Practical Exercise 9

Visualization

Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystems

Analysis, and GIS Centre at Lund University, Sweden

Introduction to Geographical Information Systems

GISA01
 Visualization

9 Visualization

9.1. Purpose
The purpose with this exercise is to give you an introduction in map making and layouts
in ArcGIS. You will learn about a geographical database called the Digital Chart of the
World (DCW). It is from this database that you will download the main bulk of the
required exercise data.
Your final layout will contain; i) a country map; ii) a regional map; iii) and a world map
showing where the country is located in the world. Your final layout might look
something like the map below when finished:

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9.2. Data
In Moodle, you can find a zip-file with the name DATA9_Visualization. Download and
save the file to your computer and use WinZip to unzip the files. The unzipped files
contain the following data:
World Shapefile: .avl, .dbf., .prj., sbn., sbx., shp., shx.
Create a folder in your local working directory with the name 9_Visualization (e.g.
C:\GISA01\Practical\9_Visualization). It is recommended that you keep an organized file
structure on your computer.
In order to be able to complete this exercise you will also have to download geographical
data for one country using an online geographical database called the Digital Chart of the
World (DCW). You can choose to download data for any country you want. It could for
instance be your country of origin or the country where you currently live. Instructions on
how to download data from DCW will be given in the Method section.

9.3. Background

9.3.1. DCW
DCW is a worldwide base map of coastlines, international boundaries, cities, airports,
roads, railroads, water features, cultural landmarks, and much more. It is one of the most
detailed free global geographical databases currently online totaling 1.7 GBs. More than
200 attributes are organized into 17 thematic layers with text annotation for cities,
mountains, lakes, and other geographic features.
One thing to keep in mind is that the database has not been updated since 1992. This
means that political boundaries or even country names may not have been updated since
that year.

9.3.2. Mapmaking and layouts

Before you begin to symbolize data for a map, you need to think about how you want the
map to look like when it is printed or published. The way a map is presented is very
important if one is to convey the right information. As a general rule, you should be
restrictive in the use of colors and not portray too many things at the same time.
Background colors should not be too bright. Often, it is better to make two maps rather
than trying to squeeze everything into one. A colored map that looks very nice on the

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screen does not necessarily do so if it is printed in black and white. If it thereafter is

photocopied ca couple of times, it will probably look even worse.
Always bear in mind for whom the map is intended and under which circumstances it
will be presented. For a cartographer, it is easier to read a complicated map than for an
uninitiated.

9.3.3. Answers to be sent to teachers

All students have to send in a document with a layout and answers for question 9.1 by
email to the teachers as indicated in the document Sending Answers to Teachers available
in the section Course Information on the course homepage.

9.4. Method

9.4.1. Downloading data from DCW

- Access the DCW website (http://www.maproom.psu.edu/dcw/)

- Select the continent or region of your country of choice in the list or in the map
interface.

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- On the second page, select a country and click continue and on the third page
click Download Data.
- On the fourth page, you are asked to specify the geographical layers that you
want to process for download. A political boundaries layer is processed by
default. Choose to download the following layers: Populated places (polygons),
Rail Roads (line), Roads (line) and Drainage (network). Then click Continue to
proceed on to the next page.
- On the fifth page, select PC/NT (PC compression) under Compression Type,
make sure None is selected under Optional ArcView Projects and click
Compute Data (this could take a couple of minutes).

- On the final page, click FTP or HTTP to download the data either via ftp or http
links. Make sure to save the .zip file that contains the layers together with the
other data for this exercise.

9.4.2. Importing ARC/INFO interchange files to coverages

- Use Windows Explorer to navigate to the folder where you downloaded the
data from DCW and extract the files using WinZip or a similar zip compression
utility.
The extracted files are so called ARC/INFO interchange files with the extension .e00.
The ARC/INFO interchange file format is mostly used for system independent exchange

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of coverage files. In order to use the data you downloaded from DCW in ArcMap, the
interchange files has to be converted to coverages. Coverages are more structurally
complex than shapefiles. As you know, shapefiles are composed of at least three files.
Coverages, however, are stored as a collection of files within multiple directories and are
generally used for more advanced spatial analysis.
- Start ArcCatalog and navigate to or create a folder connection to the folder
containing the data.
- In the main menu, click View > Toolbars and select ArcView 8.x Tools. The
ArcView 8.x Tools toolbar appears.

- Click Conversion Tools > Import from Interchange File on the ArcView 8.x
Tools toolbar.
- In Input File, navigate to and select the file Ponet. Choose to save the Output
dataset together with the other data, give it the name boundaries and then click
OK to finalize the conversion.
- Now, use the same procedure as above to convert the rest of the interchange
files. You can use the batch function to convert several files at once. As the .e00
files are not very descriptive, name your output datasets according to the table
below.

