Using ArcCatalog

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Shapefiles, dBASE tables, and text files A folder can contain shapefiles, which store geographic features and their attributes. Geographic features in a shapefile can be represented with points, lines, or polygons (areas). The folder might also contain dBASE tables, which can store additional attributes that can be joined to a shapefile’s features. For more information about the shapefile data model see ‘Exploring GIS data’ in the book Getting Started with ArcGIS. All files that have the file extensions .txt, .asc, .csv, or .tab appear in ArcCatalog as text files by default. However, in the Options dialog box you can choose which of these file types should be represented as text files and which should not be shown in the Catalog tree. When text files contain comma- and tab-delimited values, you can see those values in Table view and join them to geographic features. Text files can be deleted, but their contents are read-only in ArcCatalog. In a layer’s Properties dialog box, the Joins & Relates tab lets you join attributes stored in a dBASE table or text file to the features in a shapefile. If, instead, a table contains information describing spatial locations, such as x,y,z coordinates or street addresses, you can create a shapefile representing those locations with tools available in the Catalog. In addition to shapefiles and tables, ArcView ® GIS 3 users work with project files, legend files, and Avenue scripts. To view these in the Catalog, you must add their file extensions to the Catalog’s file types list. For example, to see ArcView GIS 3 projects in the Catalog, add the file extension .apr to the list. Details about adding file types can be found in Chapter 5, ‘Building the Catalog’. Text files may contain feature attributes. All text files appear in the Catalog even though only some may contain tabular data. dBASE tables may also contain geographic data or attributes describing geographic features. Shapefiles represent geographic features as points, lines, or polygons (areas), and their attributes. File types are files whose extensions have been added to the Catalog. A file type for an ArcView GIS 3 project has the extension .apr. 54 USING ARCCATALOG
Coverages and INFO tables Coverages use a set of feature classes to represent geographic features; each feature class stores a set of points, lines (arcs), polygons (areas), or annotation (text). Feature classes can have topology, which determines the relationships between features. More than one feature class is often required to define the features. For example, line and polygon feature classes both exist in a coverage representing polygon features. Polygon features also have label points, which appear as a separate feature class. Every coverage has a feature class containing tic points, which represent known real-world coordinates. For more information about the coverage data model see ‘Exploring GIS data’ in Getting Started with ArcGIS. Feature attributes are stored in a separate INFO table for each feature class in the coverage. Other attributes can be stored in INFO or relational database management system (RDBMS) tables, then joined to features with a layer or a relationship class. When you look in a folder in the Catalog, you see all the coverages and INFO tables it contains; you don’t see the INFO folder itself. Look in a coverage to see its feature classes; each feature class represents both the features and their associated feature attribute table. For example, after selecting a polygon feature class, you can preview its features and its attributes. Coverages often have associated files; to see them in the Catalog, add them as file types. For example, to see ARC Macro Language (AML) scripts, you would add the file extension .aml to the file types list. PC ARC/INFO ® coverages are like ArcInfo coverages except that their attributes are stored in dBASE tables. PC ARC/INFO coverages can be previewed in the Catalog, and you can create metadata for them, but other data management operations, such as copy and paste, are not available. Coverages created with ArcInfo before version 7 appear dimmed in the Catalog. After converting the workspace using ArcInfo Workstation, you can access their contents in ArcCatalog. PC ARC/INFO coverages represent geographic features using several feature classes. ArcInfo coverages represent geographic features using several feature classes. Coverage feature classes contain points, lines (arcs), polygons, or annotation (text); they may also have attributes. You can add a file type to the Catalog for accessing AML scripts. INFO tables may contain attributes that can be joined to a feature class. A relationship class defines the association between a coverage and an INFO table. WHAT’S IN THE CATALOG? 55
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ArcGIS® 9 Using ArcCatalog
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Contents 1 Introducing ArcCatalog 1
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Finding values in a table 116 Addin
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15 Customizing ArcCatalog 233 Basic
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What can you do with ArcCatalog? Af
Page 12 and 13: Search for maps and data If you kno
Page 14 and 15: Tips on learning ArcCatalog This bo
Page 16 and 17: Exercise 1: Building a catalog of g
Page 18 and 19: When the Catalog already contains a
Page 20 and 21: Exercise 2: Exploring data and addi
Page 22 and 23: 13. Click the tin_study TIN dataset
Page 24 and 25: coverage’s polygon feature class
Page 26 and 27: 9. Right-click the heading of the T
Page 28 and 29: 5. Click the Stylesheet dropdown ar
Page 30 and 31: 5. In the ArcMap window, click the
Page 32 and 33: 1. Click the feature mask layer in
Page 34 and 35: With this search, ArcCatalog will l
Page 36 and 37: 3. When the study area fills the St
Page 38 and 39: 9. Click OK. A shapefile’s coordi
Page 40 and 41: 2. Click OK to start using ArcMap w
Page 42 and 43: The Attribute tab currently shows m
Page 44 and 45: 20. Click the Color Ramp dropdown a
Page 46 and 47: Starting ArcCatalog Starting ArcCat
Page 48 and 49: Browsing through the Catalog Browsi
Page 50 and 51: When browsing through a long list o
Page 52 and 53: Hiding and showing the Catalog tree
Page 54 and 55: times, allowing you to keep track o
Page 56 and 57: Tip Searching for words within a to
Page 59 and 60: What’s in the Catalog? 4 IN THIS
Page 61: Maps, layers, and graphs You can ac
Page 65 and 66: Personal geodatabases let you manag
Page 67 and 68: Raster datasets contain a rectangul
Page 69 and 70: CAD drawings You can access CAD dra
Page 71 and 72: SDC data ArcCatalog provides read-o
Page 73 and 74: Address locators An address locator
Page 75 and 76: ArcGIS servers The GIS Servers fold
Page 77 and 78: Coordinate systems There are two ty
Page 79 and 80: Building the Catalog 5 IN THIS CHAP
Page 81 and 82: Adding spatial database connections
Page 83 and 84: Adding OLE DB connections 1. Double
Page 85 and 86: Tip Working with GIS servers You wo
Page 87 and 88: username or password isn’t saved
Page 89 and 90: Hiding folders and items 1. Click t
Page 91 and 92: tab in the Options dialog box. If y
Page 93: Tip Editing a file type Edit the pr
Page 96 and 97: Viewing an item’s contents In the
Page 98 and 99: Working in Details view Sometimes y
Page 100 and 101: Changing the columns you see When y
Page 102 and 103: its short name as defined in the CS
Page 104 and 105: Organizing your data With ArcCatalo
Page 106 and 107: Converting data to a different form
Page 108 and 109: Previewing an item’s geographic d
Page 110 and 111: you decide whether or not you’ve
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Tip Seeing the entire dataset After
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Creating thumbnails 1. In the Catal
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Previewing the values in a table Th
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columns remain fixed. Freezing a ta
