Before you begin
You will need access to ArcGIS Desktop software for this tutorial. If you do not have this software, please visit our GIS software page to learn how to obtain a copy.
We also have various locations around campus that have GIS software installed. Please feel free to visit any of these locations. Finally, you may use older versions of ArcGIS (ArcView 3.x, Arc/Info) remotely by using an X Server
For more help with getting started using ArcGIS, we suggest some of the following resources:
- ESRI virtual campus courses
- ESRI software documentation:
What is ArcGIS?,
Getting Started with ArcGIS,
Using ArcMap,
Using ArcCatalog
Download Data
Download the data for this tutorial here: gettingstarted.zip.
(This file is .zip format. Download 7zip to uncompress this file.)
From the Windows "Start" menu, scroll to Programs => ArcGIS and select ArcMap.
When ArcMap opens, click "OK" to start using ArcMap with a new empty map.
On the default ArcMap interface, there is a menu bar, button bar along the top, a floating toolbar, a Table of Contents on the left, and a display and viewing area on the right. Data will be listed as "Layers" in the Table of Contents.
In order to add data to the empty map, click on File in the menu bar and choose "Add Data...". Note the icon
next to the "Add Data..." option. This icon also appears on the button bar.
Navigate to the directory where you extracted your data and open the USA folder.
Inside the USA folder you should see several files ending with ".shp". These are known as "shapefiles," which store geographic features and their attributes. In a shapefile, geographic features can be represented as points, lines, or polygons. Note that the icon to the left of each file name indicates if the file is a point, line, or polygon shapefile.
Click on the file named "states.shp", then click "Add."
In the default installation, the layers may not be automatically turned on. To turn them on check the box next to the layer.
Now, inside the Table of Contents on the left side of the ArcMap
interface, you will see "states" appear as a layer. On the right,
in the viewing area, you will see a picture of the USA, with outlines
of all the states.
Now that you know what the Add Data icon looks like, find it on the toolbar and click to add more data to your view.
ArcMap should default to the directory you most recently added data from. If the contents of the USA folder do not display, navigate again to the USA folder.
Click on the file named "cities.shp" to highlight it. Then, holding down the CTRL button on the keyboard, click on the "rivers.shp" file and the "counties.shp" file. All three files should be highlighted now. Click "Add" to add this data to the view.
You'll see "cities", "Rivers", and "counties" displayed as layers in the Table of Contents. In the view, the cities are represented by points, the rivers by lines, and the counties are a polygon layer.
Un-check the box next to "counties" in the Table of Contents to see that the "states" layer still exists, but it is now hidden underneath the "counties" layer. (If the states layer were above the counties layer in the Table of Contents, you would see only the outlines of the states, and the counties would be hidden.)
.
In the display area, the pointer changes from a hand to a magnifying
glass. Draw a small box in the Mid-Atlantic region (around Delaware) and wait
for the view to zoom to your selection. See if you can identify
the city of Dover, in the very center of Delaware. (You can also zoom
in by simply clicking once on the map, and the view will zoom in a
fixed distance.)
On the Tools toolbar, click on the "Identify" icon
.
Now, click on the point representing the city of Dover. The
Identify Results dialog appears, displaying attributes about the point feature
you just selected. Scroll through the list. What was the population
of Dover in 1990?
Close the Identify Results dialog.
To zoom out, click on the "zoom out" icon
and draw another box. To zoom out very far, draw a small
box. To zoom out less, draw a large box. You can also zoom out by
clicking once on the map, and the view will zoom out a fixed distance.
Return to the original view by clicking the globe icon
on the Tools toolbar.
Double-click on the states layer in the Table of Contents to open the Layer Properties dialog. Make sure the "General" tab is selected. Next to "Layer Name:" type "US States". Click Apply to see your changes in the Table of Contents. There should be a new name for the STATES layer: US States.
By default, ArcMap assigns a random color to polygon layers, like the US States layer. Since the randomly assigned color may not be appropriate for a particular layer (for example, a "rivers" layer should be blue, not pink), you can change the color of each layer very easily.
Since we are still inside the Layer Properties dialog, click the
Symbology tab.
The current color of the US States polygon layer is displayed under the Symbol heading. Click once on the box containing the current color to open the Symbol Selector dialog, and choose Beige as your new color, which appropriately represents land.
