GeoChalkboard

Add Layers to ArcGIS Online from Zip,Text, and GPS Exchange Files

epimpler — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:55:19 +0000

ArcGIS Online has enabled the capability for you to add layers from a file such as a shapefile compressed into a zip file, delimited text file (.txt or .csv), or a GPS Exchange file (.gpx) when creating a map using the free online map viewer. This allows even more functionality and map creation possibilities when using the map viewer to develop maps.

The map viewer acts similar to other ArcGIS programs such as ArcMap and draws the features by using the location information as well as stores any attribute information that is included with the data. By including the attribute information, the map viewer allows you to create pop-up windows for your map based on this data.

To add a layer from a file from the map viewer:

– Click “Add”

– Click “Add Layer from file”

– Navigate to the file location on your computer

– Click “Import Layer”

If you are using Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome, you can import the data directly by dragging the data from your computer and dropping the file into the map

There are a few things to keep in mind when adding features from a file:

– Delimited text files must have latitude and longitude information stored in separate fields

– The map viewer will display the first 1000 waypoint, track, and/or route features from a GPS exchange file

– You must compress the shapefile into a .zip file which must contain the .shp, .shx, .dbf and .prj files that comprise a shapefile. In addition, the zip file and shapefile must have the same name and be under 1 MB since larger datasets will experience poor performance

Interested in learning more? GeoSpatial Training Services is offering an introductory course on the basics of working with ArcGIS Online.

Special Offer on Python GIS Programming Bootcamp

epimpler — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:51:55 +0000

We’ve got a special offer for you this week only! When you purchase our self-paced GIS Programming 101 for ArcGIS 10: Mastering Python course we’ll send you a discount code for the Python GIS Programming Bootcamp course equal to the amount you spent for the course ($129). Offer good through September 10th.

The Python GIS Programming Bootcamp will be comprised of 3 courses scheduled back to back with a one week break between each.

Each of the courses is instructor guided and self-paced. You also have access to all course materials for an entire year so if you need extra time it’s not a problem!

We are going to limit this first session to 20 participants so don’t wait to register. We expect it to fill very quickly given the popularity of our GIS Programming 101 for ArcGIS 10 course.

Suggested pre-requisite: GIS Programming 101 for ArcGIS 10: Mastering Python

The three courses that will be part of this bootcamp are listed below:

Intermediate Python Programming Concepts for GIS Programmers

File Handling
Persistent Storage with DBM Files and Pickling
Reading and Writing XML, JSON, and CSV Files
Reading and Writing from Enterprise Geodatabases
Reading and Writing Archives (zip, tar, etc)
Sending Email
Internet Communication
Processing HTML

Course dates: October 17th – October 28th

Open Source GIS Programming with Python

Introduction to Open Source GIS Programming
Making Life Easy with Python Templating Technologies
Programming OGR for Vector Data
Programming GDAL for Raster Data
KML Programming with Python
Writing to a PostGIS Database with Python

Course dates: November 7th – November 18th

Advanced ArcGIS Programming with Python

Updating and Fixing Data Sources with ArcPy.Mapping
Using Python to Creating Geoprocessing Tasks
Accessing ArcGIS Server REST Services
Advanced Cursor Topics for Searching, Creating, Updating, and Deleting Data from Feature Classes and Tables
Advanced Tool Creation
Convert GPS Data to Geodatabase
Creating a Map Book with ArcPy.Mapping
Creating Scripts with ModelBuilder
Introduction to the Spatial Analyst Module
Creating Add-Ins for ArcGIS Desktop with Python
(10.1 topic)
Managing a Geodatabase with Python (10.1 topic)

Course Dates: November 28th – December 9th

Bootcamp Price is $697

Don’t want to take all 3 courses but are still interested in one or two? You can register for them individually.

Final Day to Save on GIS Training Bundles

epimpler — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:52:21 +0000

During the month of August you can save up to $100 on our self-paced GIS training bundles. Bundling our self-paced courses is an excellent way to obtain training in several different subjects while getting a great discount on registration fees. Our current selection of software training bundles include:

Our self-paced GIS Training provides a fast, easy, inexpensive, and highly effective method for acquiring GIS skills. Here are some of the key features of our self paced training:

Courses are delivered through our Virtual GIS Classroom
What is the Virtual GIS Classroom? You can view a sample class here. Click “Login as a guest”
One year of access for each course registration
Bound hard copies of the lecture notes are available for a small additional charge. These are excellent resources if you need to take notes while watching the lectures.
Courses can be taken from anywhere that you have an Internet connection. No special software is needed.
An average of 40 hours training with each full length GIS course.
Exercises and data included with each full length course to give hands-on experience with the software.
GIS courses offered in a variety of formats including full length courses, chapter length courses, and job aids.
Compatible with PCs and Mac
GIS training delivered by experts in both audio and video – Anyone can learn regardless of your learning style (auditory or visual)
You can repeat lessons anytime you like, from anywhere you like (you can’t do that with classroom training).

Want to Build ArcGIS Server Applications without Programming?

epimpler — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:12:36 +0000

The ArcGIS Server Viewer for Flex provides an excellent framework for creating web GIS applications without the need for programming experience! Anyone can build attractive, functional web applications with just a little knowledge of how the ArcGIS Server Viewer can be controlled through the use of XML configuration files. These configuration files can be edited in any text editor and control everything from the appearance of the application to the layers that are included in the viewer as well as the widgets that are available to the user.

