Are you a GIS practitioner or a GIS professional?

Applications for the GISCI Certification Program are now available. GISCI is now ready to accept completed applications accompanied by full payment and a signed code of ethics.

View or download the application materials for GISCI professional certification.

View or download the Renewal Certification materials

Free Web Map Tools

Anyone can use geographic information systems (GIS) to create maps and use them to make better decisions.
Explore how you can make interactive maps and share them with others:
Make a Map—Make interactive demographic maps and share them.
Web Mapping APIs—Create interactive maps and embed them in your Web site.
Virtual Globe—Use the free ArcGIS Explorer download to view your spatial data and combine it with free map services.

Great Content Makes Great Maps
Contribute your local content to an ArcGIS Online basemap. Find out how.

December 2010
Esri Charts a New Course in Training

By Carla Wheeler Esri Writer

Say goodbye to formal lectures and hello to more participation from students like yourself when you take instructor-led GIS courses from Esri. A new course design and training delivery style developed by Esri stresses interactive learning. Students now take a more active role in class, with instructors eliciting discussion by posing more questions and assigning students to work together in small groups on short problem-solving exercises. Classmates are encouraged to share their on-the-job GIS experiences. Lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on software exercises place greater emphasis on real-world scenarios and situations. "We want learning to be fun, easy, and applicable," said Esri national instructor manager Krista Page. Read the article.

Follow Our New Series on Redistricting
While state and local governments await the delivery of the 2010 U.S. Census results, the redistricting process is already taking shape. Hear what redistricting experts, Esri staff, and our partners have to say about the redistricting process, how it is evolving, and what's new this time around.
Esri's Redistricting Podcast Series provides insight on
New technologies available to legislators and citizens
Where to find the data resources you need
Challenges facing public officials
How citizen engagement is changing the process
Listen to the first two podcasts in this series.

Christmas Time Fun

Dear GIS users,

First of all I would like to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone. Since it is that time of year lets talk about Santa.

Have you or someone you know had to try to explain where Santa is to a child? It is kind of hard if you do not have a good visual aid to show, use GIS. There are some great free maps out there that you can use to show the whole world and use as an example. Like this one from the ESRI ArcGIS Online site.

All you would need after you have this great background is some simple icons to show where Santa is and where you want him to go(your house). If your a preplaner like I know most of you are, you can create a few of these maps before hand and tell them that you have a GPS on Santa's slay and it has all the places that he has stopped. The older the child the more elaborate you would have to make your maps. You can create some custom symbols or use some existing ones.


(Above check marks are the places Santa has been. The Star is where you want Santa to go.)

There are many different ways that you can bring your work home in a fun and exciting way. Next time you are making a map think of how you can make something fun for your family.

I hope everyone out there has a great Holiday Season.

Which ArcGIS 10 Training Is Right For You?

ArcGIS 10 was released a couple of months ago, but a lot of you are likely just starting to think about how to ramp up on the changes—the interface improvements, the new tools, and the different workflows for accomplishing some common GIS tasks. If the question is "What's the best way to learn ArcGIS 10?" (and this question has been asked frequently of late), the answer is, "It depends."

Your approach to learning ArcGIS 10 depends on your experience with previous ArcGIS versions, what you use the software for, how you prefer to learn, and how much time and money you can spend. Below are training recommendations designed to help you be your most productive with the new release.

New ArcGIS Users

If version 10 is your first experience with ArcGIS software, you have the advantage of not needing to relearn the way you do certain aspects of your GIS work. Taking a course that covers a broad spectrum of ArcGIS functionality and teaches you how to use the software to complete common GIS tasks is a good way to jumpstart your ArcGIS productivity.

Training for new ArcGIS users

Existing ArcGIS Users
Maybe ArcGIS 9.3 was your first dive into Esri software, or maybe you've been using ArcSomething since 1996. Either way, you know your way around the software and probably have established workflows to get your GIS tasks done as fast as possible. All you need to know is which clicks, in which order, will get you the result you're looking for. Or is it?

ArcGIS 10 gives you new ways to get your work done faster and better. Greater Python integration for automation and data driven pages for quickly creating map books are just two enhancements that may convince you to change up your routine clicks. The editing workflow has been simplified to be more intuitive as well as generate fewer clicks.

Training focused on new features and workflows

GIS Responsibilities
ArcGIS 10 is a tool. What do you need to do with it? Do you make maps on demand? Do you perform complex analyses to support decision makers (and save the planet while you're at it)? Are you responsible for helping to maintain and assure the quality of the production GIS database and reconciling frequent data updates? If you spend 80% of your time on one specific group of tasks or functions, you need training that's focused on making you more efficient at completing those tasks and getting reliable results.

Training on GIS data production, management, and maintenance
Training on GIS mapping
Training on GIS analysis

Discounted Training at 2011 SCAUG Conference

Take advantage of discounted ESRI training classes and workshops at the upcoming 2011 SCAUG Conference in San Antonio, April 4th - 8th.

2-DAY ESRI CLASSES
MONDAY, APRIL 4TH & TUESDAY, APRIL 5TH - 8:30am TO 5:00pm
Creating Effective Web Applications Using ArcGIS Server - $750
What’s New in ArcGIS Desktop 10 - $750

HALF-DAY ESRI WORKSHOPS
FRIDAY, APRIL 8TH - 8:00am - 12:00pm
Building & Deploying Add-Ins for ArcGIS Desktop - $25
ArcGIS 10 & Imagery - $25