button.
Step 2: Add a New View
You will notice a menu bar along the top of the ArcView
window and an Untitled project window containing Views, Tables, Charts,
Layouts, and Scripts. These are project documents and you will use
them to create a create a new Project. To add a new view to the project,
click the 
icon once with your mouse and then click the 
button.
Step 3: Resize the Window
An empty window appears on the screen titled View1.
Notice the new menu bar and tool bar at the top of the ArcView window.
Click once on the top of the View1 window to activate
this window. You will know that the window is activated when the
bar across the top of the window appears in color. Now, move the
mouse over the bar at the top of the active window, hold the left mouse
button down, and drag the window. If you would like to resize
the window, move your mouse to one of the four corners. When the
pointer changes to 
,
hold the left mouse button down, and resize the window.
Step 4: Set the Working Directory
When you set the working directory, you are telling ArcView where to save your files. Your teacher will give you a pathname that tells where your working directory is located. Click on File in the menu bar, and select Set Working Directory from the drop down menu. The Work Directory window will appear. Type in the pathname that you will be using and click OK. This directory must be designated before you begin this project.
Step 5: Create a Project
Click on the bar at the top of the Untitled window to make it active. Click on File in the menu bar and then click Save Project As. Check to make sure that you are in the proper working directory. If the pathname is incorrect return to Step 4. Replace the proj1.apr with Africa.apr and click OK. Africa.apr should appear at the top of the project window.
Step 6: Add a theme to the View and Turn it On
Make the View1 window active and click once on
the 
button with your mouse. The Add Theme window will appear. Select
the wrld_pop.shp file, hold the Shift button down, and select ltlg20.shp.
Holding the Shift button down allows you to select more than one shapefile
at a time. Now click Ok. These themes will be added
to your view, but you will not be able to see them until you turn them
on. Click on the box to the left of each theme to turn it on. Your
Legend should look like this.
Step 7: Arrange the Layers
The order in which the themes appear is dependent upon the order that they appear in the Legend. The themes at the top of the Legend are drawn on the top of the view. The themes at the bottom of the Legend are drawn on the bottom of the view. Sometimes when you have multiple themes displayed, one theme will cover another. For instance, point and line layers should usually be displayed at the top of the Legend, while polygon layers act as backgrounds and should be displayed at the bottom of the Legend. (Return to Key Terms if you don't remember what these are.) To rearrange the layers, click on the theme name that you would like to move. When a theme is selected it will appear as a raised box. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the box up or down the list.
Do you notice any changes in the view?
Step 8: Change the Theme Symbology
When you first open a theme, ArcView sets the symbol and color for you. To customize the wrld_pop.shp theme, double click on wrld_pop.shp in the Legend. This will open the Legend Editor window.
Now, double click on the symbol in the Legend Editor to open the Palette window.
The buttons in this window allow you to change the fill
pattern 
,
the line symbols 
,
the marker symbols 
,
the text symbols 
,
and the colors 
of your theme.
Click on the
button and choose a new color for wrld_pop.shp. Click on the 
button and select Close from the dropdown menu. Now
click 
in the Legend Editor. This will change the color of the wrld_pop.shp
theme. Click on the
button and Close the window.
Step 9: Change Theme Names and View Names
To change a theme name, make the theme that you want to change active. Select Theme from the ArcView menu bar and click on Properties in the drop down menu. This will open the Theme Properties window. Change the name from wrld_pop.shp to World Pop and click OK. Repeat this step and change the name of Latlg20.shp to 20 Deg Lat/Long. Your Legend should look like this.
It is helpful to change the View name so that you can remember what is displayed in it later. Activate the View1 window, click on View in the ArcView menu bar, and click on Properties in the drop down menu. This will open the View Properties window. Change the name from View1 to World View and click OK. You should be able to see the new name at the top of the View window.
Step 10: Zoom In and Out
You need to view the African continent in more detail.
Make the World View window active and click on the 
button. Move the mouse into the active window, hold the left button
down, and draw a box around the African continent. You should now see a
more detailed view of Africa.
If you're a little too close, click on the 
button in the ArcView toolbar, move your mouse over Africa and click once.
This will allow you to zoom out from an area. If you would like to
view the entire world again, click on the 
button.
Step 11: Open a Theme Table
Make the World Pop theme active and click on the 
button. The Attributes of World window will open.
Every shapefile has an attribute table that contains descriptive information about the geographic features (shapes) that it contains. Each geographic feature is represented by one record (row) and the different fields (columns) describe it's attributes (characteristics). For instance, scroll to the right until you see the field titled Worldreg. This stands for World Region and it tells you what region each record or country belongs to. If you have time, look at the different attribute fields.
Step 12: Do a Query
We will be focusing on the African Continent and so you
will need to query the World Pop theme to find all of the information
about Africa. Make the Attributes of World Pop window
active and click on the 
button. A query window named Attributes of World Pop will open.
Notice that all of the columns from the attribute table are listed under
Fields.
Double click on the [Continent] Field. It should appear in
the query box below. Now click the on the 
button, and double click "Africa" under Values. Your
query window should look like this.
Click the 
button and the Attributes of World Pop window will close. Look at the World
Pop attribute table and notice how all of the records for Africa are
highlighted in yellow. If you look at the World View window
you will also notice that two of the African countries have not been selected.
To add these countries to the selection, click on the 
button. Move the mouse into the World View window and click on one
of the countries that has not been selected. It should turn yellow,
which means that it has been selected. Hold the Shift key down
and click on the other country. Now all of the countries in Africa
have been selected and should all appear in yellow.
If you have made a mistake during the query, make the
attribute table active, and click the 
button. This will unselect all of the records and you can try the
query again.
Step 13: Create a Shapefile
Since we will be focusing on Africa, we need to make a shapefile of Africa from the World Pop theme. Make the World View window active and make sure that all of the records for Africa are still highlighted in yellow. Go to the ArcView Menu, click on Theme, and then click on Convert to Shapefile in the drop down menu. This will open the Convert World Pop window. Change the file name to Africa.shp and click Ok. Another window will open asking if you would like to Add the shapefile as theme to the view? Click Ok.
Now let's clean up. Turn the africa.shp theme on
and turn off the World Pop theme. Make the World
Pop theme active and click the
button to unselect the records. Close the Attributes of WorldPop
window.
Change the name of the africa.shp theme to Africa and change the
color of it's symbology.
Step 14: Save the Project
Make the Africa.apr project window active. Go to File in the ArcView menu and click Save Project in the drop down menu. At this point you can either continue on to the next lesson or exit ArcView. To exit ArcView, click File and choose Close Project from the drop down menu. Then, click File again and select Exit.
If you have time to continue on to the next lesson, close the World View window, and go to Lesson 2.
Key Terms
Lesson 2: Population Density
Lesson 3: Growth Rates
Lesson 4: Population Distribution
Return to
Home Page
eposton@cnr.colostate.edu