Tag Archives: free training
Are You an Advanced Beginner?
Our training catalog includes quite a few courses that cover fundamental GIS and ArcGIS topics. Designed for people with no academic or workplace experience with GIS, historically our introductory courses have been among our most popular. They likely always will be. As more and more organizations adopt GIS, more people require introductory-level training so they can perform the new workflows made possible by the technology. Makes sense.
If you’re someone who has mastered the fundamentals, you may be wondering what courses you should take next. You’ve learned the basics, you want to continue growing your GIS skillset, but you’re not ready to tackle 3D terrain analysis with lidar data. We get the what’s-next question a lot.
But what’s next does not have a one-size-fits-all answer. Continue reading
ArcMap Layout Tips for New and Experienced Mappers
Colin (left) and David (right) in the studio.
Last week, over 2,000 of you tuned in to watch our live training seminar, Layout Design Essentials for ArcGIS 10.1, presented by Esri instructor Colin Childs, whose South African accent never ceases to please. David Watkins, Esri cartography product manager, joined in on the action as co-presenter to answer viewer questions. The seminar recording is now available for free viewing on the Training website.
This seminar is fast-paced and packed with information that spans basics like inserting a legend with attractive patches to more advanced topics such as adding dynamic text. Throughout, Colin shares tips to make your layout work more efficient and your designs more compelling. Continue reading
Esri UC 2012: Hands-On Learning Lab Lineup
If you’ll be attending this year’s Esri UC in San Diego and you’re starting to plan your activities, think about setting aside some time to visit the Hands-On Learning Lab presented by Esri Training Services. After the plenary session, you may be champing at the bit to get first-hand experience with ArcGIS 10.1—our popular Hands-On Learning Lab in the Esri Showcase is where you can get it.
This year, the Lab features the lessons below. Continue reading
Top 5 Reasons to Take Training in the Next 10 Days?
The end of the year approaches, which means a Top Something list is practically obligatory. Admittedly, compiling such a list may be a lazy blogger’s device, but remember, lazy bloggers are people too and sometimes need a holiday respite. In the spirit of the season, the numbered list below—presented in no particular order—may inspire you to learn something new, prepare yourself for a new job next year, or at least stare down chocolate temptation.
Reason 1: Your training budget has an expiration date.
Despite rumors to the contrary, your organization’s training budget may not be nil. For organizations whose fiscal year follows the calendar year, training funds approved for 2011 will expire midnight December 31st, about the same time affectionate people are greeting the new year. What you may not know is that many managers hoard budget-approved dollars throughout the year to make sure they have enough for unexpected executive projects. This is the week to hand your boss a training request before she hurries out the door for vacation and remind her that those training funds need to be used or losed, or even lost. Nobody likes to lose money.
Reason 2: Learning is the gift that keeps on giving.
James Slavet, in a recent guest post for Forbes, promotes the Compound Weekly Learning Rate, which is described thusly, “This ability to learn is like the compounding interest on an investment: after two or three years, a relentless learner stands head and shoulders above his peers.” Now who among us wouldn’t like to be taller? Enough said. Continue reading
Versioned Editing Seminar: Your Questions Answered
Last week’s live training seminar, Versioned Editing Workflows for the Multiuser Geodatabase, garnered rave reviews—and tons of questions. If you missed it, the free recording is now available on the Esri Training website. Due to time constraints, the presenters weren’t able to answer all the viewer questions that came in. Below are answers to the questions we couldn’t get to during the live broadcasts. Continue reading
Mailbox Matters: ArcGIS and Training FAQs
A lot of questions on a variety of topics are sent to this blog’s e-mail address (that is, to me). The wording varies, but many people are looking for the same information. A selection of popular questions and insightful answers is below. Maybe you’ve wondered about these same things. Read on and you may save yourself some typing and a Send click.
Finding Things in ArcGIS 10
Question: I keep seeing references to the ArcGIS tutorials, where are they? And where is the data needed for the tutorials?
Answer: The tutorials are part of the ArcGIS documentation and are a great (free) resource to get up to speed with the software tools and workflows for completing a wide variety of tasks. At version 10, the tutorials themselves (step-by-step instructions) are topics within the ArcGIS Desktop Help system; they appear as subfolders within the main subject categories. For example, the editing tutorial is located at Professional Library > Data Management > Editing data > Editing tutorial.
The tutorial data is an optional part of the ArcGIS Desktop installation. If selected, the tutorial data installs to C:ArcGISArcTutor (default location). Within the ArcTutor folder, the data is organized into topical subfolders. So the first thing to do is search your system for the ArcTutor folder.
