Creating a basemap in ArcGIS Desktop

In order to create a service in ArcGIS Server you have to start with an ArcMap MXD project.

It tooks me just over 1/2 hour to create a basic map for the state of Oregon, because (1) I've been using ArcMap for years (2) I had already collected the data together.

My stash of data came mostly from GEO and ODOT, around 2 years ago. I got it all together in one file geodatabase and then put it aside.

I built the FGDB with ArcGIS 9.3. FGDB has come a long way since then. Therefore today my first step was to open the FGDB in ArcCatalog and use the "Update" button to convert it to 10.1 format.

I thought I'd have to copy the map and data up to the server. Don't spend any time on that! That's part of the publication process.

The next article in this sequence will be Publishing the basemap as a service.

Screenshots

Here is a screenshot of the map zoomed in on City of Hood River.

When zoomed out I have counties show in colors, zoomed in liked this you just see county boundary lines (not visible here).

Here is a screenshot of the map zoomed in on Hood River county.

Labels turn on and off at various scales as appropriate, so when zoomed in you don't see the county name and when zoomed out you don't see city names.

All straight forward stuff.