Introducing Geographic Information Systems with ArcGIS: A Workbook Approach to Learning GIS, 3rd Edition

The Catalog Tree

As you recall, the main portion of the default ArcCatalog window is usually divided into two panes. On the left you find the Catalog Tree.7 The Catalog Tree, when expanded, gives an overall view of the names of your data sets. You can also look with varying levels of detail at all the data on all the disk drives of the computer by expanding the entries (items)8 in the tree. In this way, ArcCatalog’s presentation is like Windows Explorer. A plus sign (+) indicates that (usually) a given disk drive or folder contains additional folders or files that are hidden from view. A minus sign (–) preceding an entry indicates that any additional folders or files that are directly contained within an entry are displayed below that entry. A click on a plus sign changes it to a minus and expands the entry; a click on a minus sign collapses the list and shows a plus again.

____ 7. With ArcCatalog running, press the Contents tab in the right pane to make it active. In the Catalog Tree, click the hard drive designator of the path [___].9 The folders on that hard drive will appear in the right pane. Click the plus sign next to the entry for the hard drive. The folders that are within that path are then displayed, approximately mirroring the contents of the right pane. From the left pane, navigate (if necessary) to IGIS-Arc and highlight it. Click the plus sign in front of the name. In the right pane you should see sixteen entries: Address_Geocoding, Elevation_Data, and so on. ...