is ArcView GIS?

 

ArcView GIS is a desktop geographic information system (GIS) from ESRI. A GIS is a database that links information to location (it connects the what to the where), allowing you to see and analyze data in new and useful ways.

Below is a typical ArcView project. A map, chart, and table have been used to depict migration patterns in the United States. Don't worry if it seems complicated. You are going to look at the pieces individually and see how they interrelate.

The ArcView interface consists of windows that present information in different ways. Rows of menus, buttons, and tools at the top of the main application window allow you to view and perform analytical operations on the data in the database.

 

 Here, you see an ArcView project that contains a map, chart, and table to depict socio-economic data for Africa.

 

 

 

a)    Geographic features

 

 

 

Objects represented on maps, whether natural or man-made, are called features. Each feature has a location, a representative shape, and a symbol that represents one or more of its characteristics.

 

 

b)    Feature attributes

 

 

ArcView GIS stores information about map features in a database and links the information to map features.

 

c)     ArcView themes

A GIS links sets of features and their attributes and manages them together in units called themes. A theme consists of a collection of geographic features (such as roads, rivers, parcels, wildlife sightings, schools, or parks) and the attributes for those features.

A map which visually represents a set of data in this way is called a thematic map.

 

A theme of population density in Africa.

 

 

 

3.     The ArcView project

 

When you start an ArcView session, you see a window like the figure below. The main ArcView GIS window contains an untitled Project window. Down the left side of the Project window is a group of icons representing each ArcView document type. Documents in ArcView provide a means of interacting with your data, and each document type has unique controls for displaying and acting on your data in different ways.

 

a)    The ArcView GUI

 

ArcView's graphical user interface (GUI) is located along the top of the active window. The GUI consists of a top row of pulldown menus (the menu bar), a row of buttons (the button bar), and a row of tools (the toolbar). Clicking menu options, buttons, and tools allows you to perform actions on your data quickly and easily. Each document type has its own set of menus, buttons, and tools. When you switch between document windows, you will notice that the GUI changes.

Below you see two of the ArcView GUIs--the view document GUI at top and the table document GUI beneath it. Notice that the view GUI has a View menu and six other pulldown menus, while the table GUI has a Table menu and five other menus. Also, notice that the table GUI has fewer buttons and only three tools on its toolbar.

 

 The View graphical user interface contains seven pulldown menus, a full row of buttons, and quite a few tools.

 

 

b)    The Project window

The Project window is used to add new documents to a project and to manage existing documents.

The menus, buttons, and tools at the top of the ArcView window change according to which document window is active. In this case, because the Project window is active, there are four menus and two buttons available.

 

 The ArcView Project window contains icons for the five ArcView document types: Views, Tables, Charts, Layouts, and Scripts.

 

 

4.     Project documents

When you start an ArcView session, you see a window like the figure below. The main ArcView GIS window contains an untitled Project window. Down the left side of the Project window is a group of icons representing each ArcView document type. Documents in ArcView provide a means of interacting with your data, and each document type has unique controls for displaying and acting on your data in different ways.

 

a)    Views

ArcView's graphical user interface (GUI) is located along the top of the active window. The GUI consists of a top row of pulldown menus (the menu bar), a row of buttons (the button bar), and a row of tools (the toolbar). Clicking menu options, buttons, and tools allows you to perform actions on your data quickly and easily. Each document type has its own set of menus, buttons, and tools. When you switch between document windows, you will notice that the GUI changes.

 

b)    Tables

A table displays records as rows and fields as columns. In tables that are linked to a theme, called theme attribute tables, each record represents a single feature and each field represents a single attribute for that feature.

An ArcView project can contain other types of tables besides theme attribute tables. INFO tables, dBASE files, and delimited text files (.txt) can be added to and stored in a project.

 

 The Table graphical user interface contains six pulldown menus, fewer buttons than the View GUI, and three tools.

 

You can edit tables to add new records and fields, update record values, and delete records and fields. And, like themes in a view, all fields in a table do not have to display. You can hide fields if you like. You can also assign different names (aliases) to fields to make the field names more descriptive. For example, instead of having a field called Pop2000, you can create an alias and call the field Population 2000.

