MAKING A GEOLOGIC MAP USING ARCGIS 10X

JACOB SELANDER
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA- DAVIS

CONTENTS:
I. INTRODUCTION 2
II. SETTING UP YOUR PROJECT 4
III. CREATING DATA 12
IV. EDITING DATA 18
V. CREATING POLYGONS 25
VI. PREPARING A PRINT-QUALITY MAP 32
VII. FINAL NOTES 38

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I. INTRODUCTION
This tutorial is based on a much more condensed write-up put together a couple years ago by Mike
Oskin at UCD for a project in the Structural Geology series. Here, it is set up to help guide you through
making a complete geologic map using ESRI ArcGIS software. However, it will only cover the basics (i.e.
bare bones, not every function will be explained), and is not meant to serve as a “cook-book” for using
this program. ArcGIS programs are extremely powerful, and you will benefit greatly from exploring all
the things that it allows you to do in terms of creating and manipulating geospatial data.
Here’s how the tutorial will be laid out- First, you’ll get a brief introduction to the various flavors of the
ESRI Arc suite of software and what their main functions are. Next, you will be given the proper steps to
set up your workspace and file management tips for getting your Arc project started. And the third (and
longest) part will walk you through creating and editing the layers present on a geologic map.
This tutorial is written assuming a couple basic things- One, you already have a prepared and scanned
field map; and Two, you aren’t afraid (in fact, you are willing) to explore various parts of the program on
your own. Trial and error and self-discovery are great ways to learn this particular bit of software.

NOTE: Though this tutorial is written for ArcMap v10x, some of the screen shots are from a previous
version. So if some of the toolbars and various windows look slightly different, that’s okay! The steps,
processes, and tools that you will use/ go through are still the same, even though the user interface may
be slightly different.

Programs & Sub-programs

Workspace: A Workspace is a location on the file system where you keep all of your map data for a
project. This location must be named so that it obeys the rules of names, below. For example, the
common default working directory for ArcGIS is C:\workspace. I’d suggest setting up a separate \arc
folder on your computer (or on a USB thumb drive) where you can keep all your data organized. More
on this in a bit.

ArcCatalog: ArcCatalog is a general-purpose data management utility that comes as a part of the
ESRI ArcGIS package. Here we can create (or destroy) folders, geodatabases, datasets, shapefiles, etc.
Most of our data setup will be conducted in this program prior to working with the data in ArcGIS. To
start ArcCatalog, click on its icon (a yellow file cabinet) under the ArcGIS subfolder of the Windows Start
menu, or on its small file cabinet icon in the ArcMap window.

ArcToolbox: ArcToolbox is a collection of ArcGIS scripts that can be used to manipulate and
convert data, arranged in a tree-style menu system. It is available to you in ArcCatalog and ArcMap from
the red toolbox icon.

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 ArcMap: ArcMap is the program where you will spend most of your time. It acts as a portal into
your data, allowing you to visualize and edit maps. ArcMap also has a ‘layout’ mode where you can
make finished maps for exporting or printing.

File management
Perhaps the most important parts of getting Arc to work properly are file management and using an
appropriate naming system for your folders and data. Because Arc is built on older Unix-style platforms,
there is a specific file naming procedure that must be followed. Here is the “Rule of Names”:
1. Filenames shall be 12 characters or less
2. Thou shalt not use spaces in the filename or path
3. Thou shalt not use capital letters in a filename or path
4. Thou shalt not start any filename or directory with a number
Unfortunately, your likely default directory “My Documents” violates three out of these four
rules! If you start out by following these rules (e.g. setting up a directory “arc\tutorial\data”)
you’ll have a better chance of avoiding this friendly user interface later:

Additionally, keeping your files and data organized will not only make it easier for you to find things, but
for Arc to find it as well. I can’t tell you how to manage your own data- that’s a system you’ll have to
figure out on your own.
A suggestion might be to create a folder in your \arc directory for each project, then subfolders in the
project folder for things like field maps, imagery, DEMs, etc.

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II. SETTING UP YOUR PROJECT
This next part will guide you through the basic setup process for an Arc project. First, you’ll assign a
spatial reference/ coordinate system to the project. Second is loading background data (elevation data,
imagery, field maps) into the project, and georeferencing layers that do not have spatial data previously
assigned to them.

Before even using Arc

If you are making a geologic map based off of something that you did in the field (e.g. your field map),
which this tutorial assumes you are, you’ll first need to scan your map and save it as a .tif. This is very
easily done in Photoshop, make sure that you scan it at a fairly high (~300 dpi) resolution, and don’t
compress the image. Save your map somewhere appropriate, like in your \arc directory.

Organizing your data

Open up ArcCatalog from the Start Menu. In the “tree”-menu on the left of the ArcCatalog window,
navigate to your \arc folder; open it, and right-click in the big open window on the right (the “Contents
Window”) to create a new folder. You’ll store all your data for this project in this folder, so name it
something appropriate (e.g. \billys_map), as long as it’s following the Rule of Names. Take a look at the
following figure to see where you’ll be doing the parts of this step.

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When you are moving files between folders, it’s best to do the entire process through ArcCatalog. Here
you can take your scanned field map and move it to your project folder. Remember, we’re going to try
and keep everything as organized as possible. If you have been given any other types of data (DEM,
imagery, etc.), you can move those to your project folder here as well (unless the data files are very
large and on a public server).

