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KCGIS Custom ArcView
Extensions
How to install and use:
KC Shapefile Library
KC Image Library
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These
two extensions replace and extend the functionality of AvLib.
What
KC Shapefile Library can do:
- Provide ArcView users with
an easy to use interface to the data residing in the Public
Library (a.k.a. "plibrary").
- Allow users to browse data
by subject and/or feature type
- Provide a more natural language
for the user to interact with the data, with little use
of jargon, file navigation, and assignment of properties
- Provide tools for storing
and retrieving View documents. Views can be stored on the
server, for access by anyone, or stored locally.
What
KC Image Library can do:
- Provide
tools for easy access to aerial photography (Imagery), including
recently-obtained imagery as well as older image sets.
This
user guide is divided into the following sections:
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| Major
updates:
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The
file name for the "KC Public Library" extension
has changed from AvLib.avx to AvLibShp.avx. and
it will now appear in the Load Extension dialog as "KC
Shapefile Library".
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The
functionality of loading digital imagery from the pull
down menu has been replaced with the "KC Image Library"
extension (AvLibIMG.avx), which is dedicated to
loading digital imagery and has expanded functionality.
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Because
the file names have changed, it is possible to keep the
original extension available to be used for image loading
if needed. However, it is NOT recommended to turn on both
the old and the new extensions at the same time.
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Shapefiles
will be loaded from \\gisdw\kclib\plibrary2 instead of
Wildfire.
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Access
is now provided to all the external data directories <subject>_ext.
See http://www.metrokc.gov/gis/kb/Content/ExternalData.htm
for more details on the external data directories.
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Before
you begin:
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This process involves
installing dlls. If you do not have administrative rights
to your workstation, or are uncomfortable installing software,
contact your LAN admin person or your GIS technical support
person.
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If
you have the original AvLib extension on your machine,
you are advised to delete avlib.avx from your extensions
directory (usually C:\ESRI\AV_GIS30\ARCVIEW\EXT32), and
use AvLibSHP.avx and AvLibIMG.avx instead. Do
not attempt to use the original AvLib and these new extensions
at the same time.
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Use
Windows Explorer to browse to the network folder \\kclib\resources\Extensions\ArcView3x\avlib.
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Copy
the file AvLibSHP.avx
into your extensions directory (usually C:\ESRI\AV_GIS30\ARCVIEW\EXT32)
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Copy
the file AvLibIMG.avx into your extensions directory
(usually C:\ESRI\AV_GIS30\ARCVIEW\EXT32)
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AVLibIMG
extension requires two image support extensions installed
in order to be able to view our files. AVLibIMG will take
care of turning on these extensions on for you, but you
must install them yourself.
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To
make the Image Viewer work correctly, you will need
to download and install the
JP2 extension.
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You
will also need to update the MrSid Image Support extension.
Examine the \bin32 directory of your ArcView install
location, and look for a file called "AVMrSID.dll."
If the file date is earlier than 3-2003, you will need
to get the most current version. You can obtain this
file from either \\orca\kcgis\sysadmin\software\esri\av32-a-extensions
(local users only) or online
at LizardTech. Copy the dll into the
\bin32 directory, replacing the existing one if necessary.
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| Loading
the extensions:
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Start
ArcView
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Pull
down the ‘File’ menu and choose ‘Extensions’
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From
the Extensions dialog, choose "KC Shapefile Library"
to access shapefiles and/or "KC Image Library"
to access imagery.
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Using
the Extensions: The
current version of KC Shapefile Library will install two new
buttons into the View document. It also installs one new menu
into the Project menu bar.
KC Image Library will
install one menu and one tool into the View Document.
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| If you hover your
mouse pointer on this button, it will reveal the map tip "Access
Public Library". Press this button to launch the interface
to the shapefile public library.
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Access
Public (shapefile) Library interface:
The purpose
of this interface is to provide information on what data are
available in the KCGIS library and to automate some of the
routine tasks of loading themes and specifying the theme properties
(such as theme name and symbology).
The interface
has four main sections, which will be described in detail.
Please notice that nearly everything has an associated tool
tip, so hovering your mouse over any button will reveal its
purpose. Longer messages are also displayed on the status
bar.
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- This section, labeled "Library
Categories", provides a series of check boxes to let
you choose the subject areas of interest to you.
These are equivalent to the
main subdirectories in the plibrary, so checking the "Hydrology"
box will allow the shapefiles in the "hydro" subdirectory
to be displayed. Likewise, "Environment" equals
the "enviro" subdirectory, "Recreation"
equals the "recreatn" subdirectory, etc.
A series of 4 buttons at the
top of this section helps to control which boxes are selected.
These buttons, listed in order from left to right, cause
the following actions to occur:
- Default
– Causes the ‘default’ selections to be checked. The default
section is coded into the application and cannot be changed
by the user.
- Select all
– Causes all the selections to be checked. This is useful
for exploring the entire contents of the public library.
- Select none
– Clears all the check boxes. This is useful when you
want to clear the default selections.
- Reverse selection
– Causes the check boxes that are selected to become
unselected, and the checkboxes that are not
selected to become selected.
- This section lists all of
the shapefiles that are available for the categories selected
in the "Library Categories" series of checkboxes.
From this list, you can link
to the metadata for a shapefile that you are interested
in (i.e. get more information about what it is), and you
can start building your list of shapefiles to be added to
your View.
- Double click on an entry
to display the metadata
for that shapefile. The metadata will open in HTML format
in your default web browser.
