Tips and Tricks

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ArcGIS Tips

Building an SQL expression(Jul 03) (PDF) [198 KB]
Connecting to an Excel Spreadsheet (Oct 02)(PDF) [54 KB]
Setting Field Aliases (Sep 02)(PDF) [131 KB]
Querying the date field (Jul 03)(PDF) [198 KB]

Cogo in Geodatabases (Jun 03)(PDF) [106 KB]
Coverage Annotation (Jul 03)(PDF) [198 KB]
Projection Files for Coverages (Sep 02)(PDF) [131 KB]

Broken Map Document Error (May 02)(PDF) [95 KB]
Dataframe is not transparent in Output (Oct 03)(PDF) [79 KB]
Image Catalog Table Errors (May 03)(PDF) [105 KB]
Join Tables Error (Jan 02)(PDF) [64 KB]
Problems printing tiff files (Aug 03)(PDF) [94 KB]
Unable to read shapefile error (May 03)(PDF) [105 KB]
Valid ArcMap Document Error (Jun 03)(PDF) [106 KB]
Xtools error (May 03)(PDF) [105 KB]

Geocoding directly from an Excel file (May 02)(PDF) [95 KB]
Georeferencing in ArcGIS (Mar 04)(PDF) [122 KB]
Georeferencing exported JPG (Feb 05)(PDF) [234 KB]
Georeferencing PDF files (Feb 05)(PDF) [234 KB]
Geoprocessing and Model Builder (Feb 05)(PDF) [234 KB]

Connecting to SDE (Dec 02)
Creating Buffers (Sep 02)
Highway signs options (Aug 03)
Magnification Window (Sep 02)
Merging Features (Jun 03)
Onbase/GIS Integration (Jun 04)
Semstr annotation in ArcMap (Feb 05)
Thumbnail in ArcMap (Jun 04)

ArcGIS Batch Raster Spatial Reference Script (Aug 03)
Script to add a button to auto populate a pathname and date-time stamp on a ArcMap layout (Feb 05)
VB Scripting to put spaces in lat/long (May 04)
VBF Functions help for programmers (Jun 04)

ArcGIS 8.3 bugs and enhancement requests to ESRI (Dec 03)
ArcGIS 9x Hot Topics and Frequently Asked Questions a 21 page PDF file (Mar 05)
ArcGIS Advanced Utilities (May 04)
Adding a File Type to ArcCatalog (Sep 02)
Configuring a PC for ArcGIS (Oct 03)
Desktop Administrator (Sep 02)
Keyboard shortcuts (Mar 05)
Labeling in ArcGIS 8.x (Aug 02)
MXD Doctor and Defragmenter Utilities (Jun 04)
Map Display Enhancements (May 03)
Spatial Editing Shortcuts (Jun 03)
Using ArcMap Tools to enhance productivity (Jun 04)
What happened to..Where is stuff in 9.x? (Feb 05)
XtoolsPro for ArcGIS (Feb 04)

download arcview 3x tips
Text entered with the text tool in views is not scaleable, but label text is!
WYSIWYG text between views and layout
An ArcView Plotting Tip

Check out the Seminole County GIS Users group handouts by month

download March 2005 Users Group Handout
Status of the Parcel Base Re-engineering project
ArcGIS TOC Shortcuts
User to User info
ArcGIS 9x Hot Topics and Frequently Asked Questions (March 22, 2005) a 21 page PDF file

download February 2005 Users Group Handout
What happened to..Where is stuff in 9.x?
A brief look at the Geoprocessing framework of 9x
Model Builder demonstration
Georeferencing PDF files
User to User info
Georeferencing exported JPG
Semstr anno in ArcMap
Script to add a button to auto populate a pathname and date-time stamp on a ArcMap layout

download July 2004 Users Group Handout
Leon County PAO ArcGIS 9 user survey discussion
SDE & ArcExplorer
Geocoding with ArcExplorer (see handout)
CFGIS DRI data access web tool

download June 2004 Users Group Handout
Onbase / GIS integration demonstration
Using ArcMap Tools options for to enhance productivity
MXD Doctor & Defragmentor Utilities
Turning off the "thumbnail" function in ArcMap
VBF Functions help for programmers.

May 2004 Users Group Handout
Geodata Security Guidelines
C:\arcgis\arcexe83\Utilities\advancedArcMapSettings.exe file
VB Scripting: So I have lat long with out spaces..... example 812041 but I need it into 81 20 41.

March 2004 Users Group Handout
I have degrees minutes and seconds Latitude and longitude data, I want to use it with Seminole County information, how can I convert it?
Georeferencing in ArcGIS 8.x

February 2004 Users Group Handout
Xtools for ArcGIS is available.
Need to convert a value from DD to SPC? Here's the NOAA/ NGS online tool for converting geographic coordinates to projected coordinate systems (Lat Long to SPC). http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/spc_getpc.prl

December 2003 Users Group Handout
If you have an existing legend in your layout view and you add a new layer to your Map document, the legend reflects the new layer that is added, however the text for the newly added layer is smaller than the rest of the text in the legend.
Should be able to unselect specific records when working in the attribute table and the selected only option is chosen.
Information Tool will not append information; In ArcView 3.x, you are able to click on a feature and it's attribute info will appear in the information dialogue box. If you click on a different feature it's attribute information is appended to the previous features' information. This is currently not possible in ArcGIS.
Should be able to promote records to the top of the table as in previous versions of ArcView 3.x.
Not able to add a field because it is in use by another application, although all applications are shut down and the only application running is ArcMap. Also I am not able to copy a file because it is in use by another application, even though all applications have been shutdown.

October 2003 Users Group Handout
Bug: Dataframe is not transparent on output.
Display additional identify choices.
I Have to configure a PC for ArcGIS.

