PLSI 3346

Geography & World Politics

Day one: simple queries

World Petroleum Data & GIS

Geographic Information Systems are a powerful tool for viewing, analyzing, and displaying data associated with place. This exercise will introduce you to the GIS software interface and give you some techniques for exploring spatial data. More importantly, it will show you how to use GIS to ask and answer questions about data.

GIS work is always inquiry-driven. Focus on asking informed questions, and the right data, used effectively with GIS, can provide answers.

We’ll be looking at the following data:

Oil Production (bbl/day)

Oil Consumption (bbl/day)

Oil Imports (bbl/day)

Oil Exports (bbl/day)

Proven Oil Reserves (bbls) Bbl = barrels

This data comes from the CIA World Factbook’s ‘rank order data’ online: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/docs/notesanddefs.html#2173

We’ll also be using data from Country Watch.com, including oil, energy, and greenhouse gases data, as well as the following:

Real GDP per Capita

Real GDP $US

Real GDP Growth Rate

Real GDP per Capita Growth Rate

This data has been downloaded and joined to a geography file for countries of the world. A key that lists the field labels for the Country Watch data can be found at the end of this document.

Getting Started

ArcGIS Desktop 9.1 is aGIS software developed by a company called ESRI. The software is installed on the machines in Library 310. It is not currently installed in general use computer labs on campus.

Before opening the software, you will need to map the network drive for the data directory where the files are stored.

Go to Start MenuàMy Computer

Look for Select Toolsà Map Network Drive

Leave the setting at Drive: Z: In the Folder text box, enter \\ITS-Victoria\Gisdata

Then Click Finish.

The file we will be using is called PLSI 3346. You don’t need to open it. You can now close the My Computer window.

You will now need to start ArcMap, the mapping application within ArcGIS.

If you have a desktop icon for ArcMap use it to launch the application.

Otherwise, go to the Start menu àPrograms-> ArcGIS -> ArcMap and click it launch the

program. A small ArcMap window will appear. Select “Start using ArcMap

with using - ● An existing map.” “Browse for Maps should be highlighted.

The map we will use is called PLSI3346, and you can browse to it by going to \\ITS-Victoria\Gisdata\ and opening the folder PLSI3346 and looking for PLSI3346.mxd.

Mxd files are Map Documents in ArcMap. They are more like recipes for the display of the files that contain the actual data. The Map Document directs ArcMap to where the included layer files are located. Additionally, the Map Document carries information regarding colors and symbols used, legends and scale.

You can also open files directly using the button or go to File -> Add

Data on the Menu bar. This will let you use a directory to navigate to the appropriate folders and files, and will let you open shapefiles (.shp), raster files (.tif) and layer files (.lyr) individually. The colors used to represent these Shape files

(.shp) are randomly selected by ArcMap.

Once you have added your data layers, on the Menu Bar go to File -> Map

Properties ->Data Source Options and switch to Store relative path names.

Click OK and OK again. This allows map documents and data stored in the

same folders to be moved easily from machine to machine or to be stored on

a CD.

The ArcMap Interface

Now it’s time to explore the ArcMap interface. ArcMap is a powerful tool for analyzing and displaying spatial data.

ArcMap allows many layers of the same geography or extent to be viewed at once. Turning layers on and off and examining attribute tables lets us understand the spatial data for a given extent.

Try turning off all the layers by unchecking the boxes in the Display window on the left of the screen. Now turn on only the ‘World’, ‘Oil Consumption Density’, and ‘Oil Production by Class’ layers.

and use the global view tool to see the full extent. .

You can go back to the previous extent by going the Menu Bar, selecting Viewà Bookmark, then selecting Study Area.

The map appears on the right side of the window, and there is a toolbar…

…that lets you zoom, pan, select, measure and identify items on the map.

Take some time to try some of the buttons on the toolbar.

Click on the magnifying glass to select it as your cursor and move over

to the Data Frame window. Zoom in on an area of interest by either

clicking on the map location or by clicking and dragging a box around the

feature(s) you would like to zoom in on.

