GIS 4043 Week 1 Lab

This week in Introduction to GIS was the start to learning about ArcGIS desktop.  The lab taught the basic components of using ArcGIS and more specifically ArcMap. 

We first learned how to import shapefiles from our data.  The two shapefiles were the "Cities" and "World Countries".  The countries shapefile contained data on the population from 2007 which we could see from the attribute table.  The lab helped us locate certain countries by doing a Find.  Once we were done exploring all the tools, we created the map we wanted.

The first thing was adjusting the properties of each layer.  We changed the size and shape of the cities on the map.  We also changed the symbology of the World Countries shapefile. We selected to show the symbol by quantities.  The next step was to select what field that contained the attribute we wanted displayed, population.  Changing the color ramp helped define the population classes, which we adjusted to seven levels. 

The second part of the map was learning the key parts to a map.  The Insert menu contained the items we needed such as Title, Legend, Scale Bar, North Arrow, and Text box.  These elements helped explain the map.  Without these pieces the audience wouldn't know the population classes and what the map is telling.

Overall I felt this lab was very informative and helped me understand ArcMap even more.

The map I created is shown below.