Creating and Customizing a Map

ArcGIS Online includes everything you need to create your own maps by accessing a gallery of basemaps, adding your own layers, and configuring mashups that you can share with others, embed in your own website, or incorporate into useful applications and story maps.

In this section we will create a basic web map showing geospatial data of Clemson's campus. We will explore and use the different parts of this GIS interface, add data to the map, customize the symbology of layers, and use a few basic mapping tools. By the end of the session, you will have created an interactive, customized map that can be accessed from anywhere on the web.

1. Navigating ArcGIS Online

One of the main components of ArcGIS Online is the Map section, where you can explore content, add your own data, perform analysis and save your own interactive web maps.

• • To begin, sign in to arcgis.com with your Clemson ID account as mentioned in the Pre-requisites section. Once you are signed in, go to Map at the top of the page. The page will open to a default map showing North America.

2. Creating a new map

When this new map opens, you will notice it is not empty. A basemap is shown, which is a foundational layer which can be displayed with a variety of other data. These have different styles, such as political maps, streets maps, aerial and satellite imagery, or thematic maps.

• • In the upper left section, click the Basemap button and select a new basemap. Try a few different styles, such as Imagery with Labels, Dark Gray Canvas, and Streets.

• • You have a search box to quickly find places and zoom to particular regions. In the search box on the top right, type Clemson. Click on the first suggestion and it will zoom to the Clemson region.

3. Adding layers to the map

Browsing the Living Atlas

ArcGIS Online has a wealth of data, many from many trusted sources such as NOAA, USGS, and Esri, as well as content from other ArcGIS users. We will first search for some of the rich data available through the Esri Living Atlas.

• • On the top left section, click the dropdown menu to the Add button. Click Browse Living Atlas Layers.

Notice the wealth of data ready to be added to your map! Let's start by adding some additional basemaps.

• • Click on the Filter button and then click on Basemaps.

  • Add and explore a few different basemaps by clicking the + icon, such as:

  • Mid-Century

  • Newspaper

  • Colored Pencil

  • Nova

  • United States 1862

  • Zoom in and out on these to see how the level of detail changes on the scale (i.e. the zoom level).

You can browse through all of the available categories of data, such as:

- Imagery

- Demographic Information

- Landscape

- Urban Systems

- Transportation

Try adding other datasets to the map!

We could propably spend an entire class section exploring all the data available through the Living Atlas. Let's take a look at some other example data you can add.

• • On the top left section, click the dropdown menu to the Add button. Click Browse Living Atlas Layers.

  • In the Search for Layers window, type weather.

  • Scroll down in the results until you find Current Weather Conditions by Esri. In the Search results, click on the title. A new window appears that has extensive metadata about this layer.

  • Go back to Arcgis Online. Click the Add button next to the layer name, then click Done Adding Layers.

Take a look at this data layer in the Contents section and notice there are two layers that were added. What did the Item Details say about these two layers?

4. Learn more about layer attributes

So far you have seen the geographic component of a few data sets. Remember that the data also have attributes, or information about what they represent stored as a table of values. Let's explore the attribute data for the layers we have added. First, we will examine the pop-up window of the data, which provides a snapshot of information about each item.

• • Try clicking on different weather stations in the map and examine the pop-up for different features.

The pop-up window is very useful for learning more about a particular feature. You can also view the attribute table for a dataset, which shows all the attribute information. It can also be queried to identify features which meet certain criteria.

• In the Contents panel, hover your mouse over the Current Wind and Weather Conditions layer and click the arrow to expand.

• Under the Stations layer, click the Show Table button.

• Examine the attribute table which contains live, updated weather information for each station.

• Click the X button to close the attribute table.

5. Customize a layer's symbology

When you added the layers to the map, most already had the symbology set by the creator. Most of the time, data you add to a map will take on a default symbology. Your map begins to tell a story when you apply different symbols to your data based on their attribute data -- this is the world of cartography! It is both a science and an art to create effective, intuitive, and visually appealing maps and symbology that communicate the message you intend.

Let's remove the wind data and look at precipitation data along with the current status of rivers. Are any rivers currently in a flood stage in the US? Is it related to precipitation patterns?

• • On the top left section, click the dropdown menu to the Add button. Click Browse Living Atlas Layers.

  • In the Search for Layers window, type precipitation.

  • Scroll down in the results until you find National Weather Service Precipitation Forecast. Click the Add button next to the layer name.

  • In the Search for Layers window, type stream. Scroll down in the results until you find Live Stream Gauges

  • Click the Add button next to the layer name, then click Done Adding Layers.

What kind of patterns can you detect in stream levels? None, right?? We will change the plain symbology to one which makes rivers in flood state stand out.

• • In the Contents section, hover your mouse over the Live Stream Gauges layer. click the Change Style symbol below the layer's name.

The default is to show only the location and use the same symbol. In this case, it's a circle.

• • Under Choose an attribute to show, click Status.

• Click on the Options button under the Types (Unique Symbols).

• Uncheck the box next to the Other category to clean up the display.

  • Click the colored boxes next to the word Count. to open the symbology dialog. Click Fill.

• Click a new color ramp which has incremented colors, then click OK. Notice the change in the map. Click OK again.

  • Click OK and Done to close the window.

As you can see, setting up the symbology is quite easy to do but can be totally customized as you desire. Now let's compare the stream gauges showing higher than normal flows to the precipitation trends.

• On the time slider at the bottom of the window, click the play button to begin looping the precipitation forecasts. How do the two relate to each other?