get comfortable with using the navigation list to add files, connect to folders, and generally just find your way around. You will notice if you click the little down arrow next to the button, other options appear. Ignore these other options.
The Zoom In/Zoom Out, Fixed Zoom In/Fixed Zoom Out tools
ArcGIS has four tools for zooming in and out of your map: Zoom In, Zoom Out, Fixed Zoom In, and Fixed Zoom Out.
1 2.Click the Zoom In button .
2 3.The tool works better by drawing a square around whatever you want to magnify instead of just clicking the map. For example, activate the tool, and then draw a square with it around your state. Notice how it is easier to control the image by first drawing a square. Now try the other zoom tools, and see what happens. Do not worry if you mess up your map. The next tool will help fix it.
TIP You can also easily zoom in and out of your map by using the scroll wheel or trackball on your mouse, if you have a mouse with this functionality.
The Full Extent tool
The Full Extent tool will resize your map so it fits on your screen. The tool is a great way to center—or recenter—your map.
1 4.Click the Full Extent button, and notice how your map is repositioned.
The Pan tool
The Pan tool looks like a little hand. The tool allows you to reposition the map as if you were moving it on your screen with your hand.
1 5.Click the Pan button, and move your map around. To recenter it, click Full Extent again.
Select Elements (the default pointer)
The default pointer doesn’t do anything. That’s the beauty of it.
1 6.Click the default pointer, and then click your map. Notice that nothing happens. (This tool is technically called Select Elements, which is the visible name when you hover over it. However, do not confuse it with the Select Features tool .)
TIP To “deactivate” any of the other tools, click the default pointer. This button removes the first tool and activates the default pointer.
The Identify tool
Identify is one of the most useful tools. You can use the Identify tool to click specific geographies and look at the underlying data. Use the Zoom In tool
1 7.Click the Identify tool, and then click a county. Notice that a box with county information appears. Try a few more counties until you are comfortable with this tool. Click the default pointer to get rid of the Identify tool.
Explore the table of contents
The Table of Contents window, located on the left side of the ArcMap window, is the organizational panel for working with files in ArcMap. Notice two shapefiles listed in the table of contents under Layers in the illustration. Also notice the five buttons at the top of the table of contents: List By Drawing Order, List By Source, List By Visibility, List By Selection, and Options. Hover over any of these buttons in ArcMap, and a description of what that button does displays.
1 1.Click the first button, List By Drawing Order . The default is the second button, List By Source ; however, List By Drawing Order is more useful for most edit sessions.
2 2.Use the Zoom In tool to zoom in to your state.
3 3.Display layers by selecting the box next to each layer to turn it on, or by clearing it to turn it off.
4 4.Practice moving the county shapefile and the places shapefile. Move layers up or down by highlighting the layer in the table of contents (clicking the layer once) and dragging it to the desired position. Notice how your map changes as you reposition the layers. When the place layer is on top, you can see cities in your state. When the county layer is on top, it blocks out the place layer because it is the top layer and has a solid fill color associated with it. Move the place layer into first (top) position.The layer names are what will be used in the legend. You may want to make them more reader-friendly by renaming them to common names such as Counties and Cities.
TIP This functionality will work only while in List By Drawing order mode. If you are unable to move these layers up or down, click the first button, List By Drawing Order, and try again.
1 5.Click the layer name twice to activate the text. Type over the existing layer name. The layer is not renamed in the underlying data, but only in your map.
View data
Shapefiles contain two things: the map and the underlying data table. So far, you have looked at the map part of the shapefile and used the Identify tool to look at the underlying data. Another way to view the underlying data is to view the whole data table at once.
1 1.In the table of contents, right-click the county layer name, and then click Open Attribute Table. Use the scroll bars (right, bottom) of the attribute table to better understand what is available in the underlying data table. You should notice a few thousand counties in the attribute table. There is no demographic data here, only FIPS codes, county names, and some other miscellaneous codes and information the Census Bureau included when it created the shapefile.
2 2.Right-click any of the column headings, and then click Sort Ascending. Notice that this command sorts the entries alphabetically (if the entry contains text) or from smallest to largest value (if the entry contains numbers). This command is useful when you need to isolate a few entries in a large group.
1 3.Close the attribute table by clicking x in the upper-right corner.
Customize shapefiles
