ArcGIS

							ArcGIS Data Management
                 Data in the Clusters
• When you log in almost all of the
  computers on campus your personal profile
  is installed from a SU server.
• You have 50 meg of storage
• Stuff left on the desktop does not really
  reside there
• In is stored under C:\Documents and
  settings
• This location has spaces in the path…
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      How to manage YOUR data
• SO DO NOT STORE DATA THERE BECAUSE
  ARC GIS CAN NOT USUALLY SEE IT
  BECAUSE OF THE SPACES!
• AND DON‟T LEAVE DATA IN C:\WORKSPACE
  BECAUSE THE MACHINES ARE CLEANED OFF
  EVERY DAY OR SO
• So you really have to work with data in the folder
  C:/Workspace
• And so does everyone else!
• So…


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                                    So…
• Keep your data on a memory stick (flash memory) or on your
  SU 50 meg of storage
• Put it in a workspace called “xxx”*
• When you fire up a campus machine
    – 1- erase everything in C:\workspace
    – 2- copy “XXX” into C:\workspace from your flash stick
• When you are done copy (drag) the “xxx” folder back onto
  your memory stick or move it to your desktop.
• If you are a nice person you will then delete your “xxx”
   folder from C:/workspace!

* “xxx” is a stand-in for, say, an execise. Example: for
Exercise 3 then you might call your personal workspace
folder ”EX_3”                                                 4
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                                   Why?

• There are at least 2 reasons that you
  should work from C:\workspace
  – ArcGIS does not like some thumb drives
  – Thumb drives are slow and you may find
    that the exercises are painfully slo




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                                   For Example

                                         On your flash memory stick




On one of the ESF computer
cluster machines


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                             Booby Trap 1
• A .mxd file (your map document) does NOT
  contain ANY data!
• It stores only paths to the data (Pointers)
• So, for example, if you were to move the
  data files to a new location the .mxd would
  not be able to find the data.
• This is a booby trap. If this happens you
  get a red “!” after the data file name. Click
  on it to browse for the data
• However, there is a better way...
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                                   However…
• You can set up your .mxd so that as long as
  the data and the .mxd are in the same
  relative relationship in a data tree then you
  don‟t have to worry about this problem
• So if your flash data structure is
  Z:\Eustis\data and on a cluster „puter it
  is C:\Workspace\Eustis\data every
  thing will work just fine! 
• To set up Relative Paths …
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1            So how to you do that?




                        2




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                           Booby Trap 2
                                 WARNING


             Never, ever create a
             path to ArcGIS data
           that has spaces in it. If
                    you do
             ArcGIS will not find
                   the data!
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                            Booby Trap 2
         Save the .mxd often!
ArcGIS has a habit of crashing at the most
        critical part of a project!

When doing something that you do not want
 to lose it is a good idea to increment saves.
  First save as: mystuff1, second save as
              mystuff2,….mystuffn

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