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Welcome to ArcGIS Desktop Help
Copyright information
GIS Dictionary
What's new in ArcGIS
Getting started
Fundamentals of GIS data

How maps convey geographic information

Georeferencing and coordinate systems

Elements of geographic information

How GIS represents and organizes geographic information

How ArcGIS users work with geographic information

Users work with many data types and data formats in ArcGIS
Introducing ArcGIS Desktop
Tutorials

Tutorials

Getting Started Quickstart tutorial index

3D Analyst tutorial index

Animation in ArcMap tutorial index

ArcGIS Publisher tutorial index

ArcReader tutorial index

ArcScan tutorial index

Building a Geodatabase tutorial index

Data interoperability tutorial index

Database servers tutorial index

Editing geodatabases tutorial index

Editing GIS features tutorial index

Geocoding tutorial index

Geoprocessing tutorial index

Linear Referencing tutorial index

Maplex tutorial index

Representations tutorial index

Spatial Analyst tutorial index

StreetMap tutorial index

Tracking Analyst tutorial index
Toolbars

Core ArcMap toolbars

ArcCatalog toolbars

Extension toolbars

ArcScene toolbars

ArcGlobe toolbars

ArcReader toolbars
Getting more help
Map projections and coordinate systems
Getting started with map projections

An overview of map projections

Projection basics the GIS professional needs to know

About the geoid, ellipsoid, spheroid and datum, and how they are related

Identifying an unknown coordinate system

Converting Degrees Minutes Seconds values to Decimal Degree values
Geographic coordinate systems

About geographic coordinate systems

Spheroids and spheres

Datums

North American datums

What happens to features at +/-180 (dateline)?
Projected coordinate systems

About projected coordinate systems

About map projections

Projection types

Planar projections

Conic projections

Cylindrical projections

Other projections

Projection parameters
Geographic transformations
Supported map projections
Vertical coordinate systems

About vertical coordinate systems

Vertical datums

Geoid
Mapping and visualization
An overview of mapping and visualization

An overview of ArcMap

Data frames

Map layers

Symbols and styles

Text

Cartographic representations

Map layouts and map printing

Graphs, reports, and animations

Common tasks within ArcMap

Shortcuts for common tasks within ArcMap
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
Navigating and interacting with maps
Navigating maps and layout pages
Interacting with maps
Adding graphics and text to maps
Working with graphics
Working with text
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
Getting started with representations
Representation concepts
Working with representations
Editing feature representations
Page layout and map composition
Getting started with laying out and printing maps
Map elements
Grids and graticules
Rulers and guides
Working with data frames in layout view
Creating interactive and paperless maps
Map output
Working with graphs and reports
Editing and data compilation

An overview of editing and data compilation
Getting started with editing
Common editing tasks
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

Creating buffers

Mirroring features

Combining features from different layers

Intersecting features

Merging and separating features

Copying parallel line features

Creating a fillet curve between two lines

Creating cul-de-sac lines

Creating lines with the Traverse window

Creating lines with the 2-Point Line window

Creating lines with the Offset Line window
Editing existing features
Editing attributes

Editing attributes

Copying and pasting attributes

Deleting attributes

Editing with default values and attribute domains

About updating data using SQL
Editing annotation
Editing dimension features
Using a digitizer

About digitizing

An overview of preparing to digitize

Registering the paper map

Digitizing features on a paper map
Spatial adjustment

An overview of spatial adjustment

Adding the Spatial Adjustment toolbar

Setting up the spatial adjustment

Working with links

Working with link files and control point files

Previewing and performing the adjustment

Transferring attributes between features
Editing topology
Editing relationships and related objects
COGO

An overview of COGO

Common COGO workflows

About COGO descriptions

Adding COGO fields to a feature class

Traverse file format

Offset points file format

Applying a ground to grid correction

Reporting COGO descriptions

Using the Curve Calculator command

Using the COGO Area command

Splitting features into COGO lines
Geoprocessing
Geoprocessing tool reference

An overview of commonly used tools

Geoprocessing commands quick reference guide

Licensing for geoprocessing tools

Data types for geoprocessing tool parameters
3D Analyst toolbox

An overview of the 3D Analyst toolbox

Understanding 3D data

Concepts of surface analysis

Working with TIN surfaces

Working with raster surfaces

3D visualization
3D Analyst Conversion toolset
Functional Surface toolset
Raster Interpolation toolset
Raster Math toolset
Raster Reclass toolset
Raster Surface toolset
Terrain toolset
TIN Creation toolset
TIN Surface toolset
Analysis toolbox

