GIS (geographic information systems/science) constitutes an indispensable aid to storing, analyzing, and visually representing situated environmental research data. At Lewis and Clark you will generally use our GIS server when you want to include GIS in your situated research: below are step-by-step instructions for four key phases, starting with logging in to the GIS server and ending with exporting your finished GIS product.

1.	Login to GIS Server
2.	Get GIS Data
3.	Manipulate GIS Data
4.	Export Results
5.	Miscellaneous GIS Tips

You can login to the LC GIS server from any computer, PC or Mac, that is connected to the Internet. This way you don't have to install expensive GIS software on your own computer! Here's how you will do it, whether on or off-campus.

From an on- or off-campus computer, you will connect to the GIS server via Mac or PC using a Microsoft application called Remote Desktop Connection. It is loaded on PCs, and can be freely downloaded for Macs.

• PC: All Programs > Accessories > Communications > Remote Desktop Connection
• Mac: Finder > Applications > Remote Desktop Connection

For both Macs and PCs, you'll type "GIS" or "gis.lclark.edu" in the Computer field. Before you connect you can select preferences/options in order to customize your settings, such as setting the size of the display window or enabling your local disk drives so that you may transfer files back and forth.

Once you successfully connect, you will be prompted to login. Then you'll find yourself working in a Windows environment on your computer, regardless of whether you are using a PC or a Mac! Launch ArcGIS and you're ready to go.

If you are connecting from off-campus, you will need to download and install VPN Client. Go to IT's download page and click on the appropriate VPN link for your computer. Once you have successfully installed VPN Client, login using your LC account info, then follow the procedure above to login to the GIS server using Remote Desktop Companion. In other words there are two steps for off-campus access: (a) login to VPN Client, then (b) login to the GIS server.

Once you login to the GIS server, it's time to do some GIS. But you can't do anything without GIS data. What we'll explain below is how to search for data using Delicious, and then we'll discuss various sorts of data you could use, including data already on the GIS server, remote data, and data you generate yourself. For more general information on GIS data, see here.

As you know, ENVS has harnessed a Web 2.0 utility called Delicious so you can share electronic resources related to our ENVS research sites with your fellow ENVS student; here is our help wiki with information on how we use Delicious. As you'll read, we have a special Delicious account to store and share GIS data called lcenvsgis; here's how you can use it:

• Go to delicious.com/lcenvsgis. This account includes bookmarks for all research site-related data we currently have on the GIS server, and potential remote sources of data as well. (If you find a good remote source not currently on lcenvsgis, please login to Delicious and add it using the procedure on the Delicious help wiki; if you forget how to login contact ENVS for help.)
• Search for GIS data of interest by clicking on appropriate Research Site and Topic tags at right. (Remember that it's sometimes difficult to assign Topic tags, so you may want to just search by Research Site tag and browse results.) If present, the bookmark notes should help you decide whether each data source is relevant. (If not present and you use the data, please login to Delicious and comment on it using the procedure on the Delicious help wiki.)
• The bookmarks you locate will point to three different sorts of GIS data, which you'll see via their Data tags:
• The local tag means the data reside locally on our GIS server and you can immediately use them in ArcGIS. These Delicious bookmarks point to metadata (information describing the GIS data) you can use to make sure the data are relevant.
• The download tag means the data reside somewhere else and you will have to download them. These Delicious bookmarks point to a website where you can read about and download the data.
• The wms tag also means the data reside somewhere else, but you can connect to these data via Web Map Service (WMS) without downloading. These Delicious bookmarks generally point to a website with information on the available WMS layers.

Please below for further information on these three kinds of existing data.

All data tagged "local" in lcenvsgis Delicious are ready for you to use right on the GIS server; many (but not all) are for the Portland Metro region. The most basic information you would need to use them is their location on the server, which you'll find in the notes for the Delicious bookmark. Say you want to include a layer showing existing and proposed trails around Portland; here's what you'd do:

• You find the Delicious bookmark tagged for our Portland area research sites titled Trails, which is tagged local and includes the following location in its notes: GIS_Data>ENVSData>Other_Sites>PDX_Metro>Transit>trails.
• In ArcMap, click the Add Data button  and navigate to the GIS_Data directory (on the D:\ drive), then open ENVSData, then Other_Sites, and so on until you arrive inside the Transit directory.
• You'll find two files named Trails: trails.lyr, and trails.shp. The layer file (.lyr) is a preformatted layer that includes display information, whereas the shapefile (.shp) is the raw data you can format as you wish. Generally you should choose the shapefile unless you're happy with how the layer displays.

