Michael Law - Getting to Know ArcGIS

Esri Press, 380 New York Street, Redlands, California 92373-8100

Copyright 2015 Esri

All rights reserved. First edition 2004. Fourth edition 2015.

Printed in the United States of America
19 18 17 16 15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The information contained in this document is the exclusive property of Esri unless otherwise noted. This work is protected under United States copyright law and the copyright laws of the given countries of origin and applicable international laws, treaties, and/or conventions. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as expressly permitted in writing by Esri. All requests should be sent to Attention: Contracts and Legal Services Manager, Esri, 380 New York Street, Redlands, California 92373-8100, USA.

The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice.

US Government Restricted/Limited Rights: Any software, documentation, and/or data delivered hereunder is subject to the terms of the License Agreement. The commercial license rights in the License Agreement strictly govern Licensees use, reproduction, or disclosure of the software, data, and documentation. In no event shall the US Government acquire greater than RESTRICTED/LIMITED RIGHTS. At a minimum, use, duplication, or disclosure by the US Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in FAR 52.227-14 Alternates I, II, and III (DEC 2007); FAR 52.227-19(b) (DEC 2007) and/or FAR 12.211/12.212 (Commercial Technical Data/Computer Software); and DFARS 252.227-7015 (DEC 2011) (Technical Data Commercial Items) and/or DFARS 227.7202 (Commercial Computer Software and Commercial Computer Software Documentation), as applicable. Contractor/Manufacturer is Esri, 380 New York Street, Redlands, CA 92373-8100, USA.

, GIS for Everyone, JTX, MapIt, Maplex, MapObjects, MapStudio, ModelBuilder, MOLE, MPSAtlas, PLTS, Rent-a-Tech, SDE, SML, SourcebookAmerica, SpatiaLABS, Spatial Database Engine, StreetMap, Tapestry, the ARC/INFO logo, the ArcGIS Explorer logo, the ArcGIS logo, the ArcPad logo, the Esri globe logo, the Esri Press logo, The Geographic Advantage, The Geographic Approach, the GIS Day logo, the MapIt logo, The Worlds Leading Desktop GIS, Water Writes, and Your Personal Geographic Information System are trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of Esri in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. CityEngine is a registered trademark of Procedural AG and is distributed under license by Esri. Other companies and products or services mentioned herein may be trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of their respective mark owners.

Ask for Esri Press titles at your local bookstore or order by calling 800-447-9778, or shop online at esri.com/esripress . Outside the United States, contact your local Esri distributor or shop online at eurospanbookstore.com/esri .

Esri Press titles are distributed to the trade by the following:

In North America:
Ingram Publisher Services
Toll-free telephone: 800-648-3104
Toll-free fax: 800-838-1149
E-mail:

In the United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia, and Australia:
Eurospan Group
3 Henrietta Street
London WC2E 8LU
United Kingdom
Telephone: 44(0) 1767 604972
Fax: 44(0) 1767 601640
E-mail:

Getting to Know ArcGIS is a workbook for students and professionals who are getting started in the field of geographic information systems (GIS). Its detailed, step-by-step exercises teach you the core functionality of ArcGIS for Desktop software: how to make maps, carry out spatial analysis, and build and edit spatial databases in the context of realistic projects. The exercises are supported by conceptual discussions at the start of each chapter and as needed throughout the book. Abundant color graphics confirm your progress along the way.

Getting to Know ArcGIS is a hands-on workbook thats meant to be a practical manual for classroom lab work or on-the-job training. If you have no GIS background, will provide a background on Esri GIS software products. The remaining 18 chapters require you to work through software exercises as you read. Each of these chapters contains two to four exercises that focus on a particular GIS task or problem. Many common tasks are covered, including navigating digital maps, finding GIS data online, setting map projections, symbolizing and labeling maps, classifying data, making map layouts, building spatial databases, editing data, geocoding addresses, querying maps, processing data, and analyzing spatial relationships.

Most of the exercises can be completed with any type of ArcGIS for Desktop license (Basic, Standard, or Advanced), with the exception of , which requires a Standard or Advanced license and the ArcGIS Spatial Analyst extension. Exercises are designed to be performed using ArcGIS 10.2 or 10.3 for Desktop. If you are using an older version of ArcGIS (such as version 10.1), you will be able to do most of the exercises, but your results may be somewhat different. If you are using older software, you should download the latest trial software to use with this book.

You can download data for the book exercises and access a 180-day trial version of ArcGIS from the Esri Press Book Resources webpage, esripress.esri.com/bookresources . Click the appropriate book title, and then click the appropriate link under Resources to download the exercise data and access the trial software. You will need the authorization code found on the inside back cover of this book to download the software trial.

Each new exercise in Getting to Know ArcGIS is a fresh starting point, with the maps and data you need already prepared for you; however, we advise you to complete the chapters in order, because tools and functions introduced and fully described in early chapters may be referred to without description in later chapters. The exercises will work, however, no matter which chapter you start with. Each chapter takes one to two hours to complete.

The fourth edition of Getting to Know ArcGIS retains all of the new elements introduced in the third edition, including learning objectives, chapter summaries, questions for critical thinking, software tips, independent-challenge tasks (On your own), and a glossary of key terms. Glossary terms will appear in a different color in the text.

The fourth edition includes exercises that are compatible with the most recent versions of ArcGIS for Desktop, a few new datasets and scenarios, new exercises on map sharing and georeferencing, and streamlined and reorganized content that addresses reviewer feedback and provides a smoother learning experience. We also added , a preview of Esris newest software solution for GIS professionals, ArcGIS Pro (available with ArcGIS 10.3).

We hope you enjoy Getting to Know ArcGIS.

Michael Law

Toronto, Canada

Amy Collins

Napa, California

The authors thank the following individuals and organizations for contributing data and images to this book:

• The World Bank provided the air pollution data used in
• World Wildlife Fund provided the terrestrial ecosystem data featured in