topic Re: Creating a shapefile in ArcGIS in Data Management Questions

Creating a shapefile in ArcGIS

TravMoore — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 20:25:24 GMT

Hi there,

I am a graduate student and am new to ArcGIS, as well as this site. As my research entails climate science, I recently discovered that the software could be a useful means for me to create a map displaying spatial variations in temperature at a global scale.

I should note that I do have an Excel file containing the necessary data, and this file is organized into latitude/longitude coordinates. For example, column A displays Longitude (titled "lon"), and column B shows Latitude (titled "lat"). ***Please note that my longitude values range from 0 to 360, and for latitude, values range from -90 to 90. Given the nature of the latitude and longitude values, what projection would be most appropriate?

Column C (titled Annual avg.) displays annual temperature changes per degree Celsius of global warming. Columns D and E show simimilar changes in temperatures but are more seasonal (these are not necessary). Please also note that this Excel file is already in .csv format, which, I believe, is a suitable format in ArcGIS.

The idea is to create a shapefile in ArcGIS that displays the temperature changes per degree Celsius global warming using the Excel file. Once done, I would simply like to calculate specific regional averages based on these temperature changes. For instance, once the desired (raster) map is created, would it be possible to calculate the average temperature change over North America (or any specific region)? If so, how?

I would greatly appreciate it if someone could guide me through the necessary steps involved in such a task/process!

Any assistance would surely be valued immensely.

Thank you,

~Trav.~

Re: Creating a shapefile in ArcGIS

DonovanCameron — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:51:30 GMT

Is your CSV/Spreadsheet a publicly available data set?

If you are allowed to share where that is, it would help someone offer a relevant solution as they work through the process you are looking for themselves.

EDIT: Forgot to ask, do you have the Spatial or 3D Analyst extension available?

Re: Creating a shapefile in ArcGIS

TravMoore — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 16:15:50 GMT

Hi SaultDon,

Firstly, thank you very much for your response! I appreciate it tremendously!

I am not sure if the file is available publicly, but I tried attaching the .csv file here, but it didn't seem to work properly. However, I have copied and pasted the data into a new Excel file (.xlsx format), and it is attached to this message. I hope this will help. 🙂

Also, I looked into this link, but I don't know if it is relevant:

http://support.esri.com/en/knowledgebase/techarticles/detail/27589

And, unfortunately, I am not certain as to what the Spatial or 3D Analyst extension is. 😞

Once my replies are posted here, will you (or anyone else) be notified, SaultDon?

Again, thank you for the response.

~Trav.~

Re: Creating a shapefile in ArcGIS

DanPatterson_Retired — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 18:39:59 GMT

why not simplify things by adding another column and calculating "long -180" to get longitude into convention coordinates.

Re: Creating a shapefile in ArcGIS

TravMoore — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 23:11:49 GMT

Hi Dan Patterson,

Ok, I did as you instructed. What do you suggest I do with my newly modified Excel file?

Thanks,

~Trav.~

Re: Creating a shapefile in ArcGIS

DanPatterson_Retired — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 23:45:37 GMT

save it under a new name, export to csv then bring it into arcmap as a text file as per usual

Re: Creating a shapefile in ArcGIS

TravMoore — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 00:06:48 GMT

Hi Dan Patterson,

Wouldn't Arcmap be able to read it as a .csv file type? Or is it best to save it as a text file?

Once the file is in ArcMap, what procedures should I follow? (Note that I do not have ArcMap/ArcGIS installed on my pc - I'm not sure if there are any trial versions available, though).

Thanks,

~Trav.~

EDIT: The text file should be "tab delimited"?