Lab Assignment 4 Basics of ArcGIS Server. Due Date: 01/19/2012

Transcription

1 Lab Assignment 4 Basics of ArcGIS Server Due Date: 01/19/2012 Overview This lab assignment is designed to help you develop a good understanding about the basics of ArcGIS Server and how it works. You will go through the entire process of creating and publishing a Web GIS application. Specifically, your tasks in this exercise include: Author content for a GIS service Connect to the GIS server Publish GIS services Create a Web GIS application Before you accomplish these tasks, make sure you are able to login the server successfully and become familiar with it. Data to be used: You are going to use a variety of data about the State of Maryland including: MD_Bnd.shp: state boundary MD_Cnty.shp: county boundary MD_FireStations.shp: fire stations MD_Hospitals.shp: hospitals MD_PoliceStations.shp: police stations MD_Schools.shp: all schools of different levels MD_Highways.shp: highways Suppose you work for FEMA, it will be very helpful to make these data available on the Web in order to raise the awareness of emergency resources in the State of Maryland. Certain GIS functions can be added to further facilitate the use of these data. That is exactly what you need to do in this lab assignment. 1

2 Part I: Getting to Know ArcGIS Server: An Example ArcGIS Server is a complete and integrated GIS that provides a set of software components and a framework for developing centrally managed GIS applications. It allows users to distribute maps and GIS capabilities over the Web. ArcGIS Server has become increasingly popular because of its flexibility (Java or.net) and versatility (not just Web mapping, but also geoprocessing, editing, and support most ESRI extensions such as Network Analyst.). Therefore, it is important to develop a good understanding about this technology. Your first task is to read the two documents ArcGIS Server Concepts and Terminology and Intro to ArcGIS Server which I posted on Blackboard under Course Documents > Module 5. You should be able to answer the following questions: 1. What are the components of the ArcGIS Server system? 2. What is SOM? 3. What is SOC? 4. What types of GIS services can you publish? 5. What are the clients that can use GIS services? 6. What are the three steps to enable Web GIS? Below is an example to show what a Web GIS application is and also the detailed steps to illustrate how this application was created using ArcGIS server. Note: Part I is only for reading and you don t need to do anything. You can also use the same data of the example and go through those steps for practice. If you are familiar with these steps, you can skip to Part II. In Part II, you will use a different dataset to create your own application which must meet some minimum requirements but have room for you to be creative. 2

3 1. The Example Here is the link: This Web GIS application delivers some general data about USA including state boundaries, cities, rivers, lakes, and highways. On the top of the Web page, there is a title along with some links. The title should be descriptive and yet concise. The links should be closely related to the Web application and its author. Or, links should be added to provide assistance to the users. On the top-right corner of the Web page, there is a row of tools including Zoom-in/out, Pan, Full Extent, Identify, Measure, etc. These tools were created by default when the Web application was created. Notice that there are some additional tools (tasks) at the top-left corner. These tools can help enhance the Web application. 3

4 Because there are multiple data layers, the map may look over-crowded if all layers are displayed at the same time, especially at small scale. Thus, it is helpful to define scale ranges for certain data layers. And scale ranges can be applied to labels as well. In this example, scale ranges have been applied to data layers Cities, Roads, and States. If there are multiple polygon layers, it also helps by making the layers on the top semitransparent. In this example, the data layer Lakes, has been made 50% transparent in order to see the state boundary underneath. 2. Steps There are three general procedures to enable GIS on the Internet: 1. Author GIS service content 2. Publish GIS resources as services Can use either ArcCatalog or ArcGIS Server Manager 3. Use GIS services Create Web mapping applications Mobile applications Desktop applications Others Step 1: Author GIS service content The GIS service content that can be created includes: 2D maps, 3D maps, 3D globes, geodatabases, and GIS functionality such as locators and geoprocessing models. You have two options to create the map documents: 1. Create the map document on your local computer and then upload the files to the server. Upload the data along with the.mxd file. In this case, you should set the data source in relative path in the map document. Or, since the lab4 data has already been saved within a folder on the server C:\Workspace\Geog677\Winter2012\Labs\Lab4, you can upload the.mxd file to the server and then change the data source. 2. Login to the server and then create the map document there. For the best visualization effect on the Web later on, you will need to define symbology properly at this stage. For example, Arrange appropriate sequence of the data layers in the Table of Content Select appropriate and descriptive symbols for different features. Choose appropriate colors Decide appropriate text font, size, and color for labels. Define appropriate scale ranges to features as well as labels. Set transparency ratio for certain polygon layers 4

