Editing in ArcMap

Workshop #9
Many times, the data that you need for your analysis will not be “ready-made” for
you. In some cases, you might be the first person interested in some spatial feature that is
found only in printed maps, or perhaps you are trying to determine how some “not yet
built” feature might affect the landscape you are interested in. In these cases, you are
likely to have to create your own features from scratch. Or, you might need to alter or
add to already existing data that may not have been updated recently. If any of these are
the case, you will need to be familiar with editing in ArcMap. This tutorial will walk you
through the very basic skills you will need to proceed with editing in ArcMap. There are
many ways to interact with data in the ArcMap Editing Environment, and this tutorial
will introduce you to only the very simplest tools.

Getting Ready for the Tutorial:

1. Browse to the Map Collection website at: http://www.library.yale.edu/maps

2. Under QUICK LINKS, follow the “Download GIS Workshop Materials.”

3. Scroll down to the “Editing in ArcGIS” workshop materials and click on the
Data link to download the materials.

4. Download the Data file to an initials folder (a folder with your initials as the
folder name) in the C:\Temp\ folder of your harddrive.

5. Unzip the contents of the file to the

initials folder.

Creating an Empty Shapefile

1. Browse into the resulting folder

09_Editing_in_ArcMap_Data and
find the map document,
New_Haven_Sanborn_Editing.mxd,
and open it by double-clicking.

2. Click on the ArcCatalog Button

to launch ArcCatalog.

3. In the TreeView of ArcCatalog,

browse to the .\Data\Shapefile\ folder
of the tutorial dataset.

1
 4. Right-click on the .\Shapefile\ folder and select
>New>Shapefile, to open the Create New
Shapefile Dialog Box.

5. Name the new shapefile

Hydrants_New_Haven_1901.

6. Leave the Feature Type as Point.

7. Click on the “Edit…” button, under the Spatial

Reference Description to open the Spatial
Reference Properties Dialog.

You will use the spatial reference from a shapefile in

the tutorial dataset to reference this data.

8. Click on the Import Button to browse to the

.\Data\Shapefile\ folder and select the
Wall_York_Grove_High_New_Haven_1901
shapefile.

9. Click Add.

10. Click OK to accept the imported Spatial Reference

Properties.

11. Click OK to create the new shapefile.

Add Attribute Fields to Fire Hydrants Point Shapefile

1. In ArcCatalog, Right-Click on the new

Hydrants_New_Haven_1901 shapefile and open
the Properties Dialog.

2. Select the Fields Tab.

3. Click in the first blank Field Name cell to place the

cursor. Name the field HYD_TYPE.

4. Click in the Data Type cell next to the new

HYD_TYPE Field Name to activate the drop-
down menu. Select Short Integer as the Data
Type.

2
 5. Click OK to write the new field to the empty Hydrants_New_Haven_1901
shapefile.

Drawing Features in an Empty Shapefile

The Editing Toolbar

1. Return to ArcMap and use the Add Data Button to add the empty
Hydrants_New_Haven_1901 shapefile to the map document.

2. Click on the Editor Toolbar Button to open the Editor Toolbar. Dock the
toolbar somewhere convenient, if necessary.

3. Click on the Editor Button and select “Start Editing” to begin an editing
session.

4. Make sure that the “Task:” is set to Create New Feature, and the “Target:” is
set to Hydrants_New_Haven_1901.

5. Use the Zoom & Pan

Tools to focus on the
upper right corner of the
scanned map image in the
map document

6. Click on the Sketch Tool

on the Editor
Toolbar to enable it.

7. Click on the D.H. (Double

Hydrant) symbol to place a
point on it.

3
 8. Click on the Attributes Button to
open the Editor Toolbars Attributes
Window.

9. Place the cursor in the Value cell for your

HYD_TYPE field. Place a value of 2 in the
cell, since you have digitized a double-
hydrant.

10. Repeat Steps 5-9 for the remainder of the

hydrants in the extent of the Wall_York_Grove_High_New_Haven_1901 layer,
until you have digitized points and edited the HYD_TYPE field for all of the
hydrants (there are 6).
Right-click on the layer
in the Table of
Contents and select
“Zoom to Layer” to
zoom to its extent.

11. When you have

finished digitizing all 6
hydrants, click
Editor>Save Edits on
the Editor Toolbar.

12. Save your work.

Creating New Polygon Features

Create Printshop at 351 York Street

1. In the ”Target:” Dropdown on the Editor Toolbar, change the target layer to
the Wall_York_Grove_High_New_Haven_1901 layer.

