GIT461/561 Yosemite Valley Project

Concept Statement

The first GIT461/561 project is derived from the following scenario:

You have just been hired as a GIS consultant by the National Park Service to produce a map of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, CA. The specifications for the map are as follows:

1. All features of the map should be based on two USGS 7.5 minute topographic quadrangles that cover the project area:

Yosemite Falls (southern portion of project area)Half Dome (northern portion of project area)

For this project you will be given the two topographic maps in raster TIF format but they will both need to be georeferenced into the NAD27 UTM zone 11 system.

2. The GIS map project should be based on the NAD27 UTM zone 11 system. Units will be in meters.

3. The project area is a rectangular area with UTM coordinates (meters):

Corner UTM X easting (m) UTM Y northing (m) Southwest corner: 269000 4177000Southeast corner: 276000 4177000Northeast corner: 276000 4183000Northwest corner: 269000 4183000

The entire project area should be covered by a “Land Use” polygon topology layer with the following properties:

Feature Fill Color RGB values Camping Area Light green 201, 237, 069Developed Area Burgundy 214, 133, 137Valley Area Pink 255, 190, 232Wilderness Area Gray 156, 156, 156

A second polygon topology layer “Water Bodies” will separately contain any body of water that has measurable area. These will consist of mainly the Merced River and several lakes within the Yosemite Valley area. Smaller streams will not be digitized. Use the following parameters for “Water Bodies”:

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Feature Fill Color RGB values Water Area Cyan 151, 219, 242

Areas in Yosemite Valley where multiple buildings are grouped together are to be considered a “developed” area and should be enclosed by a “Developed Area” polygon. Camping areas are to be enclosed by a polygon in a similar fashion.

The Yosemite Valley camping area is separated from the rest of the National park wilderness park by a “dash-dot-dash” black patterned boundary line. The Yosemite Valley camping area polygon will contain all of the “Camping Area” and “Developed Area” polygons.

4. An annotation layer named “Annotations” will be used to label all polygons. A black filled triangle will be used to mark developed areas, while a green filled triangle will be used for campground areas. Other polygons will be left unlabeled. All text labels will be black, and centered above the triangle.

5. An arc (line) layer named “Linear Features” will contain line work that delineates boundaries between polygons, and to display trails and roads. Use the following symbology:

Linear Feature Line Pattern ESRI Line RGB Campground boundary dash-dot-dash City (1) (62,149,78)Developed boundary dash-dot-dash Military Inst. (1) (148,17,111)Minor road thick continuous Highway Ramp (1) (142,25,115)Pipeline dot on line Aqueduct (4) (0,0,0)Primary road very thick continuous Highway (3.4) (250,52,17)Border thick continuous Major Road (3) (0,0,0)Trail dashed Dashed 4:1 (0,0,0)Wilderness boundary dash-short-dash Dashed 1-long,1-short (0,0,0)

6. A “Point Features” point layer will contain the corners of the project area. The corners will be marked with red crosses.

7. A point layer for each quadrangle (“Half Dome Reference Points” & “Yosemite Falls Reference Points”) that contains reference latitude and longitude coordinates as magenta “cross-in-circle” symbols. These symbols are used to verify that the USGS topographic base maps are correctly georeferenced.

1Step 1- Create the Reference Points Spreadsheets

1In this step two spreadsheets will be created that contains the latitude and longitude coordinates of all of the 2.5 minute reference marks on the two USGS topographic base maps:

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1. Half Dome 1:24,000 Quadrangle2. Yosemite Falls 1:24,000 Quadrangle

Once completed each spreadsheet can be posted in an ArcMap project so the coordinates can be used as reference points. The reference points for both quadrangles will be used to georeference both the Half Dome and Yosemite quadrangles into the UTM NAD27 zone 11 coordinate system.

At this point use Windows Explorer, ArcCatalog, or an equivalent program to create the folder:

c:\ArcGIS_Data\Yosemite\

This folder will contain all files related to the Yosemite project.

