GEOG 4/575 Lab 3. Data File
and Geodatabase Structures
Due Oct 19 before
class.
Directions:
Finish all tasks in Chapters 3, 4, and 6 and submit answers to the questions at the end of this exercise. Lab exercise data are available in: I:\Students\Instructors\Geoffrey_Duh\Chang_4e\chap3, chap4, and chap6 (or on the textbook CD). Please copy all these folders to your working directory in c:\Users before you start.
To see the E00 file in ArcCatalog (Chap 3, Task 1, Step 1): ArcCatalog doesn't show ArcInfo .e00 files by default, but it is easy to configure ArcCatalog to show them. From the ArcCatalog Tools pulldown menu, choose the Options command, click the 'File Types' tab, and then press the New Type button. In the dialog that appears, type e00 into the 'File extension' field (be sure to use zeros not the letter "O"), type a description such as Export File into the 'Description of type' field, click Change Icon and choose an icon, then click OK. Click OK on the Options dialog too. ArcCatalog will refresh and will now show you e00 files.
Chap 6, Task 4, Step 4: You can find ESRI’s Geography Network in the GIS Servers folder under the name of “Geography Network Services hosted by ESRI.” Use the Add Data button to add ESRI_Relief layer to ArcMap.
Questions:
1) Illustrate the differences in data file structure between a coverage, a geodatabase feature class, and a shapefile. (Hint: Use Windows Explorer to view the data layers you used in this exercise and see how they differ from each other. The data used in Chapter 3, except the .e00 file, are all ESRI coverages.)
2) Can you import a feature class into a feature dataset that has a different map projection? Are feature classes in a feature dataset allowed to have different projections? Based on these answers, describe what would you do when importing two feature classes that have different projection into a feature dataset.
3) You have a polygon shapefile (e.g., census block) containing only population information. Describe the steps to calculate the population density in each polygon.
4) What is the difference between a route and a regular polyline (or an arc) in ArcGIS? Can a route represent a path that is not physically connected from the beginning to the end? Give an example of what such routes might be.
5)
Imagine that you have acquired
a missing notebook from the Lewis and Clark expedition that has the latitudes
and longitudes of all of the camas wetlands they encountered along the