An overview of the Analysis toolbox

Comparison poster of Overlay and Extract tools

Analysis toolbox sample applications
Extract toolset
Overlay toolset
Proximity toolset
Statistics toolset
Business Analyst toolbox
Cartography toolbox
Conversion toolbox

An overview of the Conversion toolbox
From Raster toolset
Metadata toolset
To CAD toolset
To Coverage toolset
To dBASE toolset
To Geodatabase toolset
To Raster toolset
To Shapefile toolset
Coverage toolbox
Data Interoperability toolbox
Data Management toolbox
Geocoding toolbox

An overview of the Geocoding toolbox

Understanding geocoding

Preparing for geocoding

Building an address locator

Locating addresses

Keeping an address locator current

Distributing your address locator

Geocoding toolbox sample applications
Tools
Geostatistical Analyst toolbox

An overview of the Geostatistical Analyst toolbox

Understanding geostatistical analysis

Working with a geostatistical layer

Creating a grid from a geostatistical layer

Geostatistical Analyst toolbox sample applications
Tools
Linear Referencing toolbox
Multidimensional toolbox
Military Analyst toolbox

An overview of the Military Analyst toolbox
Data Management toolset
Geometry toolset
Utilities toolset
Military Overlay Editor toolbox
Network Analyst toolbox
Server toolbox
Spatial Analyst toolbox
Spatial Statistics toolbox
Samples toolbox

An overview of the Samples toolbox
Conversion
Data Management
Tracking Analyst toolbox
Environment Settings
Geodatabases and ArcSDE
An overview of the Geodatabase
Architecture of a geodatabase
Designing a geodatabase

An overview of geodatabase design

Geodatabase design steps

Using ArcGIS Data Model designs

Documenting your geodatabase design

Modeling feature classes

A note about the use of UML for geodatabase design

Design Tips
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

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

An overview of working with a geodatabase using SQL

Spatial relationships

Spatial operations

SQL implementation differences
Using spatial types with SQL
SQL functions reference
Data management with ArcCatalog
Data support in ArcGIS
Extensions
Geocoding and address management
Getting started with geocoding
Understanding geocoding

What is an address?

The geocoding work flow

The geocoding framework

The process of geocoding

Customization of the address locator

Common geocoding tasks
Preparing for geocoding
Building an address locator
Locating addresses

The geocoding process

Finding an individual address

Geocoding a table of addresses

Rematching a geocoded feature class
Additional geocoding techniques
Keeping an address locator current
Distributing your address locator

Deciding to share an address locator

Collecting address locators

Making your address locator public

Accessing distributed address locators

Sharing pre-9.2 address locators
Adjusting your address locator file
About StreetMap data
Linear referencing
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
Customizing and developing with ArcGIS
Guide to data that comes with ArcGIS
ESRI Data and Maps
Working with StreetMap data
Licensing and desktop administration

Administering the ArcGIS License Manager

Checking license availability

Viewing and changing the license manager

Common license manager problems and how to solve them

Setting the software product

Registering ArcView or ArcEditor and extensions

Evaluating an ArcGIS Desktop extension
ArcGIS Image Server
GIS Servers and services

An overview of GIS services

Servers and the services they provide

User, author, administrator, and developer roles

Types of ArcIMS services

Types of services in ArcGIS Server

WMS service

Using GIS Services in ArcGIS Desktop applications

Thinking about maps in web-enabled GIS applications

Understanding map caches in ArcGIS

Managing server connections in the GIS Servers folder
Authoring and publishing services

An overview of authoring and publishing services

Data access considerations for ArcGIS Server

Publishing resources
Administering ArcGIS Server with ArcCatalog

Overview of ArcGIS Server administration in ArcCatalog

Connecting to a GIS server

Running ArcCatalog under a different operating system account

Adding a server object container

Adding a new service

Adding multiple services at once

Removing a service

Starting, stopping, and pausing services

Displaying server statistics

Creating a server directory

Specifying the log file location

Using a proxy server to connect to the Internet

Setting the capacity of a server object container

Creating a map cache

Publishing a resource to ArcGIS Server

Creating a globe cache

Adding and removing folders