Tomlin-Week 5

Chapter 4: 

Adding a folder through the Catalog pane enables you to access and import data from that folder into your current project.
Older shapefiles can be converted into feature classes, ensuring they can be fully utilized within ArcGIS. ArcGIS provides tools to create, modify, or delete fields in a feature’s attribute table, as well as apply Python expressions to manipulate the data they contain. By joining tables, you can extract only the information relevant to your analysis from a larger dataset. With SQL queries, you can filter datasets to locate only the records you need, using search terms combined with Boolean operators. Spatial joins make it possible to count the number of features within a defined boundary and generate the results as a new layer.

Chapter 5:

Because the Earth is spherical while maps are typically displayed on flat, two-dimensional surfaces, different map projections are used to translate the 3D surface onto a 2D plane—each with its own strengths and limitations. The Robinson Projection is commonly used for general purposes when displaying the entire globe. No matter which projection is chosen, the larger the area being represented, the greater the distortion that will occur. In GIS software, shapefiles are a widely used format for storing vector data. Many sources of spatial data are freely available online, allowing you to download only the datasets that are relevant to your project. Esri’s Living Atlas provides access to extensive collections of geospatial data, which can be added directly to your project using the Add Data tool.

Chapter 6

GIS provides tools to aggregate data by dissolving or combining smaller groups into broader categories. The clip tool allows you to reduce a larger dataset to a specific region, aligning it more closely with the focus of your project. Multiple datasets can be appended together to form a single, larger feature class. The union tool enables you to merge two polygon feature layers into one combined output layer.