New Due Date for Assignment #2

We have covered the techniques needed for completing most steps, except for steps #5, #10, and #11. We will learn those next week. Do start working on the assignment now. The new due date is Nov. 7.



Jianling

ArcGIS 9.4 is on its way...here's a teaser.

The ArcGIS 9.4 beta release is expected in the fourth quarter of 2009.  ArcGIS 9.4 is expected to be available in the second quarter of 2010.  Here's a link:

http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/whats-new/whats-coming.html

ArcSDE, Personal, and File geodatabase descriptions

This link explains the different types of geodatabases in ArcGIS version 9.3:

http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisdesktop/9.3/index.cfm?TopicName=Types_of_geodatabases

Assignment One - Ed's Answers

I'm putting my answers to assignment one up here for discussion and for future reference (i.e., the final exam)...please let me know if I made a mistake or if your correct answers are different.  I received a 92 as a grade.  I received this grade because the last question in step 8 (changing the metadata) and the last question in step 9 (changing the legend name) were not saved.  During the re-try, this has been corrected.

(Step 1) Start ArcMap and open the map document "Assign1" in the REAE_Assignments/Assign1 folder of the class drive.

• How many layers are in the map?
• Four layers:
• Cities;
• Roads;
• Lakes; and
• States
• Which layer is on top of all the layers?
• The "Cities" layer is above all layers.
• What is the order of the layers? (Begin with the topmost layer)
• Cities;
• Roads;
• Lakes; and
• States.

(Step 2) Move the layer "Cities" to the position after the layer "States".

• What do you see?
• The points corresponding to the "Cities" disappeared. Only the features corresponding to "Roads", "Lakes", and "States" are now visible.
• Why?
• ArcMap draws the map according to the order of the layers, from the bottom to the topmost layer. Thus, ArcMap drew the cities, then the states, then the lakes, adn finally the roads. The states layer completely covered up the cities layer and thus the points corresponding to the cities are not visible.

(Step 3) View the properties of the layers.

• Where are the data located?
• The data is located on teh class drive (z:\).
• Write the path names.
• Roads data located on: z:\REAE5327_Assignments\Assign1\ROADS.shp
• Roads data located on: z:\REAE5327_Assignments\Assign1\LAKES.shp
• Roads data located on: z:\REAE5327_Assignments\Assign1\STATES.shp
• Roads data located on: z:\REAE5327_Assignments\Assign1\CITIES.shp

(Step 4)  Identify objects using the "Identify" tool.

• What is the population of Texas in 1990?
• 16,986,510 Texans.
• What is the population of Texas in 1999?
• 20,127,338 Texans
• What is the name of the lake located near the border of Texas and Oklahoma?
• Lake Texoma

(Step 5)  View map in different scales.

• As you zoom in a view, what happens to the scale?
• The denominator gets smaller, hence the scale gets larger.
• After you zoon out, what happens to the scale?
• The denominator gets bigger, hence the scale gets smaller.
• What does the scale ratio represent?
• The scale ratio is the relationship between the size of features on a map and the size of the corresponding places in the world.  If the scale of a map is 1:10,000; then the features on the map are 10,000 times smaller than their actual size.
• There are several ways to zoom.  What are the ways?
• Select the "zoom in" tool [looks like a magnifying glass with a plus (+) sign in the middle of the glass], then draw an area around the point of interest which you would like to maginfy.
• Select the "zoom out" tool [looks like a magnifying glass with a minus (-) sign in the middle of the glass], then draw an area around the point of interest which you would like to shrink.
• Select the "fixed zoom in" tool [looks like four arrows pointed towards an imaginary center point].  This will maginfy the center of the map slightly.
• Select the "fixed zoom out" tool [looks like four arrows ponted away from an imaginary center point].  This will shrink the center of the map slightly.
• Manually edit the left side of the scale ratio number in the scale ratio window itself.
• Select the "Full Extent" tool [looks like a small planet Earth].  This will shrink the map so taht the entire map is shown on the screen.
• If your mouse has a scrolling wheel between the left and right mouse buttons, simply rolling this scrolling wheel will instantaneously zoom in (scroll away from you) or zoom out (scroll towards you).
• All these tools can be accessed, additionally, by right-clicking on the map and selecting the appropriate tool.
• Describe the spatial pattern of the cities in the United States.
• If you select all but the states layer, one can clearly observe the majority of the cities in teh United States are located near bodies of water [along the coastlines, along the great lakes, and along major bodies of water (The Great Salt Lake in Utah)] and along, and at the intersection of, major highways (for example, Dallas/Fort Worth TX; St. Louise MO, etc)].