2. Select the Sketch Tool from

the Editor Toolbar and place the
first vertex of the new polygon by
clicking once on any of the four
corners of the Print Shop footprint.

3. Place each subsequent vertices

(moving sequentially, clockwise or
counter-clockwise) by clicking once

4
 on each of the footprint corners.

4. When you have placed the fourth corner vertex,

right-click anywhere in the map view and select
“Finish Sketch.”

5. If you do not already have the Attributes Editor

open, open it from the Attributes Button on the
Editor Toolbar.

6. Use the values shown to the right to fill in the

attributes for the Print Shop.

7. Select Editor>Save Edits on the Editor Toolbar to save the new feature and its
attributes to the shapefile permanently.

8. Save your work.

Deleting, Modifying, Splitting & Merging Features

Deleting 246 Grove Street

1. In the Main Menu, go to View>Bookmarks>250 Grove. Note that there is a

feature that does not correspond to a building footprint present in the reference
image.

2. On the Editor Toolbar,

change the “Task:” to
“Modify Feature.”

3. Activate the Edit Tool .

4. Using the Edit Tool, click

once in the “orphan”
feature to select it.

5. Right-click in the selected

feature and select “Delete.”

5
6. Select Editor>Save Edits on the Editor Toolbar.

7. Save Your Work.

Split 250 Grove Street

1. On the Editor Toolbar, go to Editor>Snapping… to open the Snapping

Environment Panel.

2. Check all three checkboxes, next to the

Wall_York_Grove_High_New_Haven_1901
layer.

3. Close the Snapping Environment Panel.

4. Change the Editing “Task:” to “Cut Polygon

Features.”

5. Activate the Editing Tool and use it to

select the footprint polygon at 250 Grove
Street.

6. Activate the Sketch Tool and hover it

near the undigitized line in the footprint of
250 Grove Street. Notice how the tool
“sticks” to the lines and vertices of the feature
as you come within the snapping tolerance of
the line.

7. Use the Sketch Tool to create a new line that

splits the feature between the two sections
shown in the reference image.

8. When you have placed the

second vertex of the line,
right-click and select “Finish
Sketch.” Note that the
drawing “flashes” a little bit
when you do this. ArcMap
has just “Split” the polygon
into two features with
identical attributes.

6
 9. Use the Editor Tool to select the smaller of the two polygons that you
just created.

10. Open the Attributes Panel, if it is not already open, and change the values of
the polygon as shown on above.

11. Go to Editor>Save Edits.

12. Save your work.

Modify 351 York Street

1. On the Editor Toolbar, go to Editor>Snapping… to open the Snapping

Environment Panel.

2. Check all three checkboxes, next to the

Wall_York_Grove_High_New_Haven_1901 layer.

3. Close the Snapping Environment Panel.

4. In the Main Menu, go to View>Bookmarks>351 York.

5. Note that the digitized line at 351 York does not

properly follow the footprint shown in the
reference image.

6. Change the Editor “Task:” to “Modify

Feature.”

7. Use the Editor Tool to select the feature at 351

York.

8. Place the cursor over the spot on the northern edge of the feature where there
needs to be a new vertex (shown in the image above with a red star).

9. Right-click and select “Insert Vertex” to create a

new vertex for this corner.

10. Hover over the northwest vertex (shown as a

red square in the image above) until the pointer
changes to a four arrowed box. Click-hold the
vertex and drag it to the appropriate place (as
shown at the right).

7
 11. Click outside the feature to deselect it and apply the change.

12. Go to Editor>Save Edits.

13. Save your work.

Merge 352-355 York Street

1. On the Main Menu, go to View>Bookmarks>Office.

2. Change the Editor “Task:” to “Modify Feature,”

and activate the Editor Tool.

3. Hold down the shift key and select both polygons

that make up the footprint of the building at 353-
355 York Street.

4. On the Editor Toolbar, select Editor>Merge.

5. You will be prompted to select the “feature with which

other features will be merged.” This means that the
resulting feature will retain the Attributes of the feature
you select. Note that when you select one of the feature
names in the list, its corresponding polygon shape flashes
in the map document. Select the larger of the two
polygons and click OK.

The two polygons will merge into one. Note that we will
not adjust the attributes in this case, but the field
containing measurements of area, perimeter, etc…
will no longer be valid and should be recalculated, if
needed.

6. Go to Editor>Save Edits.

8
7. Save your work.