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

An (Almost) New Software Package: ArcScene

ArcScene is the software package you saw briefly in Chapter 2. We will use it to look at multiple 3-D data sets simultaneously. If we want to look at an individual data set, we can use ArcCatalog, using 3D View Preview. ArcScene operates a lot like ArcMap.

_____ Before starting the exercise that follows, let’s get into a three-dimensional, “large view of the world” frame of mind. Start Menu > All Programs > ArcGIS > ArcGlobe. Initialize with a Blank Globe. Make the window occupy the full screen. In Globe Layers, turn off all layers except Imagery. Under the Customize menu, click Toolbars and place a check mark beside Spin to bring up the Spin toolbar. In the Speed text box, type 2.0. Click the Spin Counter Clockwise button (that’s counterclockwise when looking down on the North Pole—this is the way Earth spins). (I suggest you turn off the stars3 – although they look kind of neat. Right-click on “Globe layers” and select Properties. Click off the Stars.) Sit back and be impressed for at least three revolutions. Stop the Earth (Stop Spin button). Click Draped layers. Add as data:

[___] IGIS-Arc\Other_Data\Countries\Countries.lyr

Press Navigate on the Tools toolbar. (Hint: Find it with the ToolTip). Restart rotation. When your country shows up stop the spin. Use the left and right mouse buttons to position the globe so that you are looking at the middle of your location in your county from about a thousand kilometers away.4 Restart the counterclockwise ...