(Step 6)  Select two objects and measure the distance between the two.

• What is the distance between New York and Los Angeles?
• 2,476.626579 Miles

(Step 7)  Search and copy files using ArcCatalog.

• Search the file "mysates.shp" from the class drive.
• Where is the file located?
• z:\GTKArcGIS\Chapter20\MyData\mystates.shp
• Once you find the file, copy it from the class drive to your diskette.
• Rename the file to "US_States".

(Step 8)  Find information about the file "US_States" on your diskette and edit the metadata of the file using ArcCatalog.

• What is the coordinate system of the file?
• Horizontal Coordinate System: Geographic coordinate system name: GCS_North_American_1983
• How many features are in the file?
• 51
• What do you find about the attributes of "State_Name", "POP1990", and "POP_SQMI"?
• "State_Name" has a data type of "String" and a width of "25".
• "POP1990" has a data type of "Number" and a width of "10".
• "POP_SQMI" has a data type of "Number" and a width of "5".
• Change the descriptions of "Keywords", "Abstract", and "Purpose".

(Step 9)  Create a map document using ArcMap.

• Open and empty map in ArcMap.
• Add the layer "US_States".
• Display the layer by the values of the field "state_names".
• Change the layer name to "United States".
• Change the legend name to "State Names".

(Step 10)  Save the map docuement to your diskette.

Exercise Six - Ed's Answers

I'm going to be posting my answers to the exercises and I invite everyone to critique them and let me know if my answers differ from your own so we can discuss the differences until we have agreement on a final, correct answer.

• Q1:  What is the common ID for joining the "landuse" table with the "parcel" attribute table?
• I used the FID and OID as the common attribute between the two tables.
• Q2:  What is the common ID for relating the table "owners" with the "parcel" attribute table?
• I used the APN as the common attribute between the two tables.
• STEP 7:
• Select a record in table "owners.dbf", what do you see in the table "attributes of parcel.shp"?
• The record in "attributes of parcel.shp" matches the record in the table "owners.dbf".
• Select a record in the table "attributes of parcel.shp", what do you see in the table "owners.dbf"?
• The record in "owners.dbf" matches the record in the table "attributes of parcel.shp".
• Click on any parcel on the map and examine the result in the "Identify Results" dialog box.  What attribute information do you see in the [identify] dialog box?
• I see the attribute information contained in the "parcel.shp" table.
• Click on the ID shown in the dialog box so that the plus sign becomes a minus sign.  What attribute information do you see in the dialog box? (Click again to see the attributes in the related table.)
• I see the attribute information corresponding to the "owners.dbf" table.
• Reopen the attribute table of the "parcels.shp" layer.
• Select any record.
• Click the "Options" button in the "parcels.shp" table.
• Select "Relate Tables".
• Select "Relate1:owners"
• Examin the "owners" table.  What do you see?
• The highilghted record in the "owners" table has the same common attribute (APN) as the selected record in the "parcels.shp" table.
• What did you learn from this exercise?
• Joining tables simply appends the information from the source table to the destination table.
• Joining a tables can be done with tables of different dimensions (one to many or many to one relationship).
• Relating tables allows you to "drill down" into the details of a selected/identified feature.
• Relating tables can only be done on dimensionally similar tables (one to one relationship).

Exercise Five - Ed's Answers

I'm going to be posting my answers to the exercises and I invite everyone to critique them and let me know if my answers differ from your own so we can discuss the differences until we have agreement on a final, correct answer.

(End of Step 5)

• How many addresses have been geocoded?
• 2 out of 100.

