Exercise – Bringing It All Together!

After completing this exercise, you will understand how to use geoprocessing tools in ArcGIS. You will be able to use the Project, Select, Buffer, and Clip tools to perform basic geoprocessing tasks in ArcGIS. The goal of this exercise is to produce a map showing the parts of Concordia Parish which are within five miles of a pediatrician’s office.

1. Download the following file and unzip to the directory ‘D:\temp’: http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/maps/gisx/training/module2/files/4-data.zip. Alternatively you can get this file if you download the shortcoursedata.zip file from the ENVR 468 short course website, unzip that file to the D: drive, and navigate to “D:\shortcoursedata\shortcourse6”

2. Open ArcMap.

3. Click the ‘Add Data button’ and browse to the ‘D:\temp\4-data’ folder.

4. Click both ‘la_par.shp’ and ‘la_bus_nad83.shp’ shapefiles. Click ‘Add’. ‘La_par.shp’ is a polygon shapefile showing Louisiana parish boundaries; ‘la_bus_nad83.shp’ is a point shapefile showing the location of 57,000 businesses in Louisiana.

5. Click on ‘ArcToolbox’.

6. Right-click on each of the layers in the ‘Table of Contents’ and choose ‘Properties’. Click on the ‘Source’ tab. Notice for example that the la_bus_nad83 layer is in geographic coordinates, using NAD 1983. We want to project this data using NAD 1983 UTM Zone 15N. Close the ‘Layer Properties’ when done.

7. In ‘ArcToolbox’, open the ‘Data Management’ >’Projections and Transformations’>’Project’. Double-click the Project tool.

8. Choose ‘la_bus_nad83.shp’ as your input layer. For ‘Output Dataset or Feature Class’ save under ‘D:\temp\4-data\la_bus_nad83_Project’.

9. Click the button on the slide of ‘Output Coordinate System. Click ‘Projected Coordinate Systems’ > ‘UTM’ > ‘NAD 1983’>’NAD 1983 UTM Zone 15N’. Click ‘OK’.

10. Click ‘OK’ again.

11. Repeat 7-10 for the ‘la_par.shp’ layer.

12. Close and open ArcGIS again, and add ‘la_bus_nad83_Project.shp’ and ‘la_par_Project.shp’. Note the differences visually between the two difference projections.

13. In ArcToolbox click ‘Analysis’>Extract’>’Select’.

14. Choose ‘Input Features’ as ‘la_par_Project’ and set the ‘Output Feature Class’ as ‘D:\temp\4-data\la_par_Project_Select’.

15. Click the ‘SQL’ button to the right of the Expression field. You can fill in the expression listed below either by typing it in or by clicking in the Query Builder window. Clicking may feel slow and inefficient, but it guarantees that your field names are quoted correctly and your elements are spaced correctly. If you choose to type the query in, be very careful about the difference between single and double quotes.

16. To enter the query without typing, find the “NAME” field in the top pane of the window, and double-click it. Click the “=” button. Click the ‘Get Unique Values’ button. From the list of county names, find ‘Concordia’ and double-click it. Whether you have chosen to enter the query by clicking or by typing, it’s always worth clicking the ‘Verify’ button to make sure there are no typos in your query. Click OK in the Query Builder, then OK in the Select tool window to run this selection.

17. Next, we’re going to try to find all the pediatric practices in the state. Double-click the Select tool again, choose’ la_bus_nad83_Project.shp’ as ‘Input Features’, set the ‘Output Feature Class’ as ‘D:\temp\4-data\la_bus_nad83_Project_Select’.

18. Click the ‘SQL’ button again. and build another query by typing the following phrase:

( "FranchDesc" LIKE 'PEDIATRIC%') OR ( "FranchDes2" LIKE 'PEDIATRIC%' ) OR ( "CompanyNam" LIKE '%PEDIATRIC%')

19. Click ‘OK’ to finish the query, and ‘OK’ to run the tool. Verify that your output layer has 413 features. If it doesn’t, re-run the second query, double-checking every part of the query you enter.

20. Now we will try the Buffering features. In ArcToolbox, open the ‘Analysis Tools’>’Proximity>’Buffer’.

21. As ‘Input Features’ select ‘la_bus_nad83_Project_Select.shp’, as ‘Output Feature Class’ input ‘D:\temp\4-data\la_bus_nad83_Project_Select_Near.shp’, under ‘Linear Unit’ type ‘5’, and choose the unit ‘Miles’. Click ‘OK’.

22. Lastly, we will try the clipping features. In ArcToolbox, click ‘Analysis Toolbox’> ‘Extract’>’Clip’.

23. For ‘Input Features’ select ‘la_bus_nad83_Project_Select_Near.shp’, for Clip Features’ select ‘la_par_Project_Select.shp’, and for ‘Output Feature Class’ type ‘D:\temp\4-data\la_bus_nad83_Project_Select_1.shp’. Click ‘OK’.

24. Switch to the layout view and create a simple layout to present your work.

25. Zoom in to the clipped area and display as many layers as you would like. In the menu click on ‘File’>’Export.Map…’, set the directory to ‘D:\temp\4-data\’, set Save as type to PNG, set File name to ‘clippedBuffer.png’, and click ‘Save’.

26. Open Microsoft word, in the menu click on ‘Insert’>’Pictures’>’From File’, and insert ‘D:\temp\4-data\clippedBuffer.png’.

27. Add a figure caption explaining the figure. Follow the format for figure caption as in the papers assigned as reading material for this class (if you have not read any of these papers, make sure to look up at least one of them so you know what the figure caption should look like before next class!).

28. Save your work and email it to the instructor with the title ‘ENVR468 Short Course, YOUR NAME’.

Notes:1. All screen shots are taken from ArcGIS 10.3.1.2. This Exercise is adapted from http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/maps/gisx/training/module2/files/4-

geoprocessing-exercise.pdf.