United States Department of Agriculture
Natural Resources Conservation Service		 Montana Go to Accessibility Information
Skip to Page Content


 

Pedon_PC—ArcMap Setup for Spatial Linkage

If you encounter problems with the file provided on this page, please contact Soil Survey at 406-587-6960.

The information on this page is also available in Microsoft PowerPoint format. Once you have saved the file to a local drive, open Microsoft PowerPoint then open the saved file on your local drive.

ArcMap Setup for Spatial Linkage (PPT; 2 MB)

Setup for Spatial Components

  1. Open an existing ArcMap project file (.mxd) for your survey area.
  2. Open ArcToolbox.
  3. Unzip the Digital Soil Survey – Pedon PC Analysis.tbx toolbox file to the folder were your toolboxes reside. The following applies to most USDA systems:
    • c:\Documents and Settings\your.name\Application Data\ESRI\ArcToolbox\My Toolboxes
  4. Click on the ArcToolbox button to open ArcToolbox.
  5. Right click the ArcToolbox folder and select Add Toolbox.
  6. Browse to the Digital Soil Survey – Pedon PC Analysis toolbox in the folder where your toolboxes reside.
  7. Click the Add Data button and add the tTempAnalyzeSpatial table from the spatial_link.mdb file on your system.
  8. The default location for the Spatial Link database (spatial_link.mdb file) should be c:\pedon\spatial_link.mdb.
  9. It could be located anywhere, but it is recommended that it be stored at the above path.
  10. Open up the Setup Toolset and open the 1_Setup for Point Display model by double clicking on it.
    • This model will create an XY displayed point layer of the tTempAnalyzeSpatial table called tTempAnalyzeSpatial Events layer.
  11. If you are displaying points across more than one UTM zone, then display the points using a geographic coordinate system and the settings shown.
    • Keep in mind that you need to have the lat/long data populated in the site table in order for the records to be displayed.
    • There is a model in the setup toolset that was developed to derive the lat/long data from the UTM data to assist in getting this data populated for display of points across multiple zones.
  12. You may also use utmeastings (X field) and utmnorthings (Y field) for your UTM zone, if you are displaying all of your points within one UTM zone.
  13. Notice that the tTempAnalyzeSpatial Events layer was added to your project.
  14. Now open the Pedon PC; click on Forms then Analyze Point Data to open the Analysis form.
  15. Click on the Spatial Refresh button; this will enable the refresh of tTempAnalyzeSpatial with the currently filtered records each time the filter button is clicked.
  16. Now click on the Remove Filter button to show all of the records (and to show all your points in ArcMap through the tTempAnalyzeSpatial Events layer).
  17. Now go back over to your ArcMap project and click the Refresh button.
  18. Now go back to the Analysis form in the Pedon PC and make a selection from values in the list of soil name as sampled.
  19. Notice that the value select goes up into the filter box.
  20. Click the filter button again to limit to the selection.
  21. Now go back to your ArcMap project and click the Refresh button.
  22. Notice that display of points tracks the records that are currently filtered in the Analysis form.
  23. To label the points to reflect the currently selected field.
  24. Right click the tTempAnalyzeSpatial Events layer and to to Properties and then click on the labels tab.
  25. Select Field1 as the Label Field and click OK.
  26. Field1 is a generic field that is passed to the tTempAnalyzeSpatial table from the currently selected field on the Analysis form each time the filter button is pressed.
  27. Labels will track the currently selected field in the Analysis form.

Now for the polygon side of things

  1. Click the Add Data button and add the polygon_selected_PPC table from the spatial_link.mdb file on your system.
  2. The recommended location for the Spatial Link database (spatial_link.mdb file) is c:\pedon\spatial_link.mdb.
  3. If you cannot place it at the above location, you can browse to it on your system.
  4. The Legend Builder form can be linked to the soil polygons layer through the polygon_selected_PPC table.
  5. By joining the Legend Builder form with the soil polygon layer you can take advantage of the powerful selection process built into the form.
Before we get into setting up the join from this table to the soil polygon layer, we need to create some reference layers from your existing soil polygon layer.
  • soil_a
  • soil_a_selected
  1. These layers exist only in the ArcMap project, not in the geodatabase and are named with a standard convention that is referenced by the models in the Digital Soil Survey – Pedon PC Analysis toolbox.
  2. To create a soil_a and soil_a_selected layers within your ArcMap project.
  3. Click to make sure your soil polygon layer has been added to your project.
  4. Right click and copy the soil polygons layer and paste it to the Layers.
  5. Rename the layer as soil_a.
  6. Repeat the same steps and copy the soil polygons layer to your project layers again, only this time name the layer soil_a_selected.
Creating the join between the polygon_selected_PPC table and the soil_a_selected layer.
  1. Right click the soil_a_selected layer and go to Joins and Relates then Join.
  2. Select the OBJECTID field from your soil_a_selected, select the polygon_selected_PPC table as the table to join to the layer, and then choose the OBJECTID field as the join field. Click OK.
  3. Right click the soil_a_selected layer and go to Properties and then click on the Definition Query tab.
  4. Enter the following statement as shown: polygon_selected_PPC.OBJECTID is not null
  5. The definition query will restrict the display of only the polygons participating in the join between the polygon_selected_PPC table and the soil_a_selected polygon layer.
  6. In order to use the spatial linkage between the Legend Builder form and ArcMap, we need to intersect the documentation points with the soil_a polygon mapunit symbols in which they occur.
  7. The form joins the point documentation with the polygon mapunit symbols through an intersect table that is generated from ArcMap.
  8. To create this intersect table, we will make a selection of points and run a model from the Pedon PC Analysis toolbox called Polygon-Point Intersect.
  9. The Workspace Legend form depends on their being a MUSYM field and a Shape_Acres field in your soil polygon layer. If these fields aren’t present in your soil polygon layer. Add them by calculating fields or simply renaming the corresponding fields in your soil polygon layer.
  10. Set your selectable area to the tTempAnalyzeSpatial Events layer.
  11. Make a selection of the points for the whole survey area.
  12. Open the Polygon-Point Intersect model by double clicking on it.
  13. No parameters are required if have a soil_a layer and your spatial_link.mdb file is in the following location on your system: c:\pedon\spatial_link.mdb. Click OK.
  14. If for some reason you cannot meet these requirements on your system, then use the parametered version of the same model from the toolset called Parametered versions of models.
  15. The model will take a minute or two to run and will export an intersect table to the Spatial Link database.
  • You now have the spatial components set up for the display of point data through the tTempAnalyzeSpatial Events layer and the Analysis form and for the display of polygons through the Legend Builder form.
  • Nothing will be displayed spatially from the Legend Builder form until you have imported the polygon-point intersect table into the Pedon PC and have built the data for the form.
  • For further instruction on the set up and building of the data for the Legend Builder form refer to Pedon_PC--Workspace_Legend.
  • For further instruction on the features in the Analysis form refer to Pedon_PC--Analysis_Form.

< Back to Pedon PC Plus Database and Support Materials

Last Modified: 08/11/2009