We have been working with a small school in Orderville, Utah on an excellent mapping project – There are only two people alive who know the layout of the town’s irrigation system, and they are getting along in age. The Principals of Technology teacher, Alan DeMille, thought it would be a good idea and a great project to get his kids out in the field with these gentlemen to mark the existing locations of the important valves, access points and other points of interest and create a map to serve as a reference for years to come. This is exactly what students should be doing in school – working on real problems and creating real products.
Since our initial instruction time with the group turned into a hard lesson on setting map projections before waypoints are loaded and addedto a map, we had to hurry through some important topics on how to do the basics in ArcMap. I’ve created some how-to videos to serve as a reference for the work that these kids do, and I thought that it would be helpful to other teachers, students, and technology trainers in Utah.
Here we go! (Note: To view the full-size videos, follow the “View on screencast.com >>” links beneath each video)
Bringing in the background map image from the image.agrc.utah.gov server (Note: If you do not have the “Add Image Server Connection” button that I use in the following video, here’s how you add this – Open ArcMap, choose Tools –> Customize. Choose the Commands tab, scroll down to Image Server Category. Grab the “Add Image Service” button and drag to toolbar. Click on the Add Image Service button to Open the Add Image Service dialog box. Enter the server name (image.agrc.utah.gov) and hit enter.):
Setting up the map projection and adding waypoints from a file or from a GPS with DNR Garmin:
Downloading vector data from http://gis.utah.gov/sgid:
Extracting the vector data files, and adding the layers into the map:
Changing the appearance of GPS points and vector lines and overlays:
Working in Layout Mode – adding titles, legends, map scales, compass rose, etc.:
Labeling data points: