How to import a dataset table into Arcmap and interpret it

Question

Dear all,

Thank you for your attention.

Running Arcmap 10.1.

I am brand new to this software and at this point I need this software to visualize the data generated from other program on the research basin.

At the moment I have a data set table in .csv which contains 603 columns. Column 1 for latitudes column 2 for longitudes, and column 3 to column 603 are data for each grid point(shown as black dots in figure 1) in 600 months. So basically my dataset is in format like this:

yxmonth1month2month321.5106.50.210640.0709610.0482321.5107.50.115990.551930.608722.5105.50.0155630.0163930.01424622.5106.50.0344740.0256670.00299822.5107.50.0887330.712310.77644

There are 64 gird points and 600 months  in total and each point is separated by 0.5 degrees,

I did tried to search topics like importing xyz data to arcmap and followed the instructions to add data and display xy data, but all i got is map below. I also tried to follow the Arctoolbox, but I failed at the very beginning when I tried to convert the file(Arctoolbox>3D Analyst Tools>Conversion>From File>ASCII 3D to Feature Class/Point File Information)

What I want in the end is plotting data on the map like I did in Matlab(shown in Figure 2) but in a shape more like a basin instead of mosaic one. And also in Matlab all the drawings(600 pics in this case) can be saved without doing it manually once the coding is right. Can I do this in Arcmap? I guess there is a more straightforward way to import this data and interpret it smoothly like meteorological application.

And another alternative I think is out of Arcmap and with the help of photoshop I may be able to "cut" colored area into a basin shape and batch processing in PS for 600 or even more pics. But I don't want to go to this stage really as I have this professional software that is well applied in meteorology aspect.

I do not come here if I never tried to learn and solve it by myself. Since I am totally new to this software, please don't mind if I have asked any stupid questions.

thank you for your time and attention again.

looking forward to your answers.

Regards

figure 1: grid points and research basin:

Figure 2: mapping using the column 3 data for same area in matlab(by interpolation to a finer resolution 0.25*0.25)

JoshuaKwan · Answer

Hi Sol,

It is me again, I have finished my project and I want to share my experiences about batch processing and animation of results, here is my link: An example of visualizing spatial-temporal data in the ArcMap

Thank you for your supports and hope this example can help others struggling similar problems.

Joshua

jcarlson_3-1623289276313.png

JoshuaKwan · Answer

Hi Sol,

Thank you for your suggestion,

I will describe the procedure clearly for someone else having the same problem like me for a reference.

I tried the clipping tool, it failed, but it worked in extract by mask tool by selecting , it finally turned out like this:

The Batch process, however, does not seem to work properly. In the table after clicking the "Batch" button, in every row I have to specify the data one by one, which is barely possible in this case because I have hundreds of dataset(months).

And the output of this batch process is not preferable, because it will draw different dataset(months) at the same time although in different layer. If I wanna look into a certain months, I have to unclick all the other months first. Could you please come up with a solution to this?

Thanks,

Joshua

JoshuaKwan · Answer

To Sol,

Thank you for your reply.

I have tried to follow your suggestion and successfully import my dataset to the file file geodatabase and add the data to a layer in Arcmap. But now I have got some problems to move on.

In Arctoolbox(3D Analyst Tools>Raster Interpolation), IDW for example, it requires the input to be a "feature" file. To settle this, I tried by right click the table converted and select "Create feature class from XY table"  and left "Z field" to be <none>(shown in Fig 3).

This step generated a .shp file and I used that as the input in IDW where I can select Z values to be data for any single month(shown in Fig 4).

By clicking OK I got this Fig 5. And here are my problems:

*The interpolated area is defined by the rectangular edge of the sample data points, but I want this area to cover the whole basin shown in green, i.e., how can I extend the edge of the interpolation by a little bit to cover the whole basin?

*If I want to eliminate the color map of interpolation outside of the basin, what should I do?

*The procedure above only gave an interpolation for a single month, but in my project, there are over a thousand dataset. It is merely possible to plot them manually one by one. Is there a way for batch processing and then save every single picture by coding or whatever?

Fig 3:

Fig 4:

Fig 5:

Fig 6: