Forest Inventory

Building a geodatabase
—by Glen Jordan

Introduction

Problem
Neither computer nor mapping technology remains the same for long. In fact, from time to time,
major advances occur. Advances offer opportunities for improving forest inventories but require a
fundamental reorganization and transformation of data. Tables, coverages, shapefiles, rasters, and
images must be converted to the new geodatabase format and transformed to the NAD83 datum.

How does one go about converting an existing geographic information system (GIS) forest
inventory to a different datum and geodatabase format?

Location
A small 1,400-hectare (ha) Woodlot in the Acadian-New England forest region of North America

Time to complete the lab

Approximately three hours

Prerequisites
A basic working knowledge of GIS and ArcGIS® software in particular (Some experience with
ArcGlobe™ would be helpful too. Familiarity with forest inventory data and terminology is also
helpful but not essential.)

Keywords: coverage; shapefile; raster; imagery; geodatabase; coordinate system; datum transformation; imagery mosaic
Forest Inventory: Building a geodatabase Glen Jordan

Data used in this lab

An existing forest inventory of shapefiles, coverages, rasters, and tables for a small (1,400 ha)
Woodlot in the Acadian-New England forest region of North America (All data is ATS77 datum with
New Brunswick Double Stereographic projection, unless otherwise stated. Online data from a
number of different sources, including ArcGISSM Online, is also accessed.)

Student activity
In this lab exercise, you'll create a geodatabase and import the Woodlot's shapefiles, as well as a
couple of coverages, as feature classes. You'll import a data table and some rasters and imagery.
Then you'll transform each geodatabase feature class from its existing ATS 1977 datum to the
newer NAD 1983 datum.

Results expected
 A file geodatabase of the Woodlot inventory with NAD83 feature classes, rasters, and
imagery
 A general familiarity with the contents and organization of a typical forest inventory

Data available
Woodlot inventory of imagery, rasters, shapefiles, coverages, and tables

Solution steps
1. Preview the Woodlot inventory.
2. Create a personal geodatabase.
3. Import the basemap shapefile.
4. Batch import the remaining shapefiles.
5. Import the volumes .dbf table.
6. Import the highway and newprop coverages.
7. Transform feature classes from ATS77 to NAD83.
8. Batch import raster datasets.
9. Batch import orthophotos.
10. Retrieve online data.

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P REVIEW THE W OODLOT INVENTORY

Data found in the Woodlot's GIS-based inventory, as listed below, is typical. Among others, you'll
see digital maps of cover types, roads, road centerlines, streams, management compartments, and a
basemap in the form of coverages, shapefiles, and rasters.

Map Description
basemap Basemap
outline Property boundary
clines Main road centerlines
compart Management compartment polygons
cover Stand and all nonforested polygon features
cpoints Aerial photo centerpoints
proads Public road centerline features
publicrow Public properties and road rights-of-way polygons
roads Secondary road line features
streams Stream features
accessibility Areas accessible by main or secondary road
dollarvalue Timber stumpage values
Table 1. Partial listing of digital maps comprising the Woodlot inventory.

R ELATED C ONCEPT : D IGITAL MAPPING

1 Download [Link] from OPAL to your personal folder and unzip it.

Start ArcGIS Pro without template, Right Click (RC) in Catalog on Folders and add Folder
Connection (connect your Woodlot Folder). Make it Default (RC). Browse to the Shapes folder
within the Woodlot folder. There are different vector datasets in Shapefile Format

The Woodlot inventory also contains coverages, rasters (Rasters folder), and imagery
(Orthophotos and Photos folders). Preview those in ArcCatalog if you wish.

As well, a volumes table provides detailed volume compositions of Woodlot stands. In addition,
an Excel spreadsheet describes the inventory's various data coding schemes (Codes folder).

You'll get a more detailed look at these data when you start importing the Woodlot inventory
into a geodatabase later.

Where in the world is the Woodlot located?

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2 Insert (Tab) New Map and Change Background-Data to Imagery with Labels (Hybrid) (Map
Tab /Basemap).

3 Add the basemap shapefile (Shapes folder) as a layer (Drag and Drop).

4 Click in the Map and zoom in and out.

Figure 1. Zoom in to the general area of the Woodlot property with Imagery-Basemap.

Where is the Woodlot property, though?

5 Add the compart shapefile.

There's the Woodlot.

If you zoom in farther, using the mouse scroll wheel, you'll begin to see that the Woodlot is
pretty much surrounded by urban areas and industrial developments.

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Figure 2. Urban and industrial development surrounds the Woodlot property.

6 Reveal community names by zooming in.

Figure 3. The Woodlot overlooks the city of Fredericton, the University of New Brunswick, and the St. John River.

