Suggested Access Methods

You may find it useful to customize how the people within your organization access the North Dakota GIS Hub (NDGH) by setting up a specific access tool or organizing the data. This customization may be particularly useful for allowing easy access to the NDGH by people less familiar with GIS or the GIS tools used by the professionals in your organization.

Software Tools

You may find it advantageous to utilize less complex tools to access the NDGH data such as the free ESRI ArcExplorer tool or the state's Hub Explorer.

• North Dakota Hub Explorer
  Anyone with a browser can utilize the North Dakota Hub Explorer
• ESRI ArcExplorer
  Anyone can download the free ESRI ArcExplorer. Version 9.0 or above is recommended.

Pre-Defining Data

For data, you can pre-define the scale at which data appears when zooming in and out, the symbology for the data, and the layers that are presented to the person.

The use of a layer (.lyr) file in ArcGIS can greatly simplify the life of some of your GIS users, no matter the level of their expertise. A layer file can be set up to define the location and source of the data (e.g., a shapefile, a coverage, data on the NDGH), the symbology of the displayed data, and the scale at which it is displayed.

Pre-defining this information and storing it in a layer file can be a real time saver for the user. If all of the layer files are stored in a central location, accessible by the users within your group, when they need to add data to their maps, they have one place to go to find their data, instead of possibly having to visit multiple directories and data locations. With the pre-defined display scales on complex data, a user will not inadvertently display all data at a state-wide scale, slowing down their system and that of the NDGH server.

Setting up a layer (.lyr) file is easy to do.

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