Exercise 1: Add Layers from SDE

1. Open ArcMap by choosing it from Start >

All Programs > ArcGIS > ArcMap 10.1

NOTE: you can also create a shortcut to

ArcMap by right clicking ArcMap 10.1 here

and choosing Send to > Desktop (create

shortcut)

2. Click the Add Data button

3. Choose Database Connections from the

Look in dropdown

4. Double click the SDE (spatial database

engine) listing to connect to this database

& to view its layers

SDE contains both individual layers and layer groups. The aptly named layer group is exactly what you

might expect: a collection of related layers. These are maintained by specific departments for their GIS

and mapping needs.

Layer groups precede individual layers in SDE. You can tell them from individual layers by their icons.

Layer group Point layer Line layer Polygon layer

Double-click on any of the layer groups to view the layers that they contain.

5. Scroll to the right to view all of the layers

and layer groups that are contained in SDE

6. Add the County Assets point layer

a. Locate it in the layer list

b. Single click to highlight it

c. Click the Add button

This layer will now appear both on your

map and in the table of contents (TOC)

7. Choose the Add Data button again and

open your SDE connection to add more

layers

8. Add both the roads layer (lines) and the

parcels CAMA layer (polygons) at the same

time

a. Locate the roads layer in the layer

list

b. Single-click to highlight it

c. Locate the parcels CAMA layer in

the layer list

d. Hold down the control key while

you single-click to highlight it

e. Click the Add button

Holding down the control key allows you to choose

multiple layers at the same time. Without the

control key your new layer selection would replace

whichever layer you had previously highlighted.

Add Layers from Raster and GIS Server Connections

1. Click on the Catalog button to open the Catalog window in ArcMap

NOTE: press the F1 key on your keyboard while your mouse is hovered over this button to learn more

about the Catalog window. This shortcut to specific help documents works for many of the buttons

windows in ArcMap.

2. Click on the small plus to expand the

database connections list & double-click

on your Raster connection listing

This button will turn into a minus that

allows you to collapse the database

connections list after it is opened.

3. Expand the Raster connection to view all

available layers in this source

4. Locate the 2012 aerial photo layer

5. Click and drag it from the catalog window

to your table of contents

NOTE: layers can only be added one at a

time through the Catalog window

6. Expand the GIS Servers listing in the

Catalog window

7. Add the Carto Base Map by clicking and

dragging it from the Catalog window to

your table of contents

8. Add all of the following using either the add data button or through the Catalog window:

• A layer that contains point features

• A layer that contains linear features

• A layer that contains polygon features

• The Ortho base map

• Another raster layer

9. Remove one or more of the layers you

have added to your map by right-clicking

and choosing remove

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Exercise 2: Working with Layer Visibility & Symbology

Turn layers on and off in the TOC

Layers are drawn on your map in the same

order you see them listed in the TOC. ArcMap

doesn’t care whether or not a layer is being

covered up by another; anything that is

turned on in the TOC is rendered on the map.

As such, it is a really good idea to uncheck any

layers that you aren’t currently viewing so

that your map draws more quickly.

1. Turn off all layers except for parcels

CAMA and the Carto base map

Change the drawing order of your layers

1. Click and drag the parcels CAMA layer to

the top of your layer list

2. Move the Carto Base Map layer to just

beneath the parcels CAMA layer

These layers are now drawn on top of any

other layers that you turn on in the table

of contents.

At this point your map looks something like this:

The polygon parcels layer, with whichever default

symbol ArcMap selected when the layer was

added, overlaps the carto base map completely.

There are a few things that you can do to make this

map more useful…

Make a layer more transparent

1. Double-click on the parcels CAMA layer in

the TOC to open the layer properties

window

2. Open the display tab if needed

3. Type a value into the transparent % text

box to set the layer transparency

65% is a good transparency to try first,

but a bit of trial and error is often needed

to achieve the best results.

Result: the carto base map can be seen through semi-transparent parcel boundaries

Change the parcels CAMA polygon

symbology

1. Change the parcels CAMA layer

transparency back to 0%

2. Open the layer properties again, this time

do so by right-clicking the layer name in

the table of contents & then choosing

properties from the context menu that

appears

3. Open the symbology tab

This tab in the layer properties window

displays the current symbol of the layer.

