Switching to ArcGIS Pro from ArcMap. Maribeth H. Price

on what the user is doing and what is open.

      9.Return to the Map tab, and examine it for familiar capabilities, such as the basemap, bookmarks, adding data, and so on. The Catalog view remained open as a second tab in the display window.

       10.Use the tabs to switch back and forth between the map view and the Catalog view.

       11.Open the Catalog view again, right-click a feature layer (not any other kind of layer) from your search group, and click Add to New > Map to add it to a new map, different from the first.

       12.In the Contents pane, click twice slowly on the map name (currently Map) and change it to something more descriptive.

       13.Examine the contents of the Maps folder in the Catalog pane, noting that it now has two maps listed.

      14.Close one of the maps using the X on the tab at the top of the display window. The map closes but is still available in the Catalog pane.

      15.Click the Save button on the Quick Access Toolbar at the top of the GUI to save the LearnPro project. The connections to your new maps will be saved to the project.

      Like ArcMap, ArcGIS Pro stores only links to these ArcGIS Online maps and data services.

      TIPMaps in projects are analogous to data frames in an ArcMap map document.

Objective 1.4: Arranging the windows and panes

      As in ArcMap, windows can be docked in the program or float above it. Objects within windows can be rearranged in different ways: stacked on top of each other, side by side, top over bottom, and so on. The docking icon should already be familiar to ArcMap users, and it works much the same way in ArcGIS Pro (figure 1.9).

Figure 1.9. The docking icon is used to arrange panes within a window: stacked (drop on the center) or side by side (left, right, top, or bottom).

       1.In the display window, click the map tab and drag to pull it out of the program onto the desktop, making it a floating window.

       2.Drag it back into the center display area to make the docking icon appear. Drag the map tab to the center of the icon and release to stack the map back on top of the Catalog view again.

       3.Drag the map away again and use the docking icon to arrange the map view and Catalog view side by side. Experiment until all five docking locations have been used.

       4.In the Catalog pane, open the Maps entry, if needed, and double-click the second map to open it.

      5.Experiment with arranging the three views. Panes can also be arranged within their windows.

      6.Open the second map, the one containing the feature layer, and click its title bar to ensure that it is the active view. The Contents pane shows the content of the active view.

       7.If the feature layer loaded as a group layer, expand it until an individual layer is visible.

       8.In the Contents pane, right-click the layer and click Symbology to open the Symbology pane.

       9.Drag and dock the Symbology pane in different locations: below the Contents pane, on top of the Catalog pane, next to the Catalog pane, and so on until comfortable with arranging panes.

       10.Save the LearnPro project.

      TIPWhen two panes are stacked in a window, use the top bar to move the window with all the panes together. To move a single pane out of a window, click its tab on the bottom.

Objective 1.5: Accessing the help

      The help files are normally accessed in a web browser window, rather than being part of the program as in ArcMap. For offline work, the help files can also be downloaded and installed separately.

      1.Open the Project ribbon and click Help. Your default browser opens to the help pages.

       2.Widen the browser window, if needed, to see the outline on the left and the text on the right (figure 1.10).

       3.Expand some entries in the outline to explore the content and organization.

      4.Find the Search icon and click to open the search page. Type a search term, such as labels, click Search or click Enter on your keyboard, and select one of the topics that appears.

       5.Examine the breadcrumb trail to locate the content in the Table of Contents outline. Click on a higher level to climb out to more general topics.

       6.Examine each of the tabs, and then return to the Help tab.

       7.Spend some time exploring ArcGIS Pro Help until you are comfortable using it.

       8.Minimize the browser, making the help access quicker next time, and return to ArcGIS Pro.

      Figure 1.10. The help for ArcGIS Pro.

Objective 1.6: Importing a map document

      ArcGIS Pro can easily import existing map documents from ArcMap. Every data frame in the map document will be imported as a map, and new layouts will be created in the project. Folder connections needed to access the data in the map document, styles used to display the features, and most data frame and layer settings will be imported. If you have a map document (.mxd) on your computer, you can try importing it now.

       1.Close any open maps.

       2.Open the Insert tab, and in the Project group, click the Import Map button.

       3.Navigate to a map document, select it, and click OK. Wait while the map document imports from ArcMap—it may take a few minutes.

       4.Examine the map views in the main window. One is created for each data frame in the map document.

      5.In one of the imported maps, double-click a layer to open its properties and examine the Source setting. Close the properties when finished. The data upon which the map layers are based is imported as paths to the original source in its original location. No data will be copied into the project.

      6.In the Catalog pane, expand the Layouts entry and find the new layout added from the map document. Double-click it to open it. Most settings will be copied to the new layout, but you may find that a few are not because of differences between ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro. You may need to adjust some layouts or maps to get the same result as the original. Once imported, however, layouts cannot be exported back to ArcMap format.

       7.Examine the layout and see if you notice any difference between the ArcGIS Pro and ArcMap versions.

      8.In the Catalog pane, expand the Styles entry. Custom styles used in the map document, if any, would be imported and shown here.

      Remember, ArcGIS Pro can have multiple layouts.

       9.Import another map document if you wish.

       10.Save the LearnPro project to save the imported map(s) and layout(s).

      Chapter 2

      Unpacking the GUI

Background