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Forest Inventory: Building a geodatabase Glen Jordan

The 1,400 ha Woodlot overlooks the city of Fredericton and one of North America's larger
rivers, the St. John River.

Where in North America is the St. John River?

7 Zoom way out to determine where in North America the Woodlot is located.

Figure 4. The Woodlot is located in the northeast of North America, in the Canadian province of New Brunswick.

That's a very brief introduction to the Woodlot property and its forest inventory. You'll learn much
more as you import its contents into a geodatabase.

C REATE A F ILE GEODATABASE

For small forest properties, like the 1,400 ha Woodlot, a file geodatabase works well.

R ELATED C ONCEPT : C REATING A GEODATABASE (F ILE )

Creating a geodatabase is easy using the Catalog window.

1 Right-click the Woodlot folder, and create a new file geodatabase named Woodlot.

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Figure 5. Create a new file geodatabase using Catalog.

If you examine the Woodlot folder using Windows Explorer, you'll find a [Link] folder.
There are basic definitions of a geodatabase already inside.

Of course, your new geodatabase is empty. Filling it with the Woodlot inventory is next.

I MPORT THE BASEMAP SHAPEFILE

The Woodlot inventory holds 10 shapefiles, among other data, derived from its original ArcInfo®
coverages. You'll find the shapefiles in the Shapes folder.

In this step, you'll begin importing the Woodlot inventory into your newly created geodatabase,
starting with the basemap shapefile.

R ELATED C ONCEPT : S HAPEFILES TO FEATURE CLASSES IN A GEODATABASE

Before proceeding, however, there are some system settings that will end up saving you some time.
These include defining the Shapes folder as the ongoing source of your input and the Woodlot
geodatabase as the destination for output.

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1 Use Analysis Tab/Geoprocessing Options (little sign below Tools) to set the Current Settings: Home
folder – Woodlot, Default geodatabase – [Link]

Figure 6. Establish geoprocessing locations via Geoprocessing Options.

You can also define a specific geodatabase as the “default” geodatabase (right-click » Make
Default Geodatabase). All geoprocessing output would then be directed to that geodatabase.

Now you'll import Woodlot shapefiles into your newly created geodatabase.

Woodlot shapefiles were derived from the ArcInfo coverages originally digitized in building the
inventory. As such, the shapefiles have several attribute fields that serve no purpose in a
geodatabase, and therefore, you'll want to exclude them.

For example, the basemap shapefile has LENGTH, BASEMAP_, and BASEMAP_ID fields. You'll
eventually find, though, that area and length (or perimeter) fields are added automatically
during a geodatabase import; so, LENGTH is redundant and can be excluded. Likewise, the
BASEMAP_ and BASEMAP_ID fields are redundant. BASEMAP_, for example, provides unique
feature identifiers, but a new field of unique identifiers is always added when importing into a
geodatabase.

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2 Import the basemap shapefile by right-clicking your Woodlot geodatabase and selecting Import »
Feature Class (single). Exclude all basemap attribute fields. Start with „Run“.

Figure 8. Exclude all basemap attribute fields.

You'll see in the Catalog that a feature class named basemap has been added. The icon tells
you it contains line features.

3 RC in the Contents window on the left the basemap feature class, preview its attributes table.
You see, it didn’t work. All fields are still there. At least you have to keep 1 field for the output,
e.g. LENGTH.

OBJECTID values uniquely identify the 2,036 line features in basemap. Shape, on the other hand,
represents the location, or geographic coordinates, of each feature, while Shape_Length
provides feature lengths in meters.

What about basemap's coordinate system, scale, source, and so forth? Such information is
termed metadata, or data about the data, and may be stored inside a feature class.

4 Double-click the basemap feature class, then, in the Contents, click Source/Spatial Reference.

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Figure 10. Display coordinate system details for the basemap feature class.

This reveals that basemap uses the ATS 1977 datum and the New Brunswick Double
Stereographic projection. That's all a metadata examination will reveal in this case.

Keep in mind that basemap coordinate system information would not have appeared if the
original shapefile lacked an associated projection file (.prj).

You could now repeat the import process for the remaining nine Woodlot shapefiles. However,
instead of importing shapefiles one at a time, why not import all in one fell swoop?

B ATCH IMPORT THE REMAINING SHAPEFILES

While importing shapefiles one at a time works fine, there is a more efficient route. ArcGIS provides
a batch processing capability for importing shapefiles and other digital maps.

It involves using the Feature Class To Geodatabase (multiple) script tool, available in ArcToolbox™
(Conversion Tools » To Geodatabase), or accessing the tool by right-clicking a geodatabase.

