Geography 481:  Intro to GIS
Intro to Geodatabases

To this point in the course our spatial data has been primarily in shapefiles. Another increasingly common data format you will encounter is the geodatabase. It is the default data format for ArcGIS and more and more data is available in this format. The geodatabase offers many advantages over shapefiles, but also adds new concepts and vocabulary.

What is a geodatabase? In its simplest form, a geodatabase is a container for spatial data. More precisely, according to ESRI, "an ArcGIS geodatabase is a collection of geographic datasets of various types held in a common file system folder, a Microsoft Access database, or a multiuser relational DBMS (such as Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Informix, or IBM DB2)."

We will be using a specific type known as a File Geodatabase. In a geodatabase, the vector data we have been using in our shapefiles is stored as feature classes. Like shapefiles, a feature class can contain point, line or polygon features that have the same attributes and spatial reference. Numerous feature classes can be stored in one geodatabase. In addition to feature classes, geodatabases can also store rasters, tables, annotation and other data types. Additionally, geodatabases allow users to create subclasses and domains, relationships, geometric networks, behaviors and topologies. It also allows RDBMS functionality such as versioning.

Follow the steps below to add your data from Project 7 to a File Geodatabase:

Creating a File Geodatabase

When you have completed all of the steps for Project 7 (or anytime, actually), open ArcCatalog by clicking Start > ArcGIS > ArcCatalog 10.8.1

• Right click on c:\temp
• Select New - File Geodatabase
• Name the new geodatabase Proj7.gdb

You have created an empty geodatabase. Next you will be importing your Project 7 data layers into the Proj7.gdb

Importing Shapefiles into a File Geodatabase

In ArcCatalog

• Right click on Proj7.gdb
• Select Import - Feature class (single)...
• The Feature Class to Feature Class dialog box will appear
• In the Input Features box navigate to your UTM building footprints shapefile located in c:\temp
• In the Output Feature Class box type csufbldg_utm11_83
• Click the OK button

When the import procedure has finished, follow the same steps to import your remaining shapefiles.

Importing Rasters into a File Geodatabase

In ArcCatalog

• Right click on c:\temp\Proj7.gdb
• Select Import - Raster Datasets...
• The Raster to Geodatabase (multiple) dialog box will appear
• In the Input Rasters box navigate to your csuf.tif located in c:\temp
• Click the OK button

Adding Data from a File Geodatabase to ArcMap

Start ArcMap

• Click the Add Data button
• In necessary, navigate to the c:\temp\ directory
• Double click on Proj7.gdb
• Select the feature class(es) or raster(s) you wish to add
• Press the Add button

Last modified 10/26/2021