 

Here, you see an ArcView table. Some of the fields have been aliased. For example, Name is an alias for Cntry_name.

 

 

c)     Charts

 

Charts display tabular data graphically. In ArcView, charts are fully integrated with tables and views. This means you can choose the table records (theme features) you want displayed on the chart by simply clicking on them. You can also get information from charts. In the charts below, for example, you could use the Identify tool  to click on a pie piece or a column and all the attribute information from the associated record in the table would display in a popup window.

 

Charts are graphic representations of tabular data.

 

ArcView supports six types of charts: area, bar, column, line, pie, and x,y scatter. You can customize charts to meet your presentation needs, and you can include them in your map layout for printing or publishing.

 

 

d)    Layouts

Layouts are documents on which you can arrange views, tables, charts, and images as graphic elements. They are the maps people think of when they think of GIS. Layouts can be sent to a printer or plotter to create a hard copy product. Because ArcView layouts are linked to the data they display, any changes you make to the data are automatically reflected in the layout.

Important cartographic map components like neatlines, north arrows, scale bars, and legends (keys) can be placed on layouts. When creating an ArcView layout, you can also customize the layout page "layout" to control such things as page size, page units, orientation, and margins.

Additionally, you can export layouts to popular drawing program and graphics formats.

 

Layouts allow you to integrate documents (views, tables, and charts) and other graphic elements in a single window to create presentation-quality maps for printing.

 

 

e)    Scripts

Avenue is ArcView's programming language. With Avenue you can customize almost every aspect of ArcView by writing your own programs, or scripts. You can write a script to add a new button to the interface or delete tools and popup menus that you don't need in a specific application. Avenue is fully integrated with ArcView and the work you do will run on any of the platforms for which ArcView is available.

Avenue code is written in a Script Editor document. The script editor allows you to create, modify, compile, execute, and debug Avenue scripts. The script editor also provides the end user with a way to load and execute Avenue scripts.

To learn more about Avenue and how you can create a complete custom application, take the Basics of Avenue Virtual Campus module.

 

 

Scripts are programs written with Avenue, ArcView's programming language. You can use Avenue to customize the ArcView interface, automate common GIS functions, and create entire applications.

 

 

5.     Exercises

 

f)      Explore ArcView

 

Welcome to the first exercise in Basics of ArcView. Each exercise has an introduction that explains what the goals of the exercise are and what tasks you can expect to accomplish.

The goal of this exercise is to introduce you to ArcView and its capabilities. You'll examine ArcView by opening an ArcView project and exploring each of its components.

Step 1: Start ArcView

To complete the Introduction to ArcView GIS exercises, you will need to have ArcView GIS installed on your computer.

Click Start, then Programs, then select ArcView GIS Version 3.1 (or higher).

If the Welcome to ArcView GIS dialog appears, click Cancel.

 

 

Step 2: Examine the interface

At the top of the ArcView window is a menu bar with four pulldown menus: File, Project, Window, and Help. These menus are available when the Project window (the smaller "Untitled" window within the ArcView window) is active. Below the menu bar is the button bar with two buttons, Save and Help. Below the button bar is the toolbar. It doesn't contain any tools yet.

Move your mouse pointer over the buttons.

The function of each is displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the ArcView window.

Next, from the File menu, choose Open Project.

 

 

Step 3: Open a project

 

 

 

In the Open Project dialog, navigate to the lab01 folder.

Click on lab01.apr  from the left scrolling list.

Click OK.

ArcView projects always have an .apr extension.

 

 

Step 4: Select multiple views

 

 

Currently, the Views icon is highlighted. The New, Open, and Print buttons at the top of the window let you create new views, open existing views, and print a view that's highlighted in the list. The buttons at the top of the window will change for each document type.

On the right side of the window, you see the names of the two views currently contained in this project. You want to work with both views at the same time so you need to highlight both of them.

Hold down the Shift key and click on the Population Density view. Now both views in the list are highlighted.

 

 

Step 5: Open the views

 

 

Next, open both views by clicking the Open button at the top of the Project window.

