...

1. On the Standard toolbar, click the ArcToolbox button.

1. In ArcToolbox, double-click the Projections and Transformations toolbox à Project tool.
2. Drag Vashon_Island from the Table of Contents into the ‘Input Dataset or Feature Class’ field.
3. In the ‘Output Dataset or Feature Class’ field, rename the output feature class “VashonIsland.”
4. Click the icon to the right of ‘Output Coordinate System.’
5. In the ‘Search field,’ type “Washington.”
6. Press Enter.
7. Double-click Projected Coordinate Systems àState Plane àNAD 1983 (2011) (US Feet)
8. Single-click NAD 1983 (2011) State Plane Washington North FIPS 4601.
9. Click OK.
10. Click OK
    
    A new layer, VashonIsland, will appear in the Table of Contents.
11. In the Table of Contents, right-click Vashon_Island and  and click Remove Remove.

Changing the projection of the data frame

...

1. Click the View tab at the top of the window.

1. Select Data Frame Properties.
2. Click on the Coordinate System tab.
3. In the ‘Search field,’ type “Washington.”
4. Press Enter.
5. Double-click Projected Coordinate Systems àState Plane àNAD 1983 (2011) (US Feet)
6. Single-click NAD 1983 (2011) State Plane Washington North FIPS 4601.
7. Click OK.
   
   A warning message will appear. 
8. Click Yes.
   
   

Saving ArcGIS projects

At this point, it is a good idea to save your map document and to continue saving regularly.

1.    Click the File menu and select Save As….

-OR-

On the Standard toolbar, click the Save button.

2.    In the ‘Save As’ window, use the ‘Save in:’ drop-down menu to select the location of your project folder.

3.    Double-click your Project1 folder.

You will save the map document here, directly inside your Project1 folder, but outside your VashonIsland geodatabase.

4.    For ‘File name:’, type “Project1Soil” and click Save.

5.    Click the Catalog tab.

Notice the new Project1Soil map document you just saved is now visible.

It is important to note that saving your map document, or ArcGIS project file, does not save a copy of all of the data layers referenced in your map document. All it saves is the file path location used to access this data, along with the particular layer symbologies you have chosen. Because of this, you must remember to transport your entire Project1 folder containing all of your data files and your map document with you. If you were to have only the map document with you and open it, your Table of Contents would appear correctly, but each layer would have a red exclamation point next to it, indicating that the data at the referenced file path is missing. Because of this, your Map Display would be completely blank. (This problem could be solved by clicking the red exclamation point and setting the data source to the correct file path.)

At the top of the Table of Contents window, notice that the leftmost List By Drawing Order button is currently selected.

6.    At the top of the Table of Contents, click the List By Source button.

The Source tab displays the full file path locations of all the data layers referenced in your map document. By default, the map document will store this full file path to all of your data files, F:\Project1\VashonIsland.gdb.

7.    At the top of the Table of Contents, click the List By Drawing Order button to return to the list of data layers.

Unfortunately, if you use your USB drive on another computer, it may be assigned to a different drive letter, thereby changing the full file path to your data files. In order for your GIS project to open properly on other computers, you must tell the map document to store relative pathnames to its data sources. By storing relative pathnames, it communicates to the map document that the data is stored in the VashonIsland geodatabase stored in the same folder as the map document itself, but it doesn’t matter what that folder is called or what its file path is, as long as the map document and data are in the same location relative to each other.

8.    On the Main Menu, click the File menu and select Map Document Properties….

9.    Towards the bottom of the ‘Map Document Properties’ window, click the checkbox to Store relative pathnames to data sources and click OK.

10.  On the Standard toolbar, click Save again to store this setting in your map document.

At this point, it is a good idea to save your map document and to continue saving regularly.

1.    Click the File menu and select Save As….

-OR-

On the Standard toolbar, click the Save button.

2.    In the ‘Save As’ window, use the ‘Save in:’ drop-down menu to select the location of your project folder.

3.    Double-click your Project1 folder.

...

You will save the map document here, directly inside your Project1 folder, but outside your VashonIsland geodatabase.

4.    For ‘File name:’, type “Project1Soil” and click Save.

5.    Click the Catalog tab.

Notice the new Project1Soil map document you just saved is now visible.

It is important to note that saving your map document, or ArcGIS project file, does not save a copy of all of the data layers referenced in your map document. All it saves is the file path location used to access this data, along with the particular layer symbologies you have chosen. Because of this, you must remember to transport your entire Project1 folder containing all of your data files and your map document with you. If you were to have only the map document with you and open it, your Table of Contents would appear correctly, but each layer would have a red exclamation point next to it, indicating that the data at the referenced file path is missing. Because of this, your Map Display would be completely blank. (This problem could be solved by clicking the red exclamation point and setting the data source to the correct file path.)

At the top of the Table of Contents window, notice that the leftmost List By Drawing Order button is currently selected.

6.    At the top of the Table of Contents, click the List By Source button.

The Source tab displays the full file path locations of all the data layers referenced in your map document. By default, the map document will store this full file path to all of your data files, F:\Project1\VashonIsland.gdb.

7.    At the top of the Table of Contents, click the List By Drawing Order button to return to the list of data layers.

Unfortunately, if you use your USB drive on another computer, it may be assigned to a different drive letter, thereby changing the full file path to your data files. In order for your GIS project to open properly on other computers, you must tell the map document to store relative pathnames to its data sources. By storing relative pathnames, it communicates to the map document that the data is stored in the VashonIsland geodatabase stored in the same folder as the map document itself, but it doesn’t matter what that folder is called or what its file path is, as long as the map document and data are in the same location relative to each other.

8.    On the Main Menu, click the File menu and select Map Document Properties….

9.    Towards the bottom of the ‘Map Document Properties’ window, click the checkbox to Store relative pathnames to data sources and click OK.

10.  On the Standard toolbar, click Save again to store this setting in your map document.