TABLE OF CONTENTS

Obtaining the Tutorial Data

There are three ways of obtaining the tutorial data. The best option for getting the full GIS project experience is to follow Option 1 and learn how to download and prepare data from online GIS data portals independently. You will also gain exposure to the best GIS data websites for the Houston region.

If you have already completed the Introduction to Data Management tutorial, but did not save a copy of your files or if you would prefer to complete this tutorial first, then you may follow Options 2 or 3. Option 2 is best if you are completing this tutorial in one of our short courses or from the GIS/Data Center and Option 3 is best if you are completing the tutorial from your own computer.

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.

OPTION 1: Obtaining tutorial data 

If you would like to download and prepare the data for this tutorial from scratch, follow the instructions below:

1. Complete the Introduction to GIS Data Management tutorial.

At the end of the tutorial, you will have an Intro folder on the Desktop containing all of the required files.

OPTION 2: Accessing tutorial data from Fondren Library using the gistrain profile

If you are completing this tutorial from a public computer in Fondren Library and are logged on using the gistrain profile, follow the instructions below:

1. On the Desktop, double-click the Computer icon > gisdata (\\file-rnas.rice.edu) (R:) > Short_Courses > Introduction_to_GIS.
2. To create a personal copy of the tutorial data, drag the Intro folder onto the Desktop.
3. Close all windows.

OPTION 3: Accessing tutorial data online using a personal computer

If you are completing this tutorial from a personal computer, you will need to download the tutorial data online by following the instructions below:

1. Click Intro.zip above to download the tutorial data.
2. Open the Downloads folder.
3. Right-click Intro.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 Intro folder onto your Desktop.

Getting Started with ArcGIS Pro

Managing Projects

Opening an Existing Project

1. Using Windows Explorer, locate and open your Intro folder.
2. Double-click the Intro.aprx file to open the existing project in ArcGIS Pro.

Creating a New Map

A map is a project item used to display and work with geographic data in two dimensions. The first step to visualizing any data is creating a new map.

1. On the ribbon, click the Insert tab.
2. In the Project group, click the New Map button.
   
   

You will notice that a new map view opens in the main section of ArcGIS Pro. The panel on the left side of ArcGIS Pro is called the Contents pane. You will also notice that the Contents pane now displays the default Map title and shows the Topographic basemap layer. Finally, in the Catalog pane on the right, a new Maps section has been added.

1. In the Catalog pane, click the arrow to expand the Maps section.

Notice that there is a single map there, named "Map". Since most projects will have multiple maps, it is a good idea to name your maps with more descriptive titles.

1. In the Catalog pane, under the Maps section, right-click Map and select Rename.
2. Type "Super Neighborhoods" and hit Enter.

Saving a Project

Any time you create a new project item, such as a map or a layout, or any time you spend time adjusting the symbology of your map layers, it is a good idea to save your project.

1. Above the ribbon, on the Quick Access toolbar, click the Save button.
   
   

Managing Maps

Browsing Existing Data

As a reminder, in the Intro to GIS Data Management tutorial, we imported the feature classes of interest into our project geodatabase.

1. In the Catalog pane, click the arrow to expand the Databases section.
2. Click the arrow to expand the Intro geodatabase.

Adding Data to a Map

1. Right-click the Census_2010_By_SuperNeighborhood feature class and select Add To Current Map.
2. Alternatively, click and hold the Major_Roads feature class and drag and drop it into the Super Neighborhoods map view.

Symbolizing Layers with a Single Symbol

It is early in the project to be deciding upon symbology, however, when layers are added to a Map, ArcGIS Pro assigns a random color to the layers. Sometimes the colors are very faint and difficult to see or the colors of multiple layers are very similar to each other and difficult to distinguish. To ensure that everyone can easily see the layers we are working with, we will adjust the basic symbology.

1.  In the Contents pane, right-click the Major_Roads layer name and select Symbology to open the Symbology pane on the right.
   
   

Notice that the 'Primary symbology' defaults to Single Symbol. With this type of symbology, all features in that particular layer will be assigned the same symbol.

