GEOG4/6370 Lab 5: Finding, collecting, and converting DATA!

Part 1: Download Public Domain Data

NOTE! This section is optional. You can begin with Part 2 on page 2 if you desire. The
benefit of doing Part 1, however, is that you will have another source of data for making
the second layout required for this lab. End note.

As usual, there is data for you on the eLC. Download, unzip, and save it to your desktop.
However, were going to find our own data online and download that to use as well.

Go to http://arcdata.esri.com/data/tiger2000/tiger_download.cfm (OR go to
www.ESRI.com Products Data Free Data Census 2000 TIGER / Line Data
Preview and Download)
1. Select Georgia from the first dropdown list and click Submit Selection.
2. Under Select by County choose Clarke from the dropdown list.
3. From the layer selection, chose the following:
a. Designated places 2000
b. Census Place demographics (PL94)
c. Census Place demographic (SF1)
4. Click Proceed to Download and click Download File on the next screen.
5. Unzip all files and save into working directory.*
* Note that there are three zip files zipped together as one
download zip file. You need to unzip each of these three zip
files.
You should end up with six more files (see right) in your lab5_data
folder (aside from the files that you downloaded from the eLC).

Launch ArcMap, and add the

data that you just downloaded
from ESRI.

Browse your three new files

(see below).

When you see a window pop

up that tells you that the
spatial reference is unknown,
just click OK (see right).

We can define a projection for the designated place file:

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Open ArcToolbox expand Data Management Tools expand Projections and
Transformations select Define Projection.

Your Input Dataset or

Feature Class should be
tgr13059plc00.
To select your Coordinate
System (which we dont want
as Unknown), select the icon
next to Unknown, which

looks like this: .

Click Select choose

Geographic Coordinate
Systems choose North
America select NAD
1983.prj (see right).

Click Add. Click OK. Click OK. Close ArcToolbox.

The tgr13059 layer may appear with a lock icon until the process finishes running.

Join the SF1 table with the tgr13059 shapefile using PLACE as the shared field. *If for
some reason you are having trouble, close ArcMap without saving your work and
start again. Sometimes that resets the problem.

Symbolize tgr13059 with the average household size (AVE_HH_SZ) using graduated
colors. *This may look strange, because its only three polygons (one large one in the
center, two smaller ones on the side). If you get a result of three colors, thats correct.

Rename tgr13059 as Place.

Save your map document into your lab5_data folder as lab5.mxd.

Part 2: Screen Digitizing

Open ArcCatalog, disconnect any old folder connections you may have, and if necessary,
make a connection to your lab5_data folder on your desktop. Next, youre going to
create a new shapefile in your lab5_data folder. This is where we will be doing some
digitizing.

Click on lab5_data in the Catalog Tree so that you can view the contents of the folder in
the display window to the right. Right click on some blank space in the contents, and
click New Shapefile

Name: UGAcampus / Feature Type: Polygon / Click Edit to change spatial reference

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Click Import to use the settings from another file. Navigate to your lab5_data
folder. Select UGA_DOQ.TIF. Click Add. Click OK.

Make sure your settings are like these (see

right). Click OK.

You now have an empty polygon shapefile

in your lab5_data folder.

You may close ArcCatalog.

Return to your lab5.mxd.

Insert a new data frame.

Add UGA_DOQ , then UGAcampus.

Even though there is nothing in the

UGAcampus shapefile, go ahead and
change the symbology so that you can
easily see what you create later.

Change it Hollow with a 2pt red outline.

Bring up the Editor toolbar by going to Customize Toolbars Editor.

Were going to start digitizing new features to be included in our UGAcampus shapefile.

Click Editor Start Editing. A Create Features window should pop up, and
UGAcampus should be listed. Click UGAcampus to select it, and you should see buttons
become illuminated in the Editor toolbar.

Digitize Sanford Stadium by drawing a polygon around it using the Straight Segment
tool . (Just so you know, your last click to finish the polygon is a double click.)

If you make a mistake, simply go to

Edit Undo Create.

When youve digitized Sanford

Stadium, click on Editor Stop
Editing.

When youre asked if you want to

save your edits (see right), click Yes!