5 Note: These settings will be automatically inherited once the map is published on the Web. Therefore, it is important to define those settings properly NOW. Make sure all the data layers have spatial references, i.e. all datasets are properly projected. Ideally, they should use the same coordinate system. There are no specific rules or requirements to define the symbology. The bottom line is to make a map more presentable and easier to read. In this particular example, I have defined the scale ranges as following: Minimum Scale Features 1:4,000,000 USA_Cities Labels 1:3,000,000 USA_Roads Features 1:32,000,000 USA_States Labels 1:10,000,000 Maximum Scale <None> <None> <None> 1:4,000,000 Step 2: Connect to a GIS Server Before you can publish GIS services, you must establish an administration connection to the ArcGIS server. This means that the account you use to connect to the server must be a member of the ArcGIS Server Administration group (i.e. agsadmin). I have already assigned you with an agsadmin role on the server. To connect to the ArcGIS server, you will follow the procedures below: 1. Go to this link: 2. For the user name, type in "hyperion\user_id". You will replace the "user_id" with your own id. 3. If you took Geog788R (Web Programming) last fall, you can use the same password to login. Otherwise, you should use the password - "Geog677_W12 ". (You must change the password immediately after login. Be sure to remember it because I will not be able to retrieve it if you forget.) 5

6 Note: Before you try to login the ArcGIS Server Manager, you must use Remote Desktop to login to the server first, which will activate your agsadmin role. ArcGIS Server Manager is a Web-based administration tool that allows you to create geospatial enterprise applications that showcase the geographic information running on your server. You can create and provide geospatial services such as mapping, querying, routing, and geocoding. The easy-to-use interface is intended for people with little or no application development experience. Without programming, you will be able to create powerful mapping applications. You can also view the log files and monitor the server security. Step 3: Publish a map service using ArcGIS Server Manager There are two options of publishing GIS services: ArcCatalog and ArcGIS Server Manager. In this exercise, you are going to use the second option. With the Web-based ArcGIS Server Manager, you can administer the GIS server and any of the GIS services it provides. You can also take advantage of easy-to-use wizards to quickly create Web mapping applications. Click the Services tab. The Manage Services panel displays any services that have been published at the root level of the server. Now, click Publish a GIS Resource and then the browse icon next to Resource textbox. Navigate the folders until \\HYPERION\Geog677\Winter2012\Labs\Lab4 where you will see a list of map documents under this folder. One of these documents will be created by you later in Part II. Note: Only shared folders appear in the File Browser and thus accessible by SOCs. I have already defined C:\workspace\Geog677 as a shared folder. I select my own document - Lab4_jma3.mxd for Resource. 6

7 Follow the instructions and finish the process. Now, you should be able to see a new GIS service has been created and it is named Lab4_userid. Click on the + sign to expand the services. A thumb-nailed preview and properties of each service are displayed. 7

8 Step 4: Create a Web mapping application Now that you have a map service running on the GIS server, you can start to create a Web mapping application so that other people can also see and interact with them via a Web browser. On the ArcGIS Server Manager window, click the Applications tab. The Web Applications panel will display any applications that have been previously created. On this panel, you can also edit or delete existing applications, besides creating new ones. Note: When you are working on this lab assignment, you will likely see some Web applications that would have been created by other students. Please don t try to edit or delete any applications that are not created by you. Click Create Web Application. Fill the name and description. You may want to stick with the same name, i.e. Lab4_userid (replace the userid with your own). 8

9 Note: The name may contain spaces and numbers, but not special characters such as ], ;, &, etc. Underscore is perfectly fine. Click Next. On the panel below, you need to specify the layers for the new application. A layer can be any service that is available there. Click Add Layer. In the Add Layers dialog box (see image shown on next page), there are two types of connection to the GIS server: Internet and Local. You will double-click on the first one Navigate and select your map service Lab4_userid. Click on the layer to view the Layer Properties. 9

