Installation of ArcSDM2

Unzipping files

Files provided on the web site have been compressed into zip files. A directory structure has been written to the zip file for the documentation files and the sample data sets that needs to be reconstructed by your unzip utility. If you are using WinZip, ensure that you have selected the option to 'Use folder names'. It's can also be useful to NOT have the 'Overwrite existing files' selected because a prompt asking you if you want to overwrite an existing file will usually signal a problem with the reconstruction of the directory structure.

Installation of program files

To install ArcSDM2, a setup.exe is provided along with all of the necessary files in a zip file. The following steps are recommended.

  1. Create a folder named ArcSDM2 under the ArcGIS folder in your C directory where your ArcMap software is installed.
  2. Extract all of the files listed below from the zip file into the ArcSDM2 folder.
  3. If you have a previous version of ArcSDM2 for ArcMap installed, it is necessary to uninstall that version before installing a new version. To uninstall a previous version, do the following step: 
  4. Go to the Start Menu on your Windows Toolbar and select Settings/Control Panel
  5. From the Control Window, select Add/Remove Programs.
  6. Select and remove the ArcSDM2extension.
  7. Then to install the new version of ArcSDM2, double click on the setup.exe in the ArcSDM2 folder. If the setup gives a message that some file, such as an OCX or OLB files, are newer on your system than the one being installed, always accept to keep your newer file. Do not overwrite your newer file with an older file from the setup.
  8. Start ArcMap and activate the Spatial Analysis extension
  9. In order to see the ArcSDM2 menu, it is necessary to install a customization. Select the Tools menu and then the Customization submenu to install ArcSDM2 from a file. Select the SDMextension.dll for the file to install from the folder Program Files/ArcSDM2extension folder. The ArcSDM2 menu should now appear as a floating menu. It is sometimes necessary to also check on the Spatial Data Modeler in the Toolbars menu under View drop-down menu.
  10. Before using any of the ArcSDM2 menu functions, it is necessary to create a mapping project as described next.

Starting a Modeling Project

  1. Before you can start your modeling project in ArcSDM2, it is necessary to add a point shapefile with the training sites and a study area grid that defines the area to be analyzed. It is important that the first data added to your project have at least the projection information in the metadata. This will setup the projection and units parameters for your data frame. The training-point shapefile is assumed to be the top-most layer and the study area grid is assumed to be the bottom-most layer in the Table of Contents. The cell size of the study area grid should be equal to the cell size of the evidential grid with the smallest cell size. This cell size is used to calculate the area of Missing Data in the study area.
  2. ArcMap requires that all raster files (formerly called grid files) have a name of 11 characters or less. Because we use these file names in DBF files in the ArcSDM2 processing, we require that raster files have names of 9 characters or less.
  3. ArcSDM2 requires that all layers used be permanent.
  4. Change the name of the Data Frame to some appropriate name for the project. ArcMap gives a default name of Layers to the first Data Frame and New Data Frame to subsequent Data Frames. So it is useful to rename these in the Data Frame properties menus. The name of the Data Frame is used to store the ArcSDM2 modeling parameters.
  5. Save the project in the folder that will be the working folder to store all the tables, etc. for the modeling work. This working folder does not have to be the folder containing the input rasters.  If you intend to share your project with others on a different computer all the data should be in one folder and the MXD File Map Properties should have the Data Source Options set to Relative Paths.
  6. After saving your ArcMap project,  the help button on the ArcSDM2 menu can be clicked to read the documentation. The first time you click Help on the ArcSDM2 menu, you will be asked to find the Documentation folder. Assuming you store it in the ArcSDM2 folder under the ArcGIS folder on your drive C, navigate to the Documents folder and click OK. The Documentation should now open.
    1. If you want to click Help before adding data and saving your project, the ArcSDM2 Help button will ask you to save your map before the Help will activate.
  7. Modeling using ArcSDM2 can now begin by setting the modeling parameters.

Files contained in the source zip files.

Filename Description
Documentation folder Help files for the Extension
setup.exe ArcSDM2 Extension setup for installation
SETUP.LST Used by setup.exe for installation
SDMExtension.CAB Used by setup.exe for installation
sdmlr.exe Executable file that runs logistic regression functions.
DataXplore.exe Executable file that runs neural network module.
mfc42.dll Application extension required by DataXplore.exe.
msvcrt.dll Application extension required by DataXplore.exe.

When the ArcSDM2 extension loads:

 

The following items are loaded to the project file:

... is /are added to...
  The Spatial Analyst extension (SA) must be loaded before ArcSDM2 can be activated.

The ArcSDM2 extension uses classes and functionality provided by the Spatial Analyst extension and cannot be loaded if SA is not installed.

 (When installed, Spatial Analyst is fully documented in the ArcMap on-line help.)
User Interface All ArcSDM2 menus and functionality are contained in the Spatial Data Modeler floating tool bar. The Spatial Data Modeler drop-down list contains all the menus and functionality. The Help button starts the ArcSDM2 Documentation. The About button provides information about the source of the code and the version. the menu bar to the right of Spatial Analyst's Surface menu in the View document GUI
"Behind the scenes" DLLs and EXEs used by ArcSDM2 the ArcMap system scripts
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Installation of On-line Documentation

Options:

Using documentation on CD: This method is not recommended.

  1. The first time you invoke the on-line help you will be prompted to specify the location of sdmhelp.htm.
  2. Navigate to the Documentation folder in the ArcSDM2 folder, select sdmhelp.htm and click OK.

Using documentation on your hard drive: This method is recommended.

  1. Either
    copy the contents of the Documentation directory to a directory of your choice on your hard drive
    or
    download one of the zip files that contains the documentation files from the ArcSDM2 web site.
    Unzip these files in the ArcSDM2 folder on your hard drive. This will create a new folder, Documentation, with the help files.
  2. The first time you invoke the on-line help from ArcMap you will be prompted to specify the location of sdmhelp.htm.
  3. Navigate to the file, select and click OK.
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