ArcView QuickStart Guide Page 1 ArcView QuickStart Guide Contents The ArcView Screen Elements of an ArcView Project Creating an ArcView Project Adding Themes to Views Zoom and Pan Tools Querying Themes Classification Labelling Themes Map Layouts
ArcView QuickStart Guide Page 2 THE ARCVIEW SCREEN The ArcView Main Screen consists of 5 elements: Menu Bar, Button Bar, Tool Bar, Status Bar and Project Window. Menu Bar The Menu Bar provides access to ArcView functions from a series of pulldown menus. Much like any other Windows-based software package, the ArcView pulldown menus are activated by clicking (with the left mouse button) on the Menu Bar keywords (e.g. File, Project, Window, Help). Button Bar The Button Bar contains some of the more commonly used functions from the Menu Bar. These buttons provide a quick, one click access to many Menu Bar functions such as saving data, zooming and query building. Tool Bar The Tool Bar consists of a series of icons that modify the manner in which the cursor operates on the screen. For example, various Tool Bar icons convert the cursor to a zooming tool, a feature selection tool, a feature identification tool or a text placement tool. Status Bar The Status Bar provides a one line description of the various menu choices, button and tool selections. At times, the Status Bar will provide feedback on the status/progress of ArcView operations, such as saving or querying. Project Window ArcView organizes data into projects. Only one project can be open or active at any given time (ArcView refers to this as the Current Project ). The Project Window controls the current project and which elements within the project are being manipulated. Pop-up Menu There is another menu available. Holding down the right mouse button will provide a context-sensitive pop-up menu. Similar to the main pull-down menu, this allows quick access to common functions.
ArcView QuickStart Guide Page 3 ELEMENTS OF AN ARCVIEW PROJECT A project consists of elements -- called documents -- that are brought together and organized as a whole -- a project. Any one project can consist of many documents. There are five types of ArcView documents: views, tables, charts, layouts and scripts. These documents are managed and accessed through the Project Window ( above). Themes While not considered an ArcView document, themes are a fundamental building block for ArcView projects. A theme is a logical grouping of realworld objects dealing with one particular topic or theme. Themes in ArcView are equivalent to the layers of any GIS database. It is possible to construct a number of themes for one geographic area. For example, a transportation theme could consist of all road and railway features; a hydrography theme for the same area could contain lakes, rivers and streams. Views A view is a collection of themes, usually covering the same geographic area. A view for a GIS project could consist of many themes including: transportation, drainage, forest resources, wetlands, aggregate resources, environmentally sensitive areas, zoning, utilities, and parcels. Individuals can create, modify and manage their own themes within their own ArcView project. Tables Tables are used to display and manipulate tabular or attribute data within a view. For example, if a view contains a drainage theme, tabular data associated with the drainage would be found in the feature attribute table for the drainage theme. Charts Charts are used to present tabular data in a graphical form. There are six (6) different types of charts in ArcView: area, bar, column, line, pie and scatter. Layouts Layouts are used to produce map products or compositions. Layouts can combine views, tables, charts and other text or objects as desired to produce a final information product for plotting or printing. Scripts Scripts can be written to customize the ArcView interface and to automate functions. The script language is called Avenue. This is a brief introduction to ArcView. If you need help using ArcView, online help is available using the Help menu on the menu bar. Also, an ArcView manual is on reserve in the UMD Library and is listed in the MAD Courses book
ArcView QuickStart Guide Page 4 CREATING AN ARCVIEW PROJECT Launch ArcView. When the Welcome to ArcView GIS window appears, choose to create a new project with a new View. If this window does not appear, highlight Views within the Project Window and press the New button. A View window labelled View1 will open and you will be prompted whether you would like to add data to the View. Choose No (you'll add data in a moment). The view display consists of a map display window and the Table of Contents for the view. The view itself is given an arbitrary name of View1. The name of the view appears in the Project Window and in the banner area across the top of the View display window.
