Tutorial ArcGIS: Chow Data PART 1

TUTORIAL ARC GIS  GETTING TO KNOW ARCGIS DESKTOP

The present application window GUI ArcGIS. Like all other windows ArcGIS, you can move, resize, reduce or enlarge icon to the maximum.

The title bar shows the name of the map document in which you work 

(or if you Untitled have not saved your work or fichier.mxd if you saved it).

The ArcMap interface consists of several bars. As standard, there is the menu bar and toolbar tools.
You can choose to display other toolbars or create yourself your own bar containing tools that you developed using VBA or those you use most fluently. 

All these bars may be detached from the interface and arranged anywhere you want.

The geographic display area allows you to view all spatial data.

The table of contents lists the component layers of your map document as well as the legend associated entities of your layers.
Just like a toolbar, the table of contents document ArcMap can be docked or floating and can be resized by stretching the window vertically. 

A right-click on a data block or the name of a layer used to display a menu pop.

The map document enables you to store data using data blocks. Each block data contains one or more information layers.

The map document

The map document stores all the information needed to display the data. It groups of data blocks, layers, and map elements.

Data blocks

A data block groups and organizes the layers you want to display together.
When you create a map, you will always appear a data block in the table of contents Layers named default. At any time, you can decide to change the name of this block with a slow double-click.
These data blocks organize layers into logical units by themes or region. A card can hold more data blocks.

You can just decide to add more layers to your map document and, based on the display order of your layers in the table of materials, some layers will emerge above the others.

The layers

The layers represent sources of spatial data, they are represented by symbols single or multiple symbols that rely on attribute values.

Group layers

It is possible to assemble the layers into one or more layer groups with the control of a new group of layers located in the context menu of the data block.
A group layer appears and acts as a single layer in the table of contents. Make a group of invisible layers can make invisible all the layers that compose it.
The properties that are assigned to this block have priority on properties that have been defined for the layers.
You can also work independently on the layers in the group. For example, you can change the representation of entities or adjust the display scale.

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The map document

• Visualization Tool spatial data
• The information is stored in a .mxd
• Opening a file from ArcMap or .mxd

ArcCatalog

When you launch the application, displayed a map document (MXD extension). 

This document is the ArcGIS document allowing you to control, save your data display, edit, query and analyze information.

A visualization tool of spatial data

Each entity is represented by a symbol allowing you to locate and know his type.

An ArcMap document may have additional information to help you explain the context and the purpose of your work.

Display data

The properties of each layer are stored in the map document (* .mxd). In contrast, Data is not stored in the map document; only the reference (path) to different data sources is saved. The document can be opened even if the data were moved or deleted. In this case, the display and the treatment will not be possible as long as the data source will not be corrected.
To change the data source of a layer, go to the Source tab of the dialog box properties of the layer and then click Set Data Source. In the table of contents, the layers for which ArcMap cannot find them data appears with a "!" red.

.mxd Files in ArcMap and ArcCatalog

The .mxd files can be opened from ArcMap or by double-clicking the file name ArcCatalog. In addition, .mxd files are associated in the Windows environment to the application ArcMap.
Thus, a simple double-click on the file name in Windows Explorer allows the launch of the application and open the file.

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Table of contents

• The concept of data blocks and layer
• Rename the data blocks, layers or the legend of the layers
• Changing the display order of layers
• Removing layers
• Defining scale ranges
  

The table of contents lists all data blocks and thematic layers in your map document and identifies the symbols used to represent the features of each layer.
The notch in front of the indicates layer visibility or not in the display area. The layers at the top of the table Materials are drawn on top of other layers in the map.

 Learning to manage data blocks and the layers in the table of contents to better represent your data.

Rename the data blocks, layers, and title captions

When creating your map document, you may want to rename the data blocks, the layers or to change the title of legend.
To rename a block of data, use the right mouse button on the block name, select the properties and control in the dialog box, change the name of your block on the General tab.
To rename the legend, just do a quick double-click the name of the legend for edit.

Change the display order of layers

The order of layers in the table of contents is important because it defines the order of the data display.
The entities of the layer appear at the top of the table of contents are drawn above all entities located lower layers. 

To change the display order of layers, just do Drag the layers in the table of contents.

Remove Layers

Unwanted layers can be deleted by selecting the shortcut menu command Remove.

Set a scale range

It can sometimes be important to define a range on a scale layer so as to make visible entities from a scale factor. The following pages of this course will show you how to define the range.

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Data Blocks

• Each data block organizes its own layers
• A map document can group several blocks
  

Data blocks allow you to organize logical groups data layer or area Geographic. It is possible to create a map document in different data blocks.

Each data block has its own layers

You can add as many layers as you want in a data block, however, block data containing too much data can be difficult to handle.

The map document can contain multiple data blocks

When the ArcMap document contains more data blocks, one of them is the data block active, that is to say, the one you are working on. For example, when you add data to an ArcMap document, a new layer will be added to this data block.

It is possible to add one or more data blocks via the insert menu, data block. Once added, a new block of data can be handled either in data mode either by placing the Fashion page.
To make an active data frame in Data mode, click the right mouse button on the data block, and from the context menu that appears, select the Enable command.

In Mode layout, just click on the drawing.
Of course, if your document contains only one block of data, it is still active.