Getting to Know ArcGIS Chapter 3 Interacting with maps Displaying map data Navigating a map Using basic tools Looking at feature attributes I’m Kendra, and I’ll be presenting Chapter 3 for you. I’m going first to get this over with– hopefully you all can learn from my mistakes before you do your presentation! We went over most of these things to some degree in last week’s class so this should be quick mostly looking at things, turning features on & off, getting used to where things are

ArcMap one of many components of ArcGIS ArcMap is the component of the ArcGIS software that we’ll use most for viewing and working with our maps If you recall from the last class, you’ll find it in the program files in a long list of ArcGIS apps– globe w/ magnifying glass icon one of many components of ArcGIS the one we’ll be using for viewing and working with maps

ArcMap User Interface Main menu bar Standard toolbar Tools toolbar shortcut menu ArcMap’s user interface consists of the menu, map display, toolbars and embedded windows {CLICK} The main menu bar is at the top {CLICK} next is the standard toolbar {CLICK} and the tools toolbar {CLICK} here is the map display {CLICK} table of contents shows your layers, {CLICK} -- you can right click on items in here to get additional shortcut menus {CLICK} (again) Map display Table of contents

Moving windows and toolbars ArcToolbox window (docked) Catalog window (auto hidden) Search window (auto hidden) As you’ll recall from last week, you can move each of these windows or toolbars around by grabbing the title (or the grey dots on the toolbar), holding and dragging to the position you like. The green “TIP” sections of the chapter explain exactly how to dock, move, or hide each type . {CLICK} the arc toolbox is shown here docked on the left side. click toolbox icon in the standard toolbar to open, click and drag it where you want it. touching it to one of the edges of the window docks it there. {CLICK} The catalog and {CLICK} search windows are auto hidden here. These are two of the “embedded windows” (along w/ table of contents & arctoolbox  pointer or cursor). These embedded windows can be collapsed into tabs along the edge of screen with the “auto hide” function. click side tab and they will open, you can move it around – like the arctoolbox. – click little pin icon to “auto hide” and it turns back into a tab along the edge of screen. If the pin disappears, double click the title bar and it reappears. {CLICK} here the table of contents has been dragged to a new place as a floating toolbar {CLICK} tools toolbar– you can grab it by the dots on the left ( *pointer) & drag it and resize it so it’s not just a narrow strip {CLICK} all the things we’ve looked at so far are done without customizing. to put the draw toolbar here, ( pointer) I went to the customize menu, chose “draw” from the list of toolbars, and dragged it to the bottom of the screen (You can customize this user interface as much as you’d like, though the ....screengrabs in the text for the exercises will look more familiar if you don’t do much customizing at first....) note: the changes you make to the windows and toolbars will remain this way– they’ll be there the next time you open the or program. (Not the classroom computers, but on the version on your personal computer) However, if you hate the new configuration of windows you just created and don’t want it to be stuck that way.... Tools toolbar (floating) Table of contents (floating) Draw toolbar (turned on)

Help library ....that brings us to the topic: the Help Library you can reset your user interface to the original settings by following instructions in the help menu As detailed on p. 32 in the text, there’s a very useful help file that tells you how you can customize your user interface, and how to get back to the default interface if you make changes you don’t like (or if you *cough* somehow manage to accidentally delete the search tab and can’t find it again)

Terms to know layer shortcut (context) menu attributes feature class symbology display scale That’s it for the introduction to the chapter. As we go through the ch3 exercises, these are the terms that we should be learning – they’re listed at end of each chapter.

Terms to know layer: a collection of geographic objects that are alike and defined by a visual symbol. layers -- Layers may contain features or surfaces. Multiple layers make up a GIS map. {CLICK} shortcut (or context) menu – this is the menu you see when right-clicking an object {CLICK} attributes are the information about a feature – usually stored in an attribute table shortcut (context) menu: the menu of commands accessed by right-clicking an object attributes: non-spatial information about a geographic feature in a GIS

Terms to know feature class: a collection of geographic features with the same geometry type (e.g., point, line or polygon) , the same attributes, and the same spatial reference. feature class: a collection of features of the same type & with the same attributes-- This allows features to be grouped. for instance: highways, primary roads and secondary roads can be grouped into a line feature class named “roads” {CLICK} symbology: refers to the appearance of a feature on a map note this is why different layers look so different {CLICK} display scale: the scale at which data is rendered on the screen or on a printed map it’s on the standard toolbar this compares size of features currently displayed in the window to their actual size in real life (?????) symbology: refers to the appearance of a feature on a map (e.g., color, line thickness, motif, etc.) display scale: the scale at which data is rendered on a computer screen or on a printed map.

That’s all for Chapter 3 by the end of these exercises you should be comfortable navigating a map, using the basic tools, and getting the feel of the how the layers, features and attribute data work. That’s all for Chapter 3!