1. Desktop ArcGIS GIS File Types
Ming-Chun Lee

2. GIS Data Model Concept Data is organized by layers, or themes.
Digital Orthophoto
Streets
Hydrography
Parcels
Buildings
Zoning
Utilities
Administrative
Boundaries
Data is organized by layers, or themes.
Layers are integrated using explicit location on
the earth’s surface.

3. Geo-referenced data
Geo-referenced data describes objects from the real world in terms of:
their positions with respect to a coordinate system
their attributes
their spatial interrelations with each other (topology – underlying computational structures for all geo-referenced data in GIS)

4. Geo-referenced data + Geo-reference: xy coordinates Attribute Data:
i.e. Land Use
Dwelling Units
Land Value
Topology:
Arc-Node
Polygon-Arc
Left-Right

5. Types of Data in GIS Spatial Data Attribute Data
Topological Data (for later…)

6. Spatial Data Structures
Vector Representation
Raster Representation
point
line
polygon

7. Spatial Data Structures
Vector data model
location referenced by x,y coordinates, which can be linked to form lines and polygons
attributes referenced through unique ID number to tables
Examples
DIME and TIGER files from US Census
DLG from USGS for streams, roads, etc
best for features with discrete boundaries: i.e. soil type, land use
Raster data model
location is referenced by a grid cell in a rectangular array (matrix)
attribute is represented as a single value for that cell
Examples
images from remote sensing (LANDSAT, SPOT)
elevation data from USGS
best for continuous features:
i.e. elevation, temperature

8. Spatial Data Structures
Raster data are described by a cell grid, one value per cell
Vector
Raster
Point
Line
Zone of cells
Polygon

9. Types of Spatial Data Points Lines Polygons Point Features Nodes
Simple Lines
Polylines
Polygons

10. Types of Spatial Data Point Features No Dimensions Spatial Attributes:X Y
(Z)

11. Types of Spatial Data
Simple Lines
Polylines
Vertices
Nodes

12. Types of Spatial Data Polylines (cont.) 1 Object: 2 Objects: Vertices
Nodes

13. Types of Spatial Data Lines/Polylines (cont.) One Dimension: Length
Spatial Attributes:
X,Y Coordinates of Nodes & Vertices
Lengths of Segments and Total Length

14. Types of Spatial Data Polygons Two Dimensions Spatial Attributes:
X,Y Coordinates of Vertices
Area
Perimeter

15. Types of Attribute Data
Discrete
Categorical
Ordered
Continuous
Interval
Ratio

16. Types of Attribute Data
Categorical
No Ordering of Data Values
Examples:
Land Use Designation
Soil Type
Zip Code
Tree Species
Unique Name

17. Types of Attribute Data
Ordered
Data Values Ordered, but Distances Irrelevant
Examples:
Street Functional Classification
Level of Government (City/County/State/Fed)
School Level (Elementary/Middle/High/College)

18. Types of Attribute Data
Interval
Data Values Ordered, and Interval Distances are Relevant, but Base “0” Value is Arbitrary or Irrelevant and Ratio Calculations Meaningless
Examples:
Elevation from Sea Level
Temperature in °C, °F (but not Kelvin)
Time Relative to 1 AD

19. Types of Attribute Data
Ratio
Data Values Ordered, Interval Distances and Base “0” Value are Relevant, and Ratio Calculations Meaningful
Examples:
Length, Area
Price $
Temperature in Kelvin
Time Relative to Big Bang

20. Types of questions Where is object A? Where is A in relation to B?
How many occurrence of type A are there within distance D of B?
What is the value of function Z at position X?
How large is B? (Area, Perimeter)
What is the result of intersecting layer A and layer B?
What is the path of least cost or distance from X to Y along pathway P?
What is at points X1, X2,…?
What objects are next to objects having certain attributes?
Reclassify objects having certain combination of attributes.
Simulate the effect of process P over time T for a given scenario S.

21. ESRI GIS Products

22. ESRI GIS Products

23. ArcGIS ArcGIS is a family of software mapping tools
The scalability of ArcGIS provides users with the ability to deploy the software in a variety of ways, from desktop mapping to enterprise GIS.

24. ArcGIS The ArcGIS suite contains Desktop application
(we will be using in this class)
Data server application (ArcSDE)
Application servers (ArcGIS Server)
Internet mapping servers (ArcIMS)

25. ArcGIS Desktop
ArcGIS Desktop is an integrated suite of advanced GIS applications and interfaces, including
ArcMap,
ArcCatalog,
ArcGlobe,
ArcScene,
ArcToolbox, and
ModelBuilder.