Whenever you download or are given a raster image, you should always check the georeferencing information before using it. Nothing is more frustrating than spending hours tracing linework from a raster base map only to discover too late that the georeference information (i.e. world file) was incorrect. First you need to download the raster data from the following web site:

http://www.usouthal.edu/geography/allison/gy461/YosemiteValleyProject.exe

The downloaded file is a self-extracting ZIP file, therefore, you should download it to your folder when prompted, and then use file explorer to double click on the EXE file, and that should extract these files to your folder:

o37119f5.tif: the Half Dome, CA topographic raster fileo37119g5.tif: the Yosemite Falls, CA topographic raster file

Note that you did not receive any TFW files when the ZIP archive was extracted so you must georeference these two maps yourself before proceeding. You can quickly verify that this is a problem by loading the raster files and viewing them in ArcCatalog. Start ArcCatalog and navigate to your folder where you have downloaded the raster TIF files and then click on the Half Dome raster (o37119f5.tif). In the right window set the tab to preview, then use the zoom-in tool (magnifying glass with a “+” sign) to drag a window around the southwest corner (similar to Figure 1). Note that in Figure 1 one of the X coordinate UTM tic marks can be seen- “269" just to the right of the corner. This tic mark should read very close to “269000" meters for the x coordinate if you make the cursor line-up with it. In fact, because of the missing world file, the pointer x coordinate reads “3.012", which is clearly not a valid UTM x coordinate for this raster quadrangle. This means that we will have to manually georeference both the Half Dome and Yosemite Valley raster files. You can close ArcCatalog at this time.

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Figure 1: SW corner of the Half Dome quadrangle as viewed in ArcCatalog.

Download the “LatLongCalc_24k.xls” from the following web site:

http://www.usouthal.edu/geography/allison/gy461/LatLongCalc_24k.xls

Right-clicking on the above link will allow you to download this spreadsheet to your working directory. Use this spreadsheet as a template – using windows explorer copy the file and then paste it in your working directory as “HalfDomeRefPts.xls”. Using the same procedure copy and paste to create “YosemiteFallsRefPts.xls”. You should now load “HalfDomeRefPts.xls”. You should now edit the Half Dome spreadsheet to replace the top line of latitude and longitude coordinates (blue) with the southwest corner points for Half Dome (see Figure 1). After filling in the correct degrees, minute, and seconds values use <ctrl>+”m” to run the macro that calculates the other 15 lat-long coordinates and the decimal degree values. After this step is complete the “LatLongCalc” sheet in the spreadsheet should appear as in Figure 2A. The “DBF_Export” sheet should appear as in Figure 2B. The “DBF_Export” worksheet is formatted for importing into ArcGIS, but otherwise contains the same information as in the “LatLongCalc” worksheet.

You should note that the longitude values are all negative because California (and the rest of North America) is in the western hemisphere. In addition, the decimal longitude and latitude values are calculated with spreadsheet formulas. Note that points 1 through 12

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outline the border of the quadrangle, and the last four coordinates (13-16) are the interior 2.5 minute crosses inside the quadrangle.

Figure 2A: Spreadsheet layout for Half Dome, CA, lat-long control points.

Note that the values in the Longitude and Latitude columns are calculated from formulas- make sure that you understand how to construct the formulas from our class discussion. Proceed to enter in the southwest corner lat-long values for the Yosemite Falls quadrangle into the “YosemiteFallsRefPts.xls” spreadsheet and calculate decimal lat-long values as in the “HalfDomeRefPts.xls” spreadsheet.

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Figure 2B: Half Dome reference points spreadsheet for importing into ArcMap (DBF_Export).

Step 2 – Georeference the Half Dome (o37119f5.tif) and Yosemite Falls (o37119g5.tif) 1:24,000 Quadrangles

Step 2 will georeference the Half Dome and Yosemite Falls quadrangles into a common mapping coordinate system- UTM NAD1927 zone 11. To georeference any map you need to identify points on the raster map image that match known coordinates. The most accurate points on a 1:24,000 USGS quadrangle are the 16 2.5 minute latitude-longitude marks on the map. Twelve of these points are labeled along the map border (zoom in with ArcCatalog to see them) and there are four interior black crosses that are unlabeled. These sixteen points correspond exactly to the sixteen calculated points in each spreadsheet. You should remember that although our ArcMap project file will be in the UTM coordinate system, the values in the spreadsheet are inherently geographic (i.e. decimal lat-long) so when the spreadsheets are imported you must indicate that the coordinates are geographic. Therefore, for each of the quadrangles we will create a separate ArcMap project file, and with each we will specify:

1. ArcMap project coordinate system = UTM NAD1927 zone 112. Add XY data from “DBF_export” worksheet as geographic coordinates

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3. Add the appropriate un-georeferenced raster file (o37119f5.tif or o37119g5.tif)

4. Use the georeferencing toolbar to match the raster to six of the sixteen imported lat-long reference points in the spreadsheet. Check the “RMS” value in the georeferencing link table for appropriate value- generally values > 25m are too high.

