Goal

GPS data from last weekend's field trip need to be brought into the GIS project constructed in Lab 7 and assembled into a geologic map that shows field observations.

Procedure:

The general procedure for lab this week involves the following steps:

1. Import field data into the ArcGIS project created last week;
2. Edit the existing Rocks Unit contacts feature class.  Edit your point file attribute table, if necessary;
3. Create a topology and new Rock Unit polygons;
4. Symbolize the new data to make a map;
5. Hyperlink field photos to locations.

9.1 Getting Started - Importing Field Data

1. Download your receiver.  To do so:
   
   1. Cable the unit to your PC and turn it on.  Doing so will activate the Windows Mobile Device Center in Windows 7 or 8.
      
      
   2. Browse the unit to find your ArcPad Nueces River folder; copy this folder to your Lab 9 network storage space or flash drive;
      
      
   3. Disconnect your unit from your computer and close the Mobile Device Center software;
      
      
   4. Open your ArcGIS Lab 7 project for the Nueces field trip.  This must be the same project where you created the ArcPad files.
      
      
   5. "Start Editing" - select the blank point feature class in your Nueces_River_2014 geodatabase as the layer to edit;
      
      
   6. On the ArcPad toolbar, click the icon for "Get Data FROM ArcPad";
      
      
   7. Using the "Add Data" button (shown as the "Browse button" below), Browse to your downloaded folder of field data and select the AXF files that contain your data (or "Select All"), then Click the "Check in" button;

8. If successful, this step updated your empty point and line feature classes with data you collected - you should see these features on the screen.

9. "Save Edits" and "Stop Editing".

10. To download your TrackLog shapefile, use Windows Explore on the receiver to browse to My Documents>My ArcPad and drag and drop the 4 or 5 files named TrackLog to a folder on your storage space.  The TrackLog is a point shapefile.  To convert it to a line, search for and use the Point to Line tool in ArcToolbox. 

2. To Download PDF Maps data from your phone (Iphone directions below should be similar to the process on an Android device):
   1. With the image containing your points open in PDF Maps, select the "Map Features" icon, shown below at left, then choose the "Export" icon at the bottom, shown below at right.

2. In the second "Map Features" window, select "Export Data (KML/GPX)" (below left) and in the "Export Data" window choose "KML" and a destination, either your DropBox or an Email attachment (below right).  This will create a Keyhole Markup Language (KML) file that can be imported into ArcMap or Google Earth.  With more than one Placemark, Line or Track (and photos, if you choose), a zipped KML file (known as KMZ) will be created, which is also readable by both programs.  FYI, GPX, the other export format listed, is a common exchange format for GPS data.  We will not use it, but such files can be imported by many programs and Apps, including ArcMap.  Finally, if you chose to, you could turn off visibility from some of your data (available through the blue arrow on the window shown above, right), then "Export visible data" only (below right).  Regardless of which options you choose, all data will be exported with GCS WGS84 coordinates.

3. Within ArcCatalog, create a folder in your Lab 9 folder named "NR_field_data_XX", where XX is your initials. Retrieve this newly created KMZ file from your DropBox or email and copy it to this folder.

4. Move your field digital photos from your camera or phone to the same folder.

5. Use the Search tool in ArcMap to find the ArcToolbox tool "From KML".  The "KML to Layer" tool will convert KML points and/or lines and attributes (but not photos) to geodatabase feature classes within a newly created geodatabase and add them to your ArcMap table of contents.

9.2 Sharing Data

1. To share field data with your partner or with others, in ArcCatalog, Browse to the newly updated Point and Line feature classes in your Nueces_River_2014 geodatabase, right click on one of them and "Data>Export>To shapefile(mutiple)" to create two new shapefiles in your "NR_data_XX" folder. Using the Windows compression utility, create a zip file of this folder.  You can do the same for your PDF Maps data and photos.
   
   
2. Upload your zip file to a DropBox site and share it with your partner(s), or copy it to a flash drive that can be shared, or email it.
   
   
3. For shared data, load the point and shapefiles, one at a time, examining the attribute table for each.  Delete those that replicate observations - you only need one point or line at each site, not many of the same that record the same thing(s). 

9.3 Editing The Geologic Map

1. Using what you learned in Lab 4 and 5, edit the Rock unit contacts feature class to incorporate your field data.  This will involving moving existing lines and creating new lines.  DO NOT BOTHER WITH EDITING THE POLYGON FILE (i.e. Rocks and terrace deposits).  These will be regenerated by creating new polygons from the the edited Rock unit contacts feature class.
   
2. Create a topology, (see Lab 4), from the edited lines, then create new polygons, and make a field in the polygon attribute table for unit abbreviation.
   
3. Fill the attribute table with the proper unit abbreviations (Ku, T1, T2, T3, etc.).  Make these designations on the basis of elevation - T1 is the highest terrace, T2 next highest, etc.  This will require some guessing for areas we did not visit.
   
4. Symbolize and label the units to complete your geologic map.

9.4 Hyperlinking field photographs to field sites

Read the section on "Setting HTML pop-up properties for feature layers" in ArcGIS Help and create HTML pop-up displays for 3 or more field photographs of your choosing.  These will be set up as "attachments" on the point feature class (see ArcGIS Help for how to create and enable attachments).  You choose how best to organize the data!  An alternative but less attractive way to do this is to enable the hyperlink tool using a dynamic hyperlink for each point feature.  Search ArcGIS Help for "Using Hyperlinks", paying particular attention to the section on "Defining dynamic hyperlinks though Identify Results".  The preferred method for establishing and viewing hyperlinks is:

1. Rename your photos with meaningful file names so that you can easily know what they show.
   
2. We will link photos to the field station points by adding them as "Attachments" to the points.  To add attachments, we first need to "enable" the point feature class so it can contain attachments.  Follow the two steps in ArcGIS Help "Enabling attachments" to do so.
   
3. Using the instructions in ArcGIS Help "Adding attachments to feature", attach your photographs to the points where they belong.
   
4. Once attached, there are number of ways to view the photos, including using the Identify tool and the attribute table.  Read about these in ArcGIS Help "Viewing attachments".
   
5. Neither of these viewing techniques is very elegant - the picture viewing window often covers the map.  We will instead set up HTML pop-up windows for viewing the photos and attribute information.  Read ArcGIS Help "Setting HTML pop-up properties for feature layers".  We will use the first option mentioned, "As a table of visible fields"  that "Include(s) feature class attachments".  Read carefully these sections and create your pop-ups.  It's a lot simpler than it looks and you'll be pleased with the result.  An example is shown below; Popups are launched using the HTML Popup tool on the Main Toolbar, highlighted in red below.

9.5 Create a new map

1. Create a page-size layout of the field trip area containing the new map elements.  Selectively symbolize point features for the information they contain, using a different color or symbol for the different point "types".  Feel free to add other "types", as needed, to describe the features observed.

To Turn In:

The layout described in step 9.5 above, AND a screen capture, like that above, that shows a photograph attachment open in ArcMap.

You're Done!

M. Helper, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2014