UNICEF GIS for Planners Hands-On Tutorial

Printed in India.

Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Companies, names and data used in examples herein are fictitious unless otherwise noted. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of UNICEF.

December 1996

Microsoft is a registered trademark, and Windows and FoxPro are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States of America and other countries. Atlas GIS for Windows is a software product owned by Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI), USA.

Lesson 1 Overview of GIS

Lesson 2 Data for Maps

Lesson 3 Tour of Atlas GIS

Lesson 4 Linking Data to a Map

Lesson 5 Saving Map Project Files

Lesson 6 Creating a Thematic Map

Lesson 7 Layout, Labeling and Annotation

Lesson 8 Printing

Frequently Asked Questions

The Page window displays an image of the page as it will appear when it is finally printed. This is the primary window where all direct interaction with the map and page takes place. It contains the map frames (maximum of 4), title, map scale and legends.

Data are stored in table files. These files end in the extension .DBF and are compatible with common data base management software applications, like dBASE and FoxPro. Data entered in spreadsheets can be automatically converted to table files for use with Atlas GIS.

Geographic information required to create maps is stored in geo files. There are several types of geo files which work together to create a map with all its features. The main file ends in the extension .AGF, and its associated files end in the following extensions: .AIF, .AGX and .AWX. Geo files are created by digitizing paper maps and are linked with GIS software packages to create maps. UNICEF ROSA has a library of geo files for all countries in South Asia.

Project files have the extension .PRJ and store the names of the .DBF and .AGF files need to create the map. It also contains information on the map’s labels and the appearance of titles, scales and legends.

Create a Project directory called C:\SASIA on the hard disk. This is where you will store all the files to create the map. (See page 29 for detailed instructions on creating directories.)

Copy the spreadsheet file IMR.xls or data base file IMR.dbf (created in Lesson 2) to the Project directory . If you are using a spreadsheet file, it will be converted automatically by Atlas GIS to a data base file, .DBF, which will subsequently be linked to the geo files to create a map. (See page 29 for detailed instructions on copying files.)

Copy the geo files of the countries of South Asia to the Project directory. The files you need are:

Click File | Open on the Menu bar to display the Open dialog box. Select Geo (*.agf) from the List Files of Type drop-down list. Click on the Geo file named Atlas_0a.agf. Click OK. Repeat the process to open the Geo file named K_lg.agf.

The following map of South Asia will appear.

Click Window | New Table Window… from the Menu bar to display the following dialog box. Then click OK.

The following table will be displayed showing the contents of the geo files.

Close this table window before going on.

To create a range filled map of South Asia based on IMR, click Map | Layers & Themes on the Menu bar to display the Layers & Themes dialog box. Note that there are several layers shown, but some layers are turned on while others are off ( ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ appears immediately after the Layer Name under the Layer On column). Select the Atlas_0a_23_1 layer for a theme by clicking the Layer name. Be sure that this layer is turned on by ensuring that the word ‘Yes’ appears under the ‘Layer On’ column immediately after the Layer Name. If the word ‘No’ appears, click it to change it to ‘Yes.’

Click the Theme option button to change the lower subpanel to display the theme information for the selected layer. In the Theme subpanel, click the Theme On check box. Then, in the Variable 1 group box, click on the Expression […] button to display the Expression Builder.

Double click on DATA_VALUE in the Columns list to select this value as the value of the IMR for each region. Click OK to return to the Layers & Themes dialog box.

In the Variable 1 group box, choose Ranged Fill in the Map Type list box. Click the Ranges… button to display the Ranged Fill dialog box.

In the Ranging box, click the Method list to display the various options for determining ranges. Choose Quantiles from the Method list. Change the Number of Ranges to 3. Press the Calculate button to update the ranges that will be depicted in the map.

Notice that the bottom half of the dialog box now has three ranges as show below.

Click on the Color swatch of one of the ranges to display the Color dialog box. Click on a Constant color to change the color for the selected range. Change the colors of the ranges to yellow, orange and red. Click OK to return to the Layers & Themes dialog box.

Click OK on the Layers & Themes dialog box to view the thematic map below.

To customize the theme legend, right click on it to display the Theme Legend - Ranged dialog box. In the Legend box, change the Title to ‘IMR.’

In the Layout box, click the Vertical Spacing: Expand to Fill option.

In the Descriptions box, click the Custom option. Then enter custom labels for the three ranges as, Low, Medium and High. Then click OK to return to the map.

Right click the title box on the map to display the Title dialog box. Change the Line 1 of the title to "INFANT MORTALITY RATE" and Line 2 to "SOUTH ASIA." Then click OK to return to the map.

Click File | Save from the Menu Bar to save the work that you have done this far to IND1.PRJ project file.

Layers allow you to graphically depict different kinds of features.

Right click anywhere in the map frame to display the Layers & Themes dialog box. Select any layer and turn it on (‘Yes’ immediately after the Layer Name). Click the Style option (on the lower left side of the screen). The lower subpanel changes to display Line and Fill boxes. Change the Line Style or Fill Color for the layer selected.

