Files and Folders exercise
1. Start ArcCatalog.
ArcCatalog is the application for viewing and managing GIS data. Look in the top title bar and located the
application name: ArcCatalog.
What is the name to the right of ArcCatalog? _______________
This is the name of the Software product. ESRI makes three software products: ArcView,
ArcEditor, and ArcInfo. ArcInfo has the most functionality and costs the most.
2. Navigate to the C:\BUSB433\CalData folder. In ArcCatalog’s left panel click on the plus signs to open
folders.
Notice there are 16 shape files with the .shp extension and a green box to their left. These files each hold a layer
of geographic data. They are point, line, or polygon shapefiles, you can tell by looking at their green box.
3. How many point shapefiles are there? _________ Line? __________ Polygon? _______________
4. Click on the State shapefile and click the Preview tab. You see the outline of the state.
5. Click the Rail shapefile to see the state’s railroads.
6. Click the Air shapefile to see the state’s Airports.
Next you will change colors and symbols.
7. Right-click the Rail shapefile and click Create Layer. Then click Save.
A new layer file is created called Rail layer.lyr. This file will store symbols and color settings.
8. Double-click Rail layer.lyr and click the Symbology tab.
9. Click the big symbol button (has a line in it).
10. In the list of symbols, click the Railroad symbol.
10.1Click OK and Click OK again.
You see the layer now has a symbol that makes it look like a railroad.
11. Click the Zoom in tool (looks like a magnifying glass with plus sign in it) and use it to zoom in until the
symbol looks like a railroad.
Now you will create a layer file and symbolize the volcano shapefile.
12. Right-click Volcano and click Create Layer. The click Save.
A new layer file is created called Volcano layer.lyr.
13. Double-click Volcano layer.lyr and click the Symbology tab.
14. Click the big symbol button (has a point on it).
15. Click Triangle 1. Then click the Color drop-down and click Fire Red. Change the size to 30. Click OK
and Click OK again.
You now see fire red volcano symbols.
16. Click Volcano.shp. You see the volcano points but they still have a default symbol. Only the layer file
stores symbology for a shapefile.
17. Click Volcano layer.lyr. You see the volcano points but now with their fire red triangle symbols.
In ArcCatalog you can only see one shapefile or one layer at a time. Next you will start ArcMap and make
a map with multiple layers.
18. In ArcCatalog click the Launch ArcMap button.
ArcMap is the application to make maps and analysis geographic data. Notice the software name, ArcView,
ArcEditor, or ArcInfo to its right in the app’s title bar.
19. Arrange the two application windows (ArcMap and ArcCatalog) so that you can see both. You will
drag layers and shapefiles from ArcCatalog to ArcMap.
20. Drag the State shapefile From ArcCatalog into ArcMap.
21. In the ArcMap table of contents you see the shapefile added. It gets a default color. Right click on the
States layer’s colored box, and click the color Sahara sand. Top row, third box from the left.
Earlier in ArcCatalog you made a layer file and set a shapefile’s symbology. You can do the same to layers
in ArcMap.
22. Now drag the Volcano layer.lyr file from ArcCatalog onto the map. Make sure the layer is above the
State shapefile in the table of contents or else the state polygon will cover all the volcano points.
23. Right click Volcano and click Label Features. The names of each Volcano appear.
24. Click the View menu and click Layout View.
In ArcMap you can look at just the point, line, and polygon layers in Data View or you can look at them on
a piece of paper in Layout view. Layout View represents a virtual paper. Here you organize a map for
printing.
25. Click Insert and click Title, then type in California Volcano Map. If you like, drag the title to a new
position, change its font, or font size, or font color. Do insert again and add your name to the map
somewhere.
It’s time to save your work. You have made a map. You save maps in .mxd files, called map documents.
26. Click the File menu and click Save As and save the file as: VulcanoMap.mxd in the
C:\BUSB433data\CalData folder.
27. If you like, before quitting try to Insert the volcano bmp file it is in the C:\ BUSB433data\CalData
folder to your map.
28. Click the File menu and click Exit.
In this exercise you have worked with shapefiles, layer files, and map document files. Shapefiles store
point, line, and polygon geometry information. Layer files store symbology information, and map
documents store a mixture of shapefiles, layer files, and symbology. Plus map documents store all the
information for creating a map, like map title and page positioning information.