(Step 7)

• How many addresses have been geocoded in the newly created geocode layer?
• 96 out of 100

(Step 10)

• I selected "ZIP + 4" style, used address as both aliases, and re-ran the locator. I got 0% match.....
• Did anyone try a different style and get better results?

Exercise Four - Ed's Answers

I'm going to be posting my answers to the exercises and I invite everyone to critique them and let me know if my answers differ from your own so we can discuss the differences until we have agreement on a final, correct answer.

• Which part of the figure constitutes a data dictionary?
• I think part b) is the data dictionary.
• Which part of the figure constitutes a metadata?
• I think part c) is the metadata.
• Based on the information from the metadata, indicate if the GIS data file is completed.  Explain the reasons for yoru answer.
• I believe the GIS data file is not completed because the metadata says "in progress" adjacent and the right of the status word "Progress".  If the GIS data file was completed, I would guess that the metadata would say "Completed" or something to that effect rather than "in progress".

Exercise Three - Ed's Answers

I'm going to be posting my answers to the exercises and I invite everyone to critique them and let me know if my answers differ from your own so we can discuss the differences until we have agreement on a final, correct answer.

• What data model would you consider and why?
• I would consider using a VECTOR data model because the university map is a two-dimensional (x, y coordinates) drawing which is not concerned with depth, a gradient scale, or frequency of motion or events (rate).  All of the latter of which are z coordinates.
• How many layers would you use to organize the geographic information?  What are they?
• In order to create the map, I would use layers which display similar information; rather than displaying many type of information on a single or a couple of layers.  For instance, I would group the layers as follows:
• Layer one would show the building shapes and the shape surrounding the building identifier.
• Layer two would show the building numbers
• Layer three would show the building abbreviations and building names
• Layer four would show the streets
• Layer five would show the street names
• Layer six would show the data dictionaries (legends)
• Layer seven would show the outlying alphanumeric grid markers
• List the type of feature class for each layer and explain why you chose to select a particular feature class to represent a type of object.
• Layer one would be composed of polygons because I think this is the best representation of a bulding shape and building identifier shape.
• Layer two would be composed of strings (text) because most of the buildings are identified by numbers, letters, or a combination of both.
• Layer three would be composed of strings (text) because most, if not all, of the buildings are identified by numbers, letters, or a combination of both.
• Layer four would be composed of lines because streets are best represented by lines.
• Layer five would be composed of stings (text) because names are normally text.
• Layer six would be composed of strings (text) because most of the information inside the data dictionary is text.
• Layer seven would be composed of strings (text) because the outlying grid is made up of entirely numbers and letters.
• List the possible attributes for each file (layer).
• Layer one could have the building dimensions (sq ft), age, construction type, etc.
• Layer two could have details about what the identifiers mean, for example, LIBR = Library, COBA = College of Business Administration, ELAB = Engineering laboratory, etc.
• Layer three could explain what each number means, for example, 49 = Student parking lot, F10 = Faculty/Staff Parking Lot
• Layer four could categorize the streets as minor, general, or major.
• Layer five could expand street abbreviations.
• Layer six could give more details about the one-word descriptions.
• Layer seven could have the directions relative to the center of the map, for example, north of center, southwest of center, etc.
• List the data measurements of each attribute.
• Layer one = square feet, years:months
• Layer two = no data measurements
• Layer three = no data measurements
• Layer four = one car lane, two car lane, three car lanes or more
• Layer five = no data measurements
• Layer six= no data measurements
• Layer seven= no data measurements
• Give an example about what you would include in a data dictionary.
• What building abbreviations mean.
• What building shapes designate.
• What building colors (if map is a color-map) mean.

Exercise Two - Ed's Answers

I'm going to be posting my answers to the exercises and I invite everyone to critique them and let me know if my answers differ from your own so we can discuss the differences until we have agreement on a final, correct answer.