The two view windows open and ArcView's interface (menus, buttons, and tools) changes to reflect the view document type. You can tell that the Population Density view is active because its title bar is highlighted and its window is in the foreground.

 

 

Step 6: Make a view active

 

 

Each theme in the Population Density view has a title and information that describes what the theme shapes represent. The World Cities theme represents cities of the world. The Countries by Population Density theme shows countries. (Notice that some of the countries display in yellow. This indicates that they've been selected as a separate group.) In the background is a theme showing a grid of latitude and longitude.

Click on the Gross National Product title bar. It becomes the active view.

Again you see a theme of world cities, a theme of countries, and a theme of latitude and longitude; however, in this view, the countries are shown according to their gross national product (GNP).

 

 

Step 7: Close a view

 

 

Each of these views displays the world differently. In ArcView, you can display the same source data differently by changing the properties of the views.

Close the Gross National Product view by clicking on the icon in the upper left corner of the Gross National Product window and choose Close from the menu. The view window closes.

 

 

Step 8: Open a theme attribute table

 

 

Now you'll look at the attributes that are linked to the features in the Countries by Population Density theme.

Notice that the gray area containing the name and the symbols for the Countries by Population Density theme appears raised, indicating that this theme is active.

Open the table for the active theme by clicking the Open Theme Table button on the View button bar.

Use the scroll bar at the right of the table and scroll down until you see the selected records (highlighted in yellow). You may want to widen the table window to see the fields better.

 

 

Step 9: Promote the selected records

 

Some of the African countries and their table records are highlighted in yellow. You can't see any of the selected table records unless you scroll down the table and even then, you can't see all the selected records together as a group.

With the Table window active, click the Promote button (or, from the Table menu, choose Promote).

ArcView moves the highlighted records to the top of the table.

 

 

Step 10: Examine the other attributes

 

 

View the rest of the theme's attributes by scrolling to the right in the table.

Notice that the table contains attribute information on growth rate and the total population for 1980 (Grw_rate80; Tot_pop80) for each country.

 

 

Step 11: Open a chart

 

 

Next, you will open a chart showing the birth and death rates for the highlighted African countries.

Click on the Project window title bar to make it active.

Click on the Charts icon. The Birth/Death Comparison chart is highlighted in the list.

Click the Open button.

The Birth/Death Comparison chart is now the active document, and ArcView's interface changes to display the menus, buttons, and tools you use to work with charts.

 

 

Step 12: Open a layout

 

 

The chart is covering up the Project window, so bring the Project window to the front by choosing less01_1.apr from the Window menu.

Next, click on the Layouts icon to display the list of layouts in the project.

Click the Open button to display The Population Growth Rates layout.

The Population Growth Rates layout opens and ArcView's interface changes to display the menus, buttons, and tools you use for working with layouts.

This layout contains the Population Density view and its symbols, the Countries by Population Density table, the Birth/Death Rates chart, and additional graphics and text.

Note: If you don't see the chart and table on the layout, make sure that both the chart and table are open in your ArcView window. Close the layout, then reopen it.

 

 

Step 13: Save the project

 

 

From the File menu, choose Close All.

Again from the File menu, choose Close Project. When asked if you want to save changes to the project, click Yes.

Only the main ArcView window remains open and active.

You've now seen an ArcView project and some of the documents it can contain (views, tables, charts, layouts). You've also seen that each document type has its own interface containing menus, buttons, and tools.

In the lessons that follow, you'll perform specific GIS tasks using views, tables, charts, and layouts in a project. After you've completed all the lessons, you'll be ready to tackle your own ArcView project.

If you want to go on to the next lesson or experiment with ArcView, leave ArcView running. Otherwise, choose Exit from the File menu to close ArcView.

 

b)     Navigate ArcView help

 

Now that you know the basics about ArcView's structure and its documents, you can learn how to navigate ArcView's online help. This exercise will show you how to to use the online help system and get answers to many of the common questions new users have. If you have used other window help systems, then ArcView's help will be familiar to you.