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Open the attribute table for UGAcampus. There should be one record. Click the icon on
the top left of the attribute table, and from the drop down list that appears, click Add
Field.

In the Add Field box that appears,

Name: NAME
Type: Text
Length: 50

Check your settings (see right).

Click OK.

Start editing again.

Type Sanford Stadium directly into the
attribute table.
Stop editing again. Close attribute table.

For practice, digitize at least three (3) more

buildings on UGAs campus and enter their
names into the attribute table as well.

Part 3: Data IN and OUT Excel

Lets download school locations in Clarke County.

Go to http://geonames.usgs.gov/ and Search Domestic Names.

Enter State: Georgia, County: Clarke, and Feature Class: School and Send Query.
When the query returns, select the option to Save as pipe | delimited file.

Just so you know the pipe is the symbol that appears when you type shift + \. Its that
vertical bar: |. It means that the entries are separated by these bars, known as pipes.

Save the file as GNISqueryresult.csv. Were going to open this pipe delimited file in
Excel and edit it. There are few things that need to be changed before we can use it in
ArcMap. Go ahead and open Excel. File Open. Change the file types displayed to All
Files. This will make sure all files show up, not just Excel files. Select
GNISqueryresult.csv and click Open. It might just pop up like this:

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This is not particularly helpful, so we need to tell Excel that its pipe delimited.

If you expand column A, you can tell that all the records have been put into different
rows of column A as a string of text.

Select Column A by clicking A.

Go to the Data tab and click Text to Columns (see right) .

This opens the Convert Text to Columns Wizard, which takes you through a three step
process.

1. First, it wants to know if the columns are delimited or based on a fixed width. We
know its delimited, so were going to click the radio button for Delimited and
click Next.
2. Second, it wants to know what the delimiter is. We have
pipe delimited data, so we know that the delimiter is the
pipe. Pipe is not one of the default options listed, so were
going to check Other: and type in the pipe | (see right).
If anything else is checked, it needs to be unchecked, and
then you can click Next.
3. Third, it lets you change the data format of each column,
but were not going to worry about this. Just click Finish.
Suddenly our data makes much more sense! Its divided into columns that make it
easier to read. If, however, you see ###### in a cell, it means that the column is not
wide enough and you need to widen the column a bit.

Although were making progress with preparing our data, there are still changes that
need to be made before we can bring it into ArcMap.

First, lets get rid of columns we dont need. For example, we know that these are all
schools within Clarke County in Georgia, so right click on the Class column and click
Delete. The values should disappear and the entire column should slide out of
existence. In the same way, delete County and State.

For this lab, we will not be needing ID, Ele(ft)*, Map**, BGN Date, and Entry
Date, so you can delete these as well. All we should have in the end is Feature Name in
column A, Latitude in column B, and Longitude in column C.

Second, we need to convert the latitude and longitude into decimal degrees, since were
going to use it in ArcMap. Currently the latitude and longitude values are in Degrees
Minutes Seconds (DMS), but we will convert them to decimal degrees with a formula.

In column D, type LAT_DD in row 1. In row 2, type the following formula:

=LEFT(B2,2)+MID(B2,3,2)/60+MID(B2,5,2)/3600
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In column E, type LONG_DD in row 1. In row 2, type the following formula:

=-LEFT(C2,3)-MID(C2,4,2)/60-MID(C2,6,2)/3600

*Be sure to include the equal signs at the front.

**Be sure to pay attention to all three negative signs in the second formula.

NOTE! The function LEFT(text,num_chars) returns a number of characters

(num_chars) from the left of the string (text). In our case, we take the left 2 characters
in the cell B2 (and the left 3 characters in the cell C2) which is the degree number.

The function MID(text, start_pos, num_chars) returns a number of characters

(num_chars) from the middle of a string (text), starting from the specified location
(start_pos). In our case, we take the middle 2 characters starting from the 3 rd position
in the first formula (4th position in the second formula), which is the minute number.

We also take the middle 2 characters starting from the 5th position in the first formula
(6th position in the second formula) which is the second number. Finally, 60 and 3600
are unit conversion constants for going from minute and second to degree. End note.

