GEOG 485
Lesson 1: Basics of ArcGIS Customization
Brian G. Buchanan
The scenario for Lesson 1 was that I was assigned to create a user-friendly ArcMap document to place on an older computer in the lobby of my company’s office. The goal was to produce a map document that was not complicated and allowed a first-time user of a GIS to navigate the map as well as learn some of the fundamentals of the program.
In order to accomplish the goals of the scenario, I customized the ArcMap document to remove some of the menus, tools, and buttons to make the document less complicated. Specifically, I changed the Main Menu, Tools, Standard, and Drawing Toolbars. Within these toolbars I eliminated buttons and commands that were extraneous to the goals of the scenario. Any other toolbars that were active were turned off within the ArcMap document. All of the changes were saved to document and not to a base template or normal template. This could be changed in the future, however, if the supervisors decided to make this the standard template for the computer in the lobby. The limited toolbars are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: ArcMap document created for Lesson 1 showing the limited amounts of toolbars, commands, and buttons. Map was created using ArcView 9.2 on July 22, 2008.
In addition to customizing the document I programmed the document to ask the user’s name and then welcome the user to the document as well as inviting them to explore a map of the United States. These message boxes are shown cin Figures 2 and 3. The goal of this scenario was to welcome users to an accessible GIS document. I think that it would be useful to use the computer as a sign in board as well. I am not sure if this is possible, but it could be useful to save the users' names to keep a log of people that used the computer. This information, in turn, would keep a record of how sucessful the placement of the computer was, as well as provide information on whom the ArcMap document appeals to.
Figure 2: ArcMap document showing the welcome message box that I programmed using Visual Basic Editor. The map was created on July 23, 2008 using ArcView 9.2.
Figure 3: esponse message programmed using Visual Basic Editor. The map was created on July 23, 2008 using ArcView 9.2.
I found that customizing the ArcMap document was fairly easy. Once you entered into design mode, deleting buttons and commands was simplistic and user friendly. I had more problems with programming the welcome messages. This was due to the fact that I have never taken any programming classes before, and this is all new to me. I did discover, however, that as I became more used to the format of the Visual Basic Editor, it became easier to understand the logic of the structure for the required input of the statements. I am sure that with more practice, it will become easier to input the correct codes. A final issue I had during programming was with the spacing and punctuation within the command lines. I am still not clear on why certain spacing is used, and when it is appropriate to use commas, apostrophes, etc. Thankfully, every time that I would compile the project, if something was wrong, I was alerted. This is a great feature for first time programmers such as me! I feel that I have earned the merit points for describing my issues and how I hope to solve the problems that I had difficulty understanding, as well as describing ways that welcome messages could be changed to benefit the company in the scenario.