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ArcGIS Pro 3.x Cookbook
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A geodatabase is the primary data storage format for the ArcGIS platform, which includes ArcGIS Pro. So much of the data that you will visualize, edit, and analyze using ArcGIS Pro will come from a geodatabase. There are several types of geodatabases, including personal, file, enterprise, and mobile.
A geodatabase stores related features as feature classes. A feature class is a collection of features that share the same geometry (point, line, polygon, annotation, or multipatch), attribute table, and coordinate system. A feature class can then be added as a layer to a map so that you can see both the spatial and tabular data. To take a deeper dive into the geodatabase format, go to https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/help/data/geodatabases/overview/what-is-a-geodatabase-.htm.
In this recipe, you will act as a GIS analyst for the City of Trippville. The city manager has asked you to create a simple map showing some basic information about the city, including city limits, roads, railroads, and points of interest.
This recipe requires the sample data to be installed on your computer. It is recommended that you complete the recipes in Chapter 1, ArcGIS Pro Capabilities and Terminology, before starting this recipe. This will ensure you have a better foundational understanding of navigating within a map. You can complete this recipe with any ArcGIS Pro licensing level.
In this recipe, you will add the required layers to a map using different methods and then configure them.
To start, you must launch the ArcGIS Pro application and open a project. Follow these steps:
Figure 2.1 – Starting ArcGIS Pro from the Start button
Figure 2.2 – Open another project
Student
folder, followed by the ArcGISPro3Cookbook
and Chapter 2 folders.AddingLayers
folder and select the AddingLayers.aprx
project file. Then, click the OK button to open the project.The project you selected should open with a single map. This map will contain a basemap but no other layers.
You will now begin adding the requested layers to this map. You will start with the city limits:
Databases
folder located under Project in the left panel.Trippville_GIS.gdb
geodatabase in the right panel of the window.Base
feature dataset.Information
Feature datasets are organizational units in a geodatabase. They act in a similar way as folders on your computer. They allow you to store related feature classes in a common container within the geodatabase so that you can easily find them. All feature classes stored within a feature dataset share the same coordinate system. This allows the feature classes stored in the feature dataset to take part in a topology and geometric network. Feature datasets only exist in geodatabases. You will not find them in other GIS data formats, such as shapefiles.
City_Limit
feature class. This is a polygon feature class. You can tell this by the icon located to the left of the feature class name. Click on the OK button to add this feature class to your map as a layer.Your map should look similar to what’s shown in the following screenshot. Upon adding the new layer, your map should have automatically zoomed into the area covered by the new layer. ArcGIS Pro assigns random colors when a new layer is added, so your City_Limit
layer might be a different color:
Figure 2.3 – Map with the City_Limit layer added
Next, you will add the street centerlines to represent the roads in the city. You will use a different method to add this layer to the map:
Databases
folder.Trippville_GIS.gdb
geodatabase and then expand the Base
feature dataset.Street_Centerlines
feature class and select Add To Current Map from the menu that appears, as illustrated here:Figure 2.4 – Adding a feature class to a map from the Catalog pane
Street_Centerlines
should now be visible on the map you are creating as a new layer. It should appear above the City_Limit
layer in the Contents pane.
There is another way you can add a feature class to a map as a layer from the Catalog pane: you can drag and drop the feature class from the Catalog pane into the map. You will use this method to add the RR_Tracks
feature class to your map:
RR_Tracks
feature class in the Trippville_GIS.gdb
geodatabase and the Base
feature dataset.RR_Tracks
feature class and then drag and drop it onto the map view area, as shown in the following screenshot:Figure 2.5 – Dragging and dropping to add a layer to a map
The RR_Tracks
layer will be added to your map as the Railroads
layer. This is another method you haven’t used to add a new layer to your map. Now, you will add the last required layer to the map – points of interest.
POI
feature class to the map. This feature class is located in the Trippville_GIS.gdb
geodatabase and the Base
feature dataset.Figure 2.6 – The Save Project button on the Quick Access toolbar
The POI
feature class will appear as the Points of Interest layer in your map. Points of interest is an alias that is applied to the POI feature class when it is added to a map automatically. An alias is a more descriptive name that can be created as part of the properties of a feature class or database field name. The newly added layer should be located at the top of the layer list. Now that the layers have been added to the map, you need to configure them so that you can distinguish one layer from another.
Note
ArcGIS Pro will automatically order layers based on the layer’s geometry type. It will put points on top of lines, lines on top of polygons, and polygons on top of rasters as you add them.