Right click anywhere in the map frame to display the Layers & Themes dialog box. In the Layers box, toggle the Labels On column setting for the layer Atlas_0a_23_1 to ‘Yes.’ Then click the Labels option button on the lower left side of the dialog box. Notice that the subpanel changes to display the label options for the layer. In the Label Expression group box, Line 1 displays the expression for the first line of the label. You can have two-line labels, such as the name of the map feature in the first line and the value of an indicator in the second line.

Click on the Text Style button to change the font used for the label or to create a frame around the label.

Click OK to view the map with labels.

You can change the layout of the page by choosing Map | Legends & Frames from the Menu bar to display the Legends & Frames dialog box. In this box, toggle map frames, map legends and theme legends on or off.

Click on the Page button of the Tool bar to work with page frames. Click on the Title frame to select it. Notice that edit handles appear on the frame around the title. Drag the edit handle on the right side of the frame to increase the width of the Title frame. Click on the Map frame to resize it. Click on the theme and layer legend boxes to resize them.

Click File | Page Setup… on the Menu bar to specify the page size, margins and default sizing method for the page which will contain the final printed map.

Click File | Print… to display the Print dialog box to specify the number of copies to print and the Sizing Method. The Sizing Method has been set to Best Fit in this example. The map will be printed on two pages as shown in the blue and white box on the right side of the screen. To print the map on one page, select Fit to One Sheet of Paper. This will reduce the size of the map to dimensions of one sheet of paper. Select Actual Size to print the map at the same size as the page size. This may result in the map printing on one page, if the dimensions are smaller than the paper or tiled on several pages if the dimensions of the map are larger than one piece of paper. Click OK to send the map to the printer specified.

Advanced GIS Features

This hands-on tutorial introduces the basic features of Atlas GIS. There are many advanced features which are explained in the Atlas GIS User’s Guide and the Atlas GIS Reference Guide. These features include:

Frequently Asked Questions

Step 1 Double-click the File Manager icon to start the application.

Step 2 Click the C:\ directory symbol at the top of the directory tree

in the left pane of the C:\*.* window.

Step 3 Click File | Create Directory… from the main menu to display

the Create Directory dialog box.

Step 4 Center the new directory name SASIA in the slot provided

in the Create Directory dialog box. Click OK.

Step 5 Click File | Exit from the main menu to exit.

Step 1 At the C: prompt, type the Make Directory command:

MD ASIA [Enter]

Step 1 Double click the File Manager icon to start the application and

to display one window.

Step 2 Click Window | New Window from the main menu to open a

second window.

Step 3 Click Window | Tile to arrange the two windows neatly in the space

available on the screen, one above the other.

Step 4 Click the C:\SASIA directory in the left pane of the upper window.

Step 5 Insert the floppy with files to be copied into Drive A.

Step 6 Click the Drive A icon at the upper left corner of the lower window.

The window will now display the directory of files on the floppy diskette.

Step 7 To copy a file from the floppy diskette to C:\SASIA, click and drag

"Click and drag" means to position the mouse over the name of the file,

then, hold the left mouse button down while moving the mouse to

the position on the screen where you want to move the file name.

Release the mouse button when you have reached the place on the

screen where you want to move the file.

Step 1 Click Map | Layers and themes from the Main menu.

Step 2 Click the Layer Name of the layer of labels you wish to change.

Step 3 Click the Labels button on the lower left side of the window.

Step 4 Click the Text Style button on the right side of the window.

Step 5 Click the Frame On box to make a box around each label.

Step 6 Click the Frame Style button to adjust the appearance of the

line, fill, corners and shadow of the label frame, if desired.

Step 1 Although it is possible to create a theme based on two variables, related to

to one layer, you must then select one of the two as the controlling variable.

When the two variables that you want to display are independent, one

solution is to create two layers for the same geographic areas and then create

one theme for each of the layers.

To begin this process, click Query | Select by Layer… to select the layer that

you want to depict with two variables. Click the name of the layer that you want

in the Select by Layer dialog box, then click OK to return to the main screen.

The features of the layer you have selected will be highlighted now.

Step 2 Click Edit | Copy to Layer… to display the Copy to Layer dialog box.

Step 3 Select the name of the layer to copy features from.

Step 4 Click the Selected Features Only box.

Step 5 Click the New Layer… button.

Step 6 Enter the name of the new layer and a description. Click OK.

Step 7 Click OK to create the new layer and to copy the features to it.

Step 8 Click Map | Layers and Themes… to display the Layers and Themes dialog box.

Step 9 Create a ranged fill theme based on one variable for one of the two layers.

Step 10 Create a proportional symbol theme based on another variable

Step 1 Click File | Preferences from the main menu.

Step 2 Click the Units button on the left of the windows.

Step 3 Change Map Distances from miles to kilometres, and

change other units, if desired.