Introduction to Geographic Information Systems in Forest Resources

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The contents of page is copied directly from the ArcGIS online documentation.

What is the ArcGIS Spatial Analyst?

The ArcGIS Spatial Analyst is a tool for helping you discover and understand spatial relationships in your data. This discovery and understanding can be as simple as viewing and querying your data or as complex as creating an integrated custom application.

The main component of the Spatial Analyst is the grid layer. The grid layer is the raster equivalent of the feature layer. The Spatial Analyst also presents generic spatial analysis functionality on grid and feature layers, that is added to ArcGIS as an extension that is loaded with Extensions in the File menu when the project window is active. The user interface components of the Spatial Analyst are loaded into the interface for views.

With the Spatial Analyst, you'll be able to perform the following functions found on the Analysis menu:

• Find Distance
• Assign Proximity
• Calculate Density
• Cell Statistics
• Summarize Zones
• Histogram By Zone
• Tabulate Areas
• Map Query
• Map Calculator
• Neighborhood Statistics
• Reclassify

The following functions are found on the Surface menu:

• Interpolate Grid
• Create Contour
• Derive Slope
• Derive Aspect
• Compute Hillshade
• Calculate Viewshed

The following functions are added to the Layer menu:

• Convert to Shapefile (not added, but modified to work with grid layers)
• Convert to Grid
• Save Data Set
• Edit Layer Expression

The following functions are added to the File menu:

• Manage Data Sources
• Import Data Source
• Export Data Source

The following functions are added as buttons and tools:

• Histogram button
• Contour tool

Much more functionality is accessible via Avenue, such as hydrological analysis and geometric transformations, just to name a few. Search the on-line help index on "grid" to find the Grid (Class) topic to find out all the functionality available through Avenue for the Spatial Analyst.

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Syllabus Schedule Class Meetings Assignments Course Data Internet Search Current Grades Contact Us CFR 590 Internet-only section Lab Locations Software

The University of Washington Spatial Technology, GIS, and Remote Sensing Page is provided by the College of Forest Resources and the College of Ocean and Fisheries Sciences through Unit-Specific UIF. Site administrator: Phil Hurvitz.

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