R ELATED C ONCEPT : S HAPEFILES TO FEATURE CLASSES IN A GEODATABASE

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1 RC on the [Link] to import all 9 remaining shapefiles.

Figure 11. Batch import the Woodlot's 9 remaining shapefiles.

If you expand your Woodlot geodatabase in the Catalog tree list, you should see that all
10 shapefiles have been imported. Polygon feature classes are denoted with the icon, while
line and point feature classes are flagged with and icons, respectively. (maybe you have
to Refresh  RC on the [Link])

Figure 12. All 10 Woodlot

shapefiles imported
into a geodatabase.

The multiple import script is pretty convenient, but unfortunately, it doesn't offer the option to
exclude those redundant and useless attribute fields. Those you'll have to dispose of manually.

2 Using the following as a guide, delete selected fields in the attribute tables of Woodlot feature
classes (Note: Not in the original shapefiles).

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Feature class Excluded fields

clines FNODE_, TNODE_, LPOLY_, RPOLY_, LENGTH, CLINES_, CLINES_ID
compart AREA, PERIMETER, COMPART_ (Note: Retain COMPART_ID.)
cover AREA, PERIMETER (Note: Retain both COVER_ and COVER_ID.)
cpoints AREA, PERIMETER, CPOINTS_, CPOINTS_ID
outline SHAPE_LENG
proads SHAPE_LENG
publicrow AREA, PERIMETER
roads FNODE_, TNODE_, LPOLY_, RPOLY_, LENGTH, ROADS_, ROADS_ID
streams FNODE_, TNODE_, LPOLY_, RPOLY_, LENGTH, STREAMS_, STREAMS_ID
Table 2. These feature class fields may be removed from feature classes in the geodatabase.

Repeat this for all feature classes using table 2

as a guide.

Figure 13. Delete all clines fields except

CLASS and NAME. AND SAVE! Question 1: What happens if you try to delete the
Shape_Length or Shape_Area fields? Why?

With that, you have the Woodlot's 10 shapefiles imported into a geodatabase and selected
attribute fields removed.

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At this point, you might want to take a few moments to preview the new feature classes, in both
geography and table views, to further familiarize yourself with the Woodlot inventory, by dragging
it to the Map.

Importing the species volumes table, along with a couple of coverages, is next.

I MPORT THE VOLUMES . DBF TABLE

The Woodlot inventory also contains a single dBASE table (.dbf extension), volumes. The volumes
table contains detailed volume yields (m3/ha) by tree species and three product types for each of
the Woodlot's 533 stands.

Importing .dbf tables into a geodatabase is as straightforward as importing shapefiles.

R ELATED C ONCEPT : D BASE TABLE (. DBF ) TO A TABLE IN A GEODATABASE

1 Right-click the Woodlot geodatabase and select Import » Table (single).

Figure 14. Import the volumes dBASE table.

In your Woodlot geodatabase, you'll see that the icon distinguishes the volumes table from
the feature classes.

You now have most of the Woodlot inventory in your geodatabase.

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T RANSFORM FEATURE CLA SSES FROM ATS77 TO NAD83

Transforming geodatabase feature classes, or shapefiles for that matter, from one datum or
projection to another is straightforward, provided that the source datasets have their coordinate
system properties attached.

All the feature classes in your Woodlot geodatabase have their coordinate systems defined as the
New Brunswick Double Stereographic projection with the ATS77 datum.

Transforming your feature classes to the NAD83 datum is rather straightforward. You'll need an
ArcToolbox tool to do it, though.

R ELATED C ONCEPT : F OREST INVENTORY —C OORDINATE SYSTEMS

1 Open Tab Analysis/Tools if it isn't already.

Question 2: Why did the tool add _1 suffixes to each of the feature classes within the new feature
dataset?

2 Use the Batch Project script tool (Data Management » Projections and Transformations) to create
NAD83 versions of all remaining feature classes in your Woodlot geodatabase.

Figure 20. Batch transform 10 feature classes to the NAD83 datum.

If you encounter an error message, such as ". . . execution failed," it's likely that you've
exceeded the 2,000-character limit for the paths to the input data. You can avoid this by simply
running Batch Project two or more times with fewer inputs.

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You should see new NAD83 versions of all the original feature classes. They're the ones with _1
suffixes.

By the way, if your geodatasets don't have their coordinate systems defined, it's easily done
using the Define Projection tool, provided, of course, that you know with certainty what the
coordinate system is.

With the transformed feature classes now available, it makes sense to delete the original ATS77
feature classes.