1. For 'Symbol', click the colored line symbol.
   
   
   
   
2. Click the Properties tab.
3. For 'Color', use the drop-down menu to select Black.
4. In the bottom of the Symbology pane, click Apply.
5. In the Contents pane, select the Census_2010_By_SuperNeighborhood layer.
6. For 'Symbol', click the colored rectangle symbol.
7. For 'Color', use the drop-down menu to select Mango.
8. For 'Outline color', use the drop-down menu to select Gray 50%.
9. Click Apply.

Navigating the Project

Navigating the Contents Pane

At the top of the Contents pane, there is a series of seven buttons. By default, the leftmost button is selected, List by Drawing Order.

When this button is selected, the order in which the layers are listed corresponds to the order in which the layers are visually stacked in the Map view. To test how the drawing order works, let's reorder the layers.

1. In the Contents pane, click and hold the Census_2010_By_SuperNeighborhood layer name and drag and drop it above the Major_Roads layer.

You will notice that the Census_2010_By_SuperNeighborhood layer is now drawn in on top of the Major_Roads layer, meaning that freeways are only visible in areas not covered by a super neighborhood. It is possible to add transparency to the super neighborhood layer or to symbolize it with a bold outline and a hollow fill, but, in general, it is best to have polygon layers at the bottom, so we will return the layers to their previous order.

1. In the Contents pane, click and hold the Census_2010_By_SuperNeighborhood layer name and drag and drop it beneath the Major_Roads layer, but above the Topographic basemap.

The check boxes to the left of each layer name toggle the visibility of each layer.

1. Uncheck the Major_Roads layer to turn off its visibility in the map view.
2. Re-check the Major_Roads layer to turn its visibility back on in the map view.

Navigating the Map View

You will now learn how to navigate the Map view by panning, zooming, and using spatial bookmarks.

1. On the Map tab, in the Navigate group, ensure that the Explore button is selected by default.

To pan the map:

1. Click and hold the left mouse button and drag the mouse and release.

To manually zoom:

1. Hover your cursor over the area you wish to zoom in to and push the center scroll wheel away from you for incremental zooming. Pull the center scroll wheel towards you to zoom out.

-OR-

1. Hover your cursor over the area you wish to zoom in to, hold down the right mouse button, and drag the mouse down for smooth zooming. Drag the mouse up to zoom out.

-OR-

1. Hold down Shift such that your cursor changes to a magnifying glass and then click and hold and drag a box around the targeted area of interest to zoom directly to a specific extent.

To zoom to the extent of a particular layer:

1. In the Contents pane, right-click the Census_2010_By_SuperNeighborhood layer name and select Zoom To Layer.

A spatial bookmark allows you to quickly return to a particular zoom extent in your Map view.

1. On the Map tab, in the the Navigate group, click the Bookmarks button and select New Bookmark....
2. In the 'Create Bookmark' window, for 'Name:', type "Houston" and click OK.
3. To test the bookmark, use panning and zooming to change the extent of the map.
4. Again, click the Bookmarks button and this time select the Houston bookmark to return to that extent.

Exploring Data in the Map View

Selecting Features Manually

Selecting Features Manually from the Map View

1. On the Map tab, in the Selection group, click the Select button.
   
   
   
   
2. In the map view, click on any neighborhood to select it.
3. Drag a box to select multiple adjacent neighborhoods.
4. Hold down Shift and click to add additional non-adjacent neighborhoods.
5. Hold down Ctrl and click to deselect neighborhoods.

When you are finished using a selection, it is important to clear the selected features, because the majority of tools in ArcGIS Pro only run on selected features. Therefore, if you run a tool anticipating that you will be processing all features in a particular layer and you inadvertently have some features selected from a previous process, only those selected features will be processed, which will lead to unexpected results.

