TEACHING
GEOG 385.02/GTECH 785.02 
GIS APPLICATIONS IN SOCIAL GEOGRAPHY
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CLASS DEMO 1. FILE MANAGEMENT FOR CLASS AND IDRISI ENVIRONMENT

 

LOGGING ON

USING A WEB BROWSER FOR GIS SG

DIGITAL READINGS

FINDING APPLICATIONS USED IN THIS CLASS

USING WINDOWS NT EXPLORER TO NAVIGATE NETWORK

SETTING UP WORKING FOLDERS:


 
 
 
 

Reconnecting to S:\scratch
Input data sets
Creating output folders
Environment settings in Idrisi

LOGGING ON

Log on a PC computer in the lab using your user name and password. Remember that you will not be able to write data to your own folder on the server (U: drive) if you are not logged in using your own account. See User accounts in SPARS on how to get your login username and password or ask for Help in the lab. (email at geohelp@geo.hunter.cuny.edu).

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FINDING APPLICATIONS USED IN CLASS

Once logged in, start applications by moving the mouse to the bottom right corner to the Start button. Click, then go to Programs and then open and close the following applications:

  • Idrisi Andes
  • ArcGIS(under ESRI)
  • CartaLinx
  • Windows Explorer
  • Internet Explorer
  • MS Word
  • Adobe Acrobat reader
  • MS Excel

Working in several applications simultaneously is convenient but consumes RAM and slows down all the applications. Because certain graphic intensive programs, including GIS, use many computer resources, keep only those applications open that you absolutely need.

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USING A WEB BROWSER FOR GIS SG

Opening Netscape or Internet Explorer

Open Internet browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer). Go to Start/Programs/...

These applications serve to access information posted on the world wide web (a world network of computers that can exchange information). Hunter Geography Department home page or GIS SG home page are examples of such information stored on our server and accessible from any other Internet connected computer. This information can be in the form of text, graphics, data, etc.

Go to Hunter Geography Home Page http://geo.hunter.cuny.edu/

Move to MP home page

Find Faculty/Staff in the drop-down box located in the upper part of the Geography home. In this faculty listing find MP, and click.

Or, go to this page directly: type the following page address in the URL window http://www.geo.hunter.cuny.edu/~mpavlov/

Go to GIS SG home page

Follow the following links on MP's home page: Teaching Fall 2002 => Geog 385.02/GTech 785.02 Special Topics: GIS Applications in Social geography

Or use direct URL address http://www.geo.hunter.cuny.edu/~mpavlov/Courses/GisSG/GisSGHome.html

This home page is your major resource for this class. You are responsible for reading this page and following the instructions that will be posted before each class session.

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USING WINDOWS EXPLORER TO NAVIGATE NETWORK

Windows Explorer serves to display location of files and folders on your drives and manage these files and folders (copy, delete, move files file and folders, create new folders, etc.). You will use it to organize your files and folders for this class.

Opening Windows Explorer and finding file locations

  • Go to Start/Programs/... and open Windows Explorer.

File locations are displayed in two panels of the Windows Explorer window. The left panel shows the structure of your computer, including local and remote drives, and a list of folders on these drives. The right panel shows the content of a selected (highlighted) folder.

  • Scroll left panel up and down. Find Desktop, My computer, drives C:, U:, S:, and removable drive.
      • C: is a local drive for storing system files and temporary files. Idrisi tutorial datasets are also located on C:\Idrisi Tutorial
      • U: drive is your remote drive on our departmental server. This is your own personal space. You will write output files from exercises and your project data here.
      • S: is another remote drive on the departmental server. This drive is shared by all network users and is intended for temporary storage of data. Another name for S: drive is \\scratch. In addition to Black Board (BB), some data and other relevant to our class information will be stored in \\scratch\GISSG folder.

Note that folders with subfolders inside are marked by a plus sign next to a folder's name. Display subfolders by clicking on the plus sign; hide the subfolders by clicking on the minus sign. The folder content is displayed in the right panel. Some folders store program files and others store data files. Never modify or touch program folders - you will corrupt the applications.

  • Find C:\Idrisi Tutorial. These folders store all input tutorial data sets.

You will write the output files to the remote drive U: on the server. Each student in class with a valid log on has space on this server (see below).

  • Note menus at the top of the Windows Explorer window.

The menus help to copy, cut and paste, move, rename and delete files or entire folders (this is similar to how you will edit text in a word processor). You can also perform some of these commands using the mouse. Click (means left button click) lets you select (highlight) files or folders; Click and drag serves to move files or folders; Click on a selected filename alllows you to rename the file; Right click will show properties of the file; and Double click will attempt to open the file with an appropriate application. If you have problems with file management, you need to take an intro to computers class.

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DIGITAL READINGS

In addition to the textbook by Heywood et al., the digital readings for this class include the Idrisi Guide to GIS and Image Processing (Andes Manual.pdf and  Idrisi Tutorial (Andes Tutorial.pdf). These pdf files are read by Adobe Acrobat Reader, an application installed on all machines in the labs. The digital readings can be accessed in several ways. 

