Procedures for setting up project directories for ArcInfo

Users of ArcInfo tend to generate many coverages, data files, amls, plot files, etc. during the life-cycle of a project. To better manage these files follow these guidelines.

This simple rule will save you many hours of head-scratching:
USE ONLY LOWERCASE LETTERS IN YOUR ARCINFO DIRECTORY PATHS.
We've experienced problems with ArcInfo & ArcView finding coverages whose paths include even one uppercase letter such as: /home/where/Is/my/coverage.
Create a directory within your home directory called, simply, "proj" (mkdir proj).
"cd" to the new /proj directory (cd proj) and create a new directory (using mkdir), giving it a name that reflects the name of your current project. Because most projects have a characteristic geographic base, you might want to assign a relevant geographic name to the new project directory. For instance, for the Landers Earthquake project the directory is simply /landers.
"cd" to the new project directory (e.g., cd landers) and create several new directory as such:

mkdir covs (the /covs directory will be used to store ArcInfo coverages)
mkdir plots (the /plots directory will be used to store ArcInfo graphics and postscript files)
mkdir amls (the /amls directory will be used to store ArcInfo AML scripts)
mkdir prj (the /prj directory will be used to store ArcInfo projection files)
mkdir data (the /data directory will be used to store data that you convert to ArcInfo coverages)

The resulting directory structure would look like this:
```
          /proj
             /landers
                /covs
                /plots
                /amls
                /prj 
                /data
          
```
Create a file called README (all caps) directly within the new project directory. Edit that file and add in the following:

The name of the project
Your name
Today's date
A description of the project, including the purpose ,sources of data, pertinent persons to contact, etc.

As the project evolves, revisit this README file and enter information about the project status. A good thing to do, also, is to add a README file to each of the sub-directories (/covs, /plots, /amls, /prj, and /data) and describe what is contained within each of the files in the respective directory.
The information in these README files will help you when you inevitably side-line the project then, some months later, start working with the project again. Additionally, this information will help the poor soul who will be looking at your data files many years hence and wondering just what the data files represent. Be future-kind...do it.

This initial setup for ArcInfo projects will make life a lot easier when working with ArcInfo coverages and other files. As you create other new projects simply start a new directory under the /proj directory and add the list of directories and README files defined in step 3.

11/08/99