Input file name Description Output file name

dnnet.e00 Water bodies as network lakes

pppoly.e00 Populated places as polygons urban_areas

rdline.e00 Roads as lines roads

rrline.e00 Railroads as lines railroads

Note: When converting interchange files to coverages neither the input

directory, output directory or filename can contain any special characters or
spaces. Also, the output coverage filename cannot exceed 13 characters.

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9.4.3. Exploring and viewing the data

- Open ArcMap, choose to open A new empty map and add all of the imported
coverage files to your newly created map document (File > Add).
- Explore the attribute tables for each of the layers and consult DCW (About
DCW) to find out what the attributes in all of the layers stand for.

9.4.4. Creating a country map

- Choose to only draw the layers Boundaries, Lakes and Urban_areas. Then
change the colors of these layers by clicking each of the layers symbols in the
Table of Contents (TOC). Try to use logical colors such as blue for water etc.
- Take a careful look at the layer Lakes. You might notice that there are too many lakes
in the layer. This is because the layer not only includes perennial lakes, but also non-
perennial or seasonally fluctuating water bodies, which should not be drawn. You can
accomplish this by defining a Definition Query, which allows one to display a subset
of the data without physically altering it.
- Right click the layer Lakes in the TOC and click Properties.
- In the Layer Properties dialog window select the tab Definition Query, then
click the button Query Builder.
- In the Query Builder dialog window create a SQL-query that selects only
perennial lakes (you will have to consult DCW to find out which code that
corresponds to perennial water bodies).

Question 9.1: What is the SQL query to retrieve records that correspond to only
perennial water?

- Once you are finished structuring the SQL-query click OK twice to apply the
changes.

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- Save your map document. Try to remember to do this frequently from now on.
- Enter Layout View by clicking View > Layout View in the main menu.
- When in Layout View click File > Page and Print Setup.
- In the Page and Print Setup dialog window specify a paper size of A4 and
change the Orientation to Landscape. Make sure the units for Width and Height
are in centimetres then check the option Scale Map Element proportionality to
changes in Page Size. This means that the data will be rescaled to fit the new
page size. Finally, click OK to apply the changes made.
- Make sure the Select Elements tool is activated in the Tools toolbar then
click on the map showing your country to select it.
- Now, change the size of the map so that it is approximately of the size of the
page and move the box to the upper-left corner.

Tip: You can use guides in Layout View to align map elements. Just click
somewhere on the horizontal or vertical ruler to add a guide. To move a guide,
simply point to an existing guide then click and drag it. To remove a guide,
right click it and select Remove Guide.

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North arrows, scale bars and legends are associated with the data frame that is active
when they are inserted. The scale bar changes when the display scale of its data frame
changes. A legend is automatically updated when layers in its data frame are renamed,
deleted or re-symbolized. At the moment, you only have one data frame, but you will add
two more on in this exercise. With the first map finally in place its time to add some of
these map elements, starting with a legend.
- First off, rename all of the layers by simply left clicking their respective names
in the TOC and typing a name. Choose descriptive names that reflect the data.
- In the main menu, click Insert > Legend. The Legend Wizard appears.
- In the Legend Wizard dialog window, remove the layer with political
boundaries from the Legend Items list to the right and make sure the layer with
urban areas is at the top of the same list by using the arrow buttons. Click Next.

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- In the next page in the Legend Wizard, rename the Legend Title if you feel like
it (you could for instance use your countrys name), else click Next several
times to accept the default legend settings, and Finish when done.
- Move the legend, and resize it if necessary, so that it is nicely displayed on the
map.
- Next, you will insert a scale bar.
- Click Insert > Scale Bar to open the Scale Bar Selector.
- Choose the scale bar Scale Line 1 or Alternating Scale Bar 1 then click the
button Properties.
- In the Scale Bar dialog window change the number of divisions and
subdivisions to 2 and then change the Division Units to Kilometres. In the When
resizing drop down menu select Adjust Width and then change the Division
Value to 500 km. Finalize by clicking OK.
- Move the scale bar so that it is nicely displayed within the map data frame.
Make sure the scale bar is readable, neither to big nor to small. Double click the scale bar
and edit the parameters in the Scale Bar dialog window until you are satisfied. If you
need more space, you can for instance change the label from Kilometres to Km.
- Finally, insert a north arrow (Insert in the main menu). Choose a style that you
like and place it in your map.

