ESRI Training Matters

GTunes for GIS Day

2009-11-20T00:49:00Z

The next time someone gives you a blank stare when you try to explain what GIS is, just send them to YouTube. In honor of GIS Day , a group of musically inclined GIS users in Austin, TX created this fun and rocking video . I'm already looking forward to GIS Day 2010 and next year's mix. The GIS community continues to amaze and entertain. 11/20/09 Note: Apologies to the group in Austin for incorrectly stating that GIS users in San Antonio created the GIS Day video. Keep up the great work, and go Longhorns...(read more)

Do You Know the Definition of GIS?

2009-11-13T00:57:00Z

Next week is a big week—Sunday kicks off Geography Awareness Week and Thursday is GIS Day . So here's a short, interactive activity designed as a teaching aid for those completely new to GIS. It's intended to reinforce essential key points about what this technology is. Developed for the free Getting Started with GIS Web course, the goal in this activity is to drag and drop a list of words to correctly fill in the blanks in a few paragraphs that describe GIS. Some of us who are very familiar with...(read more)

Web Training on FEMA Tool for Disaster Management

2009-11-06T01:09:00Z

This week we released Introduction to the HAZUS-MH Comprehensive Data Management System , the latest in a series of Web training courses covering Hazards U.S. Multi-Hazard (HAZUS-MH) , a hazard loss estimation tool developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). HAZUS-MH is a free extension to ArcGIS that facilitates a risk-based approach to disaster management. Each year, natural disasters cost billions of dollars in damage, great loss of life, and a degraded quality of life for survivors....(read more)

Training Spotlight: Make Better-Quality GIS Maps

2009-10-28T21:55:00Z

While anyone can use GIS tools to make a map, not everyone has a background in proper map design and cartographic theory. If decisions are based on inaccurate or misleading maps, the results can be disastrous. Creating and Publishing Maps with ArcGIS is a new instructor-led course from ESRI that prepares GIS users to successfully complete a variety of realistic mapping projects, including designing maps for the Web. In the interview below, course author Eric Gillett shares his thoughts about the...(read more)

10 ArcMap Productivity Tips You Can Use Now

2009-10-22T19:24:00Z

The ArcGIS 9.4 release will include many productivity improvements to help you get your GIS work done faster. But ArcGIS 9.4 won't be released until next year—so here are some tips you can try out in ArcMap right away. The 10 shortcuts below can shave milliseconds off common tasks, and hey, milliseconds count when you're trying to get stuff done. You just may be able to get to lunch five minutes earlier and beat the crowd. That alone is going to save you at least 10 minutes, more if you're going...(read more)

Demo Shows Workflow for Online Collaboration

2009-10-14T23:27:00Z

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...(read more)

Use the Five-Step GIS Analysis Process

2009-10-08T23:49:00Z

Last week's post featured Performing Analysis with ArcGIS Desktop , a new instructor-led ESRI training course that teaches a five-step process for GIS analysis. Today's post shows how to apply that process using ArcGIS Desktop software and datasets from ESRI Data & Maps . Suppose you want to analyze access to health care services in Riverside and San Bernardino counties in southern California. The five steps in the analysis process are: Frame the question Explore and prepare data Choose analysis...(read more)

Course Teaches 5-Step Process for GIS Analysis

2009-10-01T22:28:00Z

Fall has arrived, but data from last summer's ESRI Training survey is still being analyzed. One survey question asked respondents to tell us what GIS topics they would need training on in the next 12 months. The information gleaned from this question helps us focus our resources on developing training products that best meet our users' needs. This year, it was gratifying to learn that the most requested training topic was "GIS analysis techniques and methods." More than 55 percent of respondents...(read more)

Free Training Now Available for the ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight/WPF

2009-09-23T19:25:00Z

A recording of the Getting Started with ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight/WPF training seminar (broadcast live last month) was recently added to the ESRI Training Web site. This free one-hour seminar is designed to help experienced Web developers understand the features and functionality available through the API. In the demonstration below, presenter David Martinez of the ESRI product marketing team steps through the process of downloading the ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight/WPF from the...(read more)

Want to Create Python Scripts? Try the F-C-P-M-T Method

2009-09-10T20:54:00Z

We got a lot of requests on our 2009 ESRI Training survey for more courses on scripting, particularly with Python , the scripting environment included with ArcGIS. Currently, we have two instructor-led courses that focus entirely on creating geoprocessing scripts, one Web course that includes a module on scripting, and a free training seminar and Instructional Series podcast that cover Python scripting. Introduction to Geoprocessing Scripts Using Python Writing Advanced Geoprocessing Scripts Using...(read more)

Training Survey Results: Lower Cost, Greater Access Top the List of User Needs

2009-08-27T21:00:00Z

While reviewing responses to the 2009 ESRI Training survey that recently closed, a couple of themes quickly emerged. We always include an open-ended question for survey takers to give us their thoughts in their own words. This year the question was, "What changes to ESRI Training would help you most?" No surprise, cost was the number one change requested—as in, we need more low-cost and free training from ESRI. As one respondent this year nicely phrased it, "[I need] more financially friendly training...(read more)

Now Available: ArcGIS Data Interoperability Web Series

2009-08-19T20:29:00Z

ESRI Educational Services recently released a six-part Virtual Campus Web course series on the ArcGIS Data Interoperability extension . Jointly developed by ESRI and Safe Software , the series starts by teaching the basics of what data interoperability actually means and the benefits it offers for productivity, then takes you all the way through to developing custom tools you can share with colleagues. Along the way, you learn best practices for applying the software's powerful data translation and...(read more)

Need GIS Data? Learn How to Create Your Own

2009-08-11T23:36:00Z

When people finish an ESRI training course, often they tell us they learned a lot, loved the course, but how do they get their own data to work with ArcGIS? Where can they find the specific data they need? The training data used in course exercises is developed and manipulated (by us) to meet specific learning goals, and exercises are scripted to ensure consistent results. For those new to GIS in particular, there's a need to fill the gap between using the software in a training class and doing GIS...(read more)

Top ArcGIS Training Class Offered Online

2009-07-29T22:44:00Z

Have budget cuts or freezes made traveling to attend training a no-go in your organization? On August 25-27, ArcGIS Desktop II: Tools and Functionality will be taught in the ESRI Virtual Classroom. Users have told us that getting approval to attend a training class can be difficult if travel is involved. By offering our most popular instructor-led training class online, we hope that those of you who are new to ArcGIS will find it easier to get the training you need. Because, while the economy has...(read more)

Can You Show Me My House?

2009-07-23T18:07:00Z

Maryland’s award-winning use of GIS to measure performance impresses. Read why training is key to reaping the benefits of GIS....(read more)