Symbology for this layer can be adjusted

through this tab as well.

4. Click on the current symbol to open the

symbol selector window

5. Click on the current fill color swatch to

open a menu with different color choices

6. Choose No Color

7. Use the up arrow to change the outline

width to 1 instead of 0.40

8. Click OK to apply the change

9. Click OK again to close the layer

properties window

This window also

appears when you click

the outline color swatch.

Result: hollow parcel polygons are drawn on top of the carto base map

More about symbology choices

Polygon basics

Choose from existing polygon symbol choices

Change the fill color

Change the outline width

Change the outline color

Line Basics

Choose from existing line symbol choices

Change line color

Change line width

Point Basics

Search for a symbol

This option is also available for polygon and line

symbols

Choose a point symbol color

Choose a point symbol size

Choose from existing point symbol choices

(currently filtered by a search for library symbols in

the image)

10. Zoom in to view a smaller area on the map

11. Add the following layers to your map (if

they haven’t been added previously)

• Libraries

• Railroads

• Parcels CAMA

• Ortho base map

12. Remove any other layers from your map

13. Adjust the drawing order, if needed, to

match the order listed in step 11

14. Make the following changes to the

symbology on your map

• Search for library symbols and choose

one of the results for the libraries layer

• Find an appropriate symbol for the

railroads layer & change the line

weight and line color

• Make the parcels CAMA polygons

hollow with a bright yellow outline

Exercise 3

1. Add the county assets layer to your map from SDE

2. Open the attribute table and note the fields that might be useful

Right-click the layer name in the TOC > Open attribute table

OPTIONAL

3. Turn off the fields that you don’t intend to

use

a. Open the layer properties window

b. Click on the fields tab

c. Uncheck the boxes of any fields

that you want to hide in this layer

In this exercise you will definitely be using

the asset category, name, and address

columns;

Use the Find Tool to Locate and Zoom to the Cedar Creek Fire Station

1. Select the find tool

2. Enter your search string

3. Choose the layer the find tool will search

4. Narrow the find tool search to the

appropriate attribute table column

5. Click Find

6. Right-click the correct result (in some

cases there may be more than 1)

7. Choose Zoom to from the context menu

that appears

Enable and configure the map tips to display the address field

1. Open the layer properties and choose the display tab

2. Check the ‘display Map Tips using the

display expression’ checkbox to enable

map tips

3. Choose ADDRESS from the field dropdown

menu

4. Click OK

5. Test your map tips by hovering over one of

the county asset features on your map

Symbolize the County Assets Layer by Category

1. Open the layer properties window and choose the symbology tab

2. Choose categories > unique values from

the ‘show:’ options

Features is always the default choice when

a layer is added to ArcMap. To visualize

groups that share values in a specific field,

we’ll need to change this display type.

3. Choose CATEGORY from the Value Field

dropdown

This tells ArcMap how you want to

categorize this layer.

4. Pick a color ramp

5. Click the add all values button

Make all of the symbols a little bit larger

6. Right-click on one of the symbols and

choosing properties for all symbols

7. Use the up arrow to change the symbol

size to 8

8. Click OK to apply the new symbol size

9. Click OK to apply the symbology to the

County Assets layer

10. Zoom out to the full layer extent to view

your new symbology

Right-click layer name in the TOC > Zoom

to layer

Label the County Assets Layer by Asset Name

1. Open the layer properties window & select the labels tab

2. Check the ‘Label features in this layer’

checkbox to enable labeling for this layer

3. Choose ASSET_NAME from the label field

dropdown

This dropdown tells ArcMap which column

you want to use to label the features in

this layer

4. Modify the labeling text font, style, side

and/or color to suit your map and personal

taste

5. Use the Scale Range… button to only

display labels when you are zoomed in to a

scale of 1:10,000 or closer

a. Click the Scale Range… button

b. Adjust the settings to ‘Don’t show

when zoomed’

Out beyond:

1:10,000

c. Click OK to close this window

d. Click OK to apply all of your

labeling choices to the map

6. Zoom in to a scale 1:10,000 or closer to

view your new labels