If you don’t find the tutorial data, check with your system administrator or the person who manages ArcGIS installation at your organization to see if the data was installed to a network share. If it wasn’t installed at all, you (or they) can modify the installation from the media (DVD) or the download file to get the data.
Speaking of data… Continue reading
Training and Certification at the Esri UC
If you’re heading for San Diego this weekend, you’re likely still deciding which sessions to attend, maybe making plans to meet up with friends, and perhaps even looking forward to getting inspired by all that the GIS community has accomplished in the last year. 
As those of us who work in Training Services and the Esri Technical Certification program prepare for the UC, we’ve been thinking about what we’ve accomplished—and how much work is ahead of us for the remainder of the year. We’re looking forward to talking with conference attendees about those things. If you’re going to San Diego and you want info about training or certification, here’s the UC breakdown. Continue reading
Esri UC 2011: Free Training at the Hands-On Learning Lab
The Hands-On Learning Lab is located in the Esri Showcase in the San Diego Convention Center. To take a free lesson, visit during the following hours:
| Tues. July 12: | 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. | ||
| Wed. July 13: | 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. | ||
| Thurs. July 14: | 9 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. |
No registration is required. Each lesson listed below is approximately 45 minutes and includes a video presentation and a hands-on ArcGIS 10 software exercise. Esri instructors will be available for questions and support.
- Basics of the Geodatabase Model
- Creating a Map in ArcGIS
- Designing Effective Web Applications Using ArcGIS Server
- Editing with ArcGIS Desktop
- Geocoding With ArcGIS
- Getting Started with Animation
- Introduction to ArcGIS Data Reviewer
- Introduction to ArcGIS Desktop
- Introduction to ArcGIS Server
- Introduction to Geoprocessing Using Python
- Introduction to Network Analyst
- Introduction to Spatial Analyst
- Introduction to Versioned Editing
- Spatial Statistics for Public Health
- What’s New at Version 10.0
- Working with CAD in ArcGIS
Want to Get Your Web Map in an App?
Last week we broadcast the Introduction to ArcGIS for iOS live training seminar, which covered using the ArcGIS application and the ArcGIS API for iOS to access, create, and deploy Web maps that feature GIS capabilities on iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touch. The recorded version of the live training seminar is now available on the Esri Training Web site.
GIS professionals are increasingly being asked to create accessible Web maps that support data collection by workers or volunteers in the field, as well as Web maps that allow the general public to report observations by adding features.
Several seminar attendees asked how to integrate their own local map services into a Web map accessible by the ArcGIS application or a custom app developed using the ArcGIS API for iOS. The demo below quickly walks through composing a Web map using free services from ArcGIS Online, saving the Web map to an ArcGIS.com account, and accessing the Web map on an iPhone via the ArcGIS application. The demo also shows how you can access Web maps that feature services hosted on an internal GIS server from the ArcGIS application.
For more information about using local map services in a Web map that will be accessible from an iOS device, check out this doc.
If you want to deploy Web applications that include data collection and editing capabilities to other clients, check out the recent training seminar below.
Web Training for ArcGIS 10: Short, Focused, and Free
We’re six months into our series of free live training seminars designed to help you learn the new features and workflows of ArcGIS 10. Instructor-led courses on ArcGIS 10 have been available since early summer. The busy bees in Esri Training Services are now focused on creating web courses that teach ArcGIS 10 concepts, tools, and functionality.
As of today, a trifecta of free one-module web courses is available to help you get up to speed with ArcGIS 10. These courses, follow-ups to training seminars we presented earlier this year, include the presentation and demos from the seminar as well as a hands-on exercise with data and an exam. Passing the exam earns you an Esri certificate of completion.
These one-module web courses are great for getting just-in-time training on a specific topic. Each course takes approximately two hours to complete, and the price can’t be beat. If you don’t have access to ArcGIS 10 software, Esri offers a free 60-day evaluation (note that evaluation software is not supported by Esri Support Services or Esri Training Services).
Two longer web courses are also available:
- Getting Started with GIS (for ArcGIS 10)
- A free three-module web course designed for those completely new to GIS. Exercises and simulations reinforce GIS concepts and teach a variety of basic ArcGIS tools and functionality.
- Learning ArcGIS Desktop (for ArcGIS 10)
- A comprehensive eight-module web course designed for those new to GIS and ArcGIS. The free first module covers fundamental GIS concepts and includes three exercises that give you practice with a sampler of ArcGIS functionality, including visualizing data in ArcMap and using ArcGIS analysis tools for site selection.
Those of you who enjoy the convenience of self-paced web training will find many more web courses on ArcGIS 10 by the end of this year and into early 2011.