Assigning a coordinate system

Before starting your project, you should be familiar with the geographic area you are working in and
how to represent that on a map. The globe can be represented by a large number of different
coordinate systems (not covered here), you’ll need to determine which one is appropriate for your map.
For example, this tutorial will use an example map from the Mojave Desert in California, the coordinate
system used for the Arc project will be UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) NAD83 (North American
Datum 1983) Zone 11 North. UTM is a projected coordinate system commonly used, along with
geographic systems like the lat/long system you’re familiar with.
To set up the coordinate system of your project, follow these steps:

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1. Click on the ArcMap icon in ArcCatalog, or through the Windows Start menu to actually open
ArcMap (Ha ha, we haven’t really done that yet).
2. Create a new project. Click on “New Maps”, and choose “Blank Map” from the “My Templates”
menu. Arc may ask if you would like to add data now- don’t worry about this. We’ll add data to our
map later once the coordinate system is defined.

3. To help keep our files organized, and to help Arc always know where files and data are stored, go to
the “File” menu and select “Map Document Properties” and then “Store Relative Pathnames to Data
Sources”. It’s a little check box at the bottom of the window, then click “OK”.
4. Open up the “Data Frame Properties” window. This is done through the View menu, and selecting
“Data Frame Properties”. (“View  Data Frame Properties”. I’ll be using this notation throughout this
tutorial for steps that involve going to various menus.)
5. In the “Data Frame Properties” window, choose the “Coordinate System” tab. Here is where you will
select a coordinate system from the “Predefined” list most of the time. Again, the map being created in
this tutorial is an area of the Mojave, so I’ve selected Projected Coordinate Systems  UTM  NAD
1983  NAD 1983 UTM Zone 11N. NOTE: Your coordinate system may differ from the one in this
example; make sure to consult your base map or your own knowledge of the project for this
information.
6. If you click on the “General” tab you can also give your project a name.
7. When finished, click on “Apply”, then “Okay” to exit the “Data Frame Properties” window.

Now would be a great time to save your project. File  Save As, make sure that you’re saving your
project in the workspace that you set up in ArcCatalog, and that its name doesn’t violate the Rule of
Names.

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Brief tour of the ArcMap window

Now is the first time you’re seeing the full ArcMap window, in all its glory. There are a lot of things
going on here, so here’s a brief introduction.

Table of Contents- This displays all the layers of data that you add in to your map. Here you’ll be able to
order them (so some display on top of others), turn them on and off, and open up the “Properties”
window for each layer. If this ever disappears (which can happen mysteriously…), just go to Window 
Table of Contents to turn it back on.
Toolbars- Your basic tools for moving around your data- generally present at the top of the map
window. You can mouse over each of the small icons on the Toolbar to get a brief description of what
each tool does. Explore this a little- later steps will assume you are familiar with the tools on this
toolbar and what they do.

The various toolbars or extensions you’ll use with ArcMap are located in the Customize menu. To access
these, go to Customize  Toolbars or Customize  Extensions.

To change which windows are open within the ArcMap general window, choose Windows  (name of
what you are looking for here, e.g. Table of Contents, Catalog, etc…)

Also present are shortcuts to ArcCatalog and ArcToolbox, when you should need to use those utilities.

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Adding your first bit of background data

If you have any background data such as a DEM that you’ll be working with, now is a good time to add
this in to your project. If you don’t, go ahead and skip on to the next bit, “Georeferencing your field
map”. Many DEMs and images come in a georeferenced format, so as soon as you load it into ArcMap
it will be properly positioned spatially. Sometimes you’ll load in two different layers that have two
different coordinate systems (not a big deal), but we’re not going to deal with that here.
Here’s how to load data into your project:

1. Click on the “Add Data” icon - the little yellow box with a black cross.
2. Navigate to where your data is, and select what you want to load in. NOTE: If you are storing your
data on a USB drive, you may need to tell Arc where that drive is. This is easily done in ArcCatalog by
typing in the letter assigned to your USB drive in the “Location” bar; e.g. “G:\”.
2.5 If you are loading in data such as a .tif or other image file, single click on the file, then click “Add”.
Otherwise you’ll only load one band of spectral information into your project, not the entire image.
3. Don’t be surprised if this warning message pops up:

As the message states, pyramids help to display your data (which is in raster format) at different
resolutions and scales. Click “Yes”.

Georeferencing your field map

Right now, your scanned field map has absolutely zero geospatial data associated with it. In order to
properly digitize it and work with data, you need to give your map some spatial information. This
process is called “Georeferencing”, and is actually quite simple if done right.
You did remember to label coordinates of known locations (control points) on your map while working in
the field, right? Right? Good.
To georeference your field map, follow these steps.

1. Open up the “Georeferencing” toolbar. Customize  Toolbars  Georeferencing.

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2. Add in your scanned field map using the same 3 steps as above from “Adding your first bit of
background data”.

3. Whoops! You have an error message:

This is totally okay! We haven’t assigned any spatial reference data to your field map yet. Click “OK”.
Because Arc doesn’t know where to place your map, it arbitrarily assigns coordinates to the image based
on its dimensions from the scanner. Therefore, the data you just loaded in to your project probably
won’t be visible in your view just yet.
Right-click on your field map in the “Table of Contents” to get the following menu:

There are a lot of things that can be done here using this menu, we’ll discuss them as needed. By
selecting “Zoom to Layer” from this menu, ArcMap will automatically zoom your view to the extent of
your field map (or whatever other layer you have selected). Go ahead and do that now.

