Tutorials ch. 18, 19, 20
March 3, 2008
Ch. 18 Making maps and templates
Making a map that’s accurate, informative, and nice to look at usually takes time. Sometimes, however, you have to make a professional-quality map on short notice. ArcMap comes with a number of templates to help you do this. In a template, the map elements you need are already in place. All you do is add data and the map is ready to print.
In 18a you open a template when you first start up ArcMap, and choose a template instead of new or preexisting map. You can use the layout toolbar to zoom in to certain areas or zoom out. You can change basic data, add or remove anything you won’t need. In 18b you can add x,y data to the map by clicking the add data button and navigating to what you want to add. You can display the data before you add it, to make sure it is what you need, and click ok in the dialog. The points should appear in the tutorial, of course mine don’t. I find one point, by using the Tools Toolbar pan, and panning to a point SW of the Phillipines. I then leave the map on the point and the Phillipines so both can be see, this is what I save it as. In 18c, you can add graphics to the map, the points that should have shown up in part b, are already displayed in exercise c. You can add a curve to the “line” of typhoons using the Draw toolbar and the new curve tool. Just like all the other drawing tools, you click on each point you want to add on the curve and then double click on the last to end the curve. You can change the color of the symbols or curve line to match eachother. You can then add text to the first point on the curve using the new text tool in the Draw toolbar.
Ch. 19 Making maps for presentation
A good map should inform, reveal, clarify, or convince. The elements for accomplishing these purposes include carefully prepared and symbolized data, a legend to explain the symbols, a descriptive title, projection information, and a source statement. A north arrow and scale bar often help to orient the map reader.
In 19a, you lay out the page by moving the different layers and resizing them using the layout toolbar and tools toobar. In 19b you add a title, in insert menu. You can change font, size and even whether the title will be horizontal or vertical, based on whether you want it on the side or along the top or bottom. In 19c, you add a north arrow, a scale bar, and a legend, all in insert menu. You can change color and resize to fit in the map well. Finally in 19d, you add final touches before you print. You can add pictures or photos. You go to print preview, change from portrait to lanscape, and preview the map page before you print.
Ch. 20 Creating models
GIS is often defined as a computerized system for the creation, management, query, analysis, and display of spatial data. The organization of this book reflects that task-oriented definition. But GIS is also defined as a decision support system, in which computer software is used to model spatial process and to solve problems analytically.
In 20a you set a model using the toolbox created in a previous chapter and ModelBuilder. You combine tools from other toolboxes and connect them in the ModelBuilder, to create a model (20b). There is no real limit to how many processes you add to the model. The one in 20b had 3-4 different processes, added together. In 20c you enhance a model, which is done by adding tools, and creating processes. The final model created in 20c has 5-6 processes.
Overall I had very few trouble with the tutorials, I just hope that I have the same amount or few when creating my coarse project.