As noted above, there are two kinds of remote data: data you download and store locally for use, and data you connect to via WMS. Let's start with data you download, which are more common than WMS data. Say you want to include a layer showing volcanoes in Ecuador; here's what you'd do:

• Open Delicious in a browser window on the GIS server so you can download direct to the server. You find a Delicious bookmark tagged for Ecuador and tagged as download, and when you go to the bookmark you luckily find data on volcanoes!
• Click to download. If you're using Firefox on the GIS server and choose Save File, it will save the file to your download location (generally your desktop). Like many GIS data files you download, it's compressed in ZIP format.
• To unzip and store your data, navigate to your desktop and click on the file, then choose File > Extract All. There are two important steps at this point:
1. Click Browse, then navigate to D:>GIS_Users>[your class]>[your directory] and click OK to store extracted files in your directory. (Note: if your data are in .e00 or other nonstandard format you'll have to convert to shapefile format; see .e00 conversion help in the Additional Tips section at bottom.)
2. We may wish to share your downloaded data with others. To help us, send email to envs@lclark.edu and tell us the following: (a) a description of the data, (b) the Delicious bookmark URL where you found the data, and (c) the location of your directory where you stored the data. Thanks!
• Then go ahead and add your data in ArcMap as usual!

In some cases you will be prompted to login prior to downloading data. For some primary downloading sites like GeoCommunity, ENVS has already established an account:, contact ENVS for login information or create your own (generally free) account, then you can download your data.

Now let's consider WMS data. Web Map Service is a way to connect to remote data without downloading, which is great except that, in order to comply with a wide range of uses, WMS provides an image of the data only, not its attributes (and in some cases, it doesn't even have legend information so all you get is a cryptic image). This is okay in the case of, for instance, baseline air photos you simply display, but not so great with data you wish to manipulate or display in various ways. Given all these limitations, why even bother with WMS? The biggest reason is that WMS and similar protocols are the wave of GIS future, where much if not all of your GIS data will be stored and shared remotely; in time, WMS will catch up to this ideal, and it's good to learn with an eye toward the future.

The most important thing you need to know to use WMS data is the URL to connect to the data. Delicious generally just points to an informational URL for WMS data; see the notes for each bookmark for hints on how to locate the actual WMS URL. In general, the WMS URL will look something like

• http://eusoils.jrc.it:80/wmsconnector/com.esri.wms.Esrimap/Eusoils_WMS? or
• http://geodata.epa.gov/wmsconnector/com.esri.wms.Esrimap/TRI? or
  
• http://columbo.nrlssc.navy.mil/ogcwms/servlet/WMSServlet/USDA_Forest_Service_Maps.wms?
  

General ESRI help on adding WMS to your ArcMap can be found here. Let's imagine that you want to include a layer showing natural resources information in the vicinity of Brisbane, Australia; here what you'd do:

• Before you add the WMS layer, it's a good idea to add some base layer such as an outline of Australia so you are zoomed into the correct extent in ArcMap. Take a look in ENVSData>ENVSData>Research_Sites>Australia for an appropriate base layer.
• Now open Delicious on your local computer or the GIS server (either is okay). You find a Delicious bookmark tagged for Australia and tagged as wms; it's called WMS Links into the GIDB Portal, and when you scroll down the long list of WMS themes you see one titled Queensland Natural Resources Australia; perfect! Copy the WMS URL, which is http://columbo.nrlssc.navy.mil/ogcwms/servlet/WMSServlet/Queensland_Natural_Resources_Australia.wms?.
• Now go to ArcMap and click the Add Data button as usual. This time, go to Look In: > GIS Servers, then select Add WMS Server.
• You will then paste the WMS URL into the URL box; typically you don't need to specify the server version. Click Get Layers to see what this particular WMS theme offers; as you'll see in this case, there are lots! (Typically there won't be so many.) All these layers will be served, so you don't need to select at this time; simply click Add a few times and your layer is available!
• Now expand this layer listing at the left of your ArcMap window. It will show you which layers are displayed or not. You'll notice quite a few that are displayed; feel free to adjust as needed. You can double-click each layer and look at the Source panel to see whether it has legend information (in the case of these layers, none apparently do).
• You can monitor progress on fetching and drawing WMS data at the lower left of your ArcMap window. If it cannot draw the layer for some reason, ArcMap will display an error box: one common error lies in attempting to draw the data when zoomed too far out. That's why it's a good idea to add a base layer first and zoom to the area (e.g. Brisbane) where you want to display WMS data before you add the WMS layer.