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4. Now your field map should be visible in the map window. This next part relies heavily on the
Georeferencing Toolbar. Check to make sure that the “Layer” selected is your field map (or the layer
that you’re interested in georeferencing). Otherwise you’ll assign bogus spatial information to another
layer! This common error has been known to make many people very frustrated, so let’s start out by
alleviating it altogether. Click on the “Add Control Point” icon in the Georeferencing Toolbar. Look at
the following figure to see where these various icons are:

Next, navigate to one of your control points on the field map. It is very helpful to zoom in to that control
point for accuracy and precision when georeferencing. Left-click to establish the control point, then
right-click to “Input X and Y…”. A new window will open, and here you’ll input the X and Y (easting and
northing if using UTM) coordinates of that point. Click “OK”.
5. Your map should disappear from view. Not a problem! You’ve just assigned it some spatial
information, so Arc moves the map so your control point is in its correct geographic location. Now,
simply right-click on your field map in the Table of Contents and choose “Zoom to Layer” to get to where
your map is.
6. Repeat adding control points. A good number to have is 3, but 4 (i.e. the corners of a square) is
pretty ideal. If you goof and add a point you don’t want, or mis-type a number, click on the small table

icon in the Georeferencing Toolbar to edit your control points. Be mindful that if you delete all
but one, Arc will discard the spatial information and you’ll have to start over.

NOTE: You can also use background data to georeference a field map, provided that (1) the background
data is georeferenced properly; and (2) there are EXACT points on your field map that can coordinate to
the EXACT SAME point on the background data. Using the “Add Control Point” tool, first click on the
known point on your field map, then a second time on THE SAME POINT on the background data. Do this

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for a minimum of 3 or 4 points or until you map is properly georeferenced. While doing this, you will
likely need to zoom around your data, the easiest way to do this is using the “Zoom to Layer” option.

7. Once you’re satisfied with the spatial position of your field map, there’s one more step. In the
Georeferencing Toolbar, choose Georeferencing  Rectify to save your map with the geospatial data
you’ve assigned to it.

IMPORTANT!!! If you don’t “Rectify” your map

you’ll discard all the spatial information you just
gave it, so the next time you open up Arc you’ll
have to repeat the georeferencing process.

The “Save As” window will pop up, and you’ll need to adjust a few things. First, make sure the “Output
Location” is your \arc directory or project folder. Second, change the “Format” to “TIFF” from the drop-
down menu. Lastly, give your georeferenced map a new name, making sure to follow the Rule of
Names.
Click “Save”.
8. Arc doesn’t automatically load in your new, georeferenced map. Remove the original map from the
Table of Contents (simply un-check its box, or right-click  Remove), then add in the georeferenced field
map as a new layer.

Now is another good time to save your project. Actually, any point while working in ArcMap is a good
time to save your project. I’ll let you decide from here on out.

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III. CREATING DATA
Now that your field map is georeferenced, you are ready to digitize it and create all sorts of geologic
geospatial data. None of the steps in this process are too complex or difficult, but do need to be done in
a certain order for your data to be created properly. Please pay attention to the order in which things
are done.

Creating a geodatabase

All the data you create for your geologic map (point, line, and polygon shapefiles) will be stored in a
geodatabase. To make a geodatabase, open up ArcCatalog and navigate to your workspace (refer to the
ArcCatalog figure at the beginning of this tutorial for where these things are). Right-click in the big
window on the right and select New  Personal Geodatabase. Name it something appropriate, being
sure to follow your good friend the Rule of Names.
Now you have somewhere to store all the data you’re about to create.

Creating a feature dataset

A feature dataset is a container to hold related map data. This is sort of like a “sub-database” within the
larger geodatabase. Feature datasets hold related geographic information, such as all of the features
that comprise a single geologic map. These are necessary so that you can relate and convert
information, such as taking a set of lines and creating polygons from them. Here are the steps to create
a feature dataset:

1. Open up the contents window of your personal geodatabase. Simply done by double-clicking on your
geodatabase icon in ArcCatalog.
2. Right-click in the “Contents Window” and select New  Feature Dataset.
3. Give it an appropriate name. Since this dataset will contain primarily geologic information, go ahead
and name it something like “geology”.
4. Next you’ll be asked to define the projection/ coordinate system for the dataset. Use the same
system that you did earlier when setting up your ArcMap project. In the example for this tutorial, we’re
going to select Predefined  Projected Coordinate Systems  UTM  NAD 1983  NAD 1983 UTM
Zone 11N. Once you’ve selected the projection, click “Next”.
5. Don’t worry about choosing a vertical coordinate system at this time. Click “Next” in this window.
6. This next window asks about your preferences for precision. The defaults are plenty good for this
one, so go ahead and click “Finish”.

Your feature dataset will now appear as part of your geodatabase. But the dataset is still empty!

Now we’ll actually create the files that will contain your map data. Here, we’ll walk through creating line
and point feature classes, and assigning topological rules to the lines so we can construct polygons from
them- all done within ArcCatalog. First up is creating a line class:

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Creating a line class within the feature dataset

1. Double-click on your Feature Dataset to open its contents window.

2. Right-click in the contents window, select New  Feature Class.
3. In this first window, name your line feature class. Since we’re making a geologic map, an appropriate
name might be “lines” or “contacts”. Don’t worry about the Alias.
4. Make sure that the “Type of features stored in this feature class:” drop-down menu is set to “Line
Features”. You’re creating lines, no need to store them as points or polygons. You’ll create those later.
5. Click “Next”.
6. In this next window, you’ll do a few things. First, add in a new field (simply by clicking in the first
empty box below where it says “SHAPE”) to define the different types of lines you’ll have. Helpful if you
name this field “type” or something like that. From the drop-down menu that will appear immediately
to the right, select “Short Integer”. Set “Allow NULL values” to “No”, and make the “Default Value” zero.
7. Click “Finish”.

