Building a Geodatabase: GIS by ESRI
"Building a Geodatabase: GIS by ESRI" by Andrew MacDonal is a comprehensive guide that explores the process of creating and managing geodatabases using ESRI's GIS software. Geodatabases serve as repositories for spatial data, enabling users to organize, store, and analyze their geographic information effectively.
The book begins with an introduction to geodatabases, providing an overview of their importance and the various ways they can be created. It introduces the role of ArcCatalog, a key component of ESRI's GIS software suite, in managing geodatabases.
The first section focuses on the initial steps of creating a geodatabase, offering practical tips and insights for beginners. A quick-start tutorial follows, providing hands-on exercises to help readers familiarize themselves with the process. These exercises cover organizing data, importing data into a geodatabase, creating subtypes and attribute domains, establishing relationships between objects, building geometric networks, creating annotation, and editing geodatabase data.
The book then delves deeper into creating new items within a geodatabase. It explains the concepts of geodatabase items and guides readers through the creation of tables, feature datasets, feature classes, and indexes. The chapter also covers the granting and revoking of privileges for accessing geodatabase items.
Another important aspect covered in the book is migrating existing data into a geodatabase. It discusses the process of converting different types of data, including shapefiles, coverages, tables, CAD feature classes, and rasters. It also explains how to load data into existing feature classes and tables, as well as how to analyze geodatabase data.
The book dedicates a section to subtypes and attribute domains, explaining their significance and demonstrating how to work with them. It covers creating, modifying, and deleting attribute domains and subtypes. It also explores associating default values and domains with tables and feature classes.
Defining relationship classes is the topic of the next chapter. Readers learn about the purpose and application of relationship classes, how to create simple, composite, and attributed relationship classes, and how to establish relationship rules. The chapter concludes with guidance on managing and exploring related objects in ArcMap.
The management of annotation within a geodatabase is covered in a dedicated chapter. It explains the role of annotation and its integration with ArcCatalog. Readers learn how to create annotation classes and convert labels and coverage annotation to geodatabase annotation.
The book also touches on dimensioning, discussing its role within a geodatabase and explaining how to create dimension feature classes and manage dimension styles.
Geometric networks, another essential component of geodatabases, are explored in detail. Readers gain an understanding of what geometric networks are and how to create and manage them. The chapter covers topics such as defining network connectivity rules, adding feature classes to a geometric network, and managing the network itself.
Geocoding services, which enable the process of matching addresses to geographic locations, are discussed next. The book explains how to prepare reference data for geocoding services, create geocoding services, and maintain geocoding indexes.
The book also introduces the concept of building geodatabases with CASE (Computer-Aided Software Engineering) tools. It demonstrates how to utilize CASE tools, create UML packages and structure diagrams, set tagged values, and generate schemas for feature datasets, feature classes, relationship classes, domains, and more.
Editing a geodatabase is a critical aspect covered in a dedicated chapter. Readers learn about editing in ArcMap, managing the edit cache, editing with default values and attribute domains, editing relationships and related objects, and editing annotation, network features, and dimension features. The chapter also discusses loading objects from other feature classes.
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