Introduction

This tutorial shows how to use the map functionality included in Delftshell. With Delftshell you can perform various GIS presentation and analysis tasks on maps and model data.
The tutorial is subdivided in:

Working with maps. In this tutorial you learn to add and manage maps.
Working with map layers. In this part you learn how to present information from map layers.

Delftshell supports the following file formats:

Shapefile (.shp)
Geodatabase (.gdb)
World mapping service (.wms)
Grid files (.asc)
Time dependent NETCDF-files (.nc)

For this tutorial you need some data files. You can download these files DS10:here. Please download and unzip these files before you start with this tutorial.

Working with Maps

Adding a map

To start with the map functionality you have to add a map to the project explorer.

Go to the Project Explorer
Rightclick on project1
Select Add > New Data
Select Map

A map is added in the project explorer and in Maps. Now you can add layers to the map.

Rightclick on Map1 in Maps
Select Add Layer
Select countries.shp
You can also use

Rightclick on Map1 in Maps
Select Add Layer
Select cities.shp

Instead of using Add New Layer, you can also drag a shapefile from an active window to Map1 in the Maps navigator

Maps navigator

The Maps navigator uses a treeview to organise different layers.

Rightclick on Map1 in the Maps navigator
Select Add Layergroup

Now New group is added to the Maps navigator.

Doubleclick on New group
Type <Population>
Drag the layer countries and the layer cities to group layer Population

By clicking the checkboxes you can select which layer you want to be presented.

Click on the checkbox Population;

Now both layers are invisible.

Click again on the checkbox Population
Deselect the checkbox countries

Now the countries are invisible.

View tools

You can try some view tools to take a closer look on the map. You can also use you scroll wheel to zoom in and zoom out.

Map tools

With map tools you can add and present information on your map and export your map as an image.

Click Show/hide north arrow
Click Show/hide legend
Click Show/hide scale bar
Click Export map as image
Type a name
Click Save.

Now the map is saved as an image (png).

Working with map layers

In this part you learn how to present information from different layers:

Vector layers
Raster layers
Time dependent layer

Working with vector layers (.shp)

In this part you learn how to visualize data from vector layers.

Rightclick on countries
Select Open attribute table

This table contains the data from layer countries

You can use symbology to visualize data

Rightclick on countries
Select Properties

Select Quantity Theme in tab Themes

Here you can select which information you want to display. For now the default settings are sufficient.

Click Generate
Click OK
Click Show/hide map legend

You can use Natural Breaks to show more differences between the countries with the same amount of classes:

Rightclick on countries
Select Properties
Select Quantity Theme in tab Themes
Select Natural breaks at Method
Click Generate
Click OK

You can add labels to present text from the shapefile

Rightclick on countries
Select Properties
Select the tab Labels
Click on checkbox Enable labels

Here you can select which information you want to display. For now the default settings are sufficient.

Click OK

Now the name of the countries is presented.

Working with Grid layers (.asc)

Start a new project
Go to the Project Explorer
Rightclick on project1
Select Add > New Data
Select Map
Go to File > Import Data

Select Time-dependent grid;
Click Next
Browse to the map New Orleans
Select the grid-files

Click Next
Drag the .asc file from the project explorer to the map (Central View)

You can use symbology to visualize data

Rightclick on dm1h000.asc in Maps
Select Properties
Select Quantity Theme
Type 40 at Classes
Select Natural breaks at Method
Click Generate
Click OK
Click on Timeseries navigator
Drag the timeline to view the change in results

Working with NetCDF layers (.nc)

Start a new project
Go to the Project Explorer
Rightclick on project1
Select Add > New Data
Select Map
Go to File > Import Data

Select NetCDF regular 2D grid;
Click Next
Browse to NCEP-NAM-CONUS_80km_best.ncd.nc
Click OK
Click Next
Drag the Pressure file from the project explorer to the map (Central View)
Click on Timeseries navigator
Drag the timeline to view the change in results

You can adjust the properties in the same way as you did for the .asc file. The result with natural break in 40 classes is presented in the following picture.

Working with calculation results in GIS

Viewing NetCDF-output in ArcGIS

The results of computations in DeltaShell are stored by default in NetCDF-format. This means that can view and process these data with other software-packages. In this example we use ArcGIS to import en view results from a flow calculation.