Lab 3: ArcGIS ModelBuilder

 

Introduction

This lab teaches you how to use ArcToolbox and ModelBuilder to build an analysis model.

 

Where can I find the lab instructions?

Same as previous labs, you will use the web-based help from ESRI's online ArcGIS Resource Center (http://resources.arcgis.com/content/web-based-help). For this lab, you need to read ArcGIS 10 Desktop Help on Geoprocessing. Click on the ESRI web-based help link above, click on ArcGIS Desktop Help (or the plus sign) to expand its contents and click on the ArcGIS 10 Desktop Help hyperlink to go to the main page of ArcGIS 10 Help Library (or click here to go directly to the page). Use the Table of Contents on the left pane to find the assigned lab readings.

 

Instructions

Follow the instructions to finish all readings and exercises. Hand in your answers and the associated outputs. Labs should be typed, include your name, be well organized, and be stapled together. All maps for this lab must be in black and white. You will be marked down for color maps.

 

The documents related to Geoprocessing are in the Professional Library, under the Geoprocessing container. Read the first 3 general geoprocessing topics (What is geoprocessing? A quick tour of geoprocessing, and Essential geoprocessing vocabulary), then open the Geoprocessing with ModelBuilder container and read the first 3 ModelBuilder topics (What is ModelBuilder, A quick tour of ModelBuilder, and Essential ModelBuilder vocabulary) and all the topics in the "ModelBuilder basics" sub-container (there are 16 short topics which won't take too long to read through).

 

The instructions for the hands-on components of the lab are in pdf format. The pdf of the instructions (please do NOT print) can be found on the I: drive under Students\Data\GIS\ArcTutor\10\ArcGIS_10_Tutorial_PDFs\extensions as "spatial-analyst-tutorial.pdf". The tutorial data can be found on the I: drive under Students\Data\GIS\ArcTutor\10. Copy the whole Spatial Analyst folder to your own drive and use this as your workspace for this lab.

 

Do Exercises 1 and 3 (pages 6-9 and pages 19-46, as numbered on the page). Note: You'll need to first turn on the Spatial Analyst extension license if it isn't already on (Tools menu > Extensions > Make sure Spatial Analyst is checked).

 

If you stop in the middle and start again later, remember that you do not want to Open your model, you want to Edit it. To get back to modelbuilder, right-click on the model in ArcToolbox and select Edit.

 

Answer the following questions while you do the exercise:

  1. Look up the majority filter tool in the ArcGIS Desktop Help. Read the help topic and explain how the filter works in terms of using FOUR and EIGHT neighbors.
  2. Print out the model you created from the design view in modelbuilder.
  3. Create a single map showing a side-by-side comparison of the optimal areas raster (i.e., the output from the Con tool) and the filtered optimal areas raster (i.e., the output from the Majority Filter tool).   You will need to insert a second data frame.   Zoom-in (I do not want full extent) on the final site area for this comparison, but do not include the final site polygon. The only other layer to be included in this map is the roads layer.
  4. Describe the benefits of having a GIS model?