Learning ArcGIS Desktop (ESRI)

This week we worked within the ESRI website on some map projects. I really enjoyed working on the maps but I am having major computer problems that really slowed me down so it took some of the joy out of this week's labs and made it a race to finish. I hope to get those issues fixed and continue to learn and have fun with these maps!

Module 1: Exploring a GIS Map
Exercise: Planning a Trip to San Diego
1. Opened ArcMap, under existing maps and browse for more, opened "tourism.mxd"
2. Zoomed to 'whole page'
3. Clicked 'United States' in Table of Contents and activated
4. Right clicked 'San Diego' in Table of Contents and activated
5. zoomed map to 1:50,000
6. bookmarked to 'San Diego City'
7. changed to 'Data View' from View menu
8. checked Hotels in Table of Contents to activate layer
9. selected 'Elements Tool' to see hotel 'map tip'
10. right clicked hotels and selected 'Label Features'
11. clicked Find to see "Marriott" in hotels
12. right clicked 'Mariott Suites' and chose 'Flash'
13. in Find box, righ clicked 'Marriott Hotels and Marina' and chose 'identify' to see phone number
14. in Find box, right clicked and chose 'select'
15. in Table of Contents, right clicked 'Hotels' and selected 'Label Features' to turn off
16. in Table of Contents, checked 'Major Attractions', chose 'Open Attribute Table', right clicked 'Name' chose 'Sort Ascending' and selected 'Seaport Village' - closed table
17. zoomed in to Marriott and Seaport Village
18. selected 'Measure Tool' and chose 'Miles' under 'Choose Units' and 'Distance', measured distance from hotel to Sea Port .33 miles, measured distance from hotel to Trolley 0.14 miles.
19. 'Clear Features' selected
20. Chose 'San Diego City' from bookmarks to return to original setting and unchecked 'Major Roads'
21. Chose 'Label Features' from 'Major Attractions'
22. found Qualcomm Stadium and clicked 'Identify' tool for the Trolley stop nearby, chose 'Trolley Stops' and identified name "Stadium"
22. found San Diego zoo and selected the hyperlink and found directions indicating the trolley line not a good option
23. saved map to h:drive
24. changed to 'layout view' and made expanded San Diego map
25. unselected labels because it made the map very hard to read
25. changed hotel and attractions symbols
26. changed color of backgrounds, changed fonts to CaliforniaFB and all to color navy
27. looked up Data Sources: SAN DAG ESRI 2004
28. added text with name, title, data source, date, etc
29. exported: SanDiego_Tourism.jpg to S:drive and H:drive

Module 1: Using GIS to Solve Problems
Exercise: Find Potential Sites for a Youth Center

1. Opened 'youth_center.mxd'
2. in Table of Contents, right clicked 'Census Blocks 2000', chose 'Attributes Table', scrolled to 'age_15_17', then closed
3. opened 'Attribute Table' for 'Youth Population' layer, scrolled to 'age_15_17', closed
4. in Table of Contents turned off 'Youth Population', turned on 'City Zones' and chose 'Zoom to Layer'
5. Opened the attribute table in City zone', scrolled to 'LU_ABV' filed, then closed
6. turned on "Census Blocks 2000', zoomed to center of map
7. turned off 'Census Blocks 2000' and alternated on/off for Youth Population layer.
8. in Geoprocessing menu, chose 'Union', then chose 'City Zones' from Input Features and then 'Census Blocks 2000' from same.
9. Clicked 'browse' and chose 'Youth Center.gdb', named "zones_union" and saved
10. in Table of Contents, clicked on 'zones_union' and zoomed to layer, right clicked 'zones_union' and chose 'open attribute table' then scrolled to 'LU_ABV' and 'AG_5_17' fields then closed
11. under Selection menu, chose 'Select by Attributes', chose 'zones_union' under Layer, then chose 'create a new selection' under Method
12. scrolled to 'LU_ABV' in list of attribute field names, selected and clicked =, clicked 'Get Unique Values' and selected 'RES', clicked 'apply'
13. in Table of Contents right clicked 'zones_union' selection and zoomed to selected features
14. chose ' select from the current selection' from 'Method' in 'Select by Attributes' box, highlighted previous expression and deleted
15. scrolled and selected 'Age_5_17' under field names and clicked >= then typed "75", clicked apply, closed dialog box and clicked 'full extent'
16. chose select by location from 'selection menu', available buildings layer, zones_union layer and checked 'use selected features' box - List by Selection in Table of Contents
17. selected 'Drawing Order', turned off 'zone_union' layer and saved
18. right clicked 'available buildings', export data under 'data' and browsed for 'YouthCenter.gdb', selected and names "selected_buildings" and saved as shapefile and added the data as layers to the map as asked.
19. turned off 'available buildings' layer, changed selected buildings symbol to size 6
20. right clicked ; selected buildings' and chose select features
21. right clicked 'selected building' and chose 'zoom to layer'
22. changed colors and sizes and fonts
23. added metadata info, title, legend, north arrow and scale
24. exported as "youthcenter_cmb88.jpeg" to H:drive and S:drive