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9.4.5. Creating a regional map

You will now create a large-scale map showing the region where you for instance live or
where you were born. The Layout View is directly linked to the map in Data View. So, if
you ever zoom in or out in a view, the other view will have the same extent.
- First off, rename your current data frame to Country map by simply left
clicking the data frame name in the TOC.
- Right click it the data frame Country map and select Copy from the context
menu. After that, click Edit > Paste to create a copy of the data frame. A
second data frame will appear right above the first one.
- Rename the recently copied data frame to Regional map and move it to the
upper-right corner in your layout.
- Make sure Regional map is activated in the TOC (data frame name is bolded). If
not, activate it by right clicking it and selecting Activate. Then enter Data View
(View > Data View).
- Zoom in over a region and choose to draw all layers. Then change the symbols
and colors of the Roads and Railroads layers. Choose logical colors.

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- Add a legend, north arrow and a scale bar to your regional map. For scale bar
and north arrow, use the same style as in the country map and make sure the
scale bar is readable and labelled with even intervals.

- Save your map document.

9.4.6. Creating a world map

- In the main menu, click Insert > Data Frame. Give it the name World map then
add the shapefile World, which you downloaded from Moodle.
- Place the world map in the lower left corner in your layout.
- You will now add an Extent Rectangle on the world map showing where your country
is located.
- Right click the data frame World map and select Properties then click the tab
Extent Rectangles.
- Move the Country map from the list Other data frames to Show extent
rectangles for these data frames. Then click the button Frame.

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- In the Frame Properties dialog window choose red as the outline color and 3.0
as line width by clicking in the box called Border. Finally, click OK twice to
add the extent rectangle to your world map.

- Save your map document.

9.4.7. Placing a callout

The most convenient way to label towns and cities on a map is by using the labeling
function available in ArcMap. However there are no city or town names available in the
attributes of the urban areas label. So in this case, it is more appropriate to label only the
town or city where you come from or where you currently live.
- Click Insert > Text. A text box appears in the center of your layout.
- Type the name of your chosen town or city within the text box. Then right click
it, and choose Properties and then click the Change Symbol button.
- In the Symbol Selector dialog window choose a text size of 14 then click the
Properties button.

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- In the Editor dialog window select the Advanced Text tab and check Text
Background and then click on the Properties button directly under Text
background.
- Choose the first balloon callout option then click the Symbol button and change
the Fill Color to white. Then click OK several times to apply your changes.

- Position the text box in your regional map and make sure it is pointing to your
city or town of your choice.

1.1.8. Inserting a picture

You will now insert a picture in your layout. The choice of picture is totally up to you,
but it should be something representative for your country, region or town. If you do not
already have a digital picture, you can probably find a nice one on the Internet. You can
for instance try Wikimedia Commons (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page),
which is a database that contains freely usable media.
On most websites, you can simply just right click a picture and choose Save Picture as
from the context menu.
- To insert the picture in your layout just click Insert > Picture in the main menu.
The picture should appear in your layout.
- Resize it and move it to the lower-right corner of your layout.

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9.4.8. Changing the appearance of frames

To make your maps a bit more attractive, you can add background color to the data
frames and even a drop shadow.
- Click View > Data Frame Properties in the main menu.
- In the Data Frame dialog window select the tab Frame and choose an
appropriate background color by clicking the drop down arrow in the
Background box. Blue usually works well.
- To add a drop shadow, just click the drop down arrow in the Drop Shadow box.
We recommend Grey 40%, with an Offset X of 5 pts and an Offset Y of -5 pts.
Click OK to apply the changes made.

- Add a background color and a drop shadow for the other data frames as well.
Make sure to use same settings for all of them.

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9.4.9. Adding a title

Almost finished, but you need to add a title with your name, the name of your town/city
and your country.
- Click Insert > Title in the main menu.
- Write your full name, the name of your town city and the name of your chosen
country.
- To change the font and size of the title just right click it, select Properties then
click the, click the Change Symbol button.

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9.4.10. Adding gridlines and graticules

At this point, your layout is more or less finished, but maps should also always have
some sort of grid system with coordinates.
- Adding grid lines or graticules is done in ArcMap by in the Data Frame
Properties dialog window. Just select the tab Grids and click New Grid to open
the Grids and Graticule Wizard.
There are a multitude of possibilities when it comes to formatting grid lines, tic marks
and coordinate labels, and the best is if you to explore the different options yourself. This
is not an easy task, but it is important for you to learn at an early stage to always
incorporate a reference system to your maps. This is unfortunately often neglected, and
maps in reports or other documents often lack this information. Take the time to explore
different options. You will most probably need to re-size and/or move map elements
afterwards.
- To change the appearance of your newly created grid, simply click the
Properties button in the tab Grid in Data Frame Properties.

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- Create grids for each of the three maps.

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9.4.11. Exporting a layout

- When your layout is complete, export it by clicking File > Export Map in Layout
View.
- Insert the image in a Word document (Insert > Picture > From File) together
with your answer to the question in this exercise. Change the page layout in Word
to landscape (File > Page Setup) and resize your layout to have it cover the entire
page.

End of Practical Exercise 9

Send your answers to the teacher as instructed

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