ACS Map Making Tutorial

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• Publié par: Curah
• Nombre de lectures: 17
• Langue: English

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Map Making Tutorial

Jennifer Ailshire

June 25, 2008

Adding Data to the Map and Saving the Map

Click on the

Add Data

button

, browse to the appropriate directory and select the desired file(s).

After you have added data layers to the map document you can save the map by clicking on the

File

menu

and selecting

Save As

. Save the map as file type

.mxd

.

- The .mxd is an ArcGIS specific document that references the location of your shape

files and data files and displays them as they were when you saved the map.

*Use the Standard Toolbar to

investigate your map layers.

Joining Data to Geographic Files

You will often need to join

data from a table to a shape

file. Right click on the

geographic file you want the

data joined to and select

Joins

and Relates >> Joins

.

You will need to base the join

on a common identifier. Select

fields that have the same id

information

and

that are stored

in the same format (i.e. text or

numeric).

Manipulating Map Features

Right click on the layer you are interested in working with. Select

Properties

from the drop down menu

(alternatively, you can double click on the layer file) and choose the

Symbology

tab.

By default, the features are symbolized with a single symbol (all of the PUMAs have the same

color). You can change the representation of features to a categorical one (where each PUMA

has a unique symbol) by clicking

Categories

, or to a quantitative one (where each Puma can be

represented by the proportion poverty for instance) by clicking

Quantities

(Graduated Colors,

Graduated Symbols, Proportional Symbols, Dot Density).

Creating and Saving a Map Template

The default when opening ArcGIS is Data View. Switch to layout view by clicking on the

View

menu and

selecting

Layout View

. You must be in Layout View for map production activities.

*The Layout Toolbar

Selecting a map template click on the

File

menu and select

New

.

My Templates

tab - contains templates created by the user

General

and

Industry

tab - contains particular map layouts one may prefer to use with their data

USA

and

World

tabs - contains variety of USA and World Maps that have already been created (not so

useful unless you need a quick map of the US)

→

Saving Templates

You will start with a blank template, but can save the template at any time by clicking on the

File

menu

and selecting

Save As

. From the drop down menu select the file type

.mxt

and give your template a name.

Formatting and Adding Elements to a Map

→

Selecting

paper layout

settings

Click on the

File

menu and select

Page and Print Setup

.

This is where paper size and orientation can be selected. In addition, there are rulers, guides, and grids for

arranging map elements on the page (these can also be found by right-clicking on an empty portion of the

map layout and selecting from the menu).

→

Selecting a map

background color

Select the data frame and click the down arrow next to the

Fill Color

button on the

Draw

Toolbar.

→

Adding

map elements

Map Title:

Click the

Insert

menu and select the

Title

option. A text box will be added to the page with a

default title. Type a title within the text box and press

Enter

. You can further edit the title by double-

clicking the on the title and editing its text properties. The font, size, style, or color of the title can be

changed using the

Draw

Toolbar.

North Arrow:

Click the

Insert

menu and select the

North Arrow

option. In the

North Arrow Selector

dialog box, select a north arrow and change the properties of the selected arrow.

Scale Bar:

Click the

Insert

menu and select the

Scale Bar

option. In the

Scale Bar Selector

dialog box,

select a scale bar and change the properties of the selected scale bar.

Legend:

Clicking the

Insert

menu and select the

Legend

option. The

Legend Wizard

dialog box will

appear.

By default, the legend includes all layers from the map, and the number of legend columns is set to

one. You can choose which layers may be displayed in the legend by selecting the layer from the

Map

Layer

box and clicking the right arrow (>>). The selected layers will be displayed in the

Legend Items

box. By clicking through the dialog boxes you can also: enter a

Legend Title

, specify its properties, and

set the title justification; select a

Legend Frame

border, background color, and drop shadow; change the

size and shape of the

Symbol Patch

used to represent line and polygon features within the legend; change

the spacing between the different components of the legend.

Exporting Your Map

Maps are most commonly exported as either .pdf or .jpeg. Export your map by clicking on the

File

menu and selecting

Export Map

. In the

Export Map

dialog box you can name your map

and save it in the appropriate file.

Both .pdf and .jpeg files can then be inserted into Microsoft Word and Microsoft Power Point

documents. Alternatively, you may simply print the map after exporting/saving.