Managing GIS Data

1. Create a folder called Data_management_exercise somewhere under your

personal directory (e.g. C:\Users\jdoe\Documents\Tutorials\
Data_management_exercise).
2. Download the data for this exercise and extract the files from the
Data_management.zip file to your newly created Data_management_exercise
directory.

When working on an ArcMap document (one ending with a *.mxd extension) you are accessing
one or more data files. These data features are not stored in the *.mxd file but instead can be
located in separate folders, geodatabases or across a network connection. Knowing where your
GIS data reside is critical when managing and sharing a GIS project.

For this tutorial, you’ll be working with data for the Acadia National Park area. You will learn to
use ArcCatalog to copy and delete features from a workspace. You will also learn about folder
connections and how to fix broken map document links.

Contents
Step 1: Create a Folder Connection
Step 2: Identifying layer source paths
Step 3: Creating a File Geodatabase
Step 4: Migrating files from one format to another
Step 5: Removing GIS files from a workspace
Step 6: Fixing broken links in ArcMap

Step 1: Create a Folder Connection

Click the icon on the Windows taskbar, then point to ArcGIS and click on ArcCatalog 10.6.
ArcGIS’s file management environment differs from that of a conventional file management
environment common to different operating systems. For example, when you first open
ArcCatalog, you will notice that your typical root directory structure is gone. For instance, you will
not see a Desktop folder or a C: drive letter designation. Instead, ArcGIS wants you to explicitly
define your workspaces.

In this exercise, you will restrict your workspace to the Data_management_exercise folder.

Right-click on the Folder Connections folder in the Catalog Tree and click Connect Folder.

You can create connections to both folders and databases.

· Folder connections let you access folders, or directories, on local disks or shared folders
on the network.
 · Database connections let you access the contents of a database (local or remote).

In the Connect to Folder window, select this exercise’s project folder

(Data_management_exercise) and click OK.

You now should see a new connection under Folder Connections. This connection will persist
even when you log off from your desktop. But this connection is not transferable (i.e. if you move
your map document to a different PC, the folder connection will not carry over).

In ArcCatalog, make sure that you have this exercise’s workspace selected. In the right window
pane you should see a list of GIS files (three shapefiles and one raster) and a map document
(Acadia_park).

ArcCatalog views the contents of a folder (or database) differently from a standard file
management window.

To see this for yourself, open Windows Explorer (not to be confused with Internet Explorer)
Navigate to this exercise’s workspace folder.

Note how different the contents of the folder look between ArcCatalog and Windows Explorer.
ArcGIS only displays file formats that can be used in a GIS. In this example, we have two different
file formats: a shapefile vector format and an Imagine raster format. A shapefile format consists
of anywhere between three and seven files. In our example, all three vector layers in our project
consist of seven files each. Each file of a shapefile layer contains different bits of information. For
example, a .prj file contains information about the shapefile’s coordinate system and a .dbf file
contains information about the shapefile’s attribute(s).

At this point, it is important to note that GIS data management should be done exclusively inside
of ArcCatalog and not inside of Windows Manager.

Another file displayed by ArcCatalog (and recognized as a GIS file type) is the Acadia_park.mxd
file . This is the project file that instructs ArcMap on which GIS data files to map
and how to display them in the map document. Note that the .mxd file does not store the GIS data
(i.e. it reads the data from the various GIS data files located in the project folder).

Double-click on the Acadia_park MXD file to open the map document.

The MXD document should open up inside of Arcmap.

 Step 2: Identifying layer source paths

When opening an existing ArcMap document, it is always good practice to locate the source of
each layer listed in the Table of Contents (TOC).

In the TOC click on the List By Source button .

The listing in the TOC will look different. For each layer, the source location is identified. For
example, the raster layer hillshade is located in the folder .\Data_management_exercise. The
other vectors layers (Roads, Water and Parks) are also located in the
.\Data_management_exercise folder. Remember that ArcMap does not store GIS data features in
the .mxd document. Instead, it stores information about the source location for each feature. So
when ArcMap draws the hillshade in the Map view window, it accesses the raster file
hillshade.img located in the .\Data_management_exercise folder and grabs all the data needed to
draw the hillshade layer. So it is vital that the location of all features used in a map document be
properly sourced in the TOC.
Close ArcMap. If asked to save changes, select No.

Step 3: Creating a File Geodatabase

GIS data can be stored in many different formats. So far you have been exposed to shapefile
and Imagine file formats. ArcGIS can also store GIS data in more complex data storage
structures such as geodatabases.

ArcGIS can read from many different geodatabases. Some common ones are ArcSDE,
PosgreSQL and File Geodatabase. The latter can be easily implemented on personal computers.
In the following steps, you will create a new file geodatabase.

Go back to your ArcCatalog window.

Right-click this exercise’s folder connection and select New >> File Geodatabase.

A new file geodatabase will be added to your Data_management_exercise folder.

