Table Of ContentArcGIS Tips / Tricks & Tools
An assortment of everyday usable
stuff that may increase your
productivity or just make others
say… WOW!
we believe in making use of what others will let us borrow - we don't
have programmer resources available often, or for gis projects, so much of what we
do is 'borrowed' or out of the box or modified from existing code. there are lots of
things you can do with existing resources, things to make doing the gis activities
you need to do easier for repetitive tasks, and that with a little know-how and
resourcefulness there is a whole lot more potential to GIS that you can offer your
employer.
Everyone has ‘things’ they take pride in, maybe they made something themselves
or got a group of people using. Often they improve productivity while using existing
resources.
1
Presenters?
• Bryan Townsend
– GIS Administrator, York County, SC
• Brad Barnell
– GIS Manager, Greenwood County, SC
• Shane Sprouse
– GIS Analyst, Greenwood County, SC
• Sandra Ellenberg
– GIS Analyst, Greenwood County, SC
2
Blogs? (lots of info nuggets here)
• http://gismatters.blogspot.com/ (david maguire)
• http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/links/ (Brian Goldin)
• Getting Started with GeoChat – Richie Carmichael
http://spaces.msn.com/members/MrRichie/
• http://slashgeo.org
• (like the slashdot.org website “news for nerds, stuff that
matters,” but with geospatial twist)
Why read blogs? Latest in GIS happenings; news, product reviews/issues, ways to use gis
There are numerous ESRI Staff blogs. David Maguire (esri Director of products)
SpatiallyAdjusted–links to other blogs-
More GIS/ESRI Staff Blogs….
3
Places to start when you need help
• Arcscripts.esri.com – extensions, scripts
• Support.esri.com – forums, downloads
• Edn.esri.com -- ESRI Developer Network
• Google.com
Try searching support.esri.com when you have an issue. Someone has likely had
your same problem and posted how they fixed it. If you run into an issue where
nobody has posted, “pay it forward” when you resolve it by posting how you solved
your issue.
4
Other Resources (tips)
• KesslerGIS.com Tips and Tricks
• Connecting to an Excel Table for use in
ArcCatalog and ArcMap (*out-of-box @ 9.2)
• Recover your identify results window or any other
window that has accidentally gotten moved off
your screen
When researching tips and tricks for this session I knew we would present what we
knew well and were already using. There are a few others who have put together
materials similar to this and the next few slides provides a ‘summary’ of these
tips/tricks that were discovered.
5
Other Resources (tips)
• Vermont Center for Geographic Information
• ArcGIS and Tech tips
• Lots of ArcScript suggestions, some tips and tricks
(location of normal.mxt, calculating field tips), a
listing of free tools & other tools
http://www.vcgi.org/techres/?page=./white_papers/techtips/ArcGISTips.cfm
6
Other Resources (tips)
• ESRI Wisconsin User Group (EWUG)
• 2004 presentation “ArcGIS Tips and Tools”
– Geoprocessing wizard toolbox, recognizing ArcInfo interchange
files, working with tables, generating a report, common calculation
formulas using vbScript, Shortcuts, thumbnails
– cartography (transparency, clipping data frames, templates,
printing/exporting maps)
– work performance tips (grouping layers, data frame focus, new
layer visibility, cancel drawing, pausing the drawing in ArcMap,
removing buttons, create graphic circle with specific radius,
calculate area of graphic in ArcMap, count features within graphic
area),
http://www.ewug.org/images/2004/ArcGISTipsAndTools.pdf
7
Other Resources (tips)
• Utah AGRC – Tips and Tricks (technical document section)
• About Fields in the ArcGIS 9.0 Geodatabase
– Field definition, field name, field types, issues with
loading and exporting data (using the simple data
loader, exporting from pGDB to shapefile)
• http://agrc.its.state.ut.us/agrc_gistraining/tipstricks/tipsdata/ArcGIS9_Fields.pdf
8
Where did we find it?
Key for Tips and Tricks
• (O) - Out-Of-The-Box
• (A) - ArcScripts
• (H) - Home Grown
• (S) - Support.esri.com / edn.esri.com
• (C) – ESRI Class
• Level of Difficulty or User Experience Needed
9
Overview
1. (Brad) AXL File Hacks (Creating & Labeling a Major Roads Layer)
2. (Brad) Shareware JavaScript optimizer to reduce the size of an ArcIMS website
3. (Sandra) Parcel editing tools (line editing toolbar, zipper task, map book)
4. (Shane) TerraserverGPdownload tool
5. (Shane) MultiversionSpatial view in RDBMS to display edits in the adds table
6. (O) Change Data Source of ArcMap Doc. / Find & Replace Pathnames
7. (O) Why Download…Share using ArcIMS!
8. (S) ArcIMS Performance: Analyze Log Files
9. (A) Log Concurrent License Use
10. (C) Export all Layer Files from ArcMap using simple VBA
11. (H) Organize Data by Layers
12. (S) Archive Data Model: All deleted features archived in a history FeatureClass
13. (H) Set up a Spatial View in your RDBMS: Take advantage of hyperlinking
14. (O) Custom ArcPad data collection using Out-of-the-Box Geodatabase Design
15. (A) Geodatabase Diagrammer
16. (A) NPS Metadata tools
17. (O) System Monitoring with Big Brother/Hobbit
Lots of tips / tricks and tools here. Way more than advertised in the title of the session. This ppt will
be posted on the ineternet.
A few more not included –
• (A) -download and use xToolsPro, it has many free tools you don’t have to pay for. Delete
fields, calculate acres.
• (O) –Package data with ArcPad or Disconnected editing toolbars. ArcPad toolbar extracts
images to MrSID files, both clip to extent and produce a map document retaining layer properties
including view extents and symbology.
• (H) –NPS Metadata Tools Extension, custom toolbar from nature.nps.govthat wraps up the
USGS mp.exeFGDC metadata parser and validator, allows you to spellcheckyour metadata
with MS Office, lets you export to 5 different formats, and bestof all is FREE.
• (S) Geocoding development kit –
• (A) TerraServerGP–Download DRG, DOQ or Urban Area imagery from MS TerraServer. Uses
extent of features in layer (county boundaries, makes individualimages for each county
boundary). It is added as a tool in the Toolbox.
• (A) -GeoDatabase Reporter
• (C) -GeoDatabase Toolset
• (A)(0) –Build image catalog from a directory of images within ArcCatalog, use vbReplace()
function to remove the path and leave the file name in another field using ArcMap. replace(
[IMAGE] ,"G:\chester_orthos_sid_out\tiles_20\", "")
10
Description:formulas using vbScript, Shortcuts, thumbnails. – cartography (Brad) AXL File Hacks (Creating & Labeling a Major Roads Layer). 2. (Brad) Shareware
