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GIS PageGIS resources are being collected on the department file server. The goals of this workshop are:
| Arc Info: | The tool of choice for high end GIS analysts. It is controlled by thousands of commands in a command line environment . This product has a steep learning curve. Experts do little else with their time. |
| Arcview: | This is a more user friendly, point and click GIS. While professional analysts still consider this a "watered down" version of Arc Info, making use of it's analytical features requires a good deal training in data bases. Projects can be designed in ways to be accessible to first time users. |
| Arc Explorer: | This is a tool mainly for display of GIS data. It has little analytical capability. Projects may be created for new users in a friendly point and click environment. Its main virtue is that it is free. |
Arcview and ArcInfo have numerous "extensions" that either accompany the main program, or may be purchased separately. These are programs that "extend" the capabilities of the main software. For example, to work with Raster data, Arcview requires an extension called: Spatial Analyst.
Arcview File Structure:
Acquiring, formatting and co-registration of GIS data is the first challenge set of using a GIS. Part of the difficulty is in basic terminology, another challenge is understanding file structure. A single GIS layer may be described by a half dozen different files. An assembled group of files that bring various data together for display or analysis is organized in a "Project File."
The basic Spatial Data used by Arcview is called a "Shape File." A shape file is vector based data and is made up of at least 3 files. With the spatial analyst extension, Arcview can import raster based data that will be converted to an ArcInfo format. These files are called "Grid Data."
Look at Image Map of Spatial Data file types.