26. ArcView
ArcInfo
ArcEditor
ArcGIS Desktop
ArcGIS Desktop is scalable to meet the needs of many types of users. It is available at three functional levels:
ArcView focuses on comprehensive data use, mapping, and analysis.
ArcEditor adds advanced geographic editing and data creation.
ArcInfo is a complete, professional GIS desktop product containing comprehensive GIS functionality, including rich geoprocessing capabilities.

27. ArcGIS Desktop
Additional capabilities can be added to all levels through a series of ArcGIS Desktop Extensions from ESRI.
Users can also develop their own custom extensions to ArcGIS Desktop by working with ArcObjects, the ArcGIS software component library.
Also can develop extensions and custom tools using standard Windows programming interfaces, such as Visual Basic, .NET, Java, and Visual C++

28. ESRI’s ArcGIS Platform
Three Main Applications introduced in this class:
ArcCatalog
ArcMap
ArcToolbox
As mentioned before, this class tries to make you all feel comfortable using GIS computer software. Speaking software, the package we are about to use is ArcGIS, and it is a whole package, come with a number of applications: the three most important applications are:
ArcCatalog
ArcMap
ArcToolbox
They support each other, we will have more about the package of software when we go through our first exercise, also on next lecture, I will be introducing me to some basic things about those three applications.

29. ArcMap
ArcMap is the central application in ArcGIS for all map-based tasks including cartography, map analysis, and editing.

30. ArcMap
ArcMap document files (.mxd) do not “contain” copies of data sets
ArcGIS map documents contain instructions that include pointers to data location
File locations are coded into project files
Very important to know where the data sets are!

31. Copying & Moving Map (.mxd) Documents
Copying & moving map documents does NOT copy or move data sets
Data sets must be either:
Moved
Identical file structure
Copied
Specified
Restructure your .mxd map document

32. Map documents may specify absolute or relative path names to data sources

33. Absolute or Relative path
With relative path names, if data sets are in the same folder as the map document, the entire folder can be moved, copied, or renamed.
With absolute path names, file structures must be recreated identically if map documents and data sets are to be copied to a different computer

34. General System File Management
GIS is more file-intensive than most other computer applications
Knowledge of Windows OS file system operation is critical
Disk, directory, and file management skills

35. Setting the Working Directory
Set the working directory early
Avoids major headache later
Always have no doubt about where new files will be placed
TIPs:
Create a new directory for each project
Set working directory to this new directory

36. ArcCatalog
The ArcCatalog application organizes and manages all GIS information such as maps, globes, data sets, models, metadata, and services.

37. Metadata Metadata – Data about Data Contents of GIS Metadata:
Identification: Title, Area, Dates, Owners, Organization;
Data Quality: Attribute Accuracy, Spatial Precision, Consistency, Data Sources, Production Methods;
Spatial Data Organization: Raster/Vector Model, Structure of Features in the Dataset;
Spatial Georeferencing: Projection, Grid System, Datum, Coordinate system;
Features and Attributes: Database/Attribute Table Definitions, Codes, and Categories; and
Distribution: How to obtain data, contact info for source, list of available formats, fees.

38. Metadata
Metadata records are indexed into international library standard (“Z protocol”) databases
Databases are searchable
Content-standardized metadata is the foundation of a robust searching tool
Not through Google
geodata.gov:
Metadata records have no requirement to provide actual data sets!

39. Metadata
Metadata Toolbar
Viewing Metadata in ArcCatalog
Click to Edit

40. ArcToolbox
ArcToolbox is an interface for accessing the data conversion and analysis function that come with ArcGIS.

41. ArcCatalog: File Types

42. Relationships Among Types
ArcMap Project (Symbology, Layout)
Table
Raster Layer (Symbology)
Shapefile (Spatial Data, Attribute Data)
Raster Dataset
Coverage
(Spatial Data, Attribute Data, Topology)
Vector Layer (Symbology)

43. Terminology
dataset = data set = data layer = layer = theme = feature class (vector data model)
All mean “a piece” of geospatial data
Feature dataset however means a collection of feature classes in a ESRI geodatabase
data model  either Vector or Raster

44. Geodatabase
Geodatabases are the new preferred data storage standard for ArcGIS
A “container” for data sets
feature classes (vector data)
raster data
tables
Manage with ArcCatalog

45. Geodatabase Two formats: MS Access mdb format (“personal geodatabase”)
2 GB size limit
Special files in a folder (“file geodatabase”)
1 TB size limit