- Single click on an entry
to add it to your selected list
of shapefiles (section 3)
There are 2 groups of radio
buttons that control the datasets that are listed in this
section. The two buttons above this section control how
the list looks. Toggle between these two options to
see the difference. The same files are listed, but the information
about those files is slightly different. This has no effect
on what happens when you click on your selection.
The second set of radio buttons
is below this section, and is labeled "feature type".
We will discuss that as part of section 3.
- This section contains a list
of the themes that you have chosen from the above section,
and this is where you will review your list of selected
themes before adding them to your view.
Note the four radio buttons
under the title "Feature Type".
These affect the display in
both section 2 and section 3. Since a shape file can only
store a single feature type, shapefiles are stored in the
plibrary under separate sub-directories for ‘point’, ‘line’,
‘labelpoint" and ‘polygon’ feature types. These radio
buttons select which feature type will be displayed in both
lists.
A polygon theme, such as ‘cities’,
will produce a labelpoint, line, and polygon shapefile,
while line and point themes will only produce a single shapefile.
Switching the feature type does not cause you to lose your
selected themes for another feature type (e.g. you have
selected a line theme and then switch to view the polygon
themes. When you switch back to viewing the line themes,
your selection is still there)
- You can select any combination
of point, line, and polygon themes and add them to your
view all at once by pressing the Add all button.
- You can add one feature
type at a time to your view by pressing the Add type
button.
- Remove a theme from your
selected list by clicking on it.
- Use the Cancel button
to dismiss the dialog.
- This section lets you choose
whether you are viewing data maintained by King County,
or data obtained from sources external to King County.
The button labeled "Naming
Conventions" displays information on external
data naming conventions.
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| Saving
and Loading Views:
The purpose
of this menu is to allow the user to load pre-defined View
documents into an ArcView project, thus providing a starting
point for further customization. The user can also save his
or her own "Standard Views" and share Views with
other ArcView users.
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new menu called ‘Load/Save Views’ will be located on the PROJECT
menu bar. This menu will contain 4 choices.
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- Save Views Locally…
Choosing
this option will allow you to save your ArcView View document
into a View Object Database (.vod) of your choice. You can
place this VOD anywhere you like, such as your hard drive
or a networked drive so that other users can access it.
You may also create as many
different VODs as you would like, and you will have the
option of adding to an existing VOD or creating a new one
each time this selection is made.
Remember: It
is a good idea to name your View something descriptive,
since the View name will be cataloged and to retrieve the
View later you must choose it by name.
- Load Local Views…
Choosing this option allows
you to load View documents into your ArcView session. You
will be asked to choose which VOD to load from, then you
will be presented with a list of Views that are stored in
that VOD
- Submit Standard Views…
By "Standard View"
we simply mean a View that is stored in a VOD in the Shapefile
public library on \\gisdw\kclib\plibrary2, so that
it will be available to all users in the county. Since users
only have Read access to this space, the procedure
for submitting a View to the public library is to save the
View in a local VOD, and then mail the .vod file to the
KCGIS Center so that it can be added to the "Standard
View" VOD. Choosing this option will create and address
a new e-mail message for you.
Important: Please be sure
that the View you wish to submit only references files in
the public library.
If you are referencing any files that are stored locally,
other users will not be able to access them and they will
be prompted for the file location when they try to open
the View. Any Views that are referencing data on other servers
will not be added to the Standard Views VOD.
- Load Standard Views…
This option is similar to the
"Load Local Views…" option, except that this one
will automatically load the VOD that is located on the server
\gisdw\kclib
You will be presented with
a list of Views from which to choose:
Simply choose the View that
you want and it will be loaded into your ArcView project.
Note: In this example you can
see that a View that has not been named is listed with its
default name, and provides no information to the user as
to what it may contain.
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Image Library:
The purpose
of this extension is to aid the user in loading images and
image catalogs into a View document. The KCGIS Public Library
stores many sets of digital orthophotography and Lidar-derived
products. The KC Image Library extension allows users to load
image mosaics of complete data sets. These are the keyregion
mosaics, which have been resampled to a lower resolution so
that they are suitable for maps of larger geographic areas.
In addition,
a tool has been included to allow the user to load individual
tiles with a simple point and click. These tiles are the township-range
Idxptrmbr tiles, and are at the original data resolution.
The Raster
Data Organization document has more information on the
tiling scheme. |
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The
KC Image Mosaics menu lets you add full mosaics to your view.
Information
about the various imagery can be found in the Spatial
Data Catalog.
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| Using
the interactive image-picker:
The interactive image-picker
is a tool located on the tool bar.
To add an image
to your View, first select the image-picker tool from the
tool bar. Next, click on the area in your View in which
you are interested.
The program will
load an index shapefile (if not already present), and then
a dialog box will open with a list of all the available
products from the Township-Range level tiles in \plibrary3\idxptrmbr.
All the products
are listed in the dialog, and the ones that are not available
for the clicked area are grayed out as inactive. You can
then place a check mark by as many imagery data sets as
you wish to load.
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When you click
"Load," the program will load the selected tiles
into your View.
For more
information on imagery products:
King
County GIS Orthophotography
King
County GIS LiDAR derived data
Complete
information on King County GIS Raster data
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Feedback
Your feedback on these ArcView extensions
is very important to us.
Please let us know of any bugs you find,
what you like or don’t like about this extension, any positive
or negative experiences you have with it, or any suggestions
you have for future enhancements.
If you have any questions about how
to use this product, or how it was created, please contact
us.
Remember that the contents of the KC
Shapefile Library Interface are dependent on metadata. If
your organization is responsible for any of the coverages
in plibrary, please check the current state of your metadata
and enhance or correct as needed.
Contact
information:
http://www.metrokc.gov/gis
Main contacts:
Michael
Jenkins
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