Queries: review solutions and try queries both
in ArcMap and MS-Access
Maps: review solutions and sample maps for
ideas about visualization
Project
ideas: Test could be an (abbreviated) example of a
possible project
This year and last year: examining voting patterns for
various past elections
What geographic and socio-economic characteristics
explain county-level differences in results
How has this changed over a few elections
Previous year: examining municipality budgets in greater
Boston area
Comparing equalized assessed value per capita and
various town revenues and expenditures
Examining spatial pattern within metro areas with
particular attention to location of infrastructure;
population demographics, community type, etc.
Project would require a little more digging regarding
reasoning, evidence, and spatial analysis
Project could provide context and first step in a longer
study you anticipate in future semesters
File
organization and performance issues for project work
C:\temp is local, while desktop and I:\ are
not
Set LOCAL locations in the environment for
workspace and (especially) scratch space
Redundancy can be good!
Read-only copy of originals (e.g.,
test16data)
Local working copies
proj17_working folder that you move
from network to C:\temp and back
Many MXDs: 11.188_proj17_working1.mxd,
2, 3, ...
Use Access (personal geodatabase):
11.188_proj16_working.mdb to store datasets (BUT,
create it via ArcCatalog as a personal geodatabase so
it has geospatial tables that ESRI wants before it
lets you save new data into it)
Use multiple windows (especially on big
screens)
Use Data Frames with different joins,
coordinates, etc.
Open multiple ArcMap sessions along with
Access and Excel and a text editor
Just keep the file versions straight
And you may need to close files if
locked by another application
Refresh issues in ArcMap
Sometimes, removing a table and then
editing and adding a new version of it will add the old
version (from cache)
Save ArcMap document, exit ArcMap, and
restart - then add table
This happens if you edit the table
outside ArcMap and do not change the name
When ArcMap is slow to redraw maps
If the mapped layer has joins to large
tables, the redraw may slow down
You can always export the joined layer
as a new shapefile and add it back for much faster
performance
You can copy the symbology from one
layer onto another layer