Chapter 2

Working With ArcMap

 Map Documents
►A Map document in ArcGIS is equivalent to a word
document in MS Word
► A Collection of data layers, files, and tables, as
well as information about how to display the files.
► Map documents do not store the data itself;
rather, it stores the locations of the source data.
► Manipulating maps does not affect the source
data.
 Data Frame
►A window in the document that contains
groups of related data that are drawn
together.
► A map can contain more than one data
frame
 Pathname
► The list of folders that you must go through to
access a particular file.
► Two types of pathnames:
► Absolute
 Starts at the drive letter and ends at the file
 Ex. C:\argyle\temp$\BIOE216\data\cities.shp
► Relative
 Indicates that a search should be made starting at the
current drive letter
 Ex. ..\BIOE216\data\cities.shp
Menu Bar
Map
Scale

Data Map
Frame Window in
Layout
View

Active
Frame
Data
View

Layout
View
Table of Map Units
Contents Display
 Data View

Data Toolbars
Frame

Map Window in
Data View
Layout View
Context
Menu Context Menu
► By right clicking on a
layer, more options
appear
► Appears on layers,
symbols, field
headings, etc.
 Table of Contents
► Liststhe data layers and tables
that have been added to the
current map document
► Contains 3 modes:
 Display
► Layers are listed
► Display order indicates the order of layering

 Source
► Displays the pathname of the data,
organized into home directories Mode
Tabs
► Aspatial tables are shown

 Selection
► Shows the selection status of each layer
► Shows the number of selected items per
layer
 Layers & Layer Files
►A layer is how a data set, coverage,
shapefile, feature class, or table is displayed
in ArcMap
► A layer is not exactly the same as the data
that it represents
► Several layers within a map document can
reference the same data set.
 Symbols & Styles
►3 Types of symbols available in ArcMap:
 Marker Symbol – Point Data
 Line Symbol – Line Data
 Fill Symbol – Polygon Data
► Symbols, colors, sizes, and angles can be
changed in the symbol selector
► Additional symbol sets are available for
specific applications
 Map Scale
► The measure of the size at
1 which features on the map
are represented
24 ,000 ► Expressed as a ratio
► Represents the size of the
objects on the page over
the objects on the ground in
1 : 100,000 real life.
► Valid for any unit of
measure
 Map Scale (Example)
5.0 cm

Scale 1 : 24,000

1 5.0 cm
24 ,000 x cm

x 120,000 cm 1,200 m 1.2 km

 Large Scale vs. Small Scale
► Large & Small scale maps refer to the size
of the ratio (the denominator is small)
 A 1:24,000 map has a larger scale than a 1:100,000
map
► Large Scale Maps show small areas (ex.
cities, states, etc.)
► Small scale maps show larger areas (ex.
countries, continents)
 Labeling
►3 Main types of labeling
 Interactive Labeling
►Selectionof an individual item and adding a label
►Used to add titles and text on a map
 Dynamic Labeling
►Createdfrom attributes
►Redraws every time the map redraws
 Annotation
►Annotations can be individually edited or moved
►Does not change when the map scale is changed.
 Terms To Know
► Map Document ► Table of Contents
► Data Frame ► Map Window
► Data Source ► Marker Symbol
► Pathname ► Line Symbol
► GUI ► Fill Symbol
► Toolbar ► Map Scale
► Context Menu ► Reference Scale
► Layer ► Interactive labels
► Dynamic Labeling
► Annotation