Getting Started With Toolkit Simple Steps to Follow

Digitize Fields in ArcView Start ArcView- enable extensions: MrSID Toolkit Core Extension Open Countywide DLU* Open base photography *This file should be located in F\geodata\common_land_unit

Digitize Fields in ArcView Enable Theme Editing Add polygon Attribute polygon using “Land Units” Toolkit Button make sure that customer ID is tract number or farm number this needs to match the Outlook customer ID Save edits and Close ArcView

Make a new Customer Import from FOCS using the FOCS Import Utility Tab 4- if Legacy.MDB is present - or- Make new toolkit customer in Outlook If you use Outlook to make a new customer,stop after you have created the customer folder Make sure Customer ID matches the one used when digitizing the fields This sets up the customer file

Start ArcView Do this by double clicking on the Toolkit2_template.apr located in the customer folder that you just created This starts ArcView with links back to your customer folder for saving files, and writing to the.xls and.mdb files

Open the DLU Do this from within the ArcView application that you opened- you will need to “add theme” and browse to the location of this file This file should be located in F\geodata\common_land_unit

Select the fields of interest in the DLU To do this, use the selection button in ArcView Use control key to select multiple polygons if needed Fields should already be in the DLU, if not, close Outlook, add the fields to the DLU in ArcView, using the Toolkit buttons,then restart Outlook and reopen the customer APR

Use “New Theme” Button This Toolkit button will create a new theme in the customer file that includes the fields that you selected from the DLU theme Only the selected fields will be placed in this theme Turn off editing on Planned Land Units theme Attribute fields using “Planned Land Unit” toolkit button

Create Mapped Land Units Select each field in Planned Land Units theme and hit the “Land units” toolkit button you can enter land use at this point Do this step for each field in the theme Select all fields and hit the “Link” toolkit button The fields should now be “Mapped Land Units” in Outlook Customer file

Use ArcView and Toolkit Buttons to Create Resource Planning Maps You may add point, line or polygon practices You can create buffered features from a line You can attribute the practices You can add GPS locations You can hot link to digital photos of the site, or to example practices

Create map layout using Map Button You can modify the standard layout and add additional text notes as needed You will need to replace the old NRCS Logo You should always include: North Arrow Legend Scale bar Title and date of map

Export finished layouts Finished layouts need to be exported as.bmp or.jpg files Exported layouts need to be saved to customers plan file along with the contracts and any digital photos that you may be using Exported.bmp or.jpg files can be inserted into any MS Word document or Excel spreadsheet

Go back to Outlook and open land units tab in toolkit customer contact You can now use “mapped land units” to continue and select and schedule conservation practices Acres from mapped land units will populate land units fields Land uses will also populate land units fields

Continue in Outlook to schedule practices and produce plans Select practices, and use plan wizard to produce plan If practices have cost share, and you have updated local cost lists, you can use the contract wizard to produce your contracts Maps created in ArcView, as well as digital photos, can be included in both plans and contracts

Important Note! The data and base photography you used to create your maps still resides on the server The new themes that you created, as well as your.apr are in the Toolkit customers folder The layouts and the.apr now refer to data in two different locations. Because of this, you will have problems if you plan to take you data to the field You will need to copy all base photography and other files located on the server to you local folder before creating the.apr that refers to them

Create a common set of steps for using Toolkit in your office This will provide you staff a guide to follow It will ease training of new staff members It will ensure uniformity of product and reduce confusion It will reduce conflict between the software packages It will assist in the management of spatial data