ArcGIS Online, now in public beta, is a destination that offers a lot to the GIS users who choose to visit. The site is a rich content source for GIS data, maps, and tools; it offers tools for quickly creating a Web map, and it's a venue for sharing your GIS work and collaborating with other GIS users.

The collaboration piece is especially intriguing, and the out-take below from Sharing Your Maps Using ArcGIS Online—last week's live training seminar—shows how it can work.

In the demo, ESRI instructor Matt Baker uploads a map service to ArcGIS Online, mashes up the service with an ArcGIS Online imagery service to create a custom Web map, then shares the content with a group he has created. Molly Zurn from the ArcGIS Online team simulates the role of a GIS user who shares an interest in the subject of Matt's Web map. Molly collaborates by adding another map service to the Web map and saves her version out to a new Web map, which she in turn shares with the group.

This is a workflow that could help many ESRI users support and move their own GIS projects forward. Not to mention that collaboration almost always brings welcome synergy—and synergy often results in positive change. 

Isn't that the destination we're all trying to reach with GIS?

The complete recording of the seminar will be available on the ESRI Training Web site in the next week or so.