Introduction to GIS

This is a 3 hour hands-on workshop where students will learn the fundamental skills and concepts to be successful users of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The activities demonstrate how to preview GIS data, make a map from data and edit the map symbology, and export a map to PDF.

This workshop is the first in our series for obtaining our Certificate of Attendance.

The data used during the workshop are located on the libstorage drive in the IntroToGIS_April2016 folder. Instructions for accessing the network drive can be found below. The full path to the data is \\libstorage.clemson.edu\gis\IntroToGIS_April2016

Activity 1. Previewing Data

  • Connect to a Folder

  • Inspect Geometry, Attributes, and Metadata using ArcCatalog

Activity 2. Create a Map from Scratch

  • Add a Basemap and Data as Layers in ArcMap

  • Navigation Tools: Zoom, Pan, Bookmarks

Activity 3. Symbolizing Features

  • Customize Symbology of Vector Data (points, lines, polygons)

  • Symbolize Data Using Attributes (lines, polygons)

  • Search Tools: Identify, Find

Activity 4. Create and Export Your First Map

  • Using Layout View to Arrange a Map Document

  • Add Cartographic Elements (Title, Legend, North Arrow, Scale Bar)

  • Export to a PDF