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

Using ArcToolbox to Make Buffer Zones around the Roads

____ 7. Start ArcToolbox. Navigate to Analysis Tools > Proximity > Multiple Ring Buffer. Start the tool. You will use Buffer to make a buffer around the roads. For Input Features browse to

___IGIS-Arc_YourInitials\Wildcat_Boat_Data\Wildcat_Boat.mdb\Line_Features\Roads

click it and click Add. (Alternatively select Roads from the dropdown menu.)

For Output Feature Class browse to

___IGIS-Arc_YourInitials\Wildcat_Boat_Data\Wildcat_Boat.mdb\Area_Features

and supply the Name Buffer_of_Roads. Click Save. For Distances type in 44 and then press the plus icon. Make the Buffer Unit Meters. For Field Name, type Radius. Make the Dissolve Type ALL. OK. Be patient. When computation ceases the buffer will be added to the map. Zoom to full extent.

You noticed that you got the input from Line_Features and put the output in Area_Features. It’s appropriate to save it there because, as you will remember, buffers are always polygons regardless of the type of feature being buffered.

____ 8. In the T/C move the name Buffer_of_Roads below Roads. Turn the Sewers layer off. Note that you see three distinct buffered areas.

____ 9. Display the attribute table for the Buffer_of_Roads layer. Because you dissolved the barriers between the buffers and the tool generates multipart polygons, you will see only one record. The shape length and shape area will subsume all three polygons. Note that an attribute called Radius was created; its value ...