Many have characterized GIS as one of the most powerful
of all information technologies because it focuses on
integrating knowledge from multiple sources and creates a
crosscutting environment for collaboration.
In addition, GIS is attractive to most people who
encounter it because it is both intuitive and cognitive. It
combines a powerful visualization environment with a
strong analytic and modeling framework that is rooted in
the science of geography.
This combination has resulted in a technology that is
science-based, trusted, and easily communicated across
cultures, social classes, languages, and disciplines.
To support this vision, a GIS needs to support several
views for working with geographic information:

1. The geodatabase view: A GIS is a spatial database
containing datasets that represent geographic
information in terms of a generic GIS data model—
features, rasters, attributes, topologies, networks, and
so forth.

2. The geovisualization view: A GIS is a set of
intelligent maps and other views that show features
and feature relationships on the earth’s surface. Various
map views of the underlying geographic information
can be constructed and used as “windows into the
geographic database” to support query, analysis, and
editing of geographic information. Each GIS has a
series of two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional
(3D) map applications that provide rich tools for
working with geographic information through these

3. The geoprocessing view: A GIS is a set of
information transformation tools that derive new
information from existing datasets. These geoprocessing
functions take information from existing datasets,
apply analytic functions, and write results into new
derived datasets. Geoprocessing involves the ability to
program your work and to automate workflows by
assembling an ordered sequence of operations.
These three GIS views are represented in ESRI ® ArcGIS ®
by the catalog and the geodatabase (a GIS is a collection
of geographic datasets), the map (a GIS is an intelligent
map view), and the toolbox (a GIS is a set of
geoprocessing tools). Together, all three are critical parts
of a complete GIS and are used at varying levels in all GIS
applications.

Beberapa hari ini saya dipusingkan dengan file mxd yang saya create.
File yang dihasilkan sangat besar!! Jika biasanya hanya beberapa ratus kilobyte saja,
maka kali ini file saya mencapai puluhan megabyte bahkan hampir seratus megabyte untuk satu file mxd saja!
Padahal saya “mengelola” puluhan file mxd. Bisa “tekor” tuch hardisk…

Usut punya usut, googling dan test by test, akhirnya saya temukan juga akar permasalahan tersebut.
Kecurigaan saya adalah pada extensions yang saya pilih untuk digunakan sebagai default setiap saya mengaktifkan ArcMap.
Setelah berulang kali percobaan dengan melakukan save as pada file mxd yang ada, dengan sebelumnya memilih extenions tertentu
yang diaktifkan, ternyata extensions Tracking Analyst-lah biang keladinya!

Akhirnya saya tetap mengaktifkan seluruh pilihan extensions yang tersedia, kecuali Tracking Analyst!
Anda punya pengalaman berbeda? Bagi donkz….

Tidak Lupa Mohon Maaf Lahir dan Batin.

These instructions address how to convert a tabular list of point coordinates into a new ESRI shapefile. The users can also use them to save data to a geodatabase feature class.

1. Open ArcMap.
2. Create a new project and save it.
3. Add background data to the data frame. Use the “Add Data” button or drag and drop from ArcCatalog.
4. Start MS Excel. Open the file with the data and coordinate information. You can have fields in your table other than the Northing and Easting (or X & Y) fields. **If you are using geographic coordinates for the X & &, they need to be in decimal degrees. West and South coordinates need to have a negative sign in front. See note below on converting Degrees, minutes, seconds to decimal degrees.
5. Clean up the file to delete fields of data you don’t need in the final shapefile.
6. Make sure the Northing and Easting (or X & Y ) columns are formatted to numbers. If you do not have decimal places, specify that in the format dialog box. **If you are using geographic coordinates, it is best to have at least 5 digits after the decimal to make sure your data is precise enough for large scale mapping.
7. Put the curser in the cell directly below the last lower right cell holding your data.
8. Save your file to a format that ArcMap can read. File menu –> Save As. Try one of the following two formats: a. Dbase IV
   b. Comma Delimited. You will need to make sure the file extension actually reads txt. To do this, choose “comma delimited (csv)” as your Save As type. Then change the name of the file to include a .txt and put the whole filename in quotes.
9. Close MS Excel.
10. Return to the ArcMap project.
11. Start the dialog box to add XY data. Tools menu –> Add XY Data
12. This tool allows you to show the location of XY coordinates from a file on-the-fly. Fill in the following sections of the dialog box and then click OK. Name (navigate to the file using the folder button on the right) choose the correct X and Y field headings from you table. Set the Spatial Reference (click on the “Edit” button). You need to do this so the program know what projection and datum the coordinates are in.
13. The data will display in the data frame map area. Check to make sure all of the positions are present and that there is no error in the attributes or relative locations.
14. 14. Save the data to a shapefile. Right click on the filename in the TOC –> Data –> Export Data –> shapefile. Be sure to read the Export Data dialog box carefully for information on the coordinate system to assign to the data.

DMS –> dd: D + M/60 + S/3600 = dd
Example: 45°30’45.22”: 45 + 30/60 + 45.22/3600 = 45.512561

Whether it is a .dbf from a Shapefile or a PC ArcInfo Coverage, an info file from an ArcInfo coverage, or a MS Access table, creating and editing tables is an intricate part of the day to day tasks in GIS.

Tables can be manipulated in ArcMap, ArcCatalog, and through the ArcToolbox in ArcGIS. How the tables are accessed and edited will depend on the needs of the task to be accomplished and the preferences of the technician.

Here are a few tips that will make working with tables in ArcGIS a little easier:

* Some characters in field or table names are not supported.

o Names must not have a space.

o Names must not have a hyphen. (Example x-coord)

o Names must not have brackets.

o Names must not have special characters. (# * / ~)

o Names must not start with a number or underscore.

* Field names in delimited text files must be edited to remove these unsupported characters before using them.

* Tables that contain Memo fields cannot be accessed in ArcGIS.

* Field and table names can be 31 characters for Geodatabase feature classes.

* A dBASE field name can be up to 10 characters long.

* A dBASE table name has no limit to the length.

* Up to 16 letters or numbers can be used in coverage field and table names.