In practice, it is typical for a landscape architect or land planner to begin the design process without a formal survey of the site. Instead, a simple base map is built from aerial photography and onsite measurements. In this scenario, one can use Google Earth Pro to export a high-resolution aerial of the site and…
Inserting and Scaling Aerial Images in AutoCAD
Adjusting the Symbology of certain data in GIS
Lab: Population Density Lab Files Needed: Mississippi Roads Shapefile, Desoto County Boundary Shapefile, Desoto County DEM, Mississippi Population Density, Shelby County Boundary Shapefile, City of Memphis DEM Data within the attribute table often presents the most important information of an ArcMap file. In the instance of census data, this is absolutely the case. This lab…
Creating Contours from a DEM file in GIS
Lab: Creating Contours Lab Files Needed: Mississippi Roads Shapefile, Desoto County Boundary Shapefile, Desoto County DEM, Mississippi Population Density, Shelby County Boundary Shapefile, City of Memphis DEM Elevation data comes in a variety of formats at varying resolutions. Much of the elevation data you will access from public agencies will be in the form of…
Intro to ArcToolbox, Using Clip and Extract Tools in GIS
ArcToolbox: Beyond the basic representation of existing data, ArcGIS can manipulate data through a series of Analyst Tools built into the software. These extensions have to be enabled through the Customize>Extensions menu. Selecting Geoprocessing>ArcToolbox, will open the array of analyst tools available. Tools that might be of particular help with regional mapping will be the…
Page Setup and Exporting in GIS
Page Setup: The default view in ArcMap is of the world coordinate system, similar to model space in AutoCAD. The page layout icon on the bottom left of the window will establish a layout view similar to paperspace in AutoCAD and defined by what is set in under File>Page Setup. The scale of the view…
Table of Contents and Layer Basics in GIS
Table of Contents: The table of contents in ArcMap serves as a layers palette for toggling on and off particular datasets. This is also where you will select and manipulate data that is imported into your project. The simplest form of manipulating this data is to click and drag the layers up and down in…
Adding Local and Online Data in GIS
Downloading GIS Data: While some data can be accessed through server connections built into the GIS software, much of the data you will be utilizing for planning projects will be acquired from State Agencies or local Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs). Data will come in various formats, all of which will be either vector or raster…
Rotating (RO) an image by reference in AutoCAD
This Tutorial will demonstrate how to rotate an object to the same angle of another object.. The tutorial will showcase two options to reach the same result, by using the align and Rotate by Reference commands in AutoCad. Option 1 First, make sure both the reference object and the object that you need to rotate…
Scaling (SC) an image in AutoCAD
This Tutorial will explain the steps needed to scale an image in AutoCad. After the desired images have been inserted, whether it is a plan or an Arial, search for a known distance or length on the image. The distance for example can be a length of a building, a door, or a pathway. Draw…
Matching Properties (MA) in AutoCAD
Layer properties such as color, layer name, line type can be easily replicated or changed to match existing elements or objects in the drawing by matching properties. In order to match properties input command MA, then press Enter or Space Bar. Dialogue box displaying Select Source Object will display. Click on the object with the desired…
Extending (EX) and Trimming (TR) in AutoCAD
This Tutorial will showcase the steps to trim or extend a line in AutoCad. Trimming: In order to trim a line in AutoCAD input the command TR The dialogue box SELECT OBJECT will display. Select the lines or objects that would serve as a trimming limit and press enter or space bar. Select the lines that…
Inserting an image in AutoCAD
There are multiple types of images that you might want to insert into a CAD drawing, whether a site aerial, a design sketch, or even a logo sketch. There are also multiple techniques for inserting those images. This tutorial will highlight three options to insert jpeg images in AutoCad. Option 1: If you are using the classic…
Using the AutoCAD Detail Template
Well-crafted construction documents are critical for articulating that design intent in nearly all major projects in professional practice. This tutorial will provide an overview on using detail template and additional files as a resource in the development of a construction document set. The files provided include an AutoCAD Detail Template, a .CTB file (or Plot…