The figures on the following page show all the information for steps 4-6 above.

Above: For step 4. Below: Step 6.

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8. In the previous step, we created a new field that will allow us to create different types of lines (e.g.
contacts, faults, fold axes, etc.). Before we can edit our newly created line shapefile/ feature class, we
need to define the types of lines that we will need. Double-click on your new feature class, this will
open the “Feature Class Properties” window.
9. Take a look at the following figure:

First, click on the “Subtypes” tab. Next, change the “Subtype Field” to the one you created- in the case
of this tutorial, the subtype is named “type”. Now, you can enter in all the different types of lines that

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you will have on your map. It is helpful to know this ahead of time so you can anticipate how many
“Codes” you will need.
For example, for this tutorial map, there will be the following 8 types of lines:

Code: 0 Description: New Subtype

1 contact certain
2 contact uncertain
3 fault certain
4 fault uncertain
5 thrust fault certain
6 anticline
7 syncline
8 map border

Your own map may vary, be sure to have this information handy when assigning different types of
lines.
Click “Okay” when you’re done.

Creating a Topology class

Topology is a fancy word basically meaning “geometric relationships”. A very neat feature that
ArcCatalog can do is use your line feature class and create polygons from those lines. Helpful when
creating a geologic map and defining different map units. However, lines bounding polygons need to
close in order for ArcCatalog to properly create the polygons.

By creating a topology in Arc, you assign rules for the geometric relationships in your line feature class.
Arc will automatically look for topological “errors”- places where you might have erroneous lines or
polygons that do not close. You’ll have to fix them yourself, of course, but at least Arc will tell you
where and what needs to be done. More on this when we’re editing our feature classes. For now,
here’s how to set up your topology:

1. In ArcCatalog, right-click in the contents window of your Feature Dataset. Select New  Topology.
2. The “New Topology” wizard will pop up. Click “Next”.

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3. Name your topology class. By now you should be familiar with the Rule of Names. Don’t worry
about the “cluster tolerance”, the default is defined by your feature class and is usually just fine. Click
“Next”.
4. You want your lines to be governed by the topological rules you’re about to set up. Check the box
next to your line feature class and click “Next”.
5. You can ignore this next window. Click “Next”.
6. Here is where you’ll assign rules to your topology. Click on the button “Add Rule”. Fortunately, this
“Add Rule” window that opens up gives you a brief description both visually and written of what the
various rules mean/ represent.

Make sure that the first drop-down menu is set to your line feature class (by default it usually is, but
check just to make sure). Select “Must Not Have Dangles” from the drop-down “Rule:” menu. Click
“OK”. You’ll want to add another two rules, so repeat this step for the rule “Must Not Intersect Or
Touch Interior” and “Must Not Overlap”.
As you’re selecting these rules, be sure to read what they mean so you’re not just adding things into a
“Black Box”.
7. Once you’ve added these two rules, click “Next”.
8. This is just a summary window. Click “Finish”. ArcCatalog will create your topology, and you’ll get an
error message saying that “No features were found within the extent of the topology”. Because you
really haven’t created any features just yet, this is fine. Ignore it for now, and click “OK”.

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Creating a point feature class within the feature dataset

By now, the contents window of your geology feature dataset should look something like this:

Since we’re creating a geologic map, we want to also have a point feature class this will store our strike
and dip data and display it on the map. The steps in this part are very similar to when we created the
line feature class, with a few changes. Here’s how that is done:

1. Right-click in the contents window, select New  Feature Class.

2. In this first window, name your point feature class. Since this feature class will contain strike and dip
data, an appropriate name might be “bedding”. Don’t worry about the Alias.
3. Make sure that the “Type of features stored in this feature class:” drop-down menu is set to “Point
Features”.
4. Click “Next”.
5. In this next window, you’ll add two new fields. Since bedding data contains two pieces of
information (azimuth strike and dip amount- Arc is good about using Right-Hand-Rule for orientations so
your bedding data should also use this convention), these two new fields should be “azimuth” and “dip”.
Set both of these fields to have a “Data Type” of “Short Integer”. Set “Allow NULL values” to “No”, and
make the “Default Value” zero.
6. Click “Finish”.
7. Done. You should now see all three feature classes (contacts/ lines, bedding and topology) present in
the contents window of your “geology” feature dataset.

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IV. EDITING DATA
We have just created feature classes using ArcCatalog which can be loaded into an ArcMap project and
edited. This next part will take you through the basic steps needed for editing your feature datasets.

Loading your data into your project

Go ahead and return to your ArcMap project. We’ve just spent a bit of time in ArcCatalog, we’ll leave it

alone for the next few steps. Once your project is loaded, click the “Add Data” icon and navigate
into your geodatabase. Here, just click ONCE on your “geology” feature dataset. Double-clicking opens
the feature dataset, we don’t really need to do that. Clicking on the dataset once selects it, then click
“Add”.
Notice your Table of Contents. Three new layers will have been added- the three you created inside
your “geology” feature dataset (lines, points, and topology). I’ll assume that your georeferenced field
map and any background data is still present and visible in your project window.

