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

Seeing the GPS File in ArcMap

A GPS file is basically a file of individual three-dimensional spatial points, or fixes. The fundamental form of each point is a latitude value, a longitude value, and an altitude value. When this file was converted to a point shapefile, the latitudes and longitudes were converted to Cartesian northings and eastings. Each altitude became represented as an attribute value associated with the appropriate point.

____ 3. Add the layer Boat_SP83.shp:6 To add the file, select File > Add Data > Add Data. In the Add Data window, find the Contents View Type drop-down button. Select Details. Repeatedly press the Up One Level button until it is no longer active. Activate the drop-down menu for the Look in field. Highlight Folder Connections and click. Navigate to the River folder you connected to earlier and pounce.7 Find and highlight Boat_SP83.shp. The results will look something like Figure 2-10. Press the Add button. (Ignore any warnings.) In the left-hand pane (the T/C, as you saw previously), you will see the Boat_SP83 entry. In the right-hand pane, which is formally called a data frame, you should see a GPS track composed of a plotting symbol that looks like a diamond or a dot. The track resembles a fishhook. Compare with Figure 2-11.

FIGURE 2-10

FIGURE 2-11

____ 4. Make the color of the plotting symbol bright red: The plotting symbol color has ...