GEOG 3813    GIS       Fall 2005       NSU       Name: ____________________________________

ArcGIS ArcView 9.1 Homework Exercise #1

Assigned:  August 31        Due:  September 16 by 5 p.m. 
Use ArcGIS ArcView 9.1 software to accomplish the following GIS tasks and to answer the following questions .  You will need to have completed Chapters 1-5 (including the tutorials) in Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop in order to do this exercise efficiently and effectively.  You will be using three spatial datasets available on the student i: drive in the \ziehr\OK-data folder; these datasets have the following filenames:  oksmallcities, OKSTATED, quadgrid.  These are not particularly exciting datasets, but they were selected for their small sizes in order to fit easily on a 3.5" floppy disk.  You may work with the datasets directly from the i: drive (if you do all your work on campus) or you may copy them onto your 3.5" floppy disk.  The maps that you create will be stored in a map document (.mxd) on your 3.5" floppy disk--you must use the following filename for your map document:  yourlastname-hw1.mxd (of course, use your actual last name in place of yourlastname).  Turn in your 3.5" floppy disk that contains your map document and your  wordprocessed documents (either in Word or WordPerfect format).  Be sure your label your floppy disk with your name.

Problem 1  [10 points]
    1. a.  Create an map document (saved as yourlastname-hw1.mxd) using ArcMap which includes two data frames.  The first data frame should have the following characteristics:
The second data frame should have the following characteristics:

    1. b.  Write (using Word or WordPerfect) a brief explanation of how you accomplished part 1.a.  This can be rather general, but should allow someone who is familiar with ArcView to reproduce what you did.  In other words, you don't have to list every button that you pushed; simply state the general steps involved.


Problem 2  [10 points]

    2. a.  On the map in the Oklahoma Small Cities data frame display the small cities as triangles (size 10); the County Seats should be in one color and the other Populated Places in another color.  Make the background of the data frame grey 40% [I original had 10%, but I noticed that it did not show up on the lab computers] and the state of Oklahoma a color that contrasts well with the grey background and the city symbols.
 
    2. b.  What small city is located at approximately 35.53 degrees North, 98.71 degrees W?  

    2. c.  What was the population in 1998 of the city in 2.b. above?

    2. d.  What was the mean (average) population of the small cities in Oklahoma (excluding Spring Creek)?

    2. e.   Write (using Word or WordPerfect) a brief explanation of how you accomplished parts 2.a-d.  This can be rather general, but should allow someone who is familiar with ArcView to reproduce what you did.  In other words, you don't have to list every button that you pushed; simply state the general steps involved.


Problem 3  [10 points]

    3. Use ArcCatalog to explore some of the technical details regarding the spatial datasets used in this assignment.  
        a.  What coordinate system and geographic datum were used in the OKSTATED.shp file?
        b.  What geographic coordinate units are used in the OKSTATED.shp file?
        c.  What is the east horizontal bounding coordinate in decimal degrees of the OKSTATED.shp file?
        d.  What was the original source of the State Boundaries database used to obtain the OKSTATED.shp file?
        e.  Who created the data used in the quadgrid.shp file?
        f.  The DISPLAY field or attribute in the oksmallcities.shp file is what data type and width?

    3.  g.  Write (using Word or WordPerfect) a brief explanation of how you accomplished parts 3.a-f.  This can be rather general, but should allow someone who is familiar with ArcView to reproduce what you did.  In other words, you don't have to list every button that you pushed; simply state the general steps involved.


Problem 4  [10 points]

    4.  a.  What is the distance in miles from the southeast corner of the Jay quadrangle to the southwest corner of the Rocky Point Quadrangle?
        b.  Yukon is in what county and what quadrangle?
        c.  Set the display in the Oklahoma Quadrangles data frame so that the quadrangle boundaries are visible through the state layer.
        d.  Display the small cities of Oklahoma as size 4, leaf green, circle 1 in the Oklahoma Quadrangles data frame.

    4. e.  Write (using Word or WordPerfect) a brief explanation of how you accomplished parts 4.a-d.  This can be rather general, but should allow someone who is familiar with ArcView to reproduce what you did.  In other words, you don't have to list every button that you pushed; simply state the general steps involved.


Problem 5  [10 points]

    5. a.  How big is your map document file (.mxd) in kilobytes?

    5. b.  [Critical thinking question -- please do not seek assistance from your classmates on this one; you can ask the instructor for clues if you need to]  Use all the resources available to you in the Oklahoma Quadrangles map and associated files to determine what the values in INDX field in the quadgrid attribute table stand for?  How are these values determined?  Explain in a Word or WordPerfect document your answer and your reasoning process carefully.

Revised August 31, 2005.