5. Save the georeferencing information to a “world file” so that it is retained for future use.

6. Test the georeferencing by removing the raster and then adding it to the ArcMap project with the standard “Add Data” menu or button. The map should be checked to make sure it is aligned with the sixteen lat-long reference marks, and that it is consistent with the UTM tic marks on the raster image.

At this point you may want to view the below video on georeferencing raster images from ESRI:

http://video.esri.com/watch/376/georeferencing-rasters-in-arcgis Proceed to georeferenced both quadrangles in ArcMap project files: “HalfDome.mxd” (o37119f5.tif ) and “YosemiteFalls.mxd” (o37119g5.tif). Figure 3 contains a view of the Half Dome quadrangle with the raster properly georeferenced. Note the position of the 16 lat-long 2.5 minute reference points (red crosses), and the x,y coordinates in the lower right corner of the window.

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Figure 3: Georeferenced Half Dome quadrangle.

Step 3- Create Geodatabase File to use with Yosemite Valley Project.

For a variety of reasons the new Geodatabase file format is superior to the older shape file format used by earlier versions of ArcGIS so we will be using that format as much as possible for this project. You should know that the Geodatabase file format is nothing more than a Microsoft Access database file that contains all of the mapping information in a single file, but with many internal tables. One of the biggest advantages of the new format is that it dramatically reduces the number of files needed for a detailed mapping project so it’s easy to keep the project properly organized. On the other hand, its takes a bit more time to initially setup the Geodatabase file before you can use it. Before we create the file we need to plan what exactly will be stored in the Geodatabase. Below are

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the layers that will in the Geodatabase, and the different categories that each feature may be classified as:

Layer (Feature Class) Geometry Categories Land Use Features Polygon Campground_Area, Developed_Area, Valley_Area,

Wilderness_AreaWater Bodies Polygon N/ALinear Features Line Campground_Boundary, Developed_Boundary,

Minor_Road, Primary_Road, Project_Boundary, Trail, Water_Boundary, Wilderness_BoundaryPoint Features Point N/AAnnotation Features Annotation N/A

When creating the LandUse and LinearFeatures feature classes you should also define a new field named “Type” that will contain the classification label for each polygon or line item in the map project. To create a geodatabase start the ArcCatalog application from the desktop and navigate the folders in the left window until you can highlight your Yosemite project folder. Use the menu sequence “File > New > Personal geodatabase” to create and name the database. You should note that the project folder “YosemiteValley” is highlighted in the left window before this menu selection is made. The default name is “New Personal Geodatbase.mdb”. Change the name to “YosemiteValley.mdb”. The “.mdb” extension is used because this file is a Microsoft Access file. After renaming the geodatabase, highlight it in the left window by left clicking. Then use the menu sequence “File > New > Feature Class” to begin creating a new feature class. We will create the “LandUseFeatures” polygon feature class first.

Note that the coordinate system for all new features should be set to UTM NAD27 zone 11, the same system used in the georeferencing steps. Figure 4 displays the additional “Type” field for the “Land Use Features” feature class after it has been created.

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Figure 4: Fields for the Land Use feature class including the "Type" field.

You can now use ArcCatalog to create the additional feature classes needed for this project. After you have completed the feature classes the below features should exist in the “YosemiteValley” geodatabase:

Feature Class Geometry Classification Field names & Type LandUseFeatures Polygon Type (Text)

(alias: Type of Land Use)LinearFeatures Line Type (Text)

(alias: Type of Boundary)WaterBodies Polygon N/A PointFeatures Point N/AAnnotationFeatures Point N/A

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All of the above feature classes (i.e. layers) should have exactly the same spatial reference coordinate systems (UTM NAD27 zone 11). Figure 5 contains the ArcCatalog window with “YosemiteValley.mdb” highlighted. Note that all of the feature classes are displayed in this view.

Figure 5: Layout of the "YosemiteValley.mdb" geodatabase file.

Note that you can inspect the properties of any feature class in a geodatabase file by highlighting the feature class name in the ArcCatalog window, and then right-clicking on the highlighted name and selecting “properties”. Figure 4 was produced by this method with the “Fields” tab selected.