ArcView QuickStart Guide Page 5 ADDING THEMES TO VIEWS Commonly, ArcView theme data are derived from ARC/INFO vector data layers called coverages and raster data layers called grids. In addition, it is possible to incorporate spatial data from a variety of other sources, e.g., AutoCAD DXF (ascii and binary format), MicroStation design files (dgn), image data files (e.g. ERDAS, TIFF, JPEG) and structured ASCII text or database files that contain coordinate information Add a theme to your view. You can access the Add Theme menu by: 1. selecting Add Theme... from the View option of the Menu Bar, or 2. clicking on the Add Theme button from the Button Bar. An Add Theme window should appear in a moment. There are three steps to adding themes: 1. Select a data source location: change your drive letter to the disk (e.g., D:\) where your data reside use the data browser to find and select your ArcView directory be sure that the Directories button is activated Data Source Types: Feature: Shape (vector) files Image: Image (raster) files ArcView themes are represented by a rectangle. To add a theme, double click on the theme name. 2. Select a source type from the Data Source Type pick list: Feature Data Source will add vector files; Image Data Source will add image files. Once you set the Data Source Type a list of matching files appear in the Data Browser in the top-left pane. 3. Select a data file from the Data Browser: click on the Theme(s) that you wish to load and then select OK. The theme(s) will be added to the view -- the theme(s) will be listed in the View s Table of Contents. However, none of the spatial data will be drawn within the map display window. Turn on the display of the spatial data associated with all themes by clicking on the box beside each theme name in the Table of Contents. A will appear in the box and the theme s spatial data will be displayed.
ArcView QuickStart Guide Page 6 ZOOM & PAN TOOLS The following diagram shows the ArcView zoom tools. Their functions are best learned through interactive experimentation with a displayed map. Note that you may also zoom in/out (focussed on the current cursor position) by entering a specific scale into the Scale box near the right side of the button bar. Zoom buttons Zooms to the extent of all themes in the view. Zooms to the extent of the active theme in the view. Zooms to the extent of the selected features. Zooms in on the centre of the View window by a factor of 2 times. Zooms out from the centre of the View window by a factor of 2 times. Zoom to previous extent (up to five previous extents). Cursor Zoom/Pan tools Zoom In by: clicking once to provide a centre point for the new View window -- ArcView will zoom in by a factor of 2 times using this centre point; click and drag the mouse to define a rectangular area to zoom in on. Zoom out by a factor of 2 times using the point or rectangle defined by the mouse as the centre point of the new View window. Pan around the View window.
ArcView QuickStart Guide Page 7 QUERYING THEMES Themes have attribute tables associated with them that can be displayed and queried in ArcView. To display the theme attribute table: (1) Select Table... from the Theme option of the Menu Bar, or (2) Click on the Open Theme Table button on the Button Bar Open Theme Table button The cursor query tools located along the Tool Bar can be used to see the attributes of an active theme on the display. Cursor query tools Select Records/Graphics: The cursor acts as a selection tool for table records and graphical elements such as text. Vertex Edit: Use this tool to reshape a feature or graphic by moving, adding, or deleting vertices. Click on the feature to provide locator handles (boxes), then drag to the desired location. Select Features: The cursor becomes a selection tool for features from the active theme. To select individual features: Click on the feature in the View window. To select adjacent features: Click and drag the cursor to form a selection box that captures all features that are contained within or come into contact with the box.
