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Welcome to ArcGIS Desktop Help
Copyright information
GIS Dictionary
What's new in ArcGIS Desktop 9.1
What was new in ArcGIS Desktop 9.0
Getting started

What is ArcGIS Desktop?

ArcGIS geodatabase

ArcGIS geoprocessing

ArcGIS geovisualization

ArcGIS Desktop extensions

GIS data structure types

Data types supported in ArcGIS
Desktop Administration
ArcCatalog
ArcMap
ArcReader
Geoprocessing in the ArcGIS environment

An overview of geoprocessing
Getting started with geoprocessing
Working with toolboxes
Working with toolsets and tools
Specifying environment settings
Using the Command Line window

An overview of the Command Line window

Starting the Command Line window

Working with the command line

About variables

Creating variables

Managing variables
Introducing model building
Using the ModelBuilder window

An overview of the ModelBuilder window

Building a model

Element states

Running a model

Using nonexistent output data

Working with variables

About intermediate data

Working with intermediate data

Controlling the flow of processing

Using the Select Data tool

Working with model elements

Adding text labels

Working with diagram properties

Changing diagram properties

Navigating in the model

Validating a model

Repairing a model

Print setup

Setting up and printing a model

Generating a report

Documenting a process

Importing a model from ArcView GIS 3

Exporting a model
Geoprocessing tool reference
Building a geodatabase
Getting started with building a geodatabase

An overview of building geodatabases

Designing a geodatabase

Copying the schema of a geodatabase

Ways to create a geodatabase

Creating a geodatabase

Accessing an ArcSDE geodatabase

Upgrading a geodatabase
Creating new items in geodatabases
Importing data

An overview of importing data

Importing feature classes

Importing tables

How data converts

Registering SDE layers and tables with the geodatabase

About loading data into existing feature classes and tables

Work flow strategies for loading data

Loading data in ArcMap

Loading data in ArcCatalog

About importing data from another geodatabase

Copying feature datasets, classes, and tables to another geodatabase

Exporting selected features and records to another geodatabase

Sending data to another user

About exporting geodatabase data to an export file

Exporting feature datasets, classes, and tables to an export file

Importing feature datasets, classes, and tables from an export file

Exporting features or records to an export file

Loading features or records from an export file

Updating DBMS statistics
Topology
Subtypes and attribute domains
Defining a relationship class
Geometric networks
Managing annotation
Dimensioning
Working with a versioned geodatabase
Disconnected editing
Building geodatabases with CASE tools
Building a raster geodatabase

Rasters and the geodatabase

Performance tuning

Creating raster datasets in a geodatabase

Creating raster catalogs in a geodatabase

Loading and importing rasters

Exporting raster formats

Mosaicking raster datasets

Attributes of type raster

Raster data and disconnected editing

More details about rasters in ArcGIS

Upgrading your 8.x raster catalog

Updating your geodatabase raster catalog footprints
Editing in ArcMap
Getting started with editing in ArcMap
Creating new features

About creating new features

Creating point features and vertices

Creating lines and polygons

Creating segments using angles and lengths

Creating segments using angles from existing segments

Creating segments that are circular arc curves

Creating segments by tracing features

Using the snapping environment

Creating edit sketch geometry with the Traverse tool

Traverse file format

About setting distance units

Setting direction measuring systems and units
Using a digitizer
Creating features from other features

Copying parallel line features

Creating buffers

Mirroring features

Creating and exploding multipart features

Combining features from different layers

Intersecting features
Editing existing features
Editing topology
Editing attributes

Viewing attributes

Adding attributes

Deleting attributes

Modifying attributes

Copying and pasting attributes

Editing with default values and attribute domains

About updating data using SQL
Spatial adjustment
Editing geometric networks
Editing relationships and related objects

About editing relationships and related objects

Editing relationships and related objects
Editing annotation
Editing dimension features
Geocoding
Linear referencing
Getting started with linear referencing
Creating route data
Displaying and querying routes and events
Editing routes
Creating and editing event data
Map projections
Writing geoprocessing scripts
Customizing the user interface

About customizing the user interface

Basic user interface elements

Saving your customizations

Hiding and showing toolbars

Creating custom toolbars

Changing a toolbar's or menu's contents

Changing a command's appearance

Creating shortcut keys

Setting toolbar options

Creating, editing, and running macros

Creating custom commands with VBA and UIControls

Adding custom commands and toolbars from .dlls

Updating the ArcID module

Locking customization, documents, and templates

Changing VBA security

Sample VBA code

Customize commands available in ArcMap

Customize commands available in ArcCatalog
Migrating from ArcView GIS 3 to ArcView 9
Migrating from ArcInfo Workstation to ArcGIS Desktop
ESRI Data & Maps
Getting started with ESRI Data and Maps
Canada

