Before beginning the tutorial, you will copy all of the required tutorial data onto your Desktop. Follow the applicable set of instructions below depending on the particular computer you are using.

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1. On the Desktop, double-click the Computer icon > gisdata (\\file-rnas.rice.edu) (R:) > Short_Courses > Introduction_to_Coordinate_Systems_and_Projections.
2. To create a personal copy of the tutorial data, drag the Projections folder onto the Desktop.
3. Open the ProjectionsTutorialData folder and double-click ProjectionsTutorialData.aprx to open the ArcGIS projectClose all windows.

OPTION 2: Accessing tutorial data online using a personal computer

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1. Click Projections.zip above to download the tutorial data.
2. Open the Downloads folder.
3. Right-click Projections.zip and select Extract All...
4. In the 'Extract Compressed (Zipped) Folders' window, accept the default location into the Downloads folder and click Extract.
5. Drag the Projections folder onto your Desktop.

Any time throughout the tutorial that you see reference to the file path C:\Users\gistrain\Desktop\ProjectionsTutorialData, you will need to substitute it with the file path you have just selected.

1.  folder onto your Desktop.
2. Close all windows.
   

Exploring GIS Data

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Coordinate Systems

Connecting to a

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Folder

1. On the Desktop, double-click the ProjectionsTutorialData folder and open ProjectionsTutorialData.aprx.
2. In the Catalog pane to the right of the Map Window, right-click the Databases folder and select Add Database.
3. In the ‘Select Existing Geodatabase’ window, select the ProjectionsTutorialData.gdb geodatabase located in the ProjectionsTutorialData folder on the Desktop.
4. Verify that C:\Users\gistrain\Desktop\ProjectionsTutorialData/ProjectionsData.gdb is listed as shown below and click OK.

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In the Catalog pane, under the Databases folder, you should now see a file path connecting directly to your ProjectionsTutorialData geodatabase.

Previewing GIS

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Data

1. In the Catalog pane, in the Databases folder, double-click to expand the ProjectionsData geodatabase.

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All GIS data is created in a particular geographic coordinate system used for mapping locations on a three-dimensional sphere, based on measurements of latitude and longitude. In addition, much GIS data has already been projected onto a two-dimensional plane, based on linear measurements, such as feet or meters. In order for ArcGIS to position a data layer in its proper geographic location, it must be told the proper coordinate system and projection in which the data was originally created. Otherwise, the data layer can be displayed as an image of sorts, but the image will not necessarily line up correctly with other data layers in the Map Window.

Determining if

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Layers are

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Defined

In some cases, the geographic coordinate system and projection of the data has already been defined in ArcGIS, while, in other cases, you will need to define it yourself based on metadata obtained from the source of the data. First, you will need to determine whether or not each feature class has already been defined.

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Displaying

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Undefined Layers

You will now see what happens when you attempt to add an undefined layer to ArcGIS. The data frame, or display, takes on the coordinate system and projection of the first layer added to it. In this case, since the MajorRoads layer was the first layer added, the data frame will take on the State Plane Texas South Central projection. To verify this, you will check the coordinate system of the data frame.

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The metadata indicates that you must define the geographic coordinate system for the layer as NAD83, or North American Datum 1983. Fortunately, this is the same geographic coordinate system used by the other two layers. Since no projection is listed, you can assume that the layer has not been projected and was created in a geographic coordinate system only. The fact that the units are listed as decimal degrees further confirms this assumption.

Defining

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Undefined Layers

Now that you know the geographic coordinate system of the County feature class, you will need to define it so that ArcGIS knows, as well. Please note that the geographic coordinate system and projection must be defined based on metadata provided from the data source itself. If you cannot locate such metadata, you should contact the provider of the data for such information. You cannot simply guess or decide which projection to use when defining the data (though, occasionally, you may have to resort to educated guesses and trial-and-error when metadata absolutely cannot be tracked down.)

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If you are only interested in creating a visual map, as you have done now, then relying upon on-the-fly projection will suffice. If, on the other hand, you are interested in performing any sort of calculations between the layers that rely upon distance, area, or spatial overlap, then it is recommended that you use the same projection for all layers. In addition, you can only measure linear distances in a projected coordinate system, not in a geographic coordinate system, so the County layer would need to be projected anyway, before any sort of measurements could be made.

Selecting a

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Map Projection

Now that all of your data has been defined, you can transform all the feature classes into a common projection. Unlike the process of defining data, where there is only one projection you can use (the one specified in the metadata), when projecting data, you can select whichever projection best suites your particular combination of data and tasks at hand. Since your data focuses on the Harris County region, the State Plane Texas South Central projection would be suitable.

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Projecting

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Layers

1. In the Geoprocessing pane, click the Back arrow.
2. In the Find Tools search bar, type ‘Project’. Select Project (Data Management Tools).
3. For the Input Dataset or Feature Class drop-down menu, select County.

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1. Repeat steps 3-7 with the Schools layer. When your Geoprocessing pane looks like the one shown below, select Run.

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All of your layers have now been projected into the State Plane Texas South Central projection.

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