One WMS layer everyone will use as part of their ENVS GIS assignments for our Oregon research sites is an aerial photography base layer; for more info, see the Additional Tips section at bottom.

So far, we've discussed local and remote data that already exist, but what about data you generate yourself? Two examples are commonly done by students in ENVS: uploading data captured in a GPS device, and georeferencing an image (often an historical air photo).

• For more information on how to upload data to ArcGIS from a GPS, see the GPS help wiki (and remember that you can also upload your GPS data to Google Earth if you don't need to manipulate it using GIS; the Google Earth help wiki tells you how).
• For more information on how to georeference an image, see the ArcMap help file; this quick help file is useful too. For more info, download the following info sheet: Georeferencing (PDF)

Both the GPS upload and georeferencing procedures are illustrated in typical student activities found below.

Okay, now you know how to launch our GIS server and how to add data, but what do you do with all that data? Well, there are lots of ways to manipulate your data; that's what learning GIS is basically all about. But for now, let's consider some basic tips, then you can look at sample student activities and look into advanced techniques we often use as the need arises.

Some basic tips

This list of general pointers is based on our experience working with students to date; feel free to suggest other basics we should cover here.

• Projections. Since you are mapping 3D reality onto a 2D surface (your computer screen), this calls for a projection method to render the reality onto the screen without grossly impacting the relative sizes of features, their shapes, or other properties. One good starter reference is the ESRI projection help file. Remember that your map's default projection (also known as coordinate system) is set by the first data layer you add, stored in your data frame (typically titled Layers); you can find and edit this projection by double-clicking Layers. Remember also that ArcMap dynamically re-projects data you add that adopt a different projection from that of your data frame; you'll typically get a warning to this effect but you can generally dismiss it.
• Naming and storing files. It's best to play it conservative with ArcGIS directory and file names, as some routines upchuck if you include spaces or special characters in these names, or use a name longer than 13 characters. It's also important to remember that ArcGIS is pretty dumb as far as file locations go: if you move the shapefile for a data layer, your ArcMap won't be able to find it. Make sure to store your ArcMap file in your individual or team directory inside your class directory, which is found via D:>GIS_Users. If you are working in the Dubach labs, make sure you don't store files directly on the local drive since the computer drives are erased daily.
• Accessing GIS server files outside of the GIS server. Even though you are accessing the GIS server from your local computer, your local disks are not necessarily accessible; note above in the login procedure that you can set a preference to access your local drives when connecting via Remote Desktop Connection. Another way to save and retrieve files is to connect to WebDisk from a browser on the GIS server. There's even another way: on the Dubach PC computers, go to All Programs > Classroom Instruction. You'll see shortcuts to both GIS_Data and GIS_Users.

So, what sorts of data manipulations do students learn in ENVS? The following PDF files summarize procedures from recent assignments in ENVS core courses. Please note that these procedures are not necessarily up to date, as we have done extensive revision of our GIS, Delicious, etc. resources during the summer of 2009.

• ENVS 220 Fall 2008: Identify global patterns of relevance to situated research theme and country. This starter GIS assignment from Environmental Analysis works with country-level environmental indicator data to learn some basic GIS techniques and situate the student team's research site in the global context. For more info, download the following info sheet: GISGlobal (PDF)
  
• ENVS 220 Fall 2008: Examine toxic facility siting patterns in Portland metropolitan area related to environmental justice. This assignment introduces some more complicated and open-ended procedures, ultimately for students to critically examine claims made in the literature that empirical proof of environmental injustice can be elusive. For more info, download the following info sheet: GISMetro (PDF)
  
• ENVS 330 Spring 2009; Quantify land use-land cover change, and hydrological impacts, on Lewis & Clark campus over the last seventy years. This assignment introduces student-generated GIS data via GPS and old air photos to result in an examination of land use-cover change; following student preparation via this easier campus case they then apply it in later assignments to our local research sites. For more info, download the following info sheet: GISCampus (PDF)
  

Here are some more specialized tasks students often do when manipulating data; the attached helpfiles should give you some starter tips.