1. From Idrisi menu under Help menu. Open Idrisi and then open either the Manual or Tutorial.

2. From s:\\scratch\GISSG\IdrisiDocs.

3. They are posted on BB

Note, that sometimes you can receive an error while opening these files in the lab. One reason is that Adobe Acrobat Reader wants you to accept the license agreement before opening the file. To do that, just open Adobe Acrobat Reader from Start/Programs and click ok to accept the agreement. After that, you should be able to display the contents of these files.

Keep these files open in Adobe Acrobat Reader window while doing your home work.

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SETTING UP WORKING FOLDERS

Working folders are folders where your input and output files are located. It is very important to set up working folders properly. This will enable you to access your data and save your work so that you can find it. In most GIS, files related to one project are stored in the same folder. In addition, information about these files is remembered by the software and is stored in a “project file.” In ArcGIS, these files have *.mxd extension. In Idrisi, paths and folders are stored in environment file (*.env) and graphic rendition of a map is stored in the map composition file *.map.

RECONNECTING TO S:\scratch and U:\

Some input data sets, demos, and mastery exercises will be placed on \\scratch\gissg. You will download the datasets from this drive to your U: drive. Sometimes these drives disappear and to make them visible again you need to reconnect by mapping network drive. See SPARS help pages for details.

The general steps in Windows Explorer are as follows:

  • Go to Tools
  • Select Map network drive
  • Choose S: from the list of folders
  • In the box Path type: \\moon\scratch
  • Check the box "Reconnect on log on"

Now this drive should become visible for you. It will show in the left panel of Windows Explorer after U: drive.

INPUT DATA SETS

The input data for this class will be located in two places:

1. Idrisi Tutorial data sets are on local C: drive in the following folders:

C:\Idrisi Tutorial\Using Idrisi  
C:\Idrisi Tutorial\Introductory GIS

 

Idrisi will use these input files to create new output files (the original data remains intact) that will be written into the output folders (see below).

2. Class demos, mastery exercises, ArcGIS competency exercises, etc. will all be located on S:\scratch\gissg. These data sets will have to be copied to corresponding output folders of your U: drive that will store both input and output data.

CREATING OUTPUT FOLDERS

All output folders will be located on your personal drive U:. Using Windows Explorer, create the following folders on your U: drive. Make sure that you type their names EXACTLY as shown below. This is important for a proper placement of datafiles from self-extracting files.

  • Create folder U:\gissg (no spaces) on your U: drive

To do that:

      • Highlight U: in the right panel of Windows Explorer by clicking once on the drive name.
      • In the top menu, choose File/ New / Folder. A new folder will apprear inside U: but in the right panel.
      • Start typing a folder name. It will automatically replace "New Folder" (a default name for a new folder just created).
  • Create the following folders inside U:\gissg:
      • U:\gissg\demos
          • will store both input and output files used in demos. Erase the files after you finished a demo.
      • U:\gissg\compex
          • will store output files from Idrisi tutorials and both input and output files from ArcGIS tutorials. Erase files after you finished a tutorial
      • U:\gissg\backup
          • you can backup your data here, if necessary
      • You will create separate folders for each mastery exercise as we proceed.

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ENVIRONMENT SETTINGS IN Idrisi

Setting data paths for competency exercises

NOTE: Data paths for this class will be set differently from what is described in the first tutorial exercise. Follow the instructions below to set these data paths.

  • Open Idrisi. Click Environment button (first from the left in the top menu). This button sets your data paths in order to instruct Idrisi how to find files in and write files to specific locations (folders)
  • Choose Browse in Main Working Folder. The Main Working folder is where you will write your output files to. Browse to find U:\gissg\compex. This is your output folder for competency exercises. DELETE DATA FROM THIS FOLDER EVERY TIME YOU COMPLETE AN EXERCISE. Do not waist your space on the server.
  • Resource folders (next in the dialog window) contain INITIAL tutorial data sets. Idrisi will access files in resource folders for input only and will write the results into the Main Working Folder. Add the following resource folders (click on Add folder button and find these folders on your hard drive):

C:\Idrisi\tutorial\using Idrisi (first)
C:\Idrisi\tutorial\introductory GIS (next)

Saving project information and opening project environment file

To instruct Idrisi to remember this information, you will have to save these data paths into the project environment file. To do that:

  • Click on Save As button. Specify the following path for location of your project environment file: C:\Idrisi\projects\ (default location of project environment files). Then type the following name for the project environment file that establishes data paths for your competency exercises: compex.env. Click OK.

When you start Idrisi again on any computer, make sure that this project environment file is loaded. You can see Project Environment filename path in the top part of the project environment dialog box. This will make sure that you will have correct settings for your output data paths.

If other settings are displayed, then open the project environment file:

  • Click on Open button. Specify the following path to your project environment file: C:\Idrisi\projects\compex.env Click ok.

These settings should now be displayed in the top part of the dialog box as Project Environment filename.

NOTE THAT YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ACCESS YOUR FOLDER U:\GISSG\COMPEX IF YOU ARE USING ANOTHER PERSON'S LOGIN NAME.

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