10 Expand the + sign in front of the selected layer to see all individual layers included. Here you can modify how symbols will display when a feature is drawn or highlighted as the result of a task (e.g. query). Click on the Fields tab. All fields will be listed there. You can decide exactly which fields you want to display on the map. Click Next. The new panel allows you to choose the tasks (i.e. tools or functions) for the new application. Note: Some tasks require a supporting GIS service. For example, the Find Address task requires a geocoding service. (You will do this in Lab5.) If you don t have the required supporting service, you cannot include that particular task in your Web mapping application. Click Add Task. I would select the following tasks: 1. Query Attributes 2. Search Attributes 3. Print 10

11 Now we need to define the details about each task. First, select Query Attributes. Then, click Configure button. Fill the task Name and Button Text. Click the Settings tab. Choose the specific lay which you want to query on. In this case, I chose USA_States. See image below. Now, you need to define the Query expression properties. I decided to set the Label Text as Find a State. And then I chose the field as STATE_NAME. There are two options when creating a query. One option allows the users to enter the input by themselves. Another option is the users will be provided with a pre-defined list of choices. Click Get Sample Values. A list of values for STATE_NAME is generated. 11

12 Similarly, I followed the instructions and defined the task Search Attributes. 12

13 Lastly, define the task Print. This task is very useful because it allows the users to create customized maps based on their interests and needs. For example, the resulting map from a query can be saved and printed as a map. I can specify which map elements to be included on the customized map (e.g. legend, north arrow, and scale bar). The legend can be further defined in terms of exact layers to be included. Click Next until you are asked to enter a title and choose a theme for the new application. There are three default links to ESRI sites. In this case, I decided to replace them with some links that are more relevant. MPSGIS Program Dept. of Geography University of Maryland You can add any Website or many if you want to. However, it is a bad idea to place too many links there. Note: Whenever you add a new link, you must save it by clicking on the pen icon or hit the Enter key. Otherwise, the new link will be lost when you move on to next step. 13

14 Click Next. On this panel, it allows you to specify the map elements that you want to display on the Web application. In this case, I left most of them as default. However, I decided to specify the Map Copy Right information. On the Properties panel, I specified the copyright information. The Label text entered will appear as a link. When users click this link, the text that was entered in the Description box will display. Be sure the boxes for all of the map elements are checked and then click Next. Click Next and then Finish to create the Web application. A new window of the Web browser should open and display the Web application. If the pop-up blocker is turned on your Web browser, it might prevent the Web application form launching. If this occurs, you need to make sure this site is not blocked from now on. The URL of this new Web application is: (locally) or (Internet) Now anyone with Internet connection will be able to see this Web GIS application, i.e. consuming these GIS services. 14

15 Part II: Getting Started with ArcGIS Server Assuming you have read the Part I, you can now start to work and create your own Web application following similar procedures. Your tasks and the requirements are: Go to ELMS, download the data if you want to create the map document on your local computer. Unzip the data and save them on your local computer. Launch ArcMap and add the data layers. Define the symbology. o You can be creative here. However, your map must meet the following minimum requirements: You must set certain data layer as semi-transparent. You must define and apply scale range for at least one feature layer. You must define and apply scale range for the labeling text of at least one feature layer. (Don t forget to turn on the labels first.) You also should use the meaningful icons/symbols to represent those features. An example is shown below. 15

16 Save the map document. o Make sure you set the data source using relative paths. (In ArcMap, click File > Document Properties > Data Source Options and then check the option to store relative path names to data sources.) o The map document must be named as Lab4_userid where the userid should be replaced with your own. Upload the map document to the server through Remote Desktop. Make sure you save it under the folder C:\WorkSpace\Geog677\Winter2012\Labs\Lab4\. Then, open it and make sure it works fine. If the map layers are missing, you need to repair the data sources. You will create a Web application by following similar steps described in Part I. o You can be creative in terms of defining some settings or adding new tasks. However, your application must meet the following minimum requirements: You must include these two tasks: Query Attributes, Search Attributes, and Print. You must customize those default ESRI links. You must modify the copyright information and include your name in it. Once you finished creating the Web application, you need to create a Word document in which you should write down the URLs of your Web pages and then a few screen shots. o The URL should be like this: (replace the userid with your own.) o You need to test to make sure the Web application works fine before sending out the URL. Submit the lab report document through Lab 4 on ELMS. The deadline is 01/19/2012. You can also directly create the map document on the server using ArcMap because the data has already been saved under the folder - C:\WorkSpace\Geog677\Winter2012\Labs\Lab4\. That way, you don t have to upload the file. Again, as a reminder, you can be creative as long as your result meets the minimum requirements indicated above THE END