Setting up the Editor

1. Before we start editing, we need the Editor toolbar. Go to Customize  Toolbars  Editor. This
opens the Editor toolbar.
2. Turn on the Editor by choosing Editor  Start Editing through the Editor toolbar. The following
window will appear:

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From this window, you can choose either a single shapefile or feature class to edit from the top window
(editing a single feature class at a time), or choose an entire geodatabase and edit feature classes within
(editing multiple feature classes at a time). Since we’re only working in one geodatabase with this
simple project, select your geodatabase from the menu at the bottom of the “Start Editing” window.

The Editor Toolbar and “Create Features” window

The Editor Toolbar has a few options available. Most of these are very self-explanatory, simply mouse
over the tool and a brief description of the tool will pop up. Here are some commonly used items in the
Editor Toolbar:

One nifty feature in ArcMap 10 is the “Create Features” window- which will appear on the right-hand
side of the ArcMap window once the Editor is turned “on”.

From this window you can choose which features to edit, the point and line shapefiles are nicely divided
for you.

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Creating Points

Because editing your feature classes can become complex, we’ll start with the simplest one to edit first
and progress from there. Here are the steps for editing your bedding (point) feature class:

1. Select you point shapefile from the “Create Features” window. Look at the lower half of the window,
there should be a sub-window named “Construction Tools”. You will use these to actually create the
points.
2. Notice that at the bottom of the “Create Features” window there are two tabs- one labeled
“Attributes”, and the other “Create Features”. The “Attributes” tab opens the Attribute table, where
you can edit the attributes of your shapefiles (such as strike and dip of bedding, for example). Make
sure that you’re in the “Create Features” tab.
3. Zoom to an area on your map where you have strike and dip data.
4. From the Editor Toolbar, select the Editor Arrow, then click on “Point” from the “Construction Tools”
sub-window.
5. Next, click on one of your bedding measurements from your field map. This creates a new point.
Notice that the point is highlighted in blue, indicating that it is selected.
6. Now, go to the “Attributes” tab at the bottom of the “Create Features” window. This brings up a
dialog where you can enter in (manually) the attributes of your point. For example, if you are creating a
point to represent a bedding measurement, you will enter in the strike (in azimuth) and dip (in degrees)
in the Attribute Table.
7. Once you’ve set the attributes for the point, click on the next point. The attribute table automatically
switches to the new point, and you can enter in its values. Repeat this process for all your bedding data
points.
8. A good idea while you’re editing a feature class is to go to the Editor toolbar and select Editor  Save
Edits. This will save any changes you’ve made to the feature class. DO THIS OFTEN!!!
9. Now you have a bunch of dots on your map, that don’t really look like strike and dip symbols. Let’s
fix that. Double-click on the bedding layer in the Table of Contents. This opens up its “Layer Properties”
window.
10. Click on the “Symbology” tab. Under where it says “Symbol”, you’ll see a box that has the dot
symbol that currently represents your bedding points. Click on this box to open up the “Symbol
Selector” window. This window contains all the point symbol libraries in ArcMap, and the name or brief
description of the symbol.
11. To choose the strike and dip symbol, click on the “Style References” menu, and select “Geology
24K”. Scroll down to the appropriate geologic map symbols, and select “Inclined bedding- Showing
strike and direction of dip”. You can also use the “Symbol Selector” window to adjust the size and color
of the symbols- play around with this as needed. Once you’re done here, click “OK”.
12. Back in the “Layer Properties” window, click “Apply”. All those little dots should now turn into strike
and dip symbols. But- they’re all oriented north-south! Easy fix.
13. In the “Layer Properties” window (you should still be in the “Symbology” tab), click Advanced
Rotation. This allows you to rotate the symbols by a specified amount (i.e. the strike azimuth). From

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the drop-down menu “Rotate Points by Angle in this field:” select your “azimuth” field. Make sure that
the “Geographic” style is selected, then click “OK”.
14. Back in “Layer Properties”, click “Apply”. Now all the symbols will be rotated into their proper
position.
15. Finally, click on the “Labels” tab in the “Layer Properties” window. Check the box next to “Label
features in this layer”, and make the “Text String” “Label Field:” “dip”. Click “Apply” to see if everything
worked. It should, so then click “OK”. Now you have labeled bedding data on your map.
16. Save your project, if you haven’t done so yet.

16.5 You may need to change the size of your symbols so they show up clearly on your map. This
process is also done through the “Symbol Selector” menu, in the same window where you originally
chose the symbol.

Creating and editing lines

This is the infamous “Digitizing your contacts” portion of making a map. Depending on how complex
your map is, this can take minutes to hours to days. Personally, I’d recommend having some good music
and a cup of coffee handy. Many of the steps here are similar to editing points (e.g. changing the
symbology for the lines), so things won’t be explained in as much detail.
IMPORTANT: When editing your lines, be sure to go to the Editor Toolbar and Editor  Save Edits
OFTEN!
Also, please read through this portion and the next “Managing Topology” before starting to edit your
lines. It’s much more efficient to manage the topology as you edit your lines while working in on your
project, but easier to explain them as two separate steps here.
Here are the steps to editing lines:

1. Before creating any lines, let’s change their symbology to match what standards used on geologic
maps. Open up the “Layer Properties” window for your line feature class, and go to the “Symbology”
tab. It looks slightly different than the same tab for the bedding layer. Choose Categories  Unique
values. Next, double-click on the line symbol to open the “Symbol Selector” window and choose the
appropriate line style. Repeat for all your lines, then click “OK”.

