Map Making Tutorial Jennifer Ailshire June 25, Adding Data to the Map and Saving the Map

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1 Map Making Tutorial Jennifer Ailshire June 25, 2008 Adding Data to the Map and Saving the Map Click on the Add Data button, browse to the appropriate directory and select the desired file(s). After you have added data layers to the map document you can save the map by clicking on the File menu and selecting Save As. Save the map as file type.mxd. - The.mxd is an ArcGIS specific document that references the location of your shape files and data files and displays them as they were when you saved the map. *Use the Standard Toolbar to investigate your map layers. Joining Data to Geographic Files You will often need to join data from a table to a shape file. Right click on the geographic file you want the data joined to and select Joins and Relates >> Joins. You will need to base the join on a common identifier. Select fields that have the same id information and that are stored in the same format (i.e. text or numeric).

2 Manipulating Map Features Right click on the layer you are interested in working with. Select Properties from the drop down menu (alternatively, you can double click on the layer file) and choose the Symbology tab. By default, the features are symbolized with a single symbol (all of the PUMAs have the same color). You can change the representation of features to a categorical one (where each PUMA has a unique symbol) by clicking Categories, or to a quantitative one (where each Puma can be represented by the proportion poverty for instance) by clicking Quantities (Graduated Colors, Graduated Symbols, Proportional Symbols, Dot Density).

3 Creating and Saving a Map Template The default when opening ArcGIS is Data View. Switch to layout view by clicking on the View menu and selecting Layout View. You must be in Layout View for map production activities.

4 *The Layout Toolbar

5 Selecting a map template click on the File menu and select New. My Templates tab - contains templates created by the user General and Industry tab - contains particular map layouts one may prefer to use with their data USA and World tabs - contains variety of USA and World Maps that have already been created (not so useful unless you need a quick map of the US) Saving Templates You will start with a blank template, but can save the template at any time by clicking on the File menu and selecting Save As. From the drop down menu select the file type.mxt and give your template a name. Formatting and Adding Elements to a Map Selecting paper layout settings Click on the File menu and select Page and Print Setup.

6 This is where paper size and orientation can be selected. In addition, there are rulers, guides, and grids for arranging map elements on the page (these can also be found by right-clicking on an empty portion of the map layout and selecting from the menu). Selecting a map background color Select the data frame and click the down arrow next to the Fill Color button on the Draw Toolbar. Adding map elements Map Title: Click the Insert menu and select the Title option. A text box will be added to the page with a default title. Type a title within the text box and press Enter. You can further edit the title by doubleclicking the on the title and editing its text properties. The font, size, style, or color of the title can be changed using the Draw Toolbar. North Arrow: Click the Insert menu and select the North Arrow option. In the North Arrow Selector dialog box, select a north arrow and change the properties of the selected arrow. Scale Bar: Click the Insert menu and select the Scale Bar option. In the Scale Bar Selector dialog box, select a scale bar and change the properties of the selected scale bar.

7 Legend: Clicking the Insert menu and select the Legend option. The Legend Wizard dialog box will appear. By default, the legend includes all layers from the map, and the number of legend columns is set to one. You can choose which layers may be displayed in the legend by selecting the layer from the Map Layer box and clicking the right arrow (>>). The selected layers will be displayed in the Legend Items box. By clicking through the dialog boxes you can also: enter a Legend Title, specify its properties, and set the title justification; select a Legend Frame border, background color, and drop shadow; change the size and shape of the Symbol Patch used to represent line and polygon features within the legend; change the spacing between the different components of the legend. Exporting Your Map Maps are most commonly exported as either.pdf or.jpeg. Export your map by clicking on the File menu and selecting Export Map. In the Export Map dialog box you can name your map and save it in the appropriate file. Both.pdf and.jpeg files can then be inserted into Microsoft Word and Microsoft Power Point documents. Alternatively, you may simply print the map after exporting/saving.