Experienced GIS users will find it useful to have copies of certain data layers from the MLPAI geodatabase stored on their local computers. This will be particularly helpful for data analysis and advanced cartography not available in either the IMS or Doris. To access a live version the geodatabase, you will need to use ArcGIS 9.2 (service pack 2) following the instructions below. (You may also simply download the entire goedatabase, in the form of a raster file geodatabase, a vector file geodatabase or both. Note that these files total more than 2GB! You will need a very fast connection in order to download them to your local machine. These databases are not compatible with versions of ArcGIS prior to version 9.2. )

(1) Open ArcCatalog, expand "GIS Servers" and double-click "Add ArcIMS Server".

(2) In the Add ArcIMS Server dialog box enter "http:/marinemap.org" in the box following "URL of server:" and click the Get List button. Check the box next to "mlpa_feature" and click OK.

(3) You will now see a new IMS connection in your catalog tree called "marinemap.org". If you expand that by clicking the "+" symbol, then expand the mlpa_feature connection, you will see a list of all of the feature datasets within the MLPAI geodatabase. (Note that one cannot download raster data layers, such as the nautical charts, by this method. If you need access to one or more of our rasters, please download the raster file database. )

(4) To download these data layers you will first need to create a personal geodatabase on your local hard drive. Right click on your working directory and choose New > Personal Geodatabase.

(5) Once you have created your personal geodatabase, return to the ArcIMS connection (named "marinemap.org" by default), right click on the layer you wish to download to your local drive, and choose "export". Choose "File and Personal Geodatabase feature classes" from the drop down menu in the Saving Data dialog box, navigate to your new personal geodatabase, and click Save. Note that the name of your dataset may not contain spaces. So, for example, if you choose to export the "1 Minute CRFS Microblocks " layer to your personal geodatabase, you should save it with a name like "microblocks".

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