Data Driven Pages

Problem: You have a long study area and therefore, will need to create many maps. This can be very time consuming, but with data driven pages this is very simple. Only one map will have to be created and you will not have to move the data to a different section of your study area.

Solution:

1. Have shapefile that will allow you to split up your study area. This can be done by creating a fishnet or using Public Land Survey System (PLSS) data. For this example, I will use PLSS data. If creating a fishnet, skip to step 3. 
2. If using PLSS data you will need to select only the PLSS sections needed in your study area.
1. Using the select tool, click on the PLSS sections that hold data 
2. Right click on the PLSS file in the Table of Contents and choose export data. 
3. A new shapefile of only the PLSS sections with data is added to the Table of Contents. 
3. Add in the Data Driven Pages toolbar

1. In the main menu select Customize

2. Toolbars 

3. Data Driven Pages

    4.  How to fill out the Data Driven Page Setup

          1. Click the first button.

          2. In the Definitions Tab, ensure that there is a check mark in the Enable Data Driven Pages.

          3. Data Frame should be layers.

          4. The layer should be the exported PLSS data or the fishnet created.

          5. Field name should be Section, click OK.

   5. Viewing the different pages

          1. In the toolar, it will show what page you are currently viewing. There will be arrows to skip to the first or last page or in increasing or decreasing the page by 1.

  6. Viewing the pages in layout for mapping only; only 1 PLSS or fishnet section at a time.

           1. Open the Data Frame Properties in View

           2. Navigate to Data Frame

           3. In the Clipping Section at the bottom of the page, in the drop down, choose clip to current data    driven page extent. 

           4. click OK. 

Changing the Symbology for all values at once

Problem: You have a shapefile with a large amount of values and you want to change the size or outline color of all the values. If your values are more than 5, this can be very time consuming to click each individual value and change the size or outline color.

Solution: 

1. Double click on the .shp to open the layer properties.
2. Navigate to the symbology tab.
3. Select all the values you want to change and right click.
4. select Properties for All Symbols.
   

Setting Intervals on Raster Symbology Data

Problem: You found some raster data and have a color ramp displayed, but you only have a range of the different data. You want to be able to visually see what the different numbers in the data are by the colors. This can be done by adding intervals. 

Solution: 

1. In the Table of Contents, double click on the raster data to open the layer properties. 
2. Navigate to the symbology tab and select a color that will best represent your data in the color ramp drop down menu. 
   
3. Once you have selected your colors click labeling to bring up the advanced labeling dialog box (See above picture, top right arrow). 
4. From here you can select the number of intervals. This will show how your data is divided up and labeled by color.
1. There are two ways to divide up your data. The first radio button allows the user to select how many intervals and lets the computer decide how much data is in each interval. Click generate.
2. The second radio button allows the user to select how much data is in each interval. An example is 250 meters per interval. Click generate.
5.  You will be able to see how your data will be split up to determine which option is best. For this example, I have selected 7 intervals using the first radio button. Hit OK when you are finished.
   
   
   
   6. In the layer properties click apply and then OK. 
   7. Now you are able to see that the dark brown area is 2,496 meters above sea level. 
   
   
   

Introduction to GIS

This blog will hopefully help others when problems arise in ArcGIS. A Geographical Information System (GIS) is simply to manipulate geographic data. ArcGIS is one software that manipulates the data as well as the option to present the data as maps. The making of maps is cartography. The data could include census information, calculating statistics of the data, displaying states that vote republican or democrat, to name a few. Several layers of data can be used to illustrate the point. A variety of classes can enhance the visualization of the map.

This blog is a compilation of information of my solutions when I have problems in ArcGIS from my own work.