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2. Go to the “Create Features” window, and select the type of line you want to create. Notice that all
the lines that you created waaaay back when in ArcCatalog are present in this window, and now have
the appropriate symbology that you applied.
3. Before you actually start creating you lines, turn on the “Snapping” tool. This will allow ArcMap to
snap your lines together (to vertices or endpoints) and thus alleviating some topological errors. Go to
Customize  Toolbars  Snapping to turn on this tool.
Under the “Snapping” drop-down menu, make sure that the check box next to “Use Snapping” is
selected. By “snapping” your lines, you’re making them connect to other lines and avoiding open
polygons. This is known as “managing your topology”. However, eventually you’ll make a topological
error and have to fix it. We’ll cover that in the next section.

4. Choose the “Straight Segment” tool from the Editor Toolbar and start creating your lines! Each time
you click the mouse, you create a vertex of a line. The more vertices you add, the smoother the curves
on your lines will look. Double-click to finish the line, or use F2.

5. Remember- when you want to change the type of line that you are creating, click on the appropriate
line type from the “Create Features” window. If you accidentally create the wrong type of line in one
place- it’s an easy fix. Using the Editor Arrow from the Editor Toolbar, select the line whose type you
wish to change. The line will then turn BLUE, indicating that it is selected. From the “Attributes” tab in
the “Create Features” window, you can use the Attribute Table to change the line type.

6. Keep at digitizing your lines, making sure to go Editor  Save Edits often.

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Managing Topology

As you are creating your lines, open up the Topology toolbar: Customize Toolbars  Topology. Here’s
the topology toolbar, in all its glory:

If you mouse over the icons, a small dialog will pop up telling you what these tools do. The ones that
you’ll be concerned with here are the “Validate Topology In Specified Area”, “Validate Topology in
Current Extent”, and “Fix Topology Error Tool”. As you’re creating your lines, it’s good to manage the
topology and fix errors as you go along. Here’s how that is done:

1. Zoom to a spot on your map where you have multiple lines that don’t intersect.
2. In the Topology toolbar, click on “Validate Topology in Current Extent”. This looks for any errors in
the current extent of the view in ArcMap. Or you can simply “Validate Topology…” as you go along.
3. Errors will show up as pink boxes. Use the “Fix Topology Error Tool” to select the errors you want to
fix. Once selected, the pink boxes will turn black.
4. Right-click on one of the black boxes to bring up a menu that will give you options on how to fix the
error(s).

Depending on the error, there will be different was of fixing it. I’ll let you figure these out by trial and
error- the same fix doesn’t always work every time for every person/ topological error. One thing of
note though: If you “Snap” your lines together while fixing topology, a “Snap Tolerance” window will
pop up. The tolerance is basically a radius (in map units) that Arc will look around the error to find other
vertices to snap the line to.

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5. One thing worthy of note- ArcMap does not like closed loops (a polygon loop that is a singular line).
If you have any closed loops, the ends of the line will show up as topology errors, but with no way to fix
them. Simple fix- Go to the Editor Toolbar and select the “Split” tool. Click on the loop line to split it
into two separate lines. Now you can fix the topology error.

6. Continue this process of creating lines and managing your topology until all the lines on your geologic
map have been digitized.
7. Editor  Save Edits.
8. Editor  Stop Editing.

9. SAVE YOUR PROJECT.

You have been remembering to do this all along, right?

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V. CREATING POLYGONS
By now you have digitized all your lines and points from your geologic map, and created a good bit of
geospatial data. Here’s an example of what your map might look like:

You’ll notice that I still have the topology layer “geo_top” turned on, and there are a few errors. That’s
okay, these errors are loose ends of lines (faults and fold axes), and can be made exceptions to the rules.
Otherwise, the lines form closed polygons and are ready for the next step.
Before we go and actually create polygons from our lines, go to File  Save after you’ve closed the
Editor toolbar. This next step of making polygons is done in ArcCatalog, and since we’ll be manipulating
a feature dataset that is currently open in ArcMap, we’ll need to close the ArcMap project.

Setting up a new polygon feature class

As I just mentioned, this next step is done in ArcCatalog. Go ahead and close your ArcMap project and
return to the “contents window” for your “geology” feature dataset in ArcCatalog. Here are the steps
for creating polygons:

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1. You will need to open up the proper tool for creating polygons from your lines- appropriately named
the “Feature to Polygon” tool. To easily locate this tool (instead of having to search endlessly through
ArcToolbox to find it), go to Geoprocessing  Search For Tools and type “Feature to Polygon” into the
search bar in the new window that opens.

2. Chances are, the “Feature to Polygon” tool is the first on the list- if not, make sure that you select the
“Feature to Polygon (Data Management)” option from your search results. Click to open the tool.
3. Next, you need to choose the “Input Features” that you wish to create polygons from. This should be
your line shapefile, so simply click on your line shapefile in the ArcCatalog window and drag the icon into
the “Input Features” box in the “Feature to Polygon” tool window.

