How do I take RMBL GIS datasets with me?

If you would like to take GIS files off of Barclay computers to take home with you at the end of the season (burned to a CD or DVD for example), you will need to export them in ArcCatalog to a separate folder on the hard drive. You will be making a copy of the file that you can then take with you. The easiest way to do this is to first contact the GIS/GPS Coordinator at <a href=”mailto:gis@rmbl.org”>gis@rmbl.org to request the exported data that you want. You can export the data on your own if you choose; below are the steps to take within ArcMap to do so.

To export raster files (e.g.anything with pixels), right click on the file in Arccatalog, scroll to “export” and then to “raster to different format…”. Click the folder “browse” button and navigate to the folder on the hard drive where you want the file to be saved. Type in a name for the file. After you have pressed “OK” you may need to wait some time for a file to copy because of the large size of some raster files.

For vectors (points/lines/polygons), right click, and scroll to “export’, “To Shapefile (single)”. For output location, browse to the folder where you want the file to be exported. Enter a file name in the output feature class name space.  Press “OK”.

You will now be able to burn these copied files to a CD to take with you.

Keep in mind that when you export the files, the metadata does not come along. You will need to export the metadata separately. In ArcCatalog, when you have the metadata tab selected, there are five buttons in the toolbar that deal with the metadata (edit, metadata properties, create/update, import, and export). Click on the export button. Browse to the folder where you want the metadata to be stored (preferably wherever the file is located). Select FGDC CSDGM (SGML). Click OK.