What happens if you click on the globe?

You can go back to the previous map extent using the back arrow or
zoom out using the minus magnifying glass .

Another useful tool is the Pan tool. It looks like a hand and is used to

move across a map when you are zoomed in. Click on the Pan Tool and

drag to move your map around within the data frame just as you might

push a paper map around on a table to get a better look at a desired area.

Now return to the Tool Bar and click on the Identify tool. The tool is a

blue circle with a white letter “i” in the center . Select a feature on your

map that you would like to see the associated attributes and click on it.

The Identify Results window opens. Press the down arrow beside Layers

and indicate in which layer you would like to identify a feature.

Always click back on the black arrow on the tool bar to return to a

normal selection cursor.

The Select Features tool on the Tool Bar can be used to select individual

features by clicking on them, holding the Shift key and clicking on several

features or dragging to create a box around a group of features. Try

selecting some features.

Notice that the selected feature edges are now highlighted in a bright

turquoise blue.

31. De-select the object by clicking outside the feature area or by right-clicking

on the layer name in the TOC and scrolling to Selection -> Clear Selected

Features.

Saving your work.

Now go to Save As and name your Map document ( .mxd file), then save it to your personal y: drive. In the future,

you may open this project directly by double-clicking on the .mxd file you

have created.

The Map Document directs ArcMap to where the included layer files are

located. Additionally, the Map Document carries information regarding

colors and symbols used, legends and scale. This file tells the application

exactly how you left your project the last time you used it if you saved

your changes before closing!

Save often!!!

Lets start with some basic kinds of data queries.

Turning Layers on and off

Where are the OPEC countries?

Identify

Which of the Gulf OPEC countries has the highest proven oil reserves?

Selection by location

What is the rank order of African Countries by oil consumption?

Selection by attribute

Which countries have GDP above the global median?

Now, answer these questions on your own or with a partner:

Which countries are the highest energy consumers—top 10?

Which countries are the highest petroleum consumers—top 10?

Top 10 OPEC producers? Top 10 Non-OPEC producers?

What is the total oil reserves figure for Scandinavia?

What is the average Petroleum greenhouse gases figure for South America?

Which countries rank the highest for both GDP and petroleum production?

Attributes of Table: CWPet06

Variable	Definition	Description	unit
ENCNPC	Energy Consumption Per Person	Energy Consumption Per Person	Mil BTU's per person
OILRS	Oil Reserves (1999)*	Oil Reserves (1999)*	billions of barrels
PTCNQ	Petroleum Consumption	Petroleum Consumption	Trillions of BTU's
PETCNU	Petroleum Consumption Standard Units	Petroleum Consumption Standard Units	millions of barrels/day (m bbl/d)
PETGAS	Petroleum Greenhouse Gas Emissions	Petroleum Greenhouse Gas Emissions	Millions of Metric Tons
PTPRQ	Petroleum Production	Petroleum Production	Trillions of BTU's
Variable	Definition	Description	unit
PETPRU	Petroleum Production Standard Units	Petroleum Production Standard Units	millions of barrels/day (m bbl/d)
GDPPC	Real GDP Per Capita	Real GDP Per Capita	$'s US (2000 dollars)
GDP	Real Gross Domestic Product $US	Real Gross Domestic Product $US	Millions of $'s US (2000 dollars)
GDPGR	Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Growth Rate	Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Growth Rate	Percent Per Annum
GDPPCGR	Real Gross Domestic Product Per Capita Growth Rate	Real Gross Domestic Product Per Capita Growth Rate	Percent Per Annum
TOTENCNQ	Total Energy Consumed (BTU)	Total Energy Consumed (BTU)	Trillions of BTU's
TOTENPRQ	Total Energy Produced (BTU)	Total Energy Produced (BTU)	Trillions of BTU's
TOTGAS	Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions	Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions	Millions of Metric Tons
TTGSPC	Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions Per Capita	Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions Per Capita	Metric Tons Per Person