Author Archives: socalgovgis - Michael Carson

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About socalgovgis - Michael Carson

Michael Carson, GIS Manager (retired) for the City of Burbank and President of Southern California Government GIS User Group. Currently teaching GIS at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita.

Getting to Know ArcGIS, 4th Edition

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ESRI has published the 4th edition of Getting to Know ArcGIS.  Many of you have probably used past editions to learn the ArcGIS Desktop software or to teach others.

gettingtoknowarcgis4thed

This edition is updated for the latest version of ArcGIS Desktop, 10.2 to 10.3.1.  The book teaches GIS concepts and common tasks like how to find GIS data online, create web maps, set map projections, symbolize and label maps, edit GIS data, and geocode address locations.  Included is a preview of ArcGIS Pro, however the book focuses on all the tools and functionality available in ArcGIS Desktop 10.3.1.

Getting to Know ArcGIS, 4th Edition was authored by Michael Law and Amy Collins.  It is 808 pages long and retails for $84.99 from ESRI Press or about $54 to $58 on Amazon at the time of this post.  The book also includes data for the exercises and a 180 day free trial of ArcGIS Desktop available for download at ESRI’s book resources website.

Free Spatial Analysis Course

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ESRI has a free Spatial Analysis course that you can take online.  Here are a few more details:

  • Hands-on exercises, short video lectures, quizzes, case studies and discussion
  • You will be using ArcGIS Online’s full analytical capabilities
  • 6 weeks, 2-3 hours of study per week
  • Certificate of completion and prizes
  • Course dates: September 1 to October 12, 2015
  • Registration closes September 15

For more info and to register, visit their sign up page.

USGS Hydrography Seminar Series #3

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High-quality hydrographic data are critical to a broad range of government and private applications. Resource management, infrastructure planning, environmental monitoring, fisheries management, and disaster mitigation all depend on up-to-date, accurate, and high-quality hydrographic data.  The U.S. Geological Survey National Geospatial Program has begun a series of virtual seminars to highlight the uses of hydrographic data.  The next seminar will be on July 30 at 2 pm EDT.  These seminars are intended to share success stories from users who have solved real world problems using hydrographic data, provide information about the National Hydrography Dataset and related products, and provide a virtual forum for users, similar to what might be encountered in a conference setting.

Connections are limited, and you will need to register to attend these seminars.  Please visit this site here to sign up. After your registration is approved, you will receive instructions for joining the meeting.

The next seminar will feature Anita Stohr of the Washington Department of Ecology discussing applications of hydrography within the State of Washington.  There will also be lightning talks by Susan Phelps of AECOM, and David Holtschlag of the USGS Michigan-Ohio Water Science Center.  They will discuss developing local-resolution hydrography from lidar; and UFINCH, a method for estimating unit and daily flows in a stream network defined by the National Hydrography Dataset with Value-Added Attributes (NHDPlus) using daily flows from USGS streamgages, respectively.

For full abstracts and biographies of the speakers, or for information about past hydroseminars, please visit the Hydrography Seminar Series website.

2015 ESRI User Conference Workshop Takeaways

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After attending a few workshops on ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Sever today, here are a few things that I noted and thought you all might find interesting.  If you work on the bleeding edge, you probably already know!

ArcGIS Pro

  1. Uses Python 3.4, full Python is not included, however SciPy and Pandas libraries are included.
  2. Because ArcGIS Pro uses Python 3.4, some of your Python scripts that you created for ArcGIS Desktop, which uses Python 2.7, might not work.  There is a script checker in Pro that will tell you if any lines of code will fail.  For example, printing a variable using the line “print x” must be “print(x)” in Python 3.4.
  3. At version 1.2, Pro will have concurrent use licenses.

ArcGIS Server

  1. Version 10.3 now has service usage statistics, which includes total requests, average response times, and timeouts.  You can create reports at the service, folder, and site level.
  2. You can preserve layer IDs so they don’t change when you republish a map service that has new layers in it.  There is an option in the Layer properties in ArcMap to turn this feature on.  You can also change the layer ID for your different layers before you publish to a map service.
  3. Server has expanded Linux support.  Now works with redhat, SUSE, CentOS, Scientific Linux, and Oracle Linux.

Ventura College GIS Program 2015/2016

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For the 2015/2016 school year we will be offering our full suite of GIS courses. Normally it takes 1.5 to 2 years to earn our Proficiency Award in Basic GIS (certificate), but this year it will be possible to earn the certificate in one year.
 
Fall 2015 (starting August 17)
GIS V22 (aka GEOG V22): Fundamentals of Mapping and GIS (our broad survey course of geospatial technologies)
GIS V28A (aka GEOG V28A): GIS projects course that starts Oct. 12 … will work with students who do not have ArcGIS experience (Students who have already had V28 should enroll in the V28B version of the course)
 
Spring 2016
GIS V26 (aka GEOG V26): Introduction to ArcGIS (10.3)
GIS V28A/28B: GIS Projects courses.
 
Contact Steve Palladino at Ventura College for more information.
(805-280-6288, spalladino@vcccd.edu)