 

Step 3:

• Click on the Identify button to find "United States" in the Country layer.  What's the US population (Pop_CNTRY) in the layer?
• 258,833,000 people
• Click the identify tool, click on a city in the Citeis layer to identfy information assocaited with a city.  What information about a city can you get from the Cities layer?
• Field ID
• Shape
• Name
• Country
• Population
• Capital

Step 7:

• In order to measure distance, I resized the map display so that New York and Los Angeles were visible.  Then I used the measuring tool to draw a line between them (snap to feature was ON).  Did anyone use another method to get distance?  I wasn't too satisfied with the apparant accuracy of my method. 

Exercise One - Ed's Answers

I'm going to be posting my answers to the exercises and I invite everyone to critique them and let me know if my answers differ from your own so we can discuss the differences until we have agreement on a final, correct answer.


1)  Where are "My Folder", "Folder 1", "Folder 2", and "Folder 3" now?  (Write the paths for the newly created folders.)

• C:/Users/Eduardo TorresValdez/Documents/My Folder
• C:/Users/Eduardo TorresValdez/Documents/Folder 1
• C:/Users/Eduardo TorresValdez/Documents/My Folder/Folder 2
• C:/Users/Eduardo TorresValdez/Documents/My Folder/Folder 3

2) Where is the new location of the file "Bird.tif"?

• C:/Users/Eduardo TorresValdez/Documents/My Folder/Folder 3/Bird.tif

Instant Messenger

While logged onto the blog, I'm usually also logged onto Windows Instant Messenger (electrode49@hotmail.com) and my gmail account (electrode49@gmail.com).  Feel free to add me to your Windows Instant Messenger or Yahoo Instant Messenger so we can discuss the exercise or assignment we are working on in real time.  Gmail has the same feature called, "Instant Chat".

Any good ideas can then be posted to the blog for all to see.  I'm usually on every evening from 8:30-ish until midnight-ish.  Look forward to discussing assignment 2 with everyone.

Question 5, Assignment 2

Stuck on figuring out the population of Tarrant County AND Arlington....Any suggestions....

Added new link...

Added "Free Batch Geocoder" link to the real estate links section....thanks Alex!

Exercise 6, Step 7

I thought I'd put this up in case anyone else came across the same initial problem I did....
______________________

Step 7 in the exercise states, [ Select a record in table "owners.dbf", what do you see in table "attributes of parcels.shp"? ]

I thought "Select a record in the table "owners.dbf" simply meant clicking on the beginning of the row in the table.  By simply doing this, nothing happened in table "attributes of parcels.shp".  After reading chapter 9, I figured out that "Select a record in the table "owners.dbf" actually means

1. Clicking on the beginning of the row in the table, then
2. Going to the bottom of the table and clicking the "Selected" button.

By doing the above two steps, something does happen in table "attributes of parcels.shp"....however, I did not see it until I did the following::

• Still in table "owners.dbf", scroll to the bottom of the table and click on the "options" button.
• Select Related Tables
• Parcels

Then, I noticed that the record in parcels.shp changes to match the record you originally selected in "owners.dbf".

I tried in the opposite direction too (selecting a record in the "parcels" table and seeing what happens in the "owners" table), with similar results.

Thanks

Thanks -- Ed, for posting the messages. I also want to add that for those who are interested in ArcGIS9.3 in Windows Vista, here is the link to an article about it.

http://support.esri.com/index.cfm?fa=knowledgebase.techarticles.articleShow&d=32530

Concerns

It has been brought to my attention that some of my classmates have not joined this blog because they do not want to create a new email address.  This is not the case with blogger.com.  You can register with ANY email address and quickly become an active contributor of this blog.

Mid Term Exams

I stayed after class talking with Dr. Li a little.  She asked me to post this reminder on the blog for all.  The mid-term exam grades have not been recorded.  If you took your exam with you, please return it to Dr. Li.

Exercise 5 comments

For step 9 and 10, I selected ZIP + 4 style, used address as both aliases, and re-ran the locator.  I got 0% match.....

More Links added...

Added GIS and ESRI websites to link section.

Additions

Added "subscribe to", "search", "Real Estate Links", "Other Links", "Followers", "Archive", and "Contributors" sections.

If you guys know of other useful links which have helped you out in past courses, in your work, or in your personal professions; please, by all means, let me know and I'll add them to the side bar.

Created Blog