Find GIS - A New Comprehensive Data Resource for the State of Florida

Find GIS is a new, comprehensive GIS Data Resource website concentrated within the State of Florida. For full details about the site, please see the welcome message at the top of the home page at www.findgis.com.

The Find GIS site is the top privately owned GIS resource in the State of Florida and includes GIS Sources, GIS Contacts, Data Download Sites, FTP Sites for all 67 Counties and all 418 Incorporated Areas (Cities, Towns, Villages, etc.) where available in the state. Links for the GIS divisions of multiple government agencies within the state including all 7 FDOT Districts, 11 Regional Planning Councils, and 5 Water Management Districts are also included.

Find GIS has recently been selected as the Local Media Sponsor for the Geospatial Information & Technology Association’s (GITA) (www.gita.org) upcoming 2009 Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference (www.gita.org/gis/). Please feel free to let us know if your company or organization would like to market any future geospatial conference, expo, meeting, webinar, or workshop to GIS industry professionals throughout Florida and the Southeastern U.S. market area.

 Also keep in mind that The Florida GIS Data News Feed is the official RSS feed for Find GIS. The news feed now has over 14,000 subscribers, so please feel free to notify us if you have any GIS related press releases, case studies, news, projects, or events you would like posted at any time in the future.

There are now multiple advertising opportunities available on the site including “Market Where You Map” Ads sold for a flat annual fee and “Direct Online Ad Placements” sold in blocks of 1,000 impressions in a CPM (cost per thousand) rate basis. Either type of advertisement is a great way to get your company name out there and reach potential customers throughout our market area.

 For your reference purposes, the Find GIS site has recently been featured in Globe Street, the Florida Real Estate Journal, and The GeoFactor. Please review the articles at the provided links below.

Globe Street
http://www.globest.com/news/1119_1119/insider/169448-1.html?sector=technology

Florida Real Estate Journal
http://www.frej.net/news/templates/content.aspx?articleid=18213&zoneid=7

 The GeoFactor
http://www.thegeofactor.com/2007/12/14/gis-finds-the-sunshine-in-florida/

 For any further inquiries about Find GIS, please contact a company representative today at (561) 935-4909.

 

Free Books!

I’m cleaning out my library again and have some free books for anyone that is interested. All you have to do is pay for the shipping costs. Contact me at eric@geospatialtraining.com to let me know which books you’d like. Limit 2 please and I’m only shipping within the U.S.

Professional C#: 2nd Edition
Programming ASP.NET
Upgrading Visual Basic 6.0 to Visual Basic .NET
Active Server Pages 3.0
An Introduction to Database Systems
Project Management Best Practices for IT Professionals
Project Management Professional Study Guide
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
Programming with Avenue
ArcView Developers Guide
ArcView/Avenue Programmer’s Reference

GeoSpatial Training Services - April 2008 Update

GIS Programming 101 Course
Our  GIS Programming 101 course scheduled for May 12th - June 6th is beginning to fill up.  We still have six seats available though so if you’re interested please let us know ASAP. 

This is an instructor guided course taught in a Virtual GIS Classroom using the same technologies implemented by colleges and universities around the world to deliver Internet based courses. Our new Virtual GIS Classroom blends the best of instructor led and e-learning formats into a new instructor led web based format that allows for more interactivity between the instructor and student, and between students.

GIS Programming 101: Mastering Python for Geoprocessing in ArcGIS is designed to teach the fundamental programming constructs of the Python language and how it can be integrated with ArcGIS Desktop to automate geoprocessing tasks.  Course participants will be led through a series of 13 modules described below.
Module 1:  Getting Started with Python in ArcGIS
Module 2:  The Geoprocessor ArcObject
Module 3:  Basic Python Language Features
Module 4:  Obtaining Descriptive Information About ArcGIS Data
Module 5: Using Cursor Objects to Select, Edit, and Add Records to Tables and Feature Classes
Module 6:  Enumeration Objects for Listing ArcGIS Data
Module 7:  Miscellaneous Objects
Module 8:  Dynamic Scripts
Module 9:  Integrating Python Scripts with ArcToolbox
Module 10:  Geoprocessing Tools
Module 11: Scheduling Geoprocessing Tasks
Module 12:  Messaging and Error Handling
Module 13:  Final Project

April Sale - Save $15.00 on all GIS E-Learning Courses
You can save $15.00 on any and all GIS e-learning courses from GeoSpatial Training Services when you enter the code GISDiscount in the Discount Code box when ordering our courses on-line. 

