Building Geodatabases

Description
This course teaches the essential concepts and skills needed to efficiently create a geodatabase, add data to it, and realistically model the real-world spatial relationships inherent to your data. You will learn about unique geodatabase features that help ensure data integrity over time and why the geodatabase is the preferred format for storing and managing geographic data. Course concepts apply to file-based and multiuser ArcSDE geodatabases. This course is taught using ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced.

Who Should Attend
• GIS analysts, specialists, data technicians, database administrators, and others who need to manage and maintain data stored in a geodatabase.
• GIS managers who need to understand the capabilities of the geodatabase may also benefit.

Goals
After completion of this course you will be able to:
• Access GIS data stored in file-based geodatabases, multiuser geodatabases, and GIS servers.
• Create an appropriate geodatabase structure to organize data for efficient storage, display, and editing.
• Add rules and behaviors to ensure the spatial and attribute integrity of geographic data.
• Jumpstart geodatabase design using a template data model.
• Create a geodata service to share a geodatabase with desktop, web, and mobile users.

Prerequisites
Completion of ArcGIS II: Essential Workflows or equivalent knowledge is required.

Course Outline

Exploring the geodatabase
• Geodatabase components
• Connecting to a geodatabase
• Geodata services

Creating and loading data
• Creating a geodatabase
• Creating feature classes and tables
• Modifying feature classes and tables
• Data loading techniques
• Database recovery and backups

Managing raster data
• Considerations for raster management
• Creating a mosaic dataset

Maintaining data integrity using subtypes
• What are subtypes and when should you use them?
• Creating subtypes
• Specifying default values

Maintaining attribute integrity
• Creating attribute domains
• Applying domains to subtypes
• Validating attribute edits

Relating data using relationship classes
• When to use
• Table cardinality
• Relationship class properties and rules

Adding attachments
• Storing file-based information with features
• Adding attachments using a geoprocessing tool

Designing geodatabase topologies
• Topology workflow
• Topology rules
• Validating a topology

Sharing a geodatabase
• Sharing methods: map packages and geodata services
• Publishing geodata services
• Managing service data
• Sharing map packages

Designing a geodatabase
• Design process and considerations
• Template data models

Project: Build a geodatabase
• Create feature classes and tables
• Load data
• Design attribute integrity rules
• Create domains, subtypes, a relationship class, and a topology
• Test rules in an edit session
• Share the geodatabase schema