4. Enter in a name for this new feature class in the “Output Feature Class” box. Since you’re making
polygons that will represent the different geologic/ stratigraphic units present on your map, I’d suggest
the name “units”. Just remember to follow the good ol’ Rule of Names. Now you’ll have a window that
looks similar to the figure below:

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5. Don’t worry about the “XY Tolerance” or other options available through this tool.
6. Click “OK” to have the “Feature to Polygon” tool do its job. After a few seconds, a new feature class
(your polygons) will appear in the “Contents” tab in the ArcCatalog window.
7. Because you will undoubtedly have multiple types of polygons for multiple different geologic units,
we’re going to need to set up a way to name these different polygons. Double-click on the “units”
feature class to open its “Feature Class Properties” window.
8. Just like when we were creating different types of lines for your “contacts” or “lines” feature class, go
to the “Fields” tab and add in a new “Field Name” of “name” or “unit” that has a “Data Type” of “Short
Integer”. This time, set “Allow hull values” to “YES” and the “Default Value” to zero. Once this is done,
click “OK”.
9. Re-open the “Feature Class Properties” window for your units. Go to the “Subtypes” tab and create a
different subtype for each geologic unit. Use the unit abbreviation, that way when we go to label our
units only the abbreviation pops up. You can add in the full unit name later.

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10. Once you’re done here, click “Apply”, and then “OK” to finish.

Editing your polygons

Now that we’ve created the polygons and assigned edit-able attributes to them, we can go ahead and
start to edit them and complete our geologic map. Here’s how that is done:

1. Open your ArcMap project. Remember, we had to close this in order to edit the feature dataset and
create the polygons.
2. If you haven’t done so already, turn off the topology layer. We’ve already managed our topology and
fixed all the errors, so we’re done with this for now.
3. Add in your new polygon feature class as a new layer.
4. Wait a sec, everything is displayed as one color! Huh?
5. Don’t worry, easy fix.

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6. Double-click on your “units” feature class to open its “Layer Properties” window. Go to the
“Symbology” tab. Make sure that the “Show:” window reads Categories  Unique values, and that the
Value Field  unit name is selected. Here you can change the color of your unit polygons (same way
that we changed the line symbol before editing our lines). One suggestion- When choosing a color, you
are also given the option for the “Outline color” of the polygon. Since the polygon outlines are your
“contacts” feature class, you don’t need any other outline. Set this to “No color”. Here’s what the
window should look like once you’re done assigning colors:

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One thing that I like to do personally is assign “No color” to “<all other values>” and “New Subtype”.
This way, while I’m editing the polygons, I know which ones I have assigned names to (they’ll be colored)
and which ones I haven’t (no color).
7. Click “Apply”, and then “OK” to exit the “Layer Properties” window.
8. Now you’re ready to start editing (naming) the polygons. Open the Editor Toolbar from the
Customize menu, and select Editor  Start Editing. Again, select your geodatabase from the lower half
of the “Start Editing” window that pops up.
9. Click on the “Attributes” tab at the bottom of the “Create Features” window. This will allow us to
change the type (name) of each polygon in our map.

10. The next few steps follow the figure below- make sure that they are done in order to properly
assign names to your polygons.

10 (1) Using the Editor Arrow, hold down the “Shift” key to select all polygons of a certain unit from
your map. You can tell a polygon is selected when it is outlined in BLUE. These selected polygons will
appear in the Attribute Table.

10 (2) In the Attribute Table, use the “Shift” key to select all the polygons that are listed (the ones that
you selected in the previous step on your map).

10 (3) Next to the “name” (or whatever you set the field subtype to), click on the small box to bring up
the “Choose Symbol Class” window.

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10 (4) In the “Choose Symbol Class” window, select the name of the unit for the polygons you have
highlighted in the first step. Click “OK”. Another window may open asking if you want to change the
features- You do, so click “OK” again.

Note: You do not have to edit polygons in “batches” as described here, it is possible to follow these same
steps for individual polygons as well.

11. Repeat this process for all of your polygons. Remember to go Editor  Save Edits often.
12. Just like we did with labeling the dips, you can add in labels for your unit names. Do that here.
13. When you’re all done, Editor  Stop Editing.
14. File  Save, just in case you haven’t already.

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VI. PREPARING A PRINT-QUALITY MAP
At this point, you’ve created all the data in digital form that will be present on your geologic map. This
next part will concentrate on organizing your map and preparing a finalized, pretty version worthy of
hanging up on your grandmother’s refrigerator. There are a number of different parts to this, and
everyone will have their own personal preferences for how their finished map should look. This will
guide you through setting up your map layout and placing all of the appropriate elements on the final
map.

Arranging your layers

First things first, you want to make sure that all your data is visible on the map. Since your data is in a
few different layers, it is easy to re-order the layers so that certain things (e.g. your bedding data) isn’t
buried underneath other stuff. Here’s an example:

What I’ve done here is this:

- Labeled all the bedding points with their dip, and unit polygons with their name abbreviations.
- Ordered the layers (by moving them around within the “Table of Contents”) so that the bedding is on
top, followed by the lines and unit polygons.
- I’ve made the units 50% transparent in order to see the background hillshade model. Easily done by
opening up the “Layer Properties” window for the polygon feature class, and going to the “Display” tab.

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Setting up the Layout

Once you’re happy with how the map looks here, we’re ready to go to the layout. If you haven’t
explored around and noticed this yet, ArcMap has two separate views under the View menu. Everything
that we’ve done so far has been in the Data view, when creating a finalized map; you’ll want the Layout
view. The Layout view is similar to programs such as Adobe Illustrator, but done in ArcMap.

