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GIS in Education
ArcIMS Data Services Tutorial
This tutorial covers the following ideas, tools, and capacities:
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 | 1. Start AEJEE. |
 | 2. Now it's time to add some data … from the Internet! Click the "Add Data…" button. In the "Content Chooser" window's "Look In:" box, choose "Internet Servers". |
| NOTE: Serving data live over the Internet is a powerful capacity. Data can be updated at any time. Viewers can often rely on experts preparing appropriate packages in appropriate presentations. The Geography Network is one such framework, presenting a large storehouse of data, much of it available to be used for free. It helps to understand more about the GN, and a good set of lessons is available from the ArcLessons archive, www.esri.com/arclessons. (Do a keyword search for "Geography Network".) | |
 | 3. Double-click the "Add Internet Server" icon. The "ArcIMS Connection" window appears, with a default pointing to the Geography Network. Click "OK". |
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4. A large, scrollable list of data sources will appear. Scroll through the list and look at the choices. Some of the names may be a little hard to distinguish right away, so we'll work with some specific choices. Look for "Atlas_Precipitation", click it, and click "OK". After a few seconds, a new window appears, with an "image data" icon and "Atlas_Precipitation". Click it, and click "OK". |
| 5. The new layer appears in the TOC. The checkbox next to the name begins pulsing green, indicating it is pulling data across the Internet. While it is preparing to draw, notice that all data sets come in with their legend "collapsed", and that some have a black check mark while others have an outlined red check mark. Geography Network data sets often use scale dependency. The black-checked layers are set to display at this scale, while the layers with an outlined red check are on but not at the right scale for display. This is why you may see layers with similar names right next to each other, such as "Land" here; the four layers have a different resolution and are set to display at appropriate scale. |
| 6. There's one last tweak to make for this project. It would help if the map were projected, instead of being "decimal degree". The data coming from the GN is special – it can be projected on the fly, back at its source. (Not all data coming over the Internet can be projected, and you can't tell which until you try.) | |
| 7. Choose "Tools/Projection". Under "Systems", choose "Regional Projections", then "Albers Equal Area", and "United States". Click "OK". Note that your base layer of states draws immediately to show where you are. Without waiting for the rest to appear, zoom in around the 48 conterminous states. When the rest of the data appear, notice that everything has projected into the proper display. Save your map! |