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

Using ArcCatalog to Place Data in ArcMap

You have examined ArcCatalog and have used ArcCatalog to find and connect to data sets you want and to explore them. As previously described, ArcMap is the other major component of ArcGIS Desktop. ArcMap lets you see, create, examine, query, edit, and develop geographic data and maps. Your first step in using ArcMap is to place the data you have found with ArcCatalog into ArcMap. There are several ways to do this. Four are described in the following discussion. First, you need to perform a couple of setup steps.

____ 39. From the ArcCatalog Standard toolbar, launch ArcMap. You want to start with a new, empty, blank map. One way to do this is just to press Cancel. Make ArcMap occupy the full area of the monitor screen.

____ 40. Now do either of the next two steps to put ArcCatalog and ArcMap on the screen at the same time.

____ 41. Right-click an empty area of the Windows taskbar to bring up a menu. (The Windows taskbar will be located on one of the four edges of your monitor screen; it contains the Start button.) From this menu, select “Show windows side by side” (In Windows XP: “ Tile Windows Vertically”). If necessary, minimize any windows besides ArcCatalog or ArcMap that appear, and “re-tile.”23

____ 42. If the preceding procedure didn’t work for you, try this: Click the middle icon (named Restore Down) of the three in the far upper right of the ArcMap window. That has the effect of reducing the size of the window. By dragging ...