3 Remove the original ATS77 feature classes—the ones without the _1 suffix—from your Woodlot
geodatabase.

4 Rename the new feature classes by removing the _1 suffixes.

That leaves you with just the NAD83 versions of your feature classes.

Short names, not necessarily very meaningful ones, are commonly assigned to shapefiles,
coverages, and feature classes. There's a historical reason for this. Long names are cumbersome
in any situation where you might actually have to type them by hand. Where longer, more
informative names are desired, though, you can assign an alias, at least to feature classes or
other geodatasets in a geodatabase. Give it a try.

5 Using the following as a guide, right-click each feature class  Properties and assign aliases:

Feature class Suggested alias

basemap Basemap
clines Main Road Centerlines
compart Management Compartments
cover Cover Types
cpoints Aerial Photo Center Points
outline Boundary
proads Public Road Centerlines
publicrow Public Road Rights-of-way
roads Secondary Roads
streams Permanent Streams

Table 5. Feature class aliases.

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Figure 21. Assign an alias for the basemap feature class.

You might wonder what has been accomplished, since the feature classes are still listed with
their actual names in ArcCatalog.

As it turns out, the aliases won't appear until you add a feature class as a layer in the Map. If you
wish, try it.

As you may recall, the Woodlot inventory also includes rasters. You'll add those to your Woodlot
geodatabase next.

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B ATCH IMPORT RASTER DATASETS

The Woodlot inventory contains two raster datasets, accessibility and dollarvalue. These, like
shapefiles and coverages, are easily imported into a geodatabase, although there isn't a huge
advantage in doing so. You'll do it here simply for the experience.

R ELATED C ONCEPT : R ASTER DATASETS AS RASTERS IN A GEODATABASE

1 Open Tool “Raster to Geodatabase” and import the Raster data “accessibility” and “dollarvalue”
into your Woodlot geodatabase.

Figure 22. Batch importing raster datasets into the Woodlot

geodatabase.

That, predictably, adds the two rasters to your Woodlot geodatabase, where they appear with a
icon.

Note: By default, rasters are not actually stored in the geodatabase; this is just a pointer to the
actual data that resides in a companion folder identified with an .idb extension—[Link] in
this case. If you should ever need to move or copy your geodatabase to another location, make sure
you take the .idb folder along with it. The best way to ensure this is using ArcCatalog, not Windows,
to copy your geodatabase.

Rasters can be previewed and manipulated in the same fashion as feature classes.

2 Preview the dollarvalue raster in the Map. RC dollarvalue in Contents  Symbology, choose
Stretch type “Standard Deviation”

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Figure 23. Preview the dollarvalue raster.

This raster simply displays the stumpage value of standing timber in the Woodlot—low value
(black) to high value (white).

3 Double-click the dollarvalue raster and examine its properties.

Figure 24. Display the properties of the dollarvalue raster.

Among other things, you'll note that raster cell size is 10 m by 10 m and that the spatial
reference indicates the NAD83 datum. The same is true for the accessibility raster.

The Woodlot inventory also includes an elevation surface in the form of a triangulated irregular
network (TIN). You'll see it listed with a icon.

4 Preview the TIN.

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Figure 25. Preview the TIN.

By default, TINs are displayed in 2D mode with elevation symbolized using a graduated color
scheme. In this case, Woodlot streams are also evident in blue color. If you were to enable the
3D Analyst™ extension (Customize » Extensions), you could preview the TIN in 3D.

The Woodlot inventory also contains some recent orthophoto imagery that you can add to your
Woodlot geodatabase.

B ATCH IMPORT ORTHOPHOTOS

The Woodlot inventory contains nine recent orthophotos in the form of TIFF images downloaded
from the Service New Brunswick website. The nine encompass the Woodlot property and
surrounding areas.

Orthophotos are aerial photographs that have been georeferenced, or assigned a coordinate system
that ties them to a geographic location, and corrected for elevation relief. These have also been
cropped and digitally stitched so that they form a continuous image when displayed together.

Imagery, like orthophotos, can be stored in a geodatabase.

R ELATED C ONCEPT : I MAGERY IN A GEODATABASE

You'll begin by having a look at a couple of the orthophotos that are geographically adjacent.

1 Add orthophotos 45856660 and 45906660 (Orthophotos folder) as layers, plus the management
compartments feature class (compart) as a Woodlot reference.

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By the way, did you notice that the feature class alias
you provided earlier for compart now appears in
ArcMap?

Figure 26. The Woodlot property displayed

over two orthophotos.

The orthophotos provide ArcGlobe software-like background for the Woodlot and surrounding
area.

What's their spatial reference?