Now that you’ve added multiple layers to your map, you need to change the symbology so that each layer is easily distinguishable from the others. ArcGIS Pro allows you to symbolize layers using several methods, depending on the layer’s purpose in the map and the data associated with that layer.
In this section, you will explore how to change simple symbology settings such as color, line type, and fill patterns, depending on the type of feature:
Railroads
layer, as shown in the following screenshot. This will open the Symbology pane:Figure 2.7 – Clicking on the symbol patch to open the Symbology pane
City_Limit
layer in the Contents pane.Black Outline (2 Points)
option located in the ArcGIS 2D style. The symbology for the City_Limit
layer should change. It should now be displayed as a hollow polygon with a black outline.2 pt
to 4 pt
using the small up arrow. Then, click Apply.You have just adjusted basic symbology settings for a layer that impacts all features contained in that layer. Now, you will set up a symbology that is based on unique attribute values contained in the layer’s attribute table:
Street_Centerlines
layer in the Contents pane.Figure 2.8 – Selecting Unique Values for symbology
RD_Class
using the drop-down arrow. You should see that classes have been added for city, county, and highway in the lower section of the Symbology pane.Tip
There are two ways to see the names of the included color ramps. The first is to hover your mouse pointer over the color ramp; its name should be displayed as a small pop-up window. Second, you can check the box that says Show names. This will display the name of each color ramp above the graphic representation of that ramp.
RD_Class
, type Owner
and press Enter. Watch what happens in the Contents pane under the Street_Centerlines
layer.Your map should now look as follows:
Figure 2.9 – Map with new layers added and some symbology configured
You have just configured the symbology for three of the four layers you’ve added to your map using two different methods. That leaves the Points of
Interest
layer.
You will use an existing layer file to not only update the symbology for the Points of Interest
layer but also to apply label settings:
Points of Interest
layer in the Contents pane.Points of Interest
because that was the selected layer. Click the Browse button located to the right of Symbology Layer.Adding Layers
folder in the right panel of the window.Points of Interest.lyrx
layer file and click OK. This should return you to the Import Symbology tool. The symbology layer should now be set to the layer file you just selected.Figure 2.10 – Import Symbology with completed parameters
The symbology for the Points of Interest
layer should now be set up to display based on the location type for each feature. By importing the settings from the layer, you did more than just update the symbology, as you will see next.
Points of Interest
features grouped in the center of town, as shown here:Figure 2.11 – Zoom into this area
As you zoom in to this area, text labels should appear showing the name of each point of interest. The label settings for this layer were also applied when you imported the symbology from the layer file.
You will now manually configure labels for the Street_Centerlines
layer:
Street_Centerlines
layer in the Contents pane.The text should appear on your map just above each street centerline feature. If you look at the text, you may notice it is incomplete. It does not show the full name of each road segment. It is missing the suffix that identifies if it is a street, circle, court, avenue, or lane. Also, some labels overlap with other features. You will now adjust some settings to see whether you can improve how the labels are displayed:
Label_Name
using the drop-down arrow. You should see the labels for the Street_Centerlines
features change so that they now include the suffix.Information
Labels are dynamic text that ArcGIS Pro will automatically generate and display based on values found in the attribute table of the layer. You can also build expressions using various programming languages, including Arcade, Python, VBScript, and JScript. To learn more about labeling in ArcGIS Pro, go to https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/help/mapping/text/labeling-basics.htm.
Street_Centerlines
layer.As you zoom in and out of the map, you should see that the labels turn on and off automatically based on your view scale. Setting visibility scales such as this helps reduce clutter within a map, making it more readable.
In this recipe, you added four feature classes from a geodatabase to a map as new layers. You did this using three methods:
Trippville_GIS.gdb
geodatabase and expanded the Base
feature dataset. From there, you selected the City_Limit
layer and clicked OK. This created a new layer in your map that references back to the City_Limits
feature class.Street_Centerlines
feature class to the map from the Catalog pane. To do this, you expanded the Databases
folder to access the Trippville_GIS.gdb
geodatabase that was connected to the project. Then, you expanded the Base
feature dataset. You located the Street_Centerlines
feature class and right-clicked on it. Lastly, you selected the Add To Current Map option from the menu that appeared.RR_Tracks
feature class in the Catalog pane and drag and drop it into the map. This created a new Railroads
layer in the map.Once you added the new layers to your map, you had to configure them by setting up their symbology and labeling. You did this using the Feature Layer tab in the ribbon and by importing the settings from an existing layer file or manually setting them up.
Change the font size
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