Lab 8

I. Read Bolstad Chapter 8 and answer the following questions.

1. What are the primary functions of a database management system?

A DBMS is a computer program that organizes and manipulates data.

2. What is a one-to-one relationship between tables? A many-to-one?

In a one-to-one relationship for every record on the first table there is only one matching record on the second table.  For example, one table may include a student ID number and their name, and the other table may include the same student ID number and that students GPA. In a many-to-one relationship for every record on one table there are many matching records on the other table. For example one table may contain the different forests and the states they are located in, and the second table may contain the different trails that exist in the forests. Here the trails are the many and the forests are the one.

3. Why are relational databases so popular (i.e. what are the benefits)?

Relational databases are popular because they allow ad hoc requests. Also, if they are in normal form they can improve correctness and consistency, remove redundancy, and ease updates.

II. AFTER completing Ormsby Chapters 8 & 9, complete the following exercise.

1. You are going to join a table of landuse info to a feature class for Santa Barbara Landuse so that you can access additional information.

2. Navigate to your named folder inside the “STUDENT_DATA” folder on your C-drive. Inside of that folder, create a new folder named “Lab8”.

3. Go to the Y:\courses_rmaas\Geog206\data and copy the Lab8 folder down to your working directory.

4. Open and explore the Lab8Data geodatabase.

a. What is the Data Type of the LAND_USE field in the Landuse feature class?

String

b. What is the Data Type of the LAND_USE field in the LanduseInfo.dbf table?

String

5. Perform the following steps in ArcMap:

a. Join the LanduseInfo.dbf file TO the Landuse feature class. Explore the table. What are the new fields that have been joined (appended)? 

All of the fields from the LanduseInfo table have been join to the Landuse feature class. This includes the land use description, general, type, square miles, and acres.

b. Export the Landuse feature class to a new feature class called Landuse_all to preserve the join. (hint: make sure your 'save as type' option is set correctly.)

c. Query the new feature class to select both ‘Open Lands’ and ‘Open Land Uses’ from the LU_GENERAL field.

d. Save the selection as a new feature class and place it into YOUR Lab8Data geodatabase with the name Landuse_open.

e. How many total acres of Open Lands (including Open Land Uses) exist in this new feature class?

There is a total of 92,236.77 acres of open land

f. Open your Lab8Data geodatabase inside ArcCatalog so that all feature classes are visible. Capture a screenshot of the geodatabase contents and post with your answers.



g. Create an area qualitative map of the Landuse_all layer using the LU_GENERAL field. Include all of your map elements (north arrow, etc.) and make sure to practice your basic map design skills. In addition, create an overview inset map on your page that provides reference for the location of this county in Southern California. Use the CountyBoundary and Highways layers for your inset. Post this map to your blog.