Introductory Exercises for GIS Using ArcMap & ArcCatalog

There are several lakes found throughout Middlefield. Using ArcMap’s on-screen digitizing capabilitiesyou will digitize, and therefore create, a shapefile of this lake.However, before we can add new features, we must create a new shapefile to store those features. Wecan create new shapefiles in ArcCatalog.Open ArcCatalog and navigate to your GIS folder. Highlight the folder in the left-hand display.From the “File” menu, select “New”, then “Shapefile”. A dialog box will appear where you willset the attributes of the new shapefile.Name the new layer “Lakes” under “Name:”Lakes are typically (and logically) represented by polygon features. Select “Polygon” from thedropdown list for “Feature Type”The spatial reference should be set to match the layer that we are digitizing features from. In thiscase, we are digitizing lakes from the Middletown Quad, which is stored in NAD 27 CT StatePlane. Set the new “Lakes” shapefile to have this same spatial reference (refer to your earlierinstructions if you need a reminder on how to do this)Click “OK” to create the new file according to your specificationsClose ArcCatalog15