1. Go to View  Layout View.

2. Here you’ll see your map drawn at some arbitrary scale, mainly so it fits the page. This isn’t ideal, so
let’s fix the scale that the map is drawn at. Go to View  Data Frame Properties, and select the “Data
Frame” tab.
3. Under “Extent” select “Fixed Scale”, and choose a scale appropriate for your map. The example map
here is going to use a scale of 1 : 10,000. Click “OK”.

4. Using the arrow tool , you can adjust the size of the map layout’s bounding box. If your map

disappears from view, simply use the pan hand to bring it back.
5. To get a reference on the sizing for your layout, choose View Grid to place an inch grid on the page.
NOTE: This grid is NOT the same as the coordinate system grid you’re going to apply in the next step.

Adding stuff to your map

By now you should have the bounding box and your map sized appropriately on the layout page. Now
it’s time to start adding in all of the appropriate elements that go on a geologic map. Here’s a reference
list:
(Caveat- this list is NOT inclusive. All geologic maps will vary with the elements on them; this is only
meant to serve as a guide.)
- Coordinate system grid on your map
- Map projection and datum
- North Arrow
- Scale (both ratio and bar)
- Legend/ explanation of symbology
- Author
- Date
- Title

Many of these elements can simply be added by using Insert  “name of thing you’re inserting”, such as
text, scale bars, north arrows, etc. These can all be edited in the layout view; I encourage you to play
around with this. Some elements are more complex to add, so I’ll explain those briefly here:

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Grid:
1. Go to View  Data Frame Properties and select the “Grids” tab.
2. Click on “New Grid”
3. The next window gives a few choices on what type of grid. They are all explained here, and if you
click on the button next to each grid type, the map to the left shows an example. Choose the
appropriate one for your map. This example is going to have a lat/ long grid on the final map, so I’m
going to choose “Graticule” and give it a name of “lat_long”. Click “Next”.
4. These next few steps deal with the interval and symbology of the grid. These are all up to you,
choose appropriate ones for your map. Remember, if you don’t like how it turns out, you can always
return to the “Grid” tab under View  Data Frame Properties and select “Properties” to make
adjustments.
5. When done, click “OK”. Now there is a coordinate system grid on your map.

Legend:
1. Go to Insert  Legend. This will open the “Legend Wizard”, which helps guide you through creating a
legend.
2. The first window allows you to select or remove layers that you want/ don’t want in your legend. I’ll
let you make this call.
3. The next few windows allow you to manipulate the properties of your legend, give it a title, etc.
Again, your call. The legend can also be edited once it’s placed in the layout.
4. Click “Finish” when you’re all done.
5. Arc places your legend on the layout as one big unit. In order to edit your legend, move it around,
change things, etc., you’ll need to make it a graphic element. Simply done by right-clicking on the
legend box, and selecting “Convert to Graphics”. Next, while everything is still selected, right-click again
and select “Ungroup”. Now (possibly with a little more “un-grouping”, you can edit the individual
elements of you legend.
6. You can also use this right-click  Convert to Graphics, right-click  Ungroup method to edit other
elements in your layout.

Making your map look pretty

This final step in completing your map layout is 100% up to you. By now, you have the tools needed to
change graphic elements in the layout, move them around, etc. To further play around with the layout,
you can open the Draw tool from Customize  Toolbars  Draw and add text, shapes, lines, etc… Once
you are satisfied with how your map looks and sure it has all the appropriate elements, you can proceed
to the next step.

The following page is an example- the completed map that I’ve been building throughout this tutorial.

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Exporting your map

Congratulations! You’ve reached the final step in this process that involves using the Arc suite of
software. There are a number of different options available for exporting your map, all dependent on
what you’re going to do with it post-ArcMap. If you want to further tweak the map and add
annotations, etc., it’s useful to export the map as an Adobe Illustrator .ai file. If you’re done working
with it, a .jpg or .pdf should suffice.
Here’s how that is done:

1. Go to File  Export Map.

2. Choose a location, and give your pretty map a name.
3. Choose the appropriate file type.
4. Click “Save”.
5. And you’re done!

NOTE: If you are exporting as a .pdf or .ai file, there are some additional steps you need to take.
Symbols on lines or point symbols in ArcMap are stored as a font. If you export your map and open it
again on a computer that does not have the ESRI font dataset on it, all of your symbols will look
different. Let’s try to avoid having our strike and dip symbols magically change to giant question marks.
When exporting as a .ai or .pdf, go to the “Format” tab under “Options”. Please, please, PLEASE check
the box that’s next to “Convert Marker Symbols to Polygons”. This changes the ESRI font to regular
raster graphics that any computer can read. Check out the figure on the following page.

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37
VII. SOME FINAL NOTES

Just a few final thoughts before we draw this tutorial to a close.

What we have covered here is just the raw basics for creating a map. It is no-where even close to
tapping into the use of the Arc suite of software. I encourage you to play around with the various
toolbars and extensions in ArcMap and ArcCatalog, and explore what can be done using utilities in
ArcToolbox. See what can be done, and how things are done. The more you know about this program
from exploring on your own, the better you’ll be at creating maps and beyond.

This is a great way of creating and manipulating geospatial data. Perhaps the most important thing- do
not treat this tutorial as a cook-book for using Arc. That is not its intention. It is meant to serve as a
brief introduction, and to give you the tools you’ll need for future exploration into the realm of
visualizing and creating geospatial data.

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