Right-click on the newly created geodatabase and select rename.

You will rename the geodatabase Acadia_data.

A File Geodatabase is nothing more than a folder. In fact, if you look at your project’s folder in
Windows Explorer, you will see a folder called Acadia_data.gdb. The content of this folder may be
indecipherable. This should be a reminder to never modify the contents of this folder in Windows
Explorer.

!!! NEVER modify the contents of a *.gdb folder outside of ArcCatalog !!!
 Step 4: Migrating files from one format to another

Your next step will involve migrating the four GIS files to the newly created geodatabase
Acadia_data.

First, you will create a feature dataset (think of this as a folder inside of a geodatabase). Feature
datasets are used to spatially or thematically integrate related feature classes. See here for more
information.

In ArcCatalog, Right-click on the Acadia_data geodatabase and select New >> Feature
Dataset.

In the New Feature Dataset window, name the new feature dataset Vector_data.

Click Next.

Select Projected Coordinate Systems >> UTM >> NAD 1983 >> NAD 1983 UTM Zone 19N for
the dataset’s coordinate system.
Any features created in or copied to this feature dataset will inherit the UTM NAD83 Zone 19
North coordinate system. If the data need to be reprojected, ArcGIS will reproject on the fly.

Click Next.

Click Next again (we won’t define a Vertical Coordinate System for this feature dataset).

Click Finish.

If you expand you folder connection in ArcCatalog, you should see the newly created Vector_data
dataset.

Next, you will copy all three vector files to this dataset.
Right-click the newly created Vector_data feature dataset and select Import >> Feature Class
(multiple).

In the Feature Class to Geodabase (multiple) window, click on the folder icon to the right of
the Input Features field.

Navigate to your Data_management_exercise connection (remember that it is accessed from

the Folder Connections folder) and select the three vector features.

Click Add.

The three vector features should now be listed in the window.

Click OK to begin the migration process.

After 10 or 20 seconds, the newly migrated features should appear in the Vector_data feature
dataset.
Next, you will copy the raster data feature into the geodatabase. Raster features cannot be stored
inside of feature datasets, instead they are stored at the root level of the geodatabase.

Right-click on the Acadia_data geodatabase and select Import >> Raster Datasets.

In the Raster to Geodatabase window, click on the folder icon to the right of the Input
Rasters field.

Navigate to your Data_management_exercise connection folder and select the hillshade.img

raster file.

Click Add.

Click OK to start the Raster-To-Geodatabase process.

After 10 seconds or so, expand the Acadia_data geodatabase. You should see the new hillshade
raster feature.
Step 5: Removing GIS files from a workspace

Now that we have all four features (three vectors and one raster) inside of a geodatabase, we no
longer need the shapefile and Imagine file versions of these features.

In ArcCatalog, select the Data_management_exercise folder connection.

In the right window pane of ArcCatalog you should see the geodatabase, the shapefiles and
Imagine raster file.

In the right window pane, select and delete the hillshade, Parks, Roads and Water features.
(Note that if you did not close ArcMap earlier in the exercise you will need to do so before you
attempt to delete the files).

Your Data_management_exercise folder should now look like this:

Step 6: Fixing broken links in ArcMap

From inside ArcCatalog, double-click on the Acadia_park MXD file. This will open the map
document in an ArcMap session.

You will notice that the Map view window is now blank! You should also notice red exclamation
marks next to each layer in the TOC. This map opened fine earlier in this exercise, so what
happened?

Remember that ArcMap does not store data, but instead pulls the data from separate file sources.
Since we removed the original features (shapefile and raster files), ArcMap can no longer find
these files. It does not know that we moved the files to a geodatabase. Therefore, we must
change the source paths for each layer (i.e. tell ArcMap that those layers now reside in a new
geodatabase).

Right-click on Roads layer and select Properties.

In the Layer Properties window, select the Source tab.

The Data source window confirms that ArcMap is looking for a shapefile called Roads located in
the Data_managament_exercise folder (the shapefile you deleted in an earlier step). We will
provide ArcMap with the new location.

Click on the Set Data Sources button .

Expand Acadia_data.gbd >> Vector_data and select the Roads feature.

Click Add.

The Data Source window should now point to the correct the location.

Click OK to close the Layer Properties window.

We will repeat the same process to fix the source paths for Water, Parks and hillshade.
Next you will save the modified map document. But before you do, there is one more step that
you will want to perform. ArcMap accepts full source path descriptions (e.g.
D:\Users\jdoe\Documents\Tutorials\Data_management_exercise\) or source paths relative to the
MXD map document location. In most cases, you will want ArcMap to save the source paths
using the relative pathnames option.

In ArcMap, select File >> Map Document Properties.

Make sure that Store relative pathnames to data sources is checked in the Map Document
Properties window.

Click OK to close the Map Document Properties window.

Now Save your map document by clicking on File >> Save.

This completes this exercise.

Manuel Gimond, last modified on 7/10/2018