What’s New in ArcGIS 10 - 5 Things You Should Know!

(OK, there’s actually more than 5 here)

Stacey Maples – GIS Specialist and Instruction Coordinator, Yale University Map Department

User Interface

  1. Open ArcMap by going to the ArcGIS Program Group and Selecting ArcMap 10.

Notice that this interface is considerably different from the previous. The “Standard Toolbar” has a new set of buttons to the right of the Edit Toolbar Button. These new buttons provide direct access to a number of new “Dockable” panels in the new AcMap interface. From the left, these buttons launch:

  1. The Table of Contents – The Table of Contents is open, by default, but if you lose it, here’s how to find it!
  2. Catalog Window – The new “Arc”CatalogWindow, now integrated into ArcMap. This one is enabled (and tabbed) by default, too.
  3. Search Window – A new Integrated Search Tool for the ArcMap Interface. This is where the eminently helpful ArcToolbox Search Tab has gone.
  4. ArcToolbox – The traditional ArcToolbox Window, sans the Search Tab, which has been relocated to the Search Tab.
  5. Python Window – An Python Script editing panel, now integrated into ArcMap.
  6. Model Builder – Direct access to the Model Builder interface.

ArcCatalog Integration & the “Home Folder”

  1. If it is not already open, Click on the Catalog Window button to open the Catalog Window, then use it’s “pushpin” to “pin” it in the open position.

Note the items available in the default view of the Catalog Window. In particular, note the “Home – Documents\ArcGIS” item at the top of the Catalog Window.

  1. Right-click on the “Folder Connections” item and create a new connection to the folder containing the workshop data (as directed by the presenter).
  2. Expand the newly connected workshop folder and drag the Yale_Sports.mxd into the Data Frame of ArcMap.

Take another look at the changes at the top of the Catalog Window. Your “Home” folder should now be set to the workspace that contains the Yale_Sports.mxd, providing convenient access to the data and files relevant to the current project.

“Dockable” Windows

  1. Click on the Search Tab, at the right side of the Data Frame, or use the Search Window Button, on the Standard Toolbar, if it is not visible. Use the pushpin to pin the window open.
  2. Click-Hold-Drag the Search Window (using its Title Bar) and hover over the Catalog Window until a cluster of four “Dock Targets” appear. Drop the Search Window onto the bottom target to dock the Search Window below the Catalog Window. (Hover over the boundary between the two windows to resize them).

Geoprocessing Tools on the Main Menu

At ArcMap 10, a new Geoprocessing Menu has been added to the Main Menu, providing access to the most frequently used Geoprocessing Tools from the ArcToolbox. If the default list is not exactly what you need in your daily workflows, you can customize it (just as you can with any of the ArcGIS menus and toolbars) in Customize Mode.

  1. Click on the Commands Tab and scroll through the available commands to find the Analysis Tools and drag the “Create Thiessen Polygons” command to your Geoprocessing menu. Add any other command to the menu.
  2. Close the Customize Mode Dialog.

Search in ArcGIS 10

Search in ArcMap has been integrated into the Search Window. From this window, you can search tools and data on your own Desktop, within your Enterprise (if Search Services are implemented) as well as ArcGIS.com content.

  1. Start with a local search on the term “water” and note that the Search Window returns items from the ArcToolbox. Clicking on the tool name will launch the ArcToolbox Tool, while clicking on the tool path (in green) will locate the tool in ArcToolbox the hierarchy.
  2. Now click on the “Index / Search Options” Button to the left of the Search Type dropdown and Add the folder containing the data for this workshop to the “Registered Folders and Server Connections” list. Then click the “Index New Items” button and wait for indexing to finish. Click OK.
  3. Now, use local search to search on the term “sports.” Indexing makes your data and maps searchable in ArcMap.
  4. Now, change the Search Type to ArcGIS Online and search on the term “water” again. Click through the “All, Maps, Data & Tools” filters to see the different types of ArcGIS Online Content you can add directly to ArcMap.

Image analysis

The Image Analysis Window brings basic image tools to the ArcMap application. Common Image enhancement tools and a few analysis tools, are aggregated into a single interface. The real andvance here is how ArcGIS implements enhancements and analysis using “Image Layers.” These layers, like Layer Files, contain the “instructions” for enhancing and transforming imagery data, without containing the data, itself and reducing the need for redundant storage of image geoprocessing results.

  1. On the Main Menu, go to Windows>Image Analysis. Pin the Image Analysis Window open.
  2. Enable the Draw Toolbar, and place it at the bottom of the ArcMap Window.

