working with CHGIS data in ArcExplorer

working with CHGIS data in ArcExplorer

How to open GIS files

How to search GIS files

How to Open Files

To open shapefiles in ArcExplorer, launch the ArcExplorer application, and click on the ADD DATA icon.

in the ADD THEME dialog box browse to the folder containing the shapefile you wish to open and double click on the filename

The opened GIS layer will appear on the list in the layer bar, but will not appear in the map view window until you click on the CHECKBOX next to the filename in the layer bar. The first layer added will be shown in its entire geographic extent. Subsequent layers will be opened to match the existent geographic extent visible in the map view.

To change the map scale you can click on the ZOOM IN or ZOOM OUT buttons, then click on the map. Left click and drag the mouse to create a specific box to ZOOM into. You may also pan the image in any direction without changing the scale by clicking on the PAN tool, shaped like a hand, and dragging the image in the desired direction while holding down the left mouse button.

To obtain the attribute information for a particular feature in the GIS layer, activate the layer you want to search in the layer bar by clicking on it. then activate the IDENTIFY button. move the cursor to the position of the feature to be identified and right click the mouse. A seperate IDENTIFY RESULTS window will open, showing the attributes for the selected feature.

When working with multiple layers, the overlay position of any layer can be changed by moving the mouse over the name of the layer to be shifted on the layer bar, then left clicking and dragging the layer up or down layer bar stack and releasing the left button at the desired position. This image shows a polygon layer, with an opaque fill color, on top of a line layer.

After moving the line layer on top of the polygon layer, it becomes visible.

How to Search

To search for a keyword or value in ArcExplorer, first make sure the layer to be searched is active in the layer bar, by clicking on it, then go to TOOLS | FIND, or click on the FIND icon.
in the FIND FEATURES dialog box, enter a text string to search for (ArcExplorer does not handle numeric values)
select a search type
the active layers will be listed in the THEMES TO SEARCH box. click on the layer(s) you want to search
click FIND
results of the search will be presented in the lower box, where you will be prompted to pick a feature. First move or resize the FIND FEATURES dialog box so that you can see the Map View at the same time. Then click on the feature you want to view, and one of the selection options: HIGHLIGHT, PAN TO, or ZOOM TO. Any of these actions will help to locate the selected spatial object in the Map View.