As always we offer an additional 15% discount on any course to all educational, non-profit, local, state, and federal government organizations.  Please contact sales at geospatialtraining.com to take advantage of this discount.

New Course Section: GIS Programming 101

 Our GIS Programming 101 course scheduled for March 24th - April 18th is SOLD OUT.   Because the demand for this course has been so high we will be offering a second section of this course May 12th - June 6th. This is an instructor guided course taught in a Virtual GIS Classroom using the same technologies implemented by colleges and universities around the world to deliver Internet based courses. Our new Virtual GIS Classroom blends the best of instructor led and e-learning formats into a new instructor led web based format that allows for more interactivity between the instructor and student, and between students.

GIS Programming 101: Mastering Python for Geoprocessing in ArcGIS is designed to teach the fundamental programming constructs of the Python language and how it can be integrated with ArcGIS Desktop to automate geoprocessing tasks.  Course participants will be led through a series of 13 modules described below.
Module 1:  Getting Started with Python in ArcGIS
Module 2:  The Geoprocessor ArcObject
Module 3:  Basic Python Language Features
Module 4:  Obtaining Descriptive Information About ArcGIS Data
Module 5: Using Cursor Objects to Select, Edit, and Add Records to Tables and Feature Classes
Module 6:  Enumeration Objects for Listing ArcGIS Data
Module 7:  Miscellaneous Objects
Module 8:  Dynamic Scripts
Module 9:  Integrating Python Scripts with ArcToolbox
Module 10:  Geoprocessing Tools
Module 11: Scheduling Geoprocessing Tasks
Module 12:  Messaging and Error Handling
Module 13:  Final Project

Please click the link above for more information or to register.  If you have any questions please contact us at sales at geospatialtraining.com.

Dynamic Geoprocessing Scripts

Other posts in this series: 
Scripting Your ArcGIS Geoprocessing Tasks (Part 1)
Scripting Your ArcGIS Geoprocessing Tasks with Cursors (Part 2)
More ArcGIS Geoprocessing Concepts - Enumeration Objects (Part 3)
Obtaining Descriptive Information About GIS Datasets with ArcGIS Geoprocessing Objects (Part 4)
Executing ArcGIS Tools from Geoprocessing Scripts (Part 5)

Through the use of parameters, also known as arguments, you can pass data into your geoprocessing scripts.   The use of parameters makes your scripts more generic and flexible since they allow you to provide for the dynamic input of datasets, tool parameters, or to control the processing logic of a script.  For example, if you had a geoprocessing script that called the Buffer tool you would need to specify the input features, output feature class, and a buffer distance at a minimum.  To make your script more flexible you could take advantage of these dynamic features to input variable data sources and buffer distances depending upon the circumstance. 

In this post we will examine two methods for passing data into your scripts.  The first, GetParameterAsText( ) is a method on GpDispatch that allows you to pass parameters into your scripts through a tool dialog available through ArcToolbox.  We’ll also look at Python’s sys module which can also be used to pass data into a geoprocessing script.

GetParameterAsText( )

The GetParameterAsText method on the GpDispatch object can only be used with ArcToolbox. The advantage of using this method is that it provides for the use of a visual dialog that accepts input data from the user.  This input data is then retrieved inside your geoprocessing script through the GetParameterAsText method.  GetParameterAsText is zero based, with the first argument located at position zero, and each successive argument increments to the next largest integer (see figure below).

There are a number of advantages to running your scripts from ArcToolbox using GetParameterAsText. When you take this approach, the script becomes part of the geoprocessing framework which means that it can be run from a model, ArcGIS command line or another script. In addition, the script has access to ArcMap environment settings and help documentation. Other advantages include a nice user interface that is easier to use, and error prevention capabilities. Error prevention capabilities provided include a dialog box that informs the user of certain errors.

There are a couple negatives to using GetParameterAsText that I should point out.  As I mentioned above GetParameterAsText can only be used within ArcToolbox which means that you can’t execute a script using this method from PythonWin or a DOS prompt.  One additional negative to consider with GetParameterAsText is that it is more difficult to debug the scripts since they can’t be tested from PythonWin.

Python system Module
Python, like other scripting languages, provides a mechanism for accessing arguments passed into the script.  Python’s system, or sys, module is used to accomplish this task. Specifically, the sys.argv[] list contains the name of the script being executed along with any parameters being passed into the script.  As with any other list in Python you can access the parameters through an integer value.  This list, like GetParameterAsText, is zero based.  The difference is that the first item in the list references the script that is being run whereas with GetParameterAsText, the first item references an actual parameter value.  So, let’s take a look at a quick example. 

