In this walkthrough we will use TIGER/Line data from the United States Census Bureau and ecoregion data from the USGS to load US state and ecoregion data onto the map. Using the Intersect Tool we will create a feature representing a selected ecoregion in a selected state. We will then find all occurrence records that occur within the created feature.
This walkthrough uses external state and ecoregion data for the United States, and so requires occurrence data to exist occurring within the United States as well. Variations of this walkthrough can be can be completed using equivalent data for other countries.
Download the US state shapefile from the TIGER/Line data from the United States Census Bureau. This can be found in the STATE directory of their FTP Archive. You can also click this link to download it directly. Be sure to note the location the file is downloaded on your computer.
Download the Bailey's Ecoregions of the Conterminous United States shapefile from the USGS. You can click this link to download it directly. Be sure to note the location the file is downloaded on your computer.
Drag and drop the entire shapefile zip file downloaded in step 1 over the map to load the US state data onto the map.
Once the US state data has been loaded, pan and adjust the zoom level of the map to view the state data better.
Identify a state on the map in which you know of occurrence records occurring. If you are unsure of how to do this, identify the state in which the county you identified in step 4 of Walkthrough #3 is located.
Click once on the state feature you identified in the previous step to add it to the Shapes Layer. The newly added feature in the Shapes Layer should display over the original feature on the map.
Open the Layers Panel by clicking on the Layers Toggle in the Control Panel.
In the Layers Panel in the US state data layer added in step 3 (this should be titled tl_2021_us_state if you downloaded the file specified in step 1), click the Delete Layer button to remove that layer from the map.
Close the Layers Panel by clicking close icon in the top-right corner of the panel.
Drag and drop the entire shapefile zip file downloaded in step 2 over the map to load the Bailey's Ecoregion data onto the map.
Identify an ecoregion on the map that overlaps the state you identified in step 5.
Click once on the ecoregion feature you identified in the previous step to add it to the Shapes Layer.
Open the Layers Panel by clicking on the Layers Toggle in the Control Panel.
In the Layers Panel in the Bailey's Ecoregion data layer added in step 10 (this should be titled Baileys_ecoregions_sgca if you downloaded the file specified in step 2), click the Delete Layer button to remove that layer from the map.
Close the Layers Panel by clicking close icon in the top-right corner of the panel.
Select Shapes in the Active Layer Selector in the Control Panel to activate the Shapes Layer.
Click once on the state and ecoregion features you added to the Shapes Layer in steps 6 and 12 to select them.
Click on the Side Panel Toggle to open the Side Panel, click on Vector Tools to expand the Vector Tools Panel, and then click on the Shapes Tab to select it (if it isn't already).
In the Intersect Tool in the Shapes Tab, click the Intersect button to create an intersect feature of the two selected features.
Click the Delete Selected Features button in the Shapes Tab to remove the state and ecoregion features, leaving only the new intersect features created in the previous step.
Click once on the intersect feature to select it in the Shapes Layer.
Click on Search Criteria in the Side Panel to expand the Search Criteria Panel, and then click the Load Records button, in either the Criteria or Collections Tab (whichever is selected) to load the occurrence records occurring within the intersect polygon.