Digital Chart of the World Sample ArcView Project
Introduction | Loading the Sample Project | Finding Tiles | Sample NC Data | Utility Themes
Introduction
The sample arcview project was put together to provide an easy way to view some of the DCW data. Its two main components are a tile reference view and two sample North Carolina views.
If you are not familiar with ArcView there is an
ArcView tutorial on line and instructions for bringing additional DCW data into ArcView
Starting ArcView and Loading the Sample Project
ArcView is an easy to use map display package. It is installed under UNITY and is available to any NCSU students, faculty and staff. To start ArcView under UNITY" add arcview and then type "arcview". This will bring up ArcView. To load the sample project select the "File:Open Project" menu. A menu allowing you to navigate through the file system and select a project will appear. If you have added the
Geodata locker using "add geodata", then navigate to "/ncsu/geodata/dcw".
(If you have not added the geodata locker then navigate to "/afs/unity.ncsu.edu/dist/geodata/dcw").
The choice of "dcw.sample.apr" should appear. Click on it and then on the "OK" button.
Using the ArcView Project to Find a Tile
As discussed at length in the DCW tiling description, the DCW data is organized into tiles that are each 5 degrees x 5 degrees in size. One view, the 'Tile Locator View', can be used to identify the tile names for specific areas of the globe.
- Click on the project index to the left of the window.
- Double click on the entry 'Tile Locator View'. This will open the view. Initially, outlines of the major countries will be visable.
- Now use the zoom tool to zoom in on the area of interest. The zoom tool is a button containing a magnifying glass and plus sign. Click on the button to activate the tool. Then move the cursor to one corner of the area you are interested in. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor to the opposite corner of the area. When you release, the view will redraw to the area of interest.
- Finally, turn the "tileref" theme on. To do this click on a small box in the table of contents entry to the left of the view window. The tile names should now draw on screen.
A note of caution. If your area of interest is very large or if you turn on the tileref theme for the whole globe, it may take a few minutes to redraw the view.
Sample North Carolina Data
The view 'Tile GJ32 (...) Sample Themes' contains sample DCW data for the area around the triangle (and beyond). The view 'Tile GJ22 (...) Sample Themes' contains data for the tile North and West of Chrlotte (NC). Each DCW data layer (containing data) have been incorporated in the views. The themes can be made visable by clicking the little box on the left side of the themes table of contents entry. The attribute tables associated with a theme can be brought up by making that theme active, then selecting the menu entry Theme:Table...
Utility Themes
The most useful themes from the utility directory have been brought into the 'Utility Themes' view. These themes are:
- Tileref -
The tile polygons for the entire globe. The attribute table contains the tile names. This and the Libref theme are used in the 'Tile Locator View'.
- Libref -
This contains a generalized (1:31 million) coast line for the globe. For map production you may want to use the ArcWorld data rather than this.
- Dnnet (arc and poly) -
This theme contains the generalized lakes (poly) and streams and rivers (arc) for the globe.
- Ponet -
Political and oceans polygon type. This theme differentiates between land and ocean for the globe.
- Pppoint -
Populated places. These points identify 318 of the largest cities. The attribute table 'Attributes of Pppoint' contains names for these cities.
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