Step 4- Create and Initialize the ArcMap Project File

At this time start ArcMap and create a new project from the “Blank map” template. In the “Table of Contents” window right-click on the “Layers” name and select “properties”. Left-click on the “General Tab”, and then fill in the window as below:

1. Name: Yosemite Valley Project2. Description: GIT461 Yosemite Valley project3. Credits: University of South Alabama Department of Earth Sciences4. Map Units: meters5. Display Units: UTM6. Reference scale: 1:48,000

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The other items may be left to their default values. While remaining in the properties window select the “Coordinate System” tab. Select in succession “Projected Coordinate System > UTM > NAD 1927 > Zone 11N” for the coordinate system for the project. The final window should appear as in Figure 6.

Figure 6: Coordinate system selection for the ArcMap project file.

After setting the coordinate system, select from the main menu “File > Document Properties”. Enter the following information in the window:

1. Title: Yosemite Valley Project2. Summary: Yosemite Valley project assignment for GIT4613. Description: GIS Assignment 14. Author: {your name and student # here}5. Credits: University of South Alabama Dept. of Earth Sciences6. Tags: GIS, Yosemite Valley, National Park Service

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Also check the “Store Relative Path Names” check box. This has the effect of letting ArcMap search for features in the current folder of the project file or any path that begins there. This means that if you copy or move the project folder to another drive or computer the project will work without having to re-link the feature to the new path names.

At this point you are ready to add the two georeferenced quadrangles (Half Dome & Yosemite Falls) to the project. Use the “Add” button from the button bar to do this now. The two quadrangles should align at the common border (north latitude border of Half Dome, south latitude border of Yosemite Falls). To see the alignment set the display properties to 50% transparent for both raster images. Do this by highlighting the raster image name in the table of contents window, and then right-click and select “Properties”. Select the “Display” tab, and then enter 50% for transparency. Now save the file as “YosemiteValley.mxd” to your working directory.

1Step 5- Add (Sketch) Linear Features to Map Project

Start ArcMap and load the “YosemiteValley.mxd” project file (if it is not already loaded). The initial step will be to define the boundary of the project area as given to us by the NPS specification at the beginning of this document. We will use the corner UTM coordinates given to us to exactly draw in the border. Using the add data button from the main ArcMap toolbar add all of the feature class layers (Point Features, Land Use Features, Linear Features, Water Bodies, Annotation Features) that you defined with ArcCatalog.

In order to add or edit data to the geodatabase you must be in edit mode, and to do that you must have access to the editor toolbar. At this time right-click on the gray toolbar area above the ArcMap display window. If the editor toolbar is unchecked, check it at this time. You can leave the editor toolbar in “floating” mode (default), or click and drag the toolbar to dock it (your preference).

Look for the drop down list titled “Editor”, and select “Start Editing”. This selection puts ArcMap in edit mode. You will see the cursor change to a triangular shape when the pointer is in the main window area. At this time it’s important to understand how ArcMap is working:

1. When you select “File > Save” you are saving the mxd project file that contains links to other files (raster, geodatabase, etc.), but not the actual data.

2. When you select “Editor > Save edits” you are actually saving additions/changes that you have made to the geodatabase file (in this case “YosemiteValley.mdb”).

At this point you need to add a reference point into the point feature layer that is the southwest corner of the project area. We know the exact UTM coordinates because they

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were in the original specifications so we want to be able to type in the coordinates. Have the corner coordinates available before the next operation:

1. Select the right-most button on the Editor toolbar to start “Create Features”.2. A new window will appear to the right of the map window. Highlight the

“Point Features” feature class.3. Note that the cursor will change to a “cross” to reflect that a left-click will

create a new point symbol. Move the cursor into the map window area but do not left-click.

4. Right-click and select “Absolute X,Y”. Type in the UTM x and y coordinates for the southwest corner (269000, 4177000) point of the project area. When done hit the <enter> key. A new highlighted point will appear at the specified x,y location.

5. Proceed to use the same method to enter the SE, NE, and NW corner points.

To exit the “Create Features” mode, simply select the “Edit Tool” from the editor toolbar. To make the new points more visible right-click on the “Point Features” name in the TOC, and then select “properties”, and then the “Symbology” tab. Double-click on the symbol and then select an “X” symbol of 18 points size, and red color.