On the right side of the Symbol Selector dialog, note that you can also change the width and color of the outline defining the polygon. Click OK.
Back inside the Layer Properties dialog, click Apply to see your changes. Click OK to close the dialog window.
Back inside the Layer Properties dialog, click Apply to see your changes, then click OK if you are satisfied.
The map inside the viewing area should now look less cluttered because the size of the US Cities symbol is so small.
You have just changed the layer names and some of the properties of both the US States, and US Cities layers.
Next to Method, leave the default option (Label all the features the same way) selected.
The Label Field, by default, should read STATE_NAME.
Inside the Text Symbol box, click the "Symbol..." box to open the Symbol Selector. Click on "Country 3" as your text. Change the color of the text to "Ultra Blue", and change the size to 10. Change the font by selecting "Comic Sans MS" from the drop-down menu. Click OK.
Inside the Layer Properties Dialog, click Apply to see your changes, then, if you are satisfied, click OK.
The map will again look very cluttered, but by zooming in, you will see individual state names in their appropriate locations.
To view just the labeled US States layer without the US Cities layer, uncheck the box next to US Cities in the Table of Contents. Your map will appear much cleaner and less confusing now.
In the Table of Contents, turn the US Cities layer back on by checking the box next to the layer. Right-click on the layer name and select Open Attribute Table.
The Attribute Table displays characteristics of the cities in table format, such as which state it is in, city name, population, etc. Browse the contents of the attribute table, then close it.
Double-click the layer to open the Layer Properties dialog, and
choose the Symbology tab.
In the Show box, on the left-hand side, click Quantities and select Graduated symbols.
Now, change the display of the US Cities symbol to indicate which cities are larger and which are smaller in terms of population, using graduated symbols. Less populated cities will be represented by a small symbol, and highly populated cities will be represented by a large symbol.
In the Fields section, click the Value drop-down arrow and choose
"POP1990".
In the symbol column, five symbols appear.
In the Template section, click the symbol to open the Symbol Selector dialog. Choose the "Star 3" symbol. Lastly, in the Options section, change the color to Mars Red and the size to 10. Click OK to see the new symbols in the Symbology tab.
In the box displaying the symbols, click the first range of values under Range. Change the value to 81000 to keep the categories "cleaner" and less confusing. Do the same with the other range values, changing the second range to 330,000, the third range to 1120000, the fourth range to 3490000, and the fifth range to 7320000.
Now, click on the first value under Label and type "Less than
81,000". Click on the last value under Label and type "Greater than 3,490,000".
Click Apply. Click OK. In the Table of Contents you will see your list of population ranges under the US Cities layer, with the labels you just created.
Zoom in to the Mid-Atlantic region again and note that the stars representing Washington D.C. and Philadelphia are larger than those surrounding, indicating that they have higher populations.
on the toolbar. Inside the Find dialog box, make sure the
Features tab is selected.
ArcMap has found four US Cities named Newark and listed them at the bottom of the dialog box. Double-click on the first Newark listing. You will see its location blink on the map. Double-click on each of the results to see where each of these cities is located.
There are two ways to view a map in ArcMap: the Data view, and the Layout View. To browse the geographic data on your map, use the Data View. If you're preparing a map to display or publish to the web, or a report to be presented, use the Layout View.
Make a map of Alaska, including counties, rivers, and
cities. Make sure all of these layers are turned on in the Table of Contents.
Click the zoom in icon
.
Draw a box around Alaska.
Click the View menu and choose "Layout View" on the drop-down
menu. ArcMap switches to "Layout View" and you are able to see your map.
To switch back to the Data View, open the View drop-down menu and
choose "Data View".
(Alternatively, you can switch from Data View to Layout View by
using their icons. Data View is represented by
and Layout View by
)
Make your map of Alaska more useful by adding labels to the Rivers
and Cities layers. (See Step 5 if you do not remember how to add
labels). Make sure the font is large enough to see in your Layout View.
Other elements can be added to the map in Layout View by selecting
"Insert" on the menu bar and inserting elements such as a North Arrow,
Scale Bar, and Legend.
Once you are satisfied with your map of Alaska, click the print
icon
to print your map.