ArcView QuickStart Guide Page 8 Querying Using Graphics To select non-adjacent features: Hold down the SHIFT key while clicking on the individual features. ArcView has a series of graphical primitives (points, lines, polygons) that can be used as selection tools also. To Query using graphical elements, (1) Select and place a graphical element in the view window (2) Click on the Select Using Graphics button on the Button Bar All features from the active theme that touch the graphical element will be highlighted in the View window. When you are finished with your graphic (or if you make a mistake drawing it) you can remove it by pressing the Delete key (if you have more than one graphic displayed, you must select each one with the pointer cursor button). Graphical Elements Select Using Graphics button Clearing Selected Features Many ArcView operations will work on all the selected features in a theme (if any exist). If there are no elements selected, these operations will default to all theme elements. To clear the selected records from a theme, click on the Clear Selected Features button on the Button Bar. Clear Selected Features button
ArcView QuickStart Guide Page 9 Querying Using Attributes With the attribute tables displayed, you can use the cursor selection tool to select a record in the table. The corresponding feature will be highlighted in the View window. Alternatively, you can search for a value in the table using the Find/Search button on the Button Bar and the corresponding feature in the View will be highlighted. Find/Search button Query Builder Query Builder The Query Builder is a useful tool for the construction of complex queries. The Query Builder window is accessed by clicking on the Query Builder toolbar button. Attribute Fields list Operators Attribute Values List Query Equation
ArcView QuickStart Guide Page 10 Queries are "built" by double-clicking on a Field, followed by an Operator, and then a Value. As you select each item, it is entered into the Query Equation. Optionally, you can type the query directly into the equation box. If you make a mistake building a query, you can position your cursor in the Query Equation and delete any parts you don't want. Attribute Field names are always enclosed in square brackets: [ fieldname ]. Complete Query Equations (and sometimes sub-parts of them) are usually enclosed in parentheses: ( query equation ). UPDATE VALUES NEW SET ADD TO SET SELECT FROM SET When checked, the Update Values check box will cause the values listing above it to be refreshed with values from the selected field. If there are a large number of values to be updated, this could take some time. If you wish to create a new selection set from the results of the query, click on New Set to execute the query. If you wish to append the results of the query to the results of a previous query (a previous selection set), click on Add to Set to execute the query. If you wish to apply the query only to those records among the currently selected records (the current selection set), click on Select from Set to execute the query.
ArcView QuickStart Guide Page 11 CLASSIFICATION For most data types, you can use the ArcView Legend Editor to create legend categories based on data attributes. There are a number of classification techniques available: Quantile, Equal Interval, Natural Breaks, Standard Deviation, Equal Area and User Defined. Quantile Classification Equal Interval Classification Natural Breaks Equal Area Standard Deviation SAMPLE PROCEDURE A quantile classification will arrange the data into classes with each class containing an equal number of features. The number of classes is specified in advance and ArcView groups the data to fit evenly across the classes. An equal interval classification arranges the data into classes with each class having an equal range of values. The range for each class is determined by the number of classes specified and the range of the entire data set. For example, if the data set values ranged from 0 to 100 and 5 classes were specified, the range of each class would be 20. The data are grouped according to the range in which each feature falls. Places class boundaries at natural breakpoints in the data determined by investigating the data and applying a statistical formula (Jenk s optimization). This classification technique is useful for identifying groupings and patterns in the data. Sorts the classification field based on the number of classes you specify. ArcView determines where the class breaks occur by dividing the area of all the features by the number of classes. Then the areas of each feature are progressively summed until the threshold area is exceeded, and that becomes the first class. Subsequent class boundaries are determined in the same manner. Computes standard deviation for the data. Then sets the first class break at the mean value. Places subsequent class breaks are placed at the interval you specify above and below the mean until all data values are contained within the class boundaries. As you can imagine, selection of an appropriate classification technique can greatly affect the data presentation. The classification options available depend on the type of legend you select for a theme. The general procedure to classify view data is presented below; the procedure will vary depending on the Legend Type selected.
