FNA Process: Working with the CSV file

Author

Sarah Hagen

Working with the CSV File in Microsoft Excel

Once you have exported your attribute table to CSV format, you can open it in Microsoft Excel or your spreadsheet program of choice. This tutorial will focus on Microsoft Excel, so instructions may differ in other programs.

Step-by-Step Process

This process will help you focus on the most relevant data for your analysis while retaining the original CSV format for future use if needed.

  1. Open the CSV file

    • Open the CSV file in Microsoft Excel. You will see an exact copy of the attribute table you just exported from ArcGIS Pro.

  2. Save a copy as an Excel workbook

    • Before modifying the table, save a copy of it as an Excel workbook (.xlsx). Many changes to the table in the remainder of this process will be incompatible with the CSV format. To ensure you don’t lose any data you may need in future analyses, it’s best to keep the CSV in-tact and make changes in a working copy.

  3. Identify key fields

    • The most relevant fields to this analysis are:
      • EVT_NAME
      • BPS_NAME
      • FRI_ALLFIR
      • Acres
      • Acres_Year

  4. Delete unnecessary fields

    • Once you’ve made a copy of the CSV data, you can delete any fields you don’t need. In all cases, you can safely delete any fields associated with the colormap, such as R, G, B, RED, GREEN, BLUE as well as the value fields for your BPS_Vegetated and EVT_Vegetated rasters (the ones you used to join fields to the combined raster attribute table.)

This process will help you focus on the most relevant data for your analysis while retaining the original CSV data for future use if needed.

Still have questions? LANDFIRE is here to help.