1. On the the Map tab, in the Selection group, click the Clear button to clear the selected features.

Selecting Features Manually from the Table View

1. In the Contents pane, right-click the Census_2010_By_Superneighborhood layer name and select Attribute Table.
2. In the table view, use the scroll bar to scroll to the far right of the table.
3. Double-click the 'Name' field header to sort the neighborhoods alphabetically.
4. To select a neighborhood from the table, click the gray square to the far left of each row.
5. To select a contiguous section of  records, hold down Shift and select a record below or above the currently selected record.
6. To additionally select individual records, hold down Ctrl and select another record.
7. On the the Map tab, in the Selection group, click the Clear button to clear the selected features.
8. Close the attribute table.

Symbolizing Layers By Attributes

Symbolizing Layers By Quantity

1. In the Contents pane, right-click the Census_2010_By_Superneighborhood layer name and select Symbology.
2. Use the primary 'Symbology' drop-down menu to select Graduated Colors.
3. Use the 'Field' drop-down menu to scroll down sixth from the bottom and select the SUM_Vacant field. This field stores the number of vacant housing units within each neighborhood.

Within the map view, the darker colors represent higher numbers. This is a typical convention in choropleth maps. In studying the map, it appears as if the most vacant housing is in southwest Houston outside the Loop. While this is true according to raw counts per neighborhood, there could be differences in the neighborhoods that are unaccounted for.

1. Use the 'Normalization' drop-down menu to select the Shape_Area field.

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Discuss density and changes on map

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1. Use the 'Normalization' drop-down menu to select the SUM_HU100 field.

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Discuss percent and changes on map.

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1. On the lower half of the Symbology pane, click the Histogram tab.

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Discuss and test classification methods.

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1. Use the 'Method" drop-down menu to select Equal Interval.
2. Use the 'Method" drop-down menu to select Quantile.

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Discuss and test number of classes.

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1. Use the 'Classes' drop-down menu to select 20.
2. Use the 'Classes' drop-down menu to select 4.

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Discuss and test color schemes.

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Adding Layer Transparency

1. Ensure that the Census_2010_By_SuperNeighborhood layer is selected.
2. In the ribbon, click the Feature Layer contextual Appearance tab.
3. In the Effects group, slide the Layer Transparency slider or type "50" and hit Enter.

Symbolizing Layers By Category

1. Use the primary 'Symbology' drop-down menu to select Unique Values.
2. Use the 'Field 1' drop-down menu to select Name.
3. In the Contents pane, collapse the Census_2010_By_Superneighborhood symbology.

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zoom into neighborhood, go to explore button, click on neighborhood to find out neighborhood name.

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Selecting Features Programatically

Selecting Features By Attributes

1. In the ribbon, click the Map tab.
2. In the Selection group, click the Select By Attributes button to open the Select Layer By Attribute tool in the Geoprocessing pane.
   
   
3. In the Geoprocessing pane, click the Add Clause button.
4. Use the drop-down menus to build the following expression: Name is Equal to 'YOUR_NEIGHBORHOOD_NAME' and click the Add button.
5. Ensure your Geoprocessing pane appears similar to that below and click Run.

Exporting Selected Features

1. In the Contents pane, right-click the Census_2010_By_SuperNeighborhood layer name and select Data > Export Features.
2. In the Geoprocessing pane, click the 'Output Feature Class' field to edit the name. Replace Census_2010_By_SuperNeighbor with "MyNeighborhood". Ensure that you leave everything in the file path through Intro.gdb\.

Selecting Features By Location

Now we will create a map of the bus stops and bus routes within your neighborhood. We could continue to do our mapping within the existing map, but, since we are now focusing on different thematic layers in a different geographic extent, this could be a good time to create a second map within our project.

1. On the ribbon, click the Insert tab.
2. In the Project group, click the New Map button.
3. At the bottom of the Geoprocessing pane, click the Catalog pane tab. 
4. Rename My Neighborhood and add MyNeighborhoods, BusStops and BusRoutes.

1. In the Selection group, click the Select By Location button to open the Select Layer By Attribute tool in the Geoprocessing pane. Select bus stops within neighborhood.
   
   
   
   
2. Select bus routes within 100 ft of bus stop in neighborhood.

Presenting and Sharing Maps

Creating a Layout

Exporting a Layout