Canada FSA postal centroids

Canada Highways

Canada Indian Reserves

Canada Major Cities

Canada Middle Cities

Canada Municipalities

Canada National Parks

Canada Provinces

Canada Provincial Parks

Canada Railways

Canada Regional Municipalities

Canada Telephone Area Code Boundaries

Canada Water Bodies
Europe

Europe Cities

Europe Countries

Europe Ferries

Europe Level 1 Provinces

Europe Level 2 Provinces

Europe Level 3 Provinces

Europe Major Roads

Europe Major Water

Europe NUTS 0 Demographics

Europe NUTS 1 Demographics

Europe NUTS 2 Demographics

Europe NUTS 3 Demographics

Europe Places

Europe Railroads

Europe Railroad Stations

Europe Roads

Europe Urbanized Areas

Europe Water

Germany ZIP Code Areas (one-digit)

Germany ZIP Code Areas (two-digit)

Germany ZIP Code Areas (five-digit)
Mexico
World

World Administrative Units

World Cities

World Continents

World Countries (generalized)

World Countries 1992

World Countries 2005

World CountryWatch Demographics (table)

World Country Memberships of Political Organizations (table)

World Drainage Systems

World Gazetteer

World Lakes

World Latitude and Longitude Grids

World Named Latitudes and Longitudes

World Regions

World Rivers

World Time Zones

World UTM Zones

World Wildlife Fund Marine Ecoregions

World Wildlife Fund Terrestrial Ecoregions
StreetMap USA

About StreetMap USA
Image data
United States (census)

United States 108th Congressional Districts

United States 109th Congressional Districts

United States Census Block Centroid Populations

United States Census Block Groups

United States Census Feature Class Codes (table)

United States Cenus Tracts

United States Census Urbanized Areas

United States Cities

United States Core Based Statistical Areas

United States Counties

United States Counties (generalized)

United States County Boundaries

United States Country Population Estimates 1990 (table)

United States Country Population Estimates 2000 (table)

United States National Atlas Cities

United States National Atlas Urbanized Areas

United States Populated Place Areas

United States Populated Place Points

United States States

United States States (generalized)

United States State Boundaries

United States Telephone Area Code Boundaries

United States ZIP Code Areas (three-digit)

United States ZIP Code Areas (five-digit)

United States ZIP Code Points
United States (hydrography)

United States Drainage Systems

United States Lakes

United States National Atlas Water Feature Areas

United States National Atlas Water Feature Lines

United States Rivers (generalized)

United States Rivers and Streams

United States Water Bodies
United States (landmarks)

United States Geographic Names Information System Buildings

United States Geographic Names Information System Cemeteries

Untied States Geographic Names Information System Churches

United States Geographic Names Information System Golf Locales

United States Geographic Names Information System Hospitals

United States Geographic Names Information System Locales

United States Geographic Names Information System Populated Places

United States Geographic Names Information System Schools

United States Geographic Names Information System Summits

United States Hospitals

United States National Atlas Historic Earthquakes

United States National Atlas Volcanoes

United States Parks

United States TANA/GDT Institutions

United States TANA/GDT Large Area Landmarks

United States TANA/GDT Park Landmarks

United States TANA/GDT Recreation Areas
United States (other)
United States (transportation)
Extensions
3D Analyst
Getting started with 3D Analyst
Understanding 3D data
Surfaces and surface models
TIN surfaces
Raster surfaces

About raster data in 3D Analyst

The composition of a raster dataset in 3D Analyst

Raster encoding in 3D Analyst

Assigning attributes to a raster dataset in 3D Analyst

Coordinate space and the raster dataset in 3D Analyst

The resolution of a raster dataset in 3D Analyst

Discrete and continuous data in 3D Analyst

Representing features in a raster dataset in 3D Analyst
Display environments in 3D
3D layer properties

About 3D layer properties

Creating 3D features

Defining the z-values for a layer

Converting z units to x,y units

Offsetting the heights in a layer

Controlling when a layer is rendered

Using the 3D Effects toolbar
Displaying surfaces
Displaying features and graphics
Interactive tools on the 3D Analyst toolbar
Animation

About animation

3D animation

Creating animations

Capturing perspective views

Recording and playing back animation tracks

Creating keyframes

Making group animations

Making animations from paths

Using the Animation Manager

Timing properties in the Animation Manager

Saving an animation

Sharing animations: Loading an ArcScene or ArcGlobe Animation file
3D graphics and text
3D symbology

About 3D symbology

About 3D symbols

About 3D styles

Using the 3D Symbol Property Editor

Altering the placement of a 3D symbol

Offsetting a 3D symbol

Scaling the size of 3D symbols

Using 3D styles to assign symbology

Symbolizing points with 3D symbols

Symbolizing lines with 3D symbols

Symbolizing polygon fills with 3D symbols

Saving the current styles in 3D Analyst

Organizing 3D style contents

Creating and modifying 3D symbols and elements
ArcGlobe
ArcScan
ArcGIS Data Interoperability extension