August 2003 Users Group Handout
Highway signage options available.
Bug: TIFF appears black in Print Preview and when printing.
ArcGIS Batch Raster Spatial Reference Script.

July 2003 Users Group Handout
Converting ArcView View Documents to ArcExplorer Projects How do I get coverage annotation into a personal geodatabase.
Adding the Convert Coverage Annotation tool to ArcMap.
Converting coverage or SDE 3 annotation to geodatabase annotation.
To query a date field in a personal geodatabase for ArcGIS 8.3.
Building an SQL expression.

June 2003 Users Group Handout
Converting ArcView View Documents to ArcExplorer Projects Cogo Info in GeoDatabases.
Error: The specified file does not contain a valid ArcMap document error message.
Spatial Editing Shortcuts.
ArcGIS Merging Features.

May 2003 Users Group Handout
Layer Options and Map Display enhancements.
Image catalog tables oops....
Inability to read shape files problem with 8.3 install...
XTools Error Message.

December 2002 Users Group Handout
Using/connecting to SDE.
Seminole County GIS Policy On Distribution of Sensitive Data

October 2002 Users Group Handout
How to Connect to Excel Spreadsheets from ArcCatalog.

September 2002 Users Group Handout
Using the Desktop Administrator to Choose the Appropriate Software.
Adding a File Type to ArcCatalog.
Save time with the Magnification Window.
Creating Buffers in ArcGIS.
Setting a Field Alias and Making Fields "Invisible".
Projection Files for ArcInfo Coverages.

August 2002 Users Group Handout
Labels in ArcGIS 8.x .
Image Catalogs.
Link.URL in ArcView 3.x .
Labels in ArcGIS 8.x .
Salessearch.apr Project.
DOT Imagery/Image Catalog.

May 2002 Users Group Handout
What's New in ArcView 3.3?
ArcInfo (Unix).Address parsing.
ArcView 3.x .ERA Tools Extension available.
ArcGIS 8.x.Is there a direct way to import and convert a Excel table to a point shapefile, bypassing the dbf format and its field name constraints?
ArcGIS 8.x.How do you fix a "Broken" Map Document.

January 2002 Users Group Handout
Join Tables Errors ArcGIS 8.1

August 2001 Users Group Handout
Plotting Data Ranges in ArcInfo using a Look Up Table (LUT)
Converting ArcView View Documents to ArcExplorer Projects.
What are Project Properties?
Using the Select by Graphic Button in ArcView.
Using the ArcExplorer Map Tip Tool.
What are DOQQs?

July 2001 Users Group Handout
Using ArcInfo's AP and Dropline command.
Improving how tables look in Layout Documents.
How to access external databases directly with PC ArcView.
How to use Excel data in PC ArcView.
Connecting to a database automatically when starting PC ArcView.
How to get a CAD file to display correctly in ArcView when it isn't in State Plane Coordinates and you don't have AutoCad.
Making World files for images.
A simple way to fix an ArcExplorer project when all the source files get moved.
New ArcGIS 8 hardware requirements.

May 2001 Users Group Handout
Unix Performance issues.
Using Arcplot Commands in ArcEdit.
Dropline Command in ArcPlot.
How do I wrap text from a table field when I want to use it as annotation in my View?.
Can I convert ArcInfo annotation to a shapefile?.
How do I automatically number all the records in my table?.
How do I rearrange my fields and make them stay ordered in other applications or projects?.
Take a bite out of crime - cool links.

March 2001 User's Group Handouts
National County Government Week.
Creating a file in INFO.
The Legend Limiter v. 1.0 Extension.
Hotlinking in ArcView - A compendium of really useful scripts.
How can I hotlink an image and a text file with only one click?.

February 2001 User's Group Handouts
Table Tools Extension.
Calculator Functionality.
What can I do to make my APR file smaller? The clean siblings script.
How can I get a useful scale bar in my Layout?.
How do I go about finding and removing duplicate shapes?

January 2001 User's Group Handouts
Using the infokill.aml.
ArcView - Displaying the schydpolyfc & schydarcfc Coverages.
Dealing with Corrupted Projects.
How do I take data in UTM and make it fit our GIS data?
I have an address matched point shape file. Each point has a complete city street address as a field in its database such as " 100 MAIN ST ". I would like ArcView to label each address point with its addressed number only.
How do I transport a project from one person to another?
Why won't valid addresses with CV or COVE address match?

December 2000 User's Group Handouts
Using Dates and Date Fields.
Dealing with Dates in ArcView.
Working with Dates and Times in Avenue.
I have a shapefile (shpA) which contains polygons. I need to use this shapefile to select polygons in another shapefile (shpB) but I only want to select polygons in shpB that intersect or touch the perimeter of the polygon in shpA. Is there an easy way to do this? Is there a way to create a line shapefile that only has the outline of polygons in shpA?
I have a flat file that I need converted to either excel, dbase, or access database so that I can import into arcview and join to my parcel shapefile. The problem is that I don't know how to convert the file and it doesn't have commas.

November 2000 User's Group Handouts
Hot Link to PDF files.
Imgcat.ave Creates image catalog from image themes in view.

October 2000 User's Group Handouts
Almost everything you always wanted to know about ArcView symbols, but were afraid to ask....
Imgcat.ave Creates image catalog from image themes in view.

September 2000 User's Group Handouts
Changing projections in ArcInfo.
An AML to Convert Coverage from LAT/LONG (DD.dd) to LAT/LONG (DDMMSS).
Projector! Extension.

August 2000 User's Group Handouts
Tip on how to remove an errant theme and table document in the project.
How about a script to delete all existing tables from a project?
A hotlink script that can be used in place of Link.ImageFile (the default script) to display an image as a theme in a View document rather than in an ImageWin.