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Welcome to ArcGIS Desktop Help
Copyright information
Acknowledgements
GIS Dictionary
What's new in ArcGIS
Getting started
Fundamentals of GIS
Introducing ArcGIS Desktop
Tutorials
Toolbars
Getting more help

Using this Help system

Getting help within the applications

ArcGIS Desktop Resource Center

ArcGIS Desktop Documentation Library

Accessing ESRI Software Training

Using the GIS Dictionary

Contacting Technical Support

Support for users located outside the United States

Contacting ESRI
Map projections and coordinate systems
Mapping and visualization
An overview of mapping and visualization
Using ArcMap

Layers, data frames, and the table of contents

Starting ArcMap

Creating a new map

Opening a map

Using the table of contents

About coordinate systems and map projections

Specifying a coordinate system

Referencing data in the map

Working with data frames

Pausing the map's drawing

Saving a map and exiting ArcMap

Saving to previous versions of ArcGIS

Keyboard shortcuts in ArcMap
Working with layers

Adding layers to a map

Adding a layer package to your map

Adding x,y coordinate data as a layer

Changing a layer's drawing order

Changing a layer's text description

Setting layer properties

Managing group layers

Saving a layer to disk

Copying layers

Displaying layers at certain scales

Displaying a subset of features in a layer

Repairing broken data links

Viewing a layer's metadata in ArcMap

Setting HTML pop-up properties for feature layers
Navigating and interacting with maps
Adding graphics and text to maps
Symbolizing data
Applying symbology
Styles and symbols
Animation
Getting started with animation
Animation concepts
Building animations
Playing animations
Editing animations
Saving, exporting, and loading animations
Common animation work flows
Using cartographic representations
Page layout and map composition
Working with graphs and reports
Working with web maps in ArcGIS
Publishing optimized map services in ArcGIS
Editing and data compilation
Tables and attribute information
Understanding tables and attribute information

An overview of tables and attribute information

About tabular data sources

Common tables and attributes tasks

Keyboard shortcuts for working with tables
Creating tables and managing attribute information
Displaying tables and attribute information
Geoprocessing
Geoprocessing tool reference
Geodatabases and ArcSDE
An overview of the geodatabase
Architecture of a geodatabase
Designing a geodatabase
Building a geodatabase
Data management workflows, transactions, and versioning
Getting started with editing and maintaining data
Working with non-versioned data
Working with versioned data
Managing Distributed Data
Archiving data
Geodatabase data storage and schema

A short history lesson on simple features

How geodatabases are stored in a DBMS
Feature geometry and raster data storage
Inside a geodatabase in DB2
Inside a geodatabase in Informix
Inside a geodatabase in Oracle
Inside a geodatabase in PostgreSQL
Inside a geodatabase in SQL Server
Administering ArcSDE geodatabases
Administering File and Personal geodatabases

An overview of administering file and personal geodatabases

File geodatabases: compressing vs. compacting

Compacting file and personal geodatabases

About compressing file geodatabase data

Upgrading file and personal geodatabases

File geodatabases and Windows Explorer

File geodatabase size and name limits

File geodatabases and locking
Working with geodatabases using SQL
Data management with ArcCatalog

An overview of ArcCatalog

About workspaces
Getting started with ArcCatalog
Building the Catalog

About folders and file types

Managing folder connections

Creating and accessing geodatabases

Creating spatial database connections

Adding OLE DB connections

About database server connections

About GIS servers and services

Connecting to GIS servers

Working with database connections

Hiding folders and items

Altering the data formats read by ArcCatalog

Working with file types

Accessing delimited text file data
Managing the Catalog's contents
Exploring an item's geography

Previewing an item's geographic data

Exploring data in Geography view

Creating thumbnails
Searching for items
Working with metadata
Image and raster data management
Data support in ArcGIS

An overview of data support in ArcGIS

Data formats supported in ArcGIS
CAD data
The composition of a CAD drawing
Working with CAD data in ArcGIS
Displaying CAD features
Georeferencing CAD data
CAD feature attributes and queries
CAD data translation
Geoprocessing tools for CAD translation
Common CAD data workflows
Coverages
NetCDF: multidimensional, time series data
Shapefiles

About shapefiles, dBASE tables, and file types

Shapefile file extensions

Creating new shapefiles and dBASE tables

Adding and deleting fields in shapefiles

Creating and updating indexes in shapefiles

Defining a shapefile's coordinate system

How to salvage a corrupt shapefile
Terrains

An overview of terrain datasets

FAQs for terrain datasets

Terrain dataset troubleshooting

Known limitations of terrain datasets
Understanding terrain datasets
Properties of terrain datasets
Building terrain datasets
Managing terrain datasets
Terrain analysis
Terrain visualization
Extensions
Geocoding and address management
Getting started with geocoding
Understanding geocoding
Preparing for geocoding
Building an address locator

Defining the address locator components

Creating an address locator

Modifying an address locator's settings

Managing address locators in ArcMap

Managing address locators in ArcCatalog

Migrating address locators created with ArcGIS prior to version 9.2
Locating addresses
Additional geocoding techniques

Alternative searches

The Alternate Name table tab

The Alias Table dialog box

Building an address locator for alternative searches

Searching for an intersection

Building a composite address locator
Keeping an address locator current
Distributing your address locator
Adjusting your address locator file
About StreetMap data
Linear referencing
Getting started with linear referencing
Creating route feature classes
Displaying and querying route feature classes
Displaying and querying route events
Editing routes
Creating and editing event data

An overview of creating and editing event data

Creating event tables in ArcCatalog

About locating features along routes

Locating features along routes

Editing event tables in ArcMap
Working with route event data
Network analysis

Using the Network Analyst extension
Analyzing geometric networks

What is a geometric network?
Creating and managing geometric networks
Editing geometric networks
Analyzing geometric networks
Mobile GIS
Interoperability and standards support

Overview of interoperability

Overview of OGC and ISO support

ESRI protocols and programming interfaces
GML support in ArcGIS
WFS support in ArcGIS

An overview of WFS support in ArcGIS

Adding support for WFS in ArcGIS Desktop

How to work with WFS using ArcGIS Desktop
WCS support in ArcGIS

An overview of WCS support in ArcGIS
WMS support in ArcGIS
KML support in ArcGIS
Customizing and developing with ArcGIS

An overview of customizing ArcGIS
Customizing the user interface
Writing macros using VBA

Getting started with VBA

Creating, editing, and running macros

Creating custom commands with VBA and UI Controls

Adding custom commands and toolbars from .dlls

Updating the ArcID module

Locking documents and templates

Changing VBA security

Sample VBA code
Extending ArcGIS desktop applications
Guide to data that comes with ArcGIS
ESRI Data and Maps
Working with StreetMap data
Licensing and desktop administration
GIS Servers and services

An overview of GIS servers used with ArcGIS
Using ArcIMS with ArcGIS Desktop
Using ArcGIS Server with ArcGIS Desktop
Authoring and publishing services for ArcGIS Server
Administering ArcGIS Server with ArcCatalog
Creating and publishing web maps for ArcGIS Server