ArcView QuickStart Guide Page 12 Select the preferred Legend Type (unique value). Choose a value field. Double-click to modify specific symbols. Choose an appropriate colour scheme if desired. Manually modify any labels. Note that for each value in the value field, a count is generated by ArcView. Buttons perform these functions: add, delete a class; sort legend elements ascending, descending; add a null class; flip the symbol order; create random colours; create random symbols. Advanced options allow the user to choose a rotation field and scale. Only point features can be given a rotation field. Rotating point symbols allows additional information about features to be shown such as wind direction or the position of an entrance. The angle of rotation is taken from a field in the theme's attribute table. Point and line features can also be scaled when zooming in and out so that they appear larger as you zoom in and smaller when you zoom out on them. The Reference Scale defaults to the current scale of the view and is the scale at which scaling marker and line symbols will appear at the same size on the view as they appear in the Legend Editor. Apply any changes.
ArcView QuickStart Guide Page 13 LABELLING THEMES Labels can be added to any theme by using the Text Tool from the Tool Bar and typing directly onto the feature in the map display window. Often, however, it is preferable to have features labelled according to attributes in the database. Database attributes can be used for labelling by selecting Theme Properties Text Labels. The Theme labelling options consist of: Label Field: Placement: Scale Labels: Identify the feature attribute that you wish label on the theme. ArcView provides nine default text placement options. Scale the labels appropriate for the view. TO LABEL ALL FEATURES IN A THEME Identify the feature attribute that you wish to have labelled using the Label Field pick list; Identify a default text label position by clicking on one of the nine options presented in the Text Labels menu; Click on OK to dismiss the Theme Properties menu; Select Theme Auto-label: Choose a field to label from the theme. Allow ArcView to best locate the labels or use the label properties dialog box to place labels. Choose whether or not to allow over-lapping labels or remove duplicates. Pick from options specific to labelling lines. Scale the labels to the current view scale. Decide if you want to label all features or only those currently within the view extent. If the labels don't appear where you want them, you can use the graphic selection tool to move conflicting labels around in the map display window, or use the other label functions described later in this section. TO LABEL SPECIFIC FEATURES IN A THEME If you want to label relatively few features, it may prove quicker to use the Label Features tool from the Tool Bar. a) Identify the feature attribute that you wish to have labelled using the Label Field pick list; b) Identify a default text label position by clicking on one of the nine options presented in the Text Labels menu; c) Click on OK to dismiss the Theme Properties menu; d) Select Label Features tool from the Tool Bar; e) Click on the feature(s) that you wish to label.
ArcView QuickStart Guide Page 14 MAP LAYOUTS CREATING FRAMES Frames are used to locate map layout elements (views, charts, legends, etc.). The Create Frame tool is located on the Tool Bar; its appearance will vary depending on the type of frame last used. Clicking on the Create Frame tool will cause a drop-down menu of icons to appear below the tool. Each of these icons corresponds to a type of frame that can be placed in the layout: View Frame Legend Frame Scale Bar Frame North Arrow Frame Chart Frame Table Frame Picture Frame After selecting the type of frame (based on its content), click your mouse on the layout page and drag the mouse across the page to define an area for the frame. The type of frame selected (when using the Create Frame Tool) determines which of the Frame Properties menus appears next (View, Legend, Scale bar, North Arrow, Chart, Table or Picture).
