Chapter 5 Maps

Step by step instructions on how to make a map in ArcGIS.

5.1 Base Map

5.1.1 Polar Bear Populations in the Arctic

Find the basemap and working shapefiles for the map you want.

Download the basemap, basemap reference (labels), and the shapefiles.

Open them in ArcMap by clicking on Add Data.

If you want to change the colors of the map, right click on the layer and go to the Symbology tab. You can also double click on the color box.

Base Map

Set the coordinate system to WGS 1984 Web Mercator (auxiliary sphere) and set the size of the map to be equirectangular (6.8 x 3.4 in) in Data Frame Properties (right click on Layers in the table of contents and click Properties).

Coordinate System Size Settings

5.2 Adding a Legend

Go to Layout View. Click Insert -> Legend and edit as necessary.

Legend

5.3 Cropping/Zooming into a Map

5.3.1 Arctic Towns

If you want to display a useful map, but focus on a specific region, you will need:

Shapefile with desired data
Basemap containing desired region
Geographic lines shapefile
- Found at: (https://www.naturalearthdata.com/downloads/10m-physical-vectors/10m-geographic-lines/)

Select only the desired region from the geographic lines shapefile and make a new layer:

Right click on the layer
Open Attribute Table, select the desired region
Close the attribute table
Right click on the layer again and go to Selection -> Create Layer From Selected Features.

Here, we zoomed into the Arctic Circle.

Arctic Circle

Including data specific for the desired region:

Find a shapefile of desired area polygon
- Example: https://osm2.carto.com/tables/arpa_polygon_1/public/map
Edit the polygon in ArcMap to make it a perfect circle using the Editor toolbar (Customize -> Toolbars -> Editor)
Use the Clip function (ArcToolbox -> Analysis Tools -> Extract -> Clip) to exclude unecessary data

Extract Data

Our map was about population sizes in the Arctic, so we changed the symbol size to show relative populations of the towns:

Symbology shows population size

After adding the legend (refer to Section 5.2), this was our map:

Map of Population Sizes in the Arctic Circle

5.4 Selecting a Specific Point

Select desired point in attribute table
Make a new layer

Town shown in red:

Town of Qaanaaq

5.5 Creating a Map from Google Earth files

5.5.1 Research Expeditions to the Arctic

After you have your basemap, labels (if applicable), and KML (Google Earth) files, you are ready to create a map.

Use the KML to Layer function (ArcToolbox -> Conversion Tools -> From KML -> KML to Layer) in ArcMap

KML to layers

5.6 Overlaying Datasets

5.6.1 Arctic Marine Areas of Heightened Ecological Significance and Arctic Protected Areas

If you want to display two datasets at once, you can overlay them.

You need:

Your basemap
Shapefiles for both desired datasets

Open the shapefiles in ArcMap. Export the map with all 3 layers selected - your basemap and the shapefiles.

Overlayed Datasets

5.7 Exporting Maps

Export as a JPEG with a resolution of 300 dpi (File -> Export Map).
Adobe Photoshop or Adobe After Effects can be used to take out the white background of the exported pictures.
It is easiest to make maps into PIPs in After Effects so that they are easily visible on all sides of the sphere (see Section 6: Audio/Visual for more information).