Before sketching the border line feature you need to set a “snap” environment. You want each vertex of the border line to snap exactly to the 4 corner points. From the Editor Toolbar select the “Editor” drop-down list, and then “Snapping Toolbar”. This will activate the snapping environment toolbar. Set the toolbar so that snapping is done only to point features only. Select the “Create Feature” button from the Editor Toolbar, and then highlight the “Linear Features” name in the Create Features window right of the main window. Make sure that a simple “Line” is selected in the “Construction Tools” window. Move the cursor near one of the corner points, and note how the cursor snaps to the existing corner point. Left-click at each corner point to sketch in the border. Continue to the starting corner point, and then right-click and select “Finish Sketch” to complete the border. Select the “Edit Tool” button from the Editor Toolbar to exit “Create Features” mode. Right-click on the high-lighted border line, and select “Attributes”. The attribute window will appear to the right of the main window. Fill in the attribute value of “Border” for the new line.

To control the symbology of the Line Features highlight the name, and then select “Properties”. Select the “Symbology” tab, and then choose the show “Categories” type of display. Select the “Add all values” button to add all of the unique types of attributes that have been added to the Line Features class. The display will appear similar to Figure 7. Note that in Figure 7 that some of the trails and wilderness boundary have been attributed so they appear in the category list. To set a specific line symbology, double-click on the line features and select from the line symbol list. Note that the boundary has been set to “County Boundary”, a standard ESRI line type. When adding additional attributes (Developed_Boundary, Campground_Boundary, etc.) choose the “Add Values…” button to add in newly created attribute types. If you select “Add All Values…” all of the symbology will be randomized. Note that if you left-click on the

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“Count” header and you get a non-zero value for <all other values>, that means you have some attributes that are blank or don’t match any on the current category list.

Figure 7: Linear features categories settings.

If you wish you can use the “Add new value” button in the “Add Values” window to add categories that do not yet have matching attributes. You could do this to create all of the line feature symbols defined at the beginning of this document. Just make sure that you are consistent in your spelling and capitalization.

Step 6 – Add (Sketch) Polygon FeaturesBefore you can sketch “Water Bodies” or “Land Use” polygons you must first create those feature classes in step 3 above. Make sure that these feature classes are added to the current project with the “Add Data” button. Also make sure that the “Edit” toolbar is active in the current project. Proceed to “Start Editing” with the “YosemiteValley.mdb” geodatabase file. In the Editor toolbar select the “Create Features” button noting that a “Create Features” window will now appear on the right side of the main window. Note that you should always be in the “View > Data View” and not “View > Layout View” when in edit mode. If you are in layout view switch to data view.

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In the “Create Features” window highlight the “Water Bodies” feature with a left click, and then choose “polygon” from the “Construction Tools” sub-window. You should note that the cursor will change to a “+” sign to indicate active sketch mode. While sketch mode is active a left-click will create a polygon vertex at the cursor position, whereas a right-click will activate a popup menu that enables several options included “finish sketch” to complete the new polygon.

Before sketching the first vertices of the “Water Bodies” polygons take a moment to think about the “snapping” environment. For the Merced River polygon you will want to snap to the “edge” of the project area “Border” line when you sketch a vertex that should align with the project boundary. In addition, rather than try to sketch the entire Merced River in one operation you will probably want to sketch the polygons in sections. In this case you would need to set the “snap” environment to vertices. If you select adjoining polygons and then “Edit > Merge” the 2 polygons will merge into a single polygon.

The “Land Use” feature class should start as a single rectangular polygon anchored at the project boundary corners in “Point Features”. In edit mode set snapping to “point” only, and then select the “Create Features” button on the editor toolbar. Highlight the “Land Use” feature name, and then select “polygon” under “Construction Tools”. Sketch the initial polygon by allowing each vertex to snap to the corner points. At this point you should make the “Land Use” feature 50% transparent so that you can see the base map detail. You may also want to turn off the “Water Bodies” layer to decrease clutter.

To create the rest of the “Land Use” polygons you need to use the previously sketched “Line Features” as cutting edges with the “Cut Polygon” tool on the editor toolbar. As an example let’s cut the initial Land Use polygon into 2 parts using the northernmost wilderness boundary as a cutting edge. Follow these steps:

1. Make sure you are in edit mode. Select the edit tool (black triangle) from the editor toolbar.

2. Left click on the large “Land Use” polygon with the edit tool. This should highlight the entire polygon. Remember that before using the “cut polygon” tool you need to pre-select the polygon to be cut.

