Help on the append command
Useful help from the ESRI website on how to use the Append command to append shapefiles or feature classes that have different columns in their attribute tables:
How to append feature classes that have different schemas
ESRI Founder Jack Dangermond Predicts the Future of GIS
The article can be found here.
Article: What Historians Want from GIS
From the article, by J. B. “Jack” Owens, History Department, Idaho State University:
An increasing number of historians, particularly those dealing with world history or the history of large geographic regions, are becoming interested in using geographic information systems for research and teaching. Historians are noticing GIS because they normally deal with processes in complex, dynamic, nonlinear systems and, therefore, demand a means to organize a large number of variables and identify those variables most likely implicated in the stability and transformation of such systems.
Click here for the full article.
ArcGIS Service Pack 4 Now Available
ESRI has released Service Pack 4 for ArcGIS 9.2. This Service Pack contains performance improvements and maintenance fixes. All users of ArcGIS 9.2 are encouraged to download and install this service pack. There are also separate updates for the ArcGIS 9.2 online help and for the tutorial data files. To download the service packs and for installation instructions, click here.
Components of ArcGIS 9.2
ArcGIS 9.2, which is the current version available at Holy Cross, is a modular program consisting of several interacting components. When you access ArcGIS via the Windows Start button, you can see the multiple programs that comprise ArcGIS:
ArcMap and ArcCatalog are the two most frequently used parts of ArcGIS. A third component, ArcToolbox, is not on the Start Menu but can be accessed from ArcMap and ArcCatalog. Briefly, the various components of ArcGIS are as follows.
ArcMap is the primary mapping module of ArcGIS and is used for digital cartography, composition of maps for printing, and all manner of spatial data manipulation.
ArcCatalog is a file manager for spatial data. Like Windows Explorer, ArcCatalog lets you browse a directory structure to search for various types of spatial data. Data files can be sent from ArcCatalog to ArcMap for further processing. Map layers can also be previewed in ArcCatalog, as can metadata.
ArcGIS 9.2 is the result of a long period of software evolution; a bit of the history of ArcGIS can be found here. ArcGIS can be purchased at three different licensing levels: ArcView, ArcEditor, and ArcInfo. As described by Maribeth Price:
ArcView provides all of the basic mapping, editing, and analysis functions for shapefiles and geodatabases and is the level of functionality most users will require on a regular basis. It includes ArcMap and ArcCatalog, and a subset of ArcToolbox functions. ArcEditor includes all the functions of ArcView but adds editing capabilities needed to work with the advanced aspects of the geodatabase, such as topology and network editing. Additional functions reside in ArcToolbox at this level. ArcInfo provides access to the full functionality of the ArcGIS Desktop tools, and the full version of ArcToolbox. In addition, it includes the original core Arc/Info software, now called Workstation Arc.
Go here to see a comparison of the different geoprocessing tools that come with each license level of ArcGIS. Holy Cross has the ArcView level of ArcGIS, and that is what you will get when you follow these installation instructions. We also have a single user license for the full ArcInfo version, with the option of buying additional ArcInfo licenses if needed.
[This post is under construction.]
Free GIS software
While ArcGIS from ESRI is one of the most widely-used commercial GIS applications (see Wikipedia: List of GIS software), it is by no means the only package out there. There are many commercial and open-source (free) GIS software packages to choose from, and the Wikipedia article mentioned above lists many of them. Wikipedia also has a comparison of GIS software that notes which operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux/UNIX) support the various packages.
Here are several free GIS packages that run on a variety of computer platforms:
ArcExplorer (A Java-based ESRI product that runs on Windows, Mac, or Linux/UNIX.)
ArcGIS Explorer (Also from ESRI; not to be confused with ArcExplorer, above. Runs under Windows only, but more versatile than ArcExplorer, e.g., can do 3-D, some spatial analysis, etc. Displays a 3-D globe and automatically connects to an Internet map server, and thus has been compared with Google Earth. However, unlike the free version of Google Earth ArcGIS Explorer can load external data such as shapefiles, images, KML/KMZ [Google Earth] files, text data, etc.).
Quantum GIS (Open-source, runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux/UNIX; see Wikipedia page.)
GRASS (Geographic Resources Analysis Support System; Linux, Mac OS X, Windows with Cygwin UNIX emulator; see Wikipedia page.)
Here is a list of more free GIS software and resources. And here. And here (a very long list). Also here.
Welcome to the Holy Cross GIS blog
This blog will provide support, resources, and discussion relating to use of geographic information systems (GIS) software at the College of the Holy Cross.
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