ArcView QuickStart Guide Page 15 View Frame Properties The View Frame Properties dialog box is presented after creating a new View Frame or by double-clicking on a view frame on the map layout page. The fields in the dialog box provide options that control the display of the individual view frames. Options that can be set using the View Frame Properties menu are: View: Select a view to place within the frame. All views within the project appear in this scrolling list. Live Link: Checked: The frame (view) will be updated whenever the view document changes. Unchecked: The frame will not be updated to reflect changes in the view document. The frame contains a static picture (e.g. the view as it was on March 11, 1999). Scale: Automatic: The view is scaled to fill the frame. The resulting scale is displayed in the dialog box of the View Frame menu. Preserve View Scale: The view within the frame will be displayed at the same scale as the view. User Specified Scale: Choose this option to specify the scale at which you want the view to be displayed. Type the scale into the dialog box of the View Frame menu. Extent: Display: Use this option if you want to ensure that only those features currently visible in your view will be displayed in the layout. When Active: By default, ArcView only displays the contents of the view frame in your layout when the layout is active. Always: To override this, set Display to be Always. Quality: Presentation: A true representation of the view contents will be displayed. This option draws slower than the Draft option. Draft: The view displays as a solid, rectangular placeholder in the frame. The
ArcView QuickStart Guide Page 16 view contents are not shown but the map layout will re-draw quickly. CREATING GRAPHIC ELEMENTS Graphics can be added to supplement ArcView documents within any map layout. Graphics can consist of Points, Lines, Circles, Polygons and Text Graphics that are placed anywhere within the map layout. Palette tools can be used to modify the appearance of graphic elements (e.g. color and line style). Graphics can be grouped and placed behind or in front of other elements in the map composition, including frames containing views and legends. Graphic elements are divided into two categories: Drawing elements and Text elements. Placing Drawing Elements Tip: The status bar will provide information such as line length, circle radius, etc. when you are placing the elements. Placing Text Elements Drawing Elements are added using the Draw Tool located on the Tool Bar. Its appearance will vary depending on the type of element last used. Clicking on the Draw Tool will cause a drop-down menu of icons to appear below the tool. Each of these icons corresponds to a type of drawing element that can be placed. To place an element select it from the pull-down icon menu and move the cursor into the map layout page. Placing each element type works slightly different than each other element type. Experiment and consult the on-line help. Text elements are placed using the Text Tool located on the Tool Bar. To place text, click on the Text Tool icon and then select the location in the layout where you wish to place the text. The action of clicking in the layout window will activate the Text Properties menu. Type the text into the text box and set any other options that you wish. Click on OK to have the text drawn on the map layout.
ArcView QuickStart Guide Page 17 MOVING AROUND MAP LAYOUTS In addition to the pan and zoom tools on the Tool Bar, there are several buttons on the Button Bar that can be used to control zooming in a map layout: Zooms to the extent of the map layout page. Zooms to show a 1:1 scale representation of the layout. Zooms to the extent of all selected layout elements. Zooms in on the centre of the layout window by a factor of 2 times. Zooms out from the centre of the layout window by a factor of 2 times. MANIPULATING MAP LAYOUT ELEMENTS There are several ArcView operations that will assist you in manipulating layout elements:
ArcView QuickStart Guide Page 18 Grouping Elements It is sometimes preferable to work with elements as a group. Elements can be grouped by selecting the elements (using the SHIFT key when selecting the elements) and clicking on the Group button () on the Button Bar. Similarly, grouped elements can be ungrouped into their constituents by selecting the group and clicking on the Ungroup button () on the Button Bar Moving Elements to the front or back When moving and placing features on a map layout, often it is necessary to have some features partially obscured by other features (that is, to place one feature behind or in front of another). In ArcView this is accomplished by selecting one of the elements and clicking on the appropriate button on the Button Bar. To move elements in front of others, select the elements to move to the front and click on the Move-to-Front button () on the Button Bar. Similarly, to move elements behind others, select the elements to move to the back and click on the Move-to-Back () on the Button Bar. Simplifying Frames Often, ArcView will place unwanted graphics (e.g. window control widgets ) within a frame. The elements of any non-picture frame can be converted to graphic elements by selecting the frame to be converted, then choosing Graphics Simplify the Menu Bar. TIP: WHILE SIMPLIFY IS EXTREMELY USEFUL FOR CLEANING UP UNWANTED ELEMENTS FROM FRAMES, ANY LINKS BETWEEN THE FRAME ELEMENT AND ARCVIEW DOCUMENTS WILL BE SEVERED UPON SIMPLIFICATION. Simplify converts the frame elements to graphic elements which can then be selected and manipulated using the graphic manipulation tools within ArcView.
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