Here is a tutorial to help those of you who are trying to get information from online databases into ArcGIS. For this example we will be using New Yorks online 311 database, and will be using Eli's project as an example which has to do with Pigeon sanitary conditions.

Step 1: First we need to find the data in a table format , for this we go to the following webpage:

https://nycopendata.socrata.com/Social-Services/311-Service-Requests-from-2010-to-Present/erm2-nwe9

Step 2: Search for the information you are looking for using the search field in the top right ("Find in this Dataset").

Step 3: Once that is done searching you should have a table with just the relevant information.

Notice the table also has Latitude and longitude as fields. We can use this field to create points on arcgis.

Step 4: Once you have the table you need to export the table into an Excel format (.XLS). You could try .CSV but Arcgis does not like it 🙁 Click the blue "Export" button and choose "XLS". Save it to you hard drive somewhere.

Step 5: Next we need to import the file into ArcGIS.  Go to the file menu in ArcMap and choose "Add Data" and then "Add XY Data"

Step 6: In the next window that pops up click the little yellow browse icon and point to your file that you downloaded and choose the table inside that XLS file. Then you need to set the X and Y fields, make sure you pick Longitude and Latitude as in the example below. Click OK.

Step 7: You should now have the points with all of their information embbeded inside them.