3. Select the “cut polygon” tool- the cursor should change to a cross. Move the cursor over the line cutting edge and right-click. From the popup menu select “replace sketch”. All of the vertices of the line cutting edge should “highlight” as green squares. Immediately right-click again and select “Finish sketch”.

4. If the cutting edge geometry is correct the highlighted polygon should now be “cut” into two separate polygons that are both selected. Whatever attributes existed for the original single polygon will be inherited by the 2 new polygons. Select the edit tool to get out of “Cut polygon” mode.

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5. If the polygon cut operation fails this means that something is wrong with the cutting edge geometry. The line cutting edge must be “snapped” exactly to the edge of the polygon to cut at both ends of the line. You should zoom in to where the cutting edge intersects the polygon edge and make sure the geometry is correct. Note that the cutting edge line can go outside the polygon to cut- therefore there can still be geometry problems even if the cut operation succeeds.

Use the above steps to proceed to cut out land use polygons. As soon as a new polygon has been created you may highlight it with the edit tool, and then right-click on it and select “Attributes” from the popup menu. You can then edit in the proper attribute for the selected polygon. You can edit the attributes as you create polygons, or you can systematically label them after creating all of the polygons- whatever suits your work preference. Remember that when you categorize the land use types in the “Symbology” window and select “Add all values” or “Add value” the list presented to you consists of all of the unique attributes entered for land use. If you want a complete list then you must have added at least one polygon of all the different category types. Also remember that all land use polygons should have a “colorless” border because they are all surrounded by a specific type of line feature. When setting the color of a land use polygon be sure to make the polygon boundary “no color”.

When you sketch/edit the project features please note the below issues:

1. Make sure to “snap” line work to the boundary line with “edge” snap. If you are sketching a closed boundary that will be used as a “cutting edge” with the cut polygon tool (i.e. campground and developed areas) make sure that you snap the last vertex to the starting vertex with “end” snap.

2. Do not merge multiple lines that meet at “branching points”. Snap them together so there is no gap between them, but don’t merge them.

3. Make sure that all lines are assigned a type attribute tag. The easy way to check this is to open the attribute table.

4. When you are in edit mode it is very easy to accidentally “move” a polygon. For example if you are trying to move the vertex of a line feature that will be the cutting edge for “cut polygon” it is easy to miss the vertex and hit the adjacent polygon. If you then try to “drag” the vertex with a moving left-click the polygon will be moved instead. If you do this in an obvious way you see it and it is easy to “undo” the move. However, if the move is slight you may not see it immediately. If you proceed to make a lot of correct additions/edits then it may become impossible to “undo” back the correct edit point. If this happens it is often more time efficient to simply delete all of the land use polygons, create the beginning land use polygon, and then use the “cut polygons” tool to re-cut the land use areas. Remember that there are only a dozen or so polygons so once the wilderness, campground, and developed line features are complete it should only take about 15 minutes to re-cut the land use polygons. You should also note that when any feature is selected the

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standard edit mode mouse cursor changes from a black arrow pointer to a black pointer with an added 4 direction cross. Any motion of the mouse with the left-mouse button clicked will move whatever is selected.

5. You can use the “Draw” tools to add text annotations in layout mode, however, text will be added in “page” coordinates not mapping coordinates. If the scale of the map or if the data frame is moved the text will not move with the map. The bottom line is that if the annotation needs to be tied to map coordinates then use an annotation feature class to add annotations (see next step).

Step 7- Add Annotations

To add annotations, add the annotation feature class from the geodatabase file, and then start edit mode. As before, select “create features”, select the “Annotations” from the “Create Features” window, and then select “Horizontal” from the “Construction Tools” sub-window. With the cursor left-click where you want the text to appear on the map. The default value of “Text” will be inserted at the cursor position. Use the edit tool to select, and then right-click on the selection to modify the text. Note that using the “<enter>” key will generate a new line in the text box. You can control the font size from this window also.

Note that if the “View” is in “Data View” the text is placed using mapping coordinates. If the view is set to “Layout View” you can use the “Drawing” tools to add text labels in page coordinates. These coordinates would not be part of the geodatabase file.