2 Double-click in the Contents an image and click Source/Spatial Reference.

Figure 27. The orthophotos use the NAD83

datum and the New Brunswick Double
Stereographic projection.

You can import the orthophotos into your Woodlot geodatabase using exactly the same
procedure you used earlier when importing the raster datasets, but you'll do something
different in this case, since the nine orthophotos form a continuous mosaic.

3 Open the Catalog window in ArcMap and create a mosaic container for the orthophotos, named
Orthos, by right-clicking your Woodlot geodatabase and selecting New » Mosaic Dataset.

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Figure 28. Create a mosaic dataset for storing the Woodlot's orthophotos.

That creates a geodatabase mosaic container, indicated with a icon.

4 Right-click the Orthos mosaic and click Add Rasters to import all nine orthophoto images.

Figure 29. Collect the nine orthophotos together in a mosaic dataset.

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Now, you can display the mosaicked images in Map as if they were one continuous image.

5 In Contents, remove the two orthophotos you added earlier, then add the Orthos mosaic, if not
already there.

Figure 30. Orthophotos mosaic displayed with footprints in ArcMap.

A mosaic serves a couple of purposes. First, it makes it easy to display a large collection of
geographically associated images. Second, when the number of images is very large, it greatly
improves redrawing speeds as you pan and zoom in ArcMap. The alternative, combining
individual images into a single large image, doesn't provide the latter advantage.

Question 3: How would you combine a collection of raster datasets into one large image rather
than a mosaic?

GIS forest inventories, like the Woodlot inventory of coverages, shapefiles, rasters, tables, and
imagery, have traditionally been created, maintained, and used by forest managers, forest by forest.
Today, the Internet is changing that.

R ETRIEVE ONLINE DATA

A great variety of digital map data and imagery are freely available online. Government agencies, in
particular, are increasingly providing Internet access to a variety of digital map data and imagery.
Forestry organizations and forest managers, of course, have been quick to supplement their forest
inventories using these data.

There are many sources of online data. A Google search using "GIS data sources" will produce
plenty. Stanford University has prepared an extensive catalog of sources. While data from these
sources may be downloaded and incorporated into a geodatabase, ArcGIS provides options for
accessing some data sources directly.

See what's available for the Woodlot.

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R ELATED C ONCEPT : D IGITAL MAPPING

1 Clear your current ArcMap document and again add the management compartments feature
class (compart) as a layer. Symbolize it with a reddish outline and a hollow fill.

2 Click the Tab Map and select Basemap.

That opens up a window of imagery sources that you can add as layers.

Figure 32. An array of basemap data for adding to an ArcMap document.

3 Click Topographic.

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Figure 33. Woodlot property with an underlying topographic map.

This basemap collection is a great source of digital maps and imagery that you'll want to
remember. Take some time to experiment with the other basemaps available.

There is another source, ArcGIS Online, which provides digital maps in the form of shapefiles
and feature classes.

4 Remove or turn off the Topographic layer, then, from the Add Data drop-down list , select
Add Data and choose ArcGIS Online.

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Figure 34. Some of the data available via ArcGIS Online.

Unlike the basemap collection, the ArcGIS Online collection often provides shapefiles or feature
classes and the associated attribute tables. Unfortunately, what you see doesn't offer anything
particularly useful for the Woodlot or forestry generally.

However, what you're seeing is only a partial list.

5 Try searching for "New Brunswick" using the Search box.

6 Add the data, you are interested in as layer.

What's additionally interesting here is that you can access an attribute table for the layer, if its
source is a shapefile.

Conclusion
You've managed to create a File geodatabase, import the entire Woodlot inventory, and transform
its coordinate system in the process. You also examined some options for supplementing the
inventory with online data.

There's much more to learn about forest inventory and geodatabases, but you've made a good start.

Submit your work

Suggested student deliverables
 A Woodlot geodatabase containing the Woodlot inventory of 10 feature classes, a table of
stand volume yields, two rasters, a feature dataset containing two feature classes, and
nine orthophotos collected into a mosaic dataset, all using the NAD83 datum
 Answers to the questions posed in the exercise:
 What happens if you try to delete the Shape_Length or Shape_Area fields in a
feature class? Why?
 Can you think of a way of importing and transforming (ATS77 to NAD83) a
Woodlot shapefile into a geodatabase in one operation?
 Why, when you transformed feature classes to the NAD83 datum, were _1 suffixes
added to the enclosed feature class names?
 How would you combine a collection of raster datasets into one large image?
 A paper describing the contents and characteristics of the Woodlot geodatabase using
appropriate terminology, including, among other things, discussion of its different data
formats, as well as date, precision, and coordinate systems.

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