 

 

Step 1: Start ArcView Help

 

 

If necessary, start ArcView. From the Help menu, choose How to Get Help. An ArcView Help window opens with instructions on how to get help in ArcView. It describes the use of the Help button to get context-sensitive help and other methods of obtaining help.

From the File menu inside the Help window, choose Exit.

The Help window closes.

 

 

Step 2: Examine the Help Topics window

 

 

From the Help menu in the ArcView window, select Help Topics.

The Help Topics window opens. It has Contents, Index, and Find tabs. The Contents tab shows the Table of Contents for Help Topics. The Index tab allows you to search for topics that contain a word from the help index, such as "View" or "Table". The Find tab will search every document for any word, whether it is in the index or not (of course, this takes longer).

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3: Select a Help topic

 

 

 

If necessary, click the Contents tab to see the Table of Contents.

Double-click the topic entitled "Data that comes with ArcView." Double-click the subtopic entitled "About this data."

ArcView opens a help window on the topic you chose.

 

 

 

 

Step 4: Use the Help Index

 

 

 

 

Click on the Help Topics button to restore the Help Topics window.

Click on the Index tab at the top of the Help Topics window.

Type tables in box 1.

ArcView displays all the indexed topics regarding tables in box 2.

Double-click "attribute table" in box 2. A help window opens with a document about tabular data.

 

 

Step 5: Use Find

 

 

 

 

Click on the Help Topics button. Click the Find tab at the top of the Help Topics window.

This window allows you to enter any word and search every help document. If you have never run the help before, ArcView has to build a word list. If a Setup dialog opens, click Next and Finish when prompted. This may take a minute or two.

In the text entry box, type chart. Below it, in box 2, ArcView displays all the help documents that have the word "chart" in them.

Double-click "ArcView's user interface."

A document describing ArcView's user interface opens. The word "chart" appears several times in this document.

Close the Help window.

 

 

Step 6: Use the Help button

 

 

 

 

Another way to get help is to use the Help button inside the ArcView window. You click the Help button, then click on any other menu, button, tool, or document in ArcView. ArcView opens a help window describing the item you clicked. This is useful when you don't know the name of an item, but you want help with it.

Click the Help button in the ArcView window. (If you don't see the Help button, from the File menu, choose New Project.)

Click the Save Project Button.

The help window displays the discussion for the specific button or tool.

When you are finished, close the help window. If you are continuing with the next lesson, leave ArcView running. Otherwise, exit ArcView.

 

 

6.     Lab Summary

 

ArcView GIS is a desktop geographic information system (GIS) from ESRI. A GIS is a database that links information to geography, allowing you to visualize and analyze data in new and powerful ways.

When they are represented on a map, real world objects are called features. Features can be represented by points, lines, or polygons. In a GIS, features have attributes (descriptive information about them) to which they are linked. You can access the attributes for any feature or locate any feature by its attributes.

ArcView manages features and their attributes in units called themes. A theme is a collection of features with similar attributes, like roads, land parcels, and wells, for example. When you work with ArcView, you work with project files, identified by an .apr extension. Projects store and organize information in five types of documents: Views, Tables, Charts, Layouts, and Script Editors. Each document type displays data differently and allows you to interact with the data in different ways.

The ArcView graphical user interface (GUI) is located along the top of the active window. The GUI consists of pulldown menus, buttons, and tools. The GUI changes according to which document type is active.

Views display geographic data organized by theme. A view contains a map display area and a Table of Contents, or legend. Tables display records as rows and fields as columns. Tables linked to a theme are called theme attribute tables, and each record represents a feature and each field represents a single attribute for the feature. Charts display tabular data graphically and are integrated with tables and views. There are six supported chart types in ArcView: area, bar, column, line, pie, and x,y scatter.

Layouts are documents on which you arrange views, tables, charts, and images. They also can contain north arrows, scale bars, and legends. Layouts are often the main product of a GIS project--they are the maps that present the results of your analysis. Script Editors are used to load and write, edit, compile, and execute Avenue programs (called scripts). Avenue is ArcView's programming language. With Avenue scripts, you can customize almost every aspect of ArcView GIS.