The Ontario Soil Survey files are stored as self extracting zip files. Decompressing the .exe file will convert the files to a coverage format ready to use in ArcView.

1. Copy the .exe file into your work directory by using a single mouse click on the county that you wish. A pop-up will ask where you want to save the file. Enter the path (e.g. c:\temp\omafra

   

2. Decompress the .exe file by double-clicking. (Hint: it may take a few minutes for some files to decompress since they may be large.)

   

1. Open ArcView (if not already open). Click OK to open with a new view. If prompted to Add Data click No. You now have a new, empty view.

   

2. To add a theme click the Add Theme button from the top button bar. Think of a view as a map. Like a map, a view can be made up of several themes roads, waterways, soils, boundaries etc. Each theme represents one feature on the map.) The Add Theme option is only available when the View window is active.
3. After clicking the Add Theme dialog box opens. Navigate to the location where you saved the county soil files.
4. An ARC/INFO coverage may be comprised of more than one class of features. When you add a coverage that has more than one class of features, you must select which feature you need. You can add one or all of the feature classes within one coverage to an ArcView view by adding each one as a separate theme. Select the feature you wish and click OK. To add more than one, hold down the Shift key and select more than one feature. Click OK.

   

5. After a theme is added to the View, its name is displayed in the View Table of Contents bar to the left of the View Window. The theme displays in the View when you click on the checkbox to the left of the theme name.

   

6. Examine a view with several themes. The first theme shows the Soils of Brant County.

   

   To see the Attributes of Brant Soils click on the Theme Table button — .

   The soils are listed in the Name_1 column.

   

Use symbolization as a powerful tool for exploring, understanding and analyzing your data.

1. Add a map legend to the theme. By default ArcView shows the theme in one colour. To add a legend so that the user can see the various soil types, double-click in the gray area beside the theme name in the table of contents to display the Legend Editor. Use the drop menu boxes to select legend type and values field (the values field must be a column in the theme attribute table.) Select Unique Value from legend type dropdown list, and Name1 from Values field droplown list. Click Apply to apply new colours by soil type. Close the legend editor.

   

2. The map in now colour coded according to the soil type. To show more detail use the Zoom In tool —