A geographic information system is used to display various types of data within a map. GIS can connect various types of local data that display the physical geographical locations, as well as additional descriptions.
Learn More about GIS here.
Is a cloud-based software that allows you to build interactive visual maps. This is Esri’s web-based mapping platform. You will need a License through ArcGIS in order to use it and thankful we have access to ArchGIS through Penn State!
This is Esri’s desktop application for ArcGIS. Please keep in mind the ArcGIS was made for Windows, not Macs.
Follow this link and click the section labeled Check your computer’s ability to run ArcGIS Pro 2.9.
ArcGIS Pro 2.9 system requirements
Follow all the steps and press the Run Tech Check button to make sure your system can handle the ArcGIS Pro desktop application. This will download a detection.exe file. Open the file and leave your tab open and wait until the file is done checking your computer. This process might take a few minutes to complete.
- Go to ArcGIS Online and click the Sign In button.
- You will want to sign with the ArcGIS Organization’s URL section.
- You will want to type in the word pennstate
- Now this will take you to the Penn State login page. This page will prompt you to login in with your PSU account.
- Once you are logged into your ArcGIS account that is registered through Penn State go to the top right hand corner of your screen and click your account tab. Once the drop menu is open, click the My settings section.
- Then you will want to click the Licenses tab near the top left corner of your webpage.
- Here you will see all Licenses Penn State has to offer for any PSU students that want to use ArcGIS.
- Scroll down and find the ArcGIS Pro License click the download link. Once the download has completed, click and open the downloaded ArcGIS file.
- You will have a pop-up window that will guide you through a series of steps for the installation process.
- Choose the desired destination where you would like to keep your ArcGIS desktop program. Then press the Next button.
- After the extraction process is completed make sure the Launch the setup program box is checked. ✔️
- Then press the Close button.
This section of the tutorial is to familiarize yourself with the different sections and panels within ArcGIS Pro. First load up your ArcGIS Pro desktop application. Create a new Map project and save it within your desired file directory. Please take note that ArcGIS Pro has a user interface that looks very similar to Microsoft Word.
Once the project is opened you will notice that a base map of the United States is displayed.
Tools and Commands are located within the Top panel of the window. There are various tools and commands used for different tasks. Most of the tools we will be using are located on the Map tab due to the fact we create a new map project.
There is a Contents panel located on the left side of the window. The Contents panel shows you the active content currently being seen in the active View Pane. This displays the drawing order of the different map layers within a hierarchical format.
There is a Catalog panel located on the right side of the window. This panel allows the user to access items of your project disk or through your portal. Using the Portal tab can be very useful to find various datasets from ArcGIS Online and Living Atlas geodatabases.
Listed Here is a Youtube playlist with quick tutorials for ArcGIS Pro
First let's use the Basemap tool in the top panel to change the base style of our Map. Select the Light Gray Canvas setting
Now we are going to add a layer that represents the physical Native American Reservation boundaries within the United States. Navigate to the Catalog Pane and Click the Portal tab, hover over the cloud-like symbols and select the symbol that says Living Atlas.
Type this statement within the search bar Federally Recognized Tribal Reservations vs Oil/Petroleum/Coal Locations and Pipelines. You will notice after your search that you got one result, please right click on the result and click the Add and Open option.This might take a few minutes to load.
You will notice that you have another map added to your project. Please click on the tab next to your personal map.
Navigate to the Contents pane and find the layer labeled American Indian Reservations / Federally Recognized Tribal Entities. Right the layer and copy paste it into your personal map sheet in the Contents Pane.
Make sure that the layer you copied is at the top of the Drawing Order. Use these photos as reference.
This is what your map should look like so far.
Most of the data for this tutorial originated from federal government websites. Most federal government data is usually formatted within Excel to begin. So due to this fact we will be using Excel for convenience. and in a spreadsheet format. For the sake of this tutorial we will create spreadsheets and then save them as csv files to prepare to import the data into ArcGIS Pro inorder to create a map layer.
IMPORTANT TIP: Make sure there are no empty spaces within the columns and rows of your spreadsheets. ArcGIS will only read csv or tsv files that are computer readable, NOT human readable. If you have any blank cells within your spreadsheet
- Go to the Map Tab on the Top left and Add Data section. When the drop down menu displays, look for the XY Point Data option.
- You will see a panel pop up on the right side of the screen in the Geoprocessing section. Select your Input Table within your local file directory or through Living Atlas.
- The blank sections should autofill but still make sure the X Field contains the Longitude coordinates and the Y Field contains the Latitude coordinates.
- You can use the auto generated Coordinate System, but if needed for your project select the best Coordinate System for you.
- Click the run button in the button right corner of the Geoprocessing section. You will see the data display on the map with basic points.
##How to Export or Upload your Project: This tutorial provides detailed steps to create a project package as well as upload the project package to your online account.
##Future Tutorials and Helpful Links: ArcGIS Pro Quick Tutorials