ArcGIS Data Interoperability extension
Business Analyst
Geostatistical Analyst
Getting started with Geostatistical Analyst
The principles of Geostatistical Analyst

Overview of the interpolation techniques implemented in Geostatistical Analyst

Understanding deterministic methods

Analyzing the surface properties of nearby locations

Visualizing polynomial interpolation

Visualizing Radial Basis Functions

Random processes with dependence

Geostatistical solutions

Searching neighborhood

Kriging in Geostatistical Analyst

Creating the empirical semivariogram

Binning the empirical semivariogram

Empirical semivariograms for different directions

Choosing the lag size

Modeling a semivariogram

Understanding a semivariogram: the range, sill, and nugget

Fitting a model to the empirical semivariogram

Accounting for directional influences

Combining semivariogram models
Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA)
Deterministic methods
Creating a surface with geostatistical techniques

What are geostatistical interpolation techniques?

Understanding different kriging models

Creating a surface with geostatistical techniques

Creating a Kriging map using defaults

Understanding Ordinary Kriging

Understanding Simple Kriging

Understanding Universal Kriging

Understanding output surface types

Understanding transformations and trends

Creating a map using Ordinary Kriging

Creating a map using Simple Kriging

Creating a map using Universal Kriging

Understanding thresholds

Understanding Indicator Kriging

Understanding Probability Kriging

Creating a map using Indicator Kriging

Creating a map using Probability Kriging

Understanding Disjunctive Kriging

Creating a map using Disjunctive Kriging

Understanding cokriging

Creating a map using cokriging
Using analytical tools when generating surfaces
Displaying and managing geostatistical layers
Additional geostatistical analysis tools

Additional geostatistical analysis tools

Changing the parameters of a geostatistical layer: Method Properties

Predicting values for specified locations

Performing validation on a geostatistical layer created from a subset
Maplex
Getting started with Maplex

An overview of labels and annotation

Better labeling with label classes and label expressions

Using text formatting tags for labeling

Using the map cache to improve geodatabase labeling performance

Labeling features of a layer

Labeling features of a layer using label classes

Creating label classes based on symbology classification

Creating label expressions

Managing the labels on your map

Label placement properties

Enabling the Maplex Labeling Engine

Setting label placement properties using the Label Manager

Setting label ranking

Locking the labels in an area

Showing unplaced labels

Changing the label placement quality
Using Maplex to set label positions
Label fitting strategies

Why use additional strategies for placing labels?

Label stacking

Stacking labels with a special character

Adding and removing stacking characters

Controlling how a stacking character is used

Allowing labels to extend beyond features

Allowing a label to overrun the length of a feature

Font reduction

Reducing label size with font size and width reduction

Abbreviating words to place more labels

Building an abbreviation dictionary

Adding words to an abbreviation dictionary

Using an abbreviation dictionary

Saving an abbreviation dictionary

Loading an abbreviation dictionary
Resolving label conflicts
Military Analyst
Military Overlay Editor
Getting started with MOLE

About MOLE

Installation and setup

The Military Overlay Editor toolbar

Adding the Military Overlay Editor toolbar

Symbol ID code

MOLE symbols

MOLE layers

The MOLE Symbol Editor

Labels and MOLE attribute data

The Layer Properties dialog box

MOLE Symbol Editor
MOLE geodatabases

MOLE feature types

Creating a MOLE geodatabase

Creating MOLE feature classes

Attribute data field descriptions

Required field names for MOLE feature classes

Creating MOLE geodatabases for ArcView users

Updating MOLE datasets
Adding MOLE symbols in ArcMap
Controlling the MOLE display
Using MOLE with other ESRI products

Adding MOLE symbols with the Coordinate tool

Using MOLE layers in ArcGIS Tracking Analyst

Creating a MOLE temporal layer in ArcGIS Tracking Analyst

Using MOLE with ArcSDE

Using MOLE with ArcIMS

Sample MOLE mission planning map

Exporting MOLE layers to ArcSDE

Versioning with MOLE

Using MOLE with ArcGlobe
Network Analyst
Getting started with Network Analyst
Network dataset concepts
Designing the network dataset
Building and editing the network dataset

Creating a network dataset

Building network datasets

The network dataset layer

Displaying network datasets

Identifying network elements

Editing network datasets

Creating a turn feature class

Migrating turn data

Creating a new turn feature

Editing turn features

Adding and removing turn feature class fields

Other edits affecting turns
Performing network analysis

Types of network analyses

Network analysis work flow

Network locations

Load locations from a feature layer

Finding the best route

Finding a service area

Finding the closest facility

Creating an OD cost matrix

Network Analyst solver behavior

Routing with hierarchy

Routing with time windows
Migrating to ArcGIS Network Analyst
Network Analyst tools reference
Publisher
Spatial Analyst
Survey Analyst
Tracking Analyst
Getting more help
Help for developers