Tracking Analyst Instructions

1. Add your base map. We found that the provided National Geographic base
map works best.
2. Open up the Tracking Analyst Toolbar
a. If the options are greyed out, make sure there is a checkmark next to
Tracking Analyst in the extensions window.
3. Select Add Temporal Data Wizard on the Tracking Analyst Toolbar (its the
yellow circle with the black plus sign).
4. Add your Data Source (any file with temporal data)
5. Under Field Containing the date/time: specify the field that contains the
temporal data.
a. For the bull trout data this field is DATE_
6. Under that, select the time zone that you want.
7. Leave tracts at None
a. Unless you are using data that contains more than one thing you want
to track, in that case, select the field that differentiates the data (such
as fish_code).
8. Click next, and then finish. This will open up a new layer that contains the
data you need. It will show All Time and Event underneath it.
9. To change settings, double click on this layer. Navigate to the symbology
tab.
10.In the upper left had box, under Show: will be options to change the
visualization of the events.
11.Uncheck Events and check Most Current Events.
a. There you can change the symbol if youd like.
12.Check Advanced Most Current Events.
13.If you want to add attributes to the points, click Event Attributes, and then
go to Properties to change what you want to show, the location of the text
relative to the point, etc.
14.Furthermore, if you want to show tracks, click the box next to Tracks. You can
also customize the way the display under Advanced Tracks Options.
15.To change the color of the symbols click on Most Current Events again.
Below, in the Drawn As: box, you can change the way the symbols are
displayed, much like regular layers.
16.Click ok when you are done.
17.To test your animation before creating the video file, click the Playback
Manager button on the tracking analyst toolbar. (The blue circle with the
play symbol).
18.Here you will see the playback manager. The spikes represent activity, the
red bar represents where you are in time.
19.You could push play, but Id suggest clicking the blue down arrows on the
right, and adjusting the playback rate, before you play. For two years of data,
2 weeks per 1 second works well. Adjust according to your data.
a. Note: the start and end date is usually automatically set, but you can
adjust it. If you data goes from 8/24/2000 to 9/05/2003, thats what
you want as your start and end time, for example.
20.To make a video click the arrow next to Tracking Analyst which brings down
a pulldown menu. Click Animation Tool

a. This will create what you saw in playback manager, but as a video file.
21.Make sure your start date and end date line up with your data.
22.Set your frame information so its long enough that you see each event, but
short enough that the video is short and the processing time doesnt take
forever.
a. We tried to stick with around 40-120 frames (each frame plays for one
second).
23.Leave format at AVI Video Engine.
24.Frame sizes should be in the 1000s. If they are any bigger exit out of the
animation tool, and then zoom in or out. That should fix it.
25.Save to whatever file you want.
26.This will create a .AVI video file, that is playable in Windows Media Player.
27.If the video has problems, go back and adjust settings until it works. Its very
finicky.
28.Enjoy your videos!