If you have trouble controlling the size of text or point symbols you may have not set the reference scale. The symptom is when you zoom in/out the font/symbol size seems to remain constant relative to the screen. To correct this right-click on the top TOC name, select “properties” from the popup menu, and then select “General”. Set the reference scale to 1:48,000, the same as the output scale.

To make the text labels for campgrounds and developed areas more visible you should set a color fill background. You can do this from the attribute window with “Symbol > Edit Symbol > Advanced Text > Text Background > Border Symbol > Fill Color”.

Step 8- Editing Polygon and Line features

After adding and cutting out significant numbers of line features and land use polygons you may determine that some of the edges of the polygons/lines may need to be adjusted to better match the base map. Remember that all of the polygon edges should coincide with a line feature vertex-by-vertex so you should make changes carefully. Before making changes consider the following:

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1. You may insert additional vertices into a line or polygon edge at any time with the edit tool. This could be done to smooth out curved boundaries for example. The new position may be controlled by snap settings.

2. You may move vertices with the edit tool at any time. The new position may be controlled by a snap setting.

3. In a lot of cases if you need to change the edge geometry of a polygon you will also need to change the bounding line geometry in the same way. You can use the “Topology Edit” tool to do this simultaneously.

The “Topology Edit” tool is extremely useful for this project and future projects. The below steps and Figures 8-10 outline how to use it:

1. Activate the “Topology” toolbar.2. Select the “Select Topology” button and check features as in Figure 8 below.3. Select the “Topology Edit” tool and highlight the topology edge that you wish

to modify. The edge should highlight as a magenta color.4. Right-click on the highlighted edge and then select “Modify Edge”. The

vertices should now highlight as green squares as in Figure 9.5. You can now left-click and drag the vertices to a new position (Figure 10).

When you do this, then left-click elsewhere on the map to de-select and the new topology will redraw. Note that both the polygon and line feature are changed simultaneously.

6. Note also if you use the topology edit tool to insert a vertex the new vertex position is added simultaneously to both the polygon and line feature.

The Topology Edit tool is far superior to manually editing both the polygon and line features separately. Use it whenever possible.

Figure 8: Select Topology button in the Topology toolbar.

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Figure 9: Modify Edge option in Topology Edit toolbar.

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Figure 10: Modify edge operation in the Edit Topology toolbar.

Step 9 – Layout and Printing

As usual you should choose the “File > Page and Print Setup” to set the media size for hard copy output. For this project we will plot the hard copy at 1:48,000 scale on 8.5 by 11.0 inch media (Letter size). We can use the printer in the lab so choose the appropriate printer driver from the device list. If you are not sure about the printer device choose the “Microsoft XPS Document Printer” device. Complete the settings in the window as indicated in Figure 11.

Next, select from the main menu “View > Layout View”. Follow the steps to setup for plotting a hard copy of the map:

1. With the selection tool highlight the frame containing the map with a left-click. Right-click on the highlighted data frame, and select “properties”.

2. In the “Data Frame” tab set a fixed scale of 1:48,0003. In the “Grid” tab create a measured grid with 2000m spacing4. Use the “Insert” menu to insert a graphical scale, RF, Title, North Arrow and

Legend. Use the example map handed out in class as a guide.

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After completing the above steps use the “File > Print” menu selection to print the map. Remember to select the appropriate output device from the list of printers. Figure 12 contains an example of the final map layout.

Step 10- Calculations

A week after plotting the Yosemite project map you will be tested on a variety of database query operations. Use the below example questions to prepare for the test:

1. How many acres are contained within the:Campground areas:_________________Developed areas: __________________Yosemite Valley area within project boundary: ______________________Wilderness Areas within project boundary: __________________

2. The NPS needs to replant the all of the campgrounds with a disease-resistant turf grass, however, doing so is not cost-effective unless the individual area to be re-planted is larger than 12 acres (i.e. exclude any area <= 12.0 acres). How many acres of new grass sod should the NPS order? _______________

3. How many miles of minor roads are present in the Yosemite Valley area? ______________

4. How Many Miles of trails are located within the study area? _______________

5. Which campground area has the largest acreage? ________________________

6. Excluding the Radio Facility and Water Tank Area, which developed area has the smallest acreage? _________________________

7. Use a definition query to print a map of the project area displaying only the developed and campground areas in the land use feature class (i.e. other polygons in the land use polygon feature class are suppressed). All other features should print as in the initial project map.

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Figure 11: Page and Print Setup

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Figure 12: Example of Final Map Format

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