Rather than copying and pasting this formula multiple

times into each cell, you can click the bottom right
corner of the cell that contains the formula and you
can drag it down to the last cell that needs to be
calculated (see right).

Now all cells should have equations that have

rendered a decimal degrees result. However, now we
have to latitude columns and two longitude columns.
It could be helpful to delete the old latitude and
longitude columns, but we cant as long as the equations in columns D and E are
dependent on the values in columns B and C. We need to copy and paste the decimal
degrees results as values, independent of their equations.

Click on column D. Right click on it and choose Copy. Right

click on it again and choose Paste Values, which looks like a
clipboard with the numbers 123 written on it (see right).

Click on column E. Right click on it and choose Copy. Right

click on it again and choose Paste Values, which looks like a
clipboard with the numbers 123 written on it (see right).

Now that the values are free of their equation, they are no
longer dependent on columns B and C to be displayed. We can
delete these old latitude and longitude columns in DMS so that
we dont get confused later. Delete columns B and C. Columns D and E should slide to
the left and become columns B and C.

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Third, we need to change the column headings. Column headings, more commonly
known as field names in ArcMap, need to only contain letters, numbers, and
underscores NO SPACES! You cannot have spaces before a heading, after a heading,
or within a heading. Be careful to make sure you dont accidently hit the space bar!

Since weve deleted the columns that we dont need and are left with only three,
changing column headings will be easy. LAT_DD is fine. LONG_DD is fine. Change
Feature Name to NAME, and you should be done! It should look like this:

etc.

Go to File Save As. If youre not already in your lab5_data folder, navigate there now.

We need to save this in a file type that ArcMap recognizes. ArcMap does NOT recognize
Excel files!!! Make sure the Save as type: is set to CSV (Comma delimited)/ (*.csv).
Give the file the name Clarke_schools.csv.

If the following error message pops up,

just click Yes.

Now close Excel. ArcMap will not be able to open the file if it is still open in Excel.

Even if you just saved your work, this might pop up:

if it does, and you have not done anything to change the file, just click Dont Save.
(If you HAVE made changes, youll have to overwrite your file, and then itll close.)

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Part 4: XY Data in ArcMap

Insert a new data frame into your ArcMap document

Add Clarke_rds. Symbolize according CFCC.

Add Clarke_schools.csv.

Open the table and browse it to make sure everything looks ok. There should be three
fields: NAME, LAT_DD, and LONG_DD. The latitudes and longitudes should make
sense (the former positive, the latter negative, etc.).

If something is not right, youll

need to remove this CSV file,
reopen it in Excel, make the
necessary changes, save, close
Excel, re-add to ArcMap, and
check again.

Were going to use the latitudes

and longitudes in their decimal
degree form to map the locations
of schools in Athens Clarke
County.

Right click on Clarke_schools.csv

in the Table of Contents. Click
Display XY Data.

In the box that appears, most of

the default settings should be fine.
Change the Coordinate System of
Input Coordinates though. Click
Edit Select Geographic
Coordinate Systems North
America NAD 1983.prj Add
OK.

Double check that everything

looks correct (see right) before
continuing. Click OK.

If a window appears that says the

Object-ID missing, read the box
for more information. Click OK.

You should now be able to see 54 new points on top of roads.

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Resymbolize the points
to make them easier to
see. If they are still
difficult to see, make the
roads very transparent
and the points should
show up much more
clearly (see right).

Since everything looks

good, we need to save
our CSV event as a
shapefile so we can keep
it and do more with it.

Right click on
Clarke_schools.csv Event
in the Table of Contents
and click Data Export
Data. Give the data the
Name: Clarke_schools
and Save as type: Shapefile. Click OK.

When you are asked, Do you want to add the exported data to the map as a layer?,
click Yes. You can now right click on the Clarke_schools.csv Event and Remove it. You
can right click on the Clarke_schools.csv and Remove it as well. All you need is the
Clarke_schools shapefile. If the symbology needs to be changed again, go ahead and
change it.

Next, were going to select those schools that are labeled historical, and we are going to
label them as such in a new field.

Selection Select by
Attributes. Enter the
appropriate query to render
those schools labeled
historical. Click OK.