• Clip a raster dataset to a vector shapefile: This is commonly done when you want to include only a portion of a raster image (e.g., an air photo) lying within a particular boundary (e.g., that of a watershed). For more information, download the following info sheet: Clip Raster To Shapefile (PDF)
• Create and edit polygons: We commonly work with polygons when we are mapping land cover-land use from visual examination of georeferenced air photos. Working with polygons in ArcMap is tricky, and the GIS server can be even trickier as it can be a bit slow to respond. Make sure to save your work frequently! For more info, download the following info sheets: Creating Polygon Tips (PDF) & Polygon Editing Tasks (PDF)
• Georeferencing: As noted above, we commonly georeference (add spatial information to) old air photos so that they may be added as data. For more info, download the following info sheet: Georeferencing (PDF)

Now that you've done your fantastic analysis and created that great map, it's time to show it off. We'll cover four general options below: printing a map as a PDF file, exporting map graphics in PNG format, exporting a map to Google Earth in KMZ format, and exporting an attribute table in Excel format.

The simplest thing you can do is export a copy of your map in PDF format for printing and sharing with others. Typically, this will be a ready-to-go map including legend, north arrow, etc. Here's what you'll do:

• After you have setup your map the way you want it in Layout View, select File > Export Map, then navigate to where you want to save your file, making sure you've selected PDF as the file type.
• You may want to adjust the save options; click the Options link to do this. For instance, you can set output resolution to 300 dpi (a good option unless your map is really big and you need a smaller file) here.
• For more detailed PDF information, see Miscellaneous GIS tips below.

Sometimes you want to export a map image for use in another program, such as Word or Powerpoint. If so, PNG is generally a good file format to use. Follow the PDF export instructions above, but make sure to select PNG as the file type, and make sure you use an appropriately fine output resolution.

This is the way coolest option, because your map will display on Google Earth, a free application anyone can use. Even better, the ENVS Program hosts a network link for Google Earth files so anyone can easily browse and view these maps. For more information, please see the section titled "Converting ArcGIS Maps to Google Earth Format" in the Working with Google Earth help wiki.

Export attribute data to Excel

Perhaps what you want to export is not the map, but the data you have been working with for subsequent calculation or graphical display. Generally this data will be contained in the attribute table for a certain layer. So here's how you can export an attribute table for use in Excel:

• Since you are planning to use this data outside of the GIS server, you may want to enable your local disk drive when you fire up Remote Desktop Connection (see above).
• Right-click (control-shift-click on Macs) the layer of interest, and select Open Attribute Table. At the bottom right of the table click the Options button, then click Export.
  
• Under Output table, navigate to your mounted disk drive (the one where you ultimately want the file to reside), or if you did not enable it when connecting via Remote Desktop, navigate to your directory inside your class directory. Then enter a filename and click Save. Go ahead and keep the default .dbf format (oddly enough, ESRI didn't include an Excel format!). Then, back at the Export Data window, click OK and you're done.
• Now you can quit the GIS server (you may have to run the server's browser to transfer your file if your local disk drive wasn't enabled). On your own computer, start Excel and choose File > Open. If you don't see your file, change Enable from All Readable Documents to All Files. Then open your .dbf file, and resave it in standard Excel format.
• You're ready now to do further analysis or graphing in good old friendly Excel (or a comparable spreadsheet program capable of reading .dbf files). Much easier than ArcGIS, no?

Below are all sorts of miscellaneous tips referred to above.