In this example we use Python from a command line prompt to start a script named PointDistance.py. In addition, we pass in three arguments to the script by including them on the same line, but separated by a space. The sys.argv[] function stores each of the arguments in a list which we can access. Notice that the first argument, referenced by the integer 0 contains the name of the script, PointDistance.py. The arguments that are passed into the script can then be referred to by each successive integer.  Each of these arguments can then be used in your script as necessary.

A similar script called from ArcToolbox:

More Information
We will be presenting a new Virtual GIS Classroom course, “GIS Programming 101: Mastering Python for Geoprocessing in ArcGIS” starting March 24th and ending April 18th.  We still have 1 seat available so hurry to reserve your seat now.  We do offer a 15% discount for government, educational, and non-profit entities.

We also offer an e-learning course entitled “Introduction to Geoprocessing with Python” which contains even more detailed information on ArcGIS geoprocessing with approximately 200 slides of audio and video lectures, visual software demonstrations, exercises and data. 

For Sale: GISYellowPages.com

GISYellowpages.com is For Sale.   For more information please contact Bob Long at blong1225@yahoo.com.

New Course - GIS Programming 101: Mastering Python for Geoprocessing in ArcGIS

GeoSpatial Training Services is pleased to announce the availability of a new instructor led virtual GIS course entitled “GIS Programming 101: Mastering Python for Geoprocessing in ArcGIS” scheduled for March 24th through April 18th. 

This course is designed to teach the fundamental programming constructs of the Python language and how it can be integrated with ArcGIS Desktop to automate geoprocessing tasks.  Course participants will be led through a series of 11 modules described below.

GIS Programming 101 Course Modules

• Getting Started with Python in ArcGIS
• The Geoprocessor ArcObjects
• Basic Python Language Features
• Obtaining Descriptive Information about ArcGIS Data
• Using Cursor Objects to Select, Edit, and Add Records to Tables and Feature Classes
• Enumeration Objects for Listing ArcGIS Data
• Integrating Python Scripts with ArcToolbox
• Geoprocessing Tools
• ArcGIS Server Tools
• Scheduling Geoprocessing Tasks
• Using Messages to Report Python Output
• Final Class Project

Course Details

• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
• Class Size: 4 - 10 students
• Dates: March 24th - April 18th
• Cost: $667
• Discounts: 15% discounts are available in some cases

For more information or to register please contact eric at geospatialtraining.com

Our new Virtual GIS Classroom blends the best of instructor led and e-learning formats into a new instructor led web based format that allows for more interactivity between the instructor and student, and between students.

Our Internet course platform has the following features for each course:

• Audio and video lectures
• Video software demonstrations
• Supporting exercises and data
• Class forums and chats
• The ability to upload course assignments for instructor review
• Course wikis
• Supplemental reading materials
• Quizzes
• Glossaries
• Peer assessment
• Much more!

GIS Salary Resources

I typically teach a couple GIS courses per semester at San Antonio College, and this semester is no different as I’m currently teaching “Introduction to GIS”, and “Programming for GIS”.  As part of my course materials for the ”Introduction to GIS” course I always put together a lecture covering the various career tracks that one can take in this field along with general salary range information for the positions.  In general, I have found that students and even experienced professionals often don’t have a good grasp of the opportunities available to them so it’s good to cover this information.  Below you will find a list of salary resources for GIS professionals.  This is by no means an all inclusive list, but it should be a good beginning point for both students and active professionals.   These resources can help provide answers to questions such as:

• Am I being compensated fairly for my skill set, level of experience, education, years of experience, certification, and geographic location?
• What kind of compensation can I expect to earn by gaining various GIS skills and education?
• I’m considering taking a position in another part of the country.  How does the cost of living compare?
• What can I expect to earn in an entry-level position
• What are the various GIS positions and how are they compensated
• What is the compensation difference between public and private sector employment

GIS Salary and Employment

• Directions Magazine (Podcast: The State of GIS Salaries and Employment)
• URISA 2007 Salary Survey
• GISP/Non-GISP Respondent Appendix
• GISjobs.com Salary Survey
• Payscale.com GIS Salary
• Salary.com for GIS Professions (written by GeoSpatial Training)
• itjobswatch.co.uk
• GeoCommunity Salary Survey
• GeoSearch

 Please feel free to contribute additional resources.