Open the attribute table for

Clarke_schools. There
should be 11 out of 54
selected. Switch from
showing all records to
showing only selected records
using the buttons near the
bottom of the attribute table
window (see right).

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Add a new field with the following information:
Name: TYPE Type: Text Length: 20
Double check your settings (see right). Click OK.

With the historical schools still selected (in cyan),

click on the TYPE field (turns it yellow), right click
on the TYPE field, and click Field Calculator.

Change the Type: by clicking the radio button

next to String.

Simply type historical for TYPE = , and be sure to

include the double quotes. Otherwise itll give you
an error message.

When you switch back to showing all records and not just the selected historical ones,
you should be able to see that only those records that were selected as historical have
been labeled as historical. Close the attribute table. Clear selected features.

Symbolize schools using the newly created TYPE field to show whether the school is
historical or not. Save your work.

Part 5: Create a Subset of Data from Existing Data

Sometimes you only work on a portion of

a data set. To reduce the file size and to
control the study area, you can create a
subset out of the original data. You can
select by locations or attributes. Heres
an example:

Within ArcMap, expand the ArcCatalog

tab. If your Home is set as
Desktop\Lab5_data, right click on your
lab5_data folder connection and click
New Shapefile.

Name: StudyArea
Type: Polygon
Spatial Reference: import this from
Clarke_rds

Check that everything ok (see right), and

click OK. If ArcMap does not add the
layer automatically, add it yourself.

Digitize a polygon around the downtown Athens area. (It doesnt have to be perfect!)

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If ArcMap doesnt automatically make the polygon somewhat transparent, do it yourself.

Go to Selection Select by Location.

Were going to select those schools that
are completely within our StudyArea.

Selection Method: select features from

Target layer(s): Clarke_schools
Source layer: Study Area
Spatial selection method: Target
layer(s) features are completely within
the Source layer feature

Double check your settings (see right),

and click OK.

Only those points that are completely

within the polygon are selected:

*Your StudyArea might not look like mine, but thats ok. Do not panic!

Lets make a new shapefile from this

selection. Right click on
Clarke_schools Data Export
Data (see right).

In the window that pops up, make sure

that youre exporting Selected
features. Instead of calling our
selected schools Export_Output,
replace this with schools_selected.
Click OK.

When youre asked if you want to add

the new layer to the map, click YES.
Clear selected features, and turn off
Clarke_schools. Zoom to the extent of
your StudyArea. Resymbolize and label schools_selected. COMPLETE ASSIGNMENT.

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Assignment for Lab5

Part 1
Q1 What are three possible real-world applications of screen digitizing?
Q2 When youre renaming column headings in Excel in preparation for bringing data
into ArcMap, a) what CAN you have in your column headings, and a) what can
you NOT have in your column headings?
Q3 What do DMS and DD stand for? Are they basically the same thing or are they two
completely different things?
Q4 You cannot directly make a shapefile from a table with X,Y values. What is an
intermediate step? (What happens after adding the .csv but before exporting the
data to a shapefile?)
Q5 When youre adding a field, how does setting the length value affect the number of
characters in a field and/or the amount of memory used? (You may have to
Google this.)
Q6 If you want to save your selected elements permanently in their own shapefile, what
must you do?

Part 2
LAYOUT 1

On your own, find a way to CLIP (try looking in Analysis Tools) your roads data
to the extent of your StudyArea.
Create a layout of clipped roads, schools_selected, and study area boundary.
You do NOT have to symbolize your schools according to TYPE or label them
unless you want to do so.
Export this layout and insert it into your lab report as a picture.
Dont forget the necessary map elements (north arrow, scale bar, etc.)!
LAYOUT 2

From the sites we visited for downloading data, download at least three more files
of your choice, but use a different county than Clarke County.
Bring them into ArcMap, and perform at least three operations you learned from
this lab (such as selecting by location, adding new fields, displaying XY data,
etc.).
Create a layout of your new work.
Dont forget the necessary map elements (north arrow, scale bar, etc.)!

Part 3
Write a report on your second layout (~1 paragraph). Consider the following questions:
Where did you get your data, and what did you choose to download?
What steps did you have to take to get your data into ArcMap?
Which operations did you perform on your data?

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