Exercise 2 – Displaying Data in ArcMap

Now that you’ve learned some of the basics of ArcCatalog and ArcMap, let’s get into the fun stuff, displaying your data. This lab is designed to give you a quick overview of projections and symbology. You will have to hand in answers to the bulleted questions as part of your assignment, so you may want to take notes on them as you work through the lab.

Although we'll talk more about them as the semester progresses, you should by now be a little familiar with map projections. Now we can take a look at them. Open ArcMap and add Y:/intgeo/ClassWork/avdata/world/cntry94 and latlong. Right click in the data frame and open its properties. Click on the Coordinate System tab. In the Predefined folder, you can choose between Geographic Coordinate Systems and Projected Coordinate systems.

• What is the difference between the two?

Now play around with the different projections.

• If you use a projection that is designed for North America, how are the other countries affected?

Now look at how the world projections differ.

Insert a new data frame. Add to it Y:/intgeo/ClassWork/avdata/usa/states and cities. Display only those cities that are state capitols (hint: definition query tab in the layer properties). Use the measuring tool to measure the distance between Sacramento, Ca and Trenton, NJ.

• What is the distance in meters when you project the map in North American Albers Equal Area Conic?
• What is the distance when you project the map in USA Contiguous Lambert Conformal Conic?

We are now going to make a variety of State maps, displaying 1997 population data in a few different ways. Remove the cities layer from your dataframe. Now you will make a Choropleth Map, using the Symbology tab of the states layer. Under quantities you will find an option for graduated colors. Display the 1997 population data. Now play around with the classification and normalization.

• How does the map change when you normalize the 1997 population with area?

Now add states again. You can add the same data layer many times and change each one individually. With this one we will make a map of the US using graduated symbols instead of graduated colors. The display changes dramatically.

Add states again. This time make a dot density population map. Change the dot value to equal 200,000. Now try 20,000. You can also change the color and size of your dots.

Now say you would like to look a US population map, but you also want to know what region each state is in. To do this, add states again. Choose multiple attributes under the symbology tab. This allows you to put both attributes onto one map.

• What is the population of Florida?

Insert a new data frame and name it hopewell. Add Y:/intgeo/rowan/arc8class/hopewell/hoperoad and hopegeol. Use the symbology tab to look at the hopegeol map using the prim-geol field. Now label features. All of the polygons are now labeled, but this can be overwhelming. How can we label only what we want labeled? Go to the layer properties window and then the labels tab. Now label only those polygons that have an area greater than 1.0x10⁷. You can also change the size, font and color of your labels.

Now activate the hoperoad layer. Label all roads. Notice when you zoom in more and more roads are labeled.

So now you know the many, many ways to display your data. How are you going to make a printable map out of all this? What do you need to make a map complete? Go to the layout view. You will have all your data frames on this layout. You can delete the ones you don't wont, and you can activate a data frame to make changes to it by clicking on it in the layout or right-clicking on the data frame name in the table of contents and selecting activate. For a good map, you need the following elements: data, title, legend, source, north arrow and scale bar. Your title, legend labels, etc. should be clear yet concise.

1. Answer the bulleted questions in the Projections and Symbology 1 sections of the lab exercise.
2. Make a map with charts or graphs showing the ethnic make up of each state. Two of the field names for the ethnicity data are obscure (AMERI_ES = Native Americans and Eskimos, ASIAN_PI = Asians and Pacific Islanders).
3. Make a map of Middlesex county using a data layer that interests you (ie. streams, roads, geology, etc.). Look in Y:/intgeo/Classwork/avdata/midco for data. Label this data. Your map should also show New Jersey with Middlesex County indicated in some fashion (hint: use insert data frames). Your map also needs to have all the essential elements listed above. The layout and composition of this map counts so make it pretty!

Hand in the assignment on Monday, February 6th.