• How to convert a downloaded data file in .e00 format. Some GIS data repositories such as GeoCommunity use an Arc data interchange format called .e00 (that's the file suffix). If you are so lucky as to download one of these, you'll have to convert it to standard Arc shapefile format first:
1. Launch ArcCatalog and click the View menu, then click Toolbars and enable the ArcView 8.x Tools toolbar.
2. Click the Conversion tools drop-down menu and click Import from Interchange File. Then browse to the .e00 file you downloaded and click Open.
3. For output location, follow directions above to select your directory. Then click Save, then OK and voila ! (Note: this conversion routine barfs if you've done an Arc file or directory name no-no: make sure you never include spaces or special characters in these names, or use a name longer than 13 characters.)
• Adding an Oregon base photo layer via WMS. As you know from above, WMS (Web Map Service) is a way to access images of remote data without having to download the data. One useful application is when you want to add an air photo as your base layer; we'll commonly do this for our Oregon research sites. To add an aerial photography base layer for anywhere in Oregon:
1. First, re-read WMS instructions above, and note that it's a good idea to start by adding a regular base layer such as the boundaries of the area you are mapping so that your data frame establishes a good projection and you are zoomed into the right extent.
2. Now, in ArcMap click the Add Data button as usual.
3. Go to Look In: > GIS Servers. If you see Image Web Server on wms.oregonexplorer.info, select it, add Image Web Server, and you're done! If not, or if you want another WMS server, select Add WMS Server, then proceed with below.
4. Enter the following URL if you want to add the Oregon Imagery Explorer (currently 2005 0.5 meter resolution aerial photography): http://wms.oregonexplorer.info/ImageX/ecw_wms.dll? Then click Get Layers, add the Image Web Server layer, and you're done!
• Exporting a PDF file (contributed by Megan Mills-Novoa, summer 2009). Though the basic procedure as given above is easy, there are lots more options you can choose.
1. Customize your output resolution. The default, 300 dpi, is usually a good choice. If you have raster images in your map, you can reduce the dpi to produce a smaller file, but this may result in a reduction of the image quality. To counteract this, try increasing Output Image Quality. The ratio listed in the Output Image Quality control determines the effective resolution of raster content on output relative to the output resolution. For instance, if the output image quality ratio is set to 1:2 and the output resolution is set to 300 dpi, the raster content will be output at approximately 150 dpi. To change the output resolution or output image quality, click the arrows or move the slider up or down, or type in a new value.Optionally, click the Format or Advanced tab to edit additional options.
2. The Picture Symbol drop-down list allows you to select the method used to render picture marker symbols. Choose the Vectorize layers with bitmap markers/fills option to convert the raster markers/fills to polygons. This will prevent rasterization of the map, at the expense of some details of the bitmap marker/fill. The option to rasterize marker symbols is also available.
3. The Convert Markers To Polygons option controls whether marker symbols that are based on font characters will be exported as text or as polygons. Check this option if you plan to view the output on a machine that does not have the appropriate fonts installed but cannot embed the fonts due to licensing or file format restrictions (AI cannot embed fonts). On PDF exports, use the Embed All Document Fonts option instead. Note that having this option enabled effectively disables the Embed All Document Fonts option for font-based marker symbols in formats that support embedding.
4. Choose a Destination Colorspace for your file. This controls the color space in which colors are specified in the output file, RGB or CMYK.
5. If you want to compress the vector portions of your PDF to produce a smaller output file, check the Compress Vector Graphics option. There is a separate Image Compression option for compressing raster portions of the PDF; to do this, click a scheme from the drop-down list.
6. The Embed All Document Fonts option allows you to include the fonts that are used within the document itself. This allows the PDF to look the same when opened on any platform that supports PDF viewing, even if the platform does not have the document's fonts installed. This is the default and should usually be used. Note that some fonts do not support embedding and will not embed even when this option is enabled. You can find out which fonts support embedding by using the Microsoft Font Properties Extension.
7. The PDF format has an additional Advanced tab. This tab contains the Layers And Attributes option. Choose the None option if you do not want the layers in your ArcMap table of contents to be created as separate layers in the exported PDF. Choose the Export PDF Layers Only option if you want your PDF to contain layers for most of the ArcMap layers, page elements, and other elements of your map. Choose the Export PDF Layers and Attributes option if you wish to include both features and attributes in the PDF. Warning: Exporting attributes to PDF can result in performance problems in compatible PDF viewers. If possible, limit exported fields to one layer per map. To suppress field export, turn off field visibility in the Layer Properties dialog box.
8. Exporting PDF files allows you advanced functionality such as the ability to turn off and on layers within Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat. If you are interested in including these features in your next PDF visit the ESRI Advanced PDF Features page.

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