4. CREATING AND EDITING DATA

4a. Loading data and the Editor toolbar

4b. Creating points

4c. Creating and editing lines

4d. Managing topology

5. Creating polygons

6. Preparing a print-quality map

4a. Editing data

We have just created feature classes using ArcCatalog which can be loaded into an ArcMap project and edited. This next part will take you through the basic steps needed for editing your feature datasets.

Loading your data into your project

Go ahead and return to your ArcMap project. We’ve just spent a bit of time in ArcCatalog, we’ll leave it alone for the next few steps. Once your project is loaded, click the “Add Data” icon and navigate into your geodatabase. Here, just click ONCE on your “geology” feature dataset. Double-clicking opens the feature dataset, we don’t really need to do that. Clicking on the dataset once selects it, then click “Add”.

Notice your Table of Contents. Three new layers will have been added- the three you created inside your “geology” feature dataset (lines, points, and topology). I’ll assume that your georeferenced field map and any background data is still present and visible in your project window.

Setting up the Editor

1. Before we start editing, we need the Editor toolbar. Go to Customize –> Toolbars –> Editor. This opens the Editor toolbar.

2. Turn on the Editor by choosing Editor –> Start Editing through the Editor toolbar. The following window will appear:

From this window, you can choose either a single shapefile or feature class to edit from the top window (editing a single feature class at a time), or choose an entire geodatabase and edit feature classes within (editing multiple feature classes at a time). Since we’re only working in one geodatabase with this simple project, select your geodatabase from the menu at the bottom of the “Start Editing” window.

The Editor Toolbar and “Create Features” window

The Editor Toolbar has a few options available. Most of these are very self-explanatory, simply mouse over the tool and a brief description of the tool will pop up. Here are some commonly used items in the Editor Toolbar:

One nifty feature in ArcMap 10 is the “Create Features” window- which will appear on the right-hand side of the ArcMap window once the Editor is turned “on”.