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Tip Rearranging frozen columns Afte
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Sorting records in a table Sorting
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Finding values in a table Occasiona
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Adding and deleting columns When ex
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Creating new data sources from the
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9. Click the Save as type dropdown
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Exploring an item’s metadata The
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Metadata for folders While metadata
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Creating and updating metadata By d
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Importing and exporting metadata Im
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Writing documentation Automatically
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Editing metadata Two metadata edito
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which entry is currently displayed.
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Adding enclosures Documentation suc
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Requirements for publishing to an A
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esources describing barracks, train
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Preparing metadata for publication
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FGDC and ISO metadata elements. If
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loaded into the database as the doc
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Managing published documents Once a
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Creating relationships between docu
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Searching for items Defining the na
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Searching with geographic criteria
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Searching with temporal criteria Th
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Defining a general range of time 1
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Exploring the results of your searc
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Selecting a shortcut’s original i
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Opening a map Opening an existing m
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Creating layers It takes time to an
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Creating a layer from the data 1. R
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Creating a group layer from the dat
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data using this method. However, if
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Joining attributes using a relation
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Creating new shapefiles and dBASE t
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Adding and deleting attributes Addi
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Creating and updating indexes With
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Defining a shapefile’s coordinate
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2. Navigate to the coordinate syste
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Tip Modifying default parameters Wh
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Modifying a coordinate system’s p
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ArcInfo and ArcEditor Creating a ne
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ArcInfo and ArcEditor Generating to
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ArcInfo and ArcEditor Defining a co
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ArcInfo and ArcEditor Defining a co
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ArcInfo and ArcEditor Modifying a c
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ArcInfo and ArcEditor Recalculating
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ArcInfo and ArcEditor Maintaining a
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ArcInfo and ArcEditor Adding a rede
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ArcInfo and ArcEditor Deleting an a
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ArcInfo and ArcEditor What is a rel
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ArcInfo and ArcEditor Creating a co
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ArcInfo and ArcEditor 13. Click the
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Raster dataset properties A raster
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When you select a geodatabase raste
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Changing raster dataset previewing
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Not all raster datasets have file e
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or a TIN. If the raster dataset alr
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Setting a nongrid raster dataset’
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You cannot build pyramids on a rast
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Additional raster dataset file info
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Customizing ArcCatalog 15 IN THIS C
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Customizing toolbars Hiding and sho
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Displaying toolbars with large icon
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Tip Creating access keys All menus
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Tip Why open the Customize dialog b
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Changing a command’s appearance G
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Changing the caption 1. Show the to
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Removing a shortcut key 1. Click th
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window. To add your macro to a spec
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Creating custom commands with VBA A
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Working with UIControls If you crea
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Updating the ArcID module 1. Click
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Using the ArcObjects Developer Help
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ArcStorm database An ArcStorm datab
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command 1. An instruction to a comp
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datum In the most general sense, an
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feature class A collection of geogr
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Geospatial Data Clearinghouse A dec
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layout view In ArcMap and ArcReader
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overshoot The portion of an arc dig
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aster A spatial data model that def
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shapefile A vector data storage for
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updated automatically; they will go
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VPF feature class See feature class
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Index Symbols .rrd files 231 A Acce
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Content Theme (continued) categorie
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Feature classes. See also data sour
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J Joins 35, 174-175, 175, 176. See
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R Raster. See also data sources ban
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Tolerances (continued) fuzzy 195, 2
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