Editing Imagery - Clip

  1. Click on the “_NAIP_4_Color_Band_Orthophotography1” layer to select it.
  2. Use the Draw Rectagle Tool to create an are of interest that encompasses the Yale Bowl, and the Baseball Field.
  3. Click on the Clip Button and note that the Image Analysis Window will create a new Image Layer called” Clip__NAIP_4_Color_Band_Orthophotography1”
  4. Use the Select Elements tool to select and delete the graphic area of interest.
  5. Uncheck the original “_NAIP_4_Color_Band_Orthophotography1” layer to view the result of the Clip tool.

Analyzing Imagery -NDVI

  1. Click the Image Analysis Options button, at the top left of the Image Analysis window.
  2. In the NDVI Tab, set “Red Band: 3” and “Infrared Band: 4.”
  3. Click on the “Clip_NAIP_4_Color_Band_Orthophotography1” layer to select it, then click on the NDVI Button , in the Processing Panel of the Image Analysis Window.
  4. Close the Image Analysis Window.

Image “Layer Files” & Functions

The functions that define this Image Layer are the accumulation of the previous analysis and transformation steps we applied to our original dataset. This can be seen in the Functions Tab of the Properties Dialog for the Image Layer. Suppose we decide that we want to apply the NDVI calculation to the original extent of our dataset. This is easily accomplished by simply deleting the Clip Function in our layer.

  1. Right-click and Copy the “NDVI_Clip__NAIP_4_Color_Band_Orthophotography1” layer, then Paste it back into the Table of Contents.
  2. Right-click on the “NDVI_Clip__NAIP_4_Color_Band_Orthophotography1” and open its Properties.
  3. Select the Functions Tab and take a look at the items in this tab.
  4. Right-Click on the Clip Function and Remove it. Remove the Colormap Function, as well. Note that your Pasted Layer is now “Unclipped” and using a Black to White, Stretched Symbology.
  5. Right-click on this Full Extent, Grayscale, NDVI Layer and select Save as Layer File. Save it to the Home Folder as NDVI.lyr.
  6. Remove all but the original “__NAIP_4_Color_Band_Orthophotography1” layer.
  7. Return to the Catalog Window and click on the Home Folder to highlight it, and then hit the F5 key to refresh. Drag the NDVI.lyr back into the Map Document.

Template Based Editing

  1. Right-click on the Sports Facilities layer in the Table of Contents and select Edit Features>Start Editing to open an Edit Session and the Create Features Window.
  2. In the Create Features Window, right-click on the “Baseball Field” or “Football Field”template and open its Properties.

Note that the Sports Facilities Feature Class has Domains assigned to the two user editable attribute fields (TYPE & SURFACE). The Editing Templates visible here were created automatically, based upon the symbology(Categories, with TYPE as the Value Field) applied to the Sports Facilities Layer, then a default value was assigned to the Baseball Field & Football Fieldtemplates in the Properties of each template.

Preparing the Templates

  1. Right-Click on the Soccer/Futbol Field Template and open its Properties.
  2. Assign “Artificial Turf” as the default value for SURFACE.
  3. Note the other options available for customizing templates. In particular, note that you can assign a Default Tool for drawing features, based upon their typical geometry.
  4. Close the Template Properties dialog.

Editing Using the Templates

  1. Select the Football field Template and use it to draw a feature delineating the grass oval of The Yale Bowl (double-click or right-click and select Finish Sketch when you are done).
  2. Select the Baseball Field Template and create a feature for the Yale Baseball Field.
  3. Select the Tennis Court Template, zoom to one of the tennis courts, and create a feature for one of the tennis courts (zoom in, if necessary). Click on the Attributes Tab at the bottom of the Editing Template Window and assign Impervious Surface as the SURFACE value.
  4. On the Editor Toolbar Select Editor>Save Edits, the Editor>Stop Editing.
  5. Right-click on the Sports Facilities Layer and open its Attribute Table. Note the default values have been applied to the features for which they were assigned in the templates, and the manually edited values are present, as well.
  6. Save your work.

Sharing Your Work

Map packages

  1. On the Main Menu, go to File>Map Document Properties.
  2. Fill in the relevant information for the Map Document. In particular, be sure to give a Description.
  3. Click on the Create Thumbnail button
  4. Make sure that “Store Relative Paths…” is checked. Click OK.
  5. On the Main Menu, go to File>Create Map Package…
  6. Select the “Save Map Package to…” option and browse to save to the Home Folder, if it is not already the target.
  7. Click Validate.
  8. Click Share (and OK, if you are prompted to save your map document).
  9. Dismiss the Succeeded message and close ArcMap.
  10. Using Windows Explorer, browse to the folder you saved your Map Package and double-click to open it in ArcMap.