To help you in getting started with building your ArcGIS Server Viewer applications we are releasing Introduction to the ArcGIS Viewer for Flex as a free learning module. This is the first module in our Programming the ArcGIS Server API for Flex course. This has been a very popular course over the past two years and has now been updated for version 2.4 of the Flex API. The next session begins August 29th and includes the course modules you see below. This is a self-paced, web-based, instructor guided course. One year of access to all course materials is included so you can review as necessary. This also includes any course updates that occur during the year.

The free module also includes 5 exercises. These exercises are in pdf format and can be found below the list of course modules.

Introduction to the ArcGIS Server Viewer for Flex
ArcGIS Server for Developers
Basic Concepts of the ArcGIS Server API for Flex
Flex and ActionScript Basics
Advanced Concepts of the ArcGIS Server API for Flex
Using Bing Maps with the Flex API
Creating Custom Widgets for the ArcGIS Server View for Flex

Exercises for Introduction to the ArcGIS Server Viewer for Flex:

Free Course – Programming ArcObjects with VBA

epimpler — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 14:49:33 +0000

Although VBA is still available if needed at ArcGIS 10 it will not be supported at release 10.1. You can read more about this here and here. We’ve decided to go ahead and retire our Programming ArcObjects with VBA course and make it available free of charge as a self-paced course. I know there are still a lot of you working on ArcGIS Desktop 9.3 so hopefully this will help those of you still working with that release.

This course is broken into two sections: Introduction to VBA for ArcMap and Introduction to ArcObjects. They are meant to be taken in sequence. Exercises for the course come from the book Getting to Know ArcObjects which you’ll need to purchase if you intend to complete the exercises. However, the lectures provided above are free for all to use.

For more information on other courses please visit our website.

3 New Courses from GeoSpatial Training Services

epimpler — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 14:37:15 +0000

GeoSpatial Training Services is excited to announce the release of 3 new courses including Introduction to Managing ArcSDE with SQL Server, Introduction to Web Development, and Introduction to ArcGIS Online.

The first session of our newest instructor guided, Internet based Virtual GIS Classroom course entitled “Introduction to Managing ArcSDE with SQL Server” will be delivered beginning September 26th. Learn how to configure SQL Server for ArcSDE, configure and optimize ArcSDE, perform database backup and recovery, manage ArcSDE, store and manage vector and raster data, manage versioned and non-versioned databases.

Course Modules

SQL Server Configuration for ArcSDE
Configuration and Optimization of ArcSDE
Database Backup and Recovery
Managing ArcSDE
Storage and Management of Vector and Raster Data in ArcSDE
Management of Versioned and Non-Versioned Geodatabases

This course is also now a part of our ArcGIS Server Bootcamp. The next session of the bootcamp begins September 12th. Register by August 15th for the pre-registration price of $615.00

Introduction to Web Development
Do you want to start developing web applications but aren’t sure where to begin? This introductory level course will introduce you to the basic web concepts you need to understand BEFORE you start developing web applications. This course will give you a solid understanding of things like web servers, IP and DNS addresses, dynamic versus static web pages, web hosting, HTML, CSS, and web programming languages including JavaScript. We highly recommend that you take this introductory level course as a pre-requisite to our Mastering the ArcGIS Server JavaScript API, Programming the ArcGIS Server API for Flex, Programming ArcGIS Server with Silverlight, Introduction to Programming the Google Maps API, and Introduction to OpenLayers Programming courses.

Modules
Module 1: Introduction to Web Development
Module 2: Web Architecture
Module 3: Identifying Computers by IP and DNS
Module 4: Static versus Dynamic Web Pages
Module 5: Web Hosting
Module 6: Introduction to HTML
Module 7: Introduction to Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
Module 8: Design and Planning for the Web
Module 9: HTML Editors
Module 10: Tools for Creating Websites
Module 11: Web Programming Languages
Module 12: Introduction to JavaScript

This course will be available September 15th. Pre-purchase now and save $30.00

Introduction to ArcGIS Online
ArcGIS Online is a website that is created and maintained by ESRI and is dedicated to working with maps and data. The website acts like an online warehouse of maps, data, applications, and tools provided by ESRI, ESRI partners, and the GIS community. You can access the website at http://www.arcgis.com/home. In this course you will be introduced to ArcGIS Online, learn how to search for existing maps, access basemaps, create maps, access online tasks, share contents and maps and use the community maps program.

Modules
Module 1: Introduction to ArcGIS Online
Module 2: Searching ArcGIS Online and Opening Maps
Module 3: Basemaps
Module 4: Creating Maps Using ArcGIS Online
Module 5: ArcGIS Online Tasks
Module 6: Sharing Content and Maps
Module 7: Community Maps Program and ArcGIS Online Groups

This course will be available September 1st. Pre-purchase now and save $30.00

This course is now part of our ArcGIS 10 Bundle. Save $100 on this bundle during the month of August when you enter the discount code ‘agisbundle‘ (no quotes) when purchasing online.

August Sale on Self-Paced GIS Training Bundles

epimpler — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:27:08 +0000

Our self-paced GIS Training provides a fast, easy, inexpensive, and highly effective method for acquiring GIS skills. Here are some of the key features of our self paced training:

Courses are delivered through our Virtual GIS Classroom
What is the Virtual GIS Classroom? You can view a sample class here. Click “Login as a guest”
One year of access for each course registration
Bound hard copies of the lecture notes are available for a small additional charge. These are excellent resources if you need to take notes while watching the lectures.
Courses can be taken from anywhere that you have an Internet connection. No special software is needed.
An average of 40 hours training with each full length GIS course.
Exercises and data included with each full length course to give hands-on experience with the software.
GIS courses offered in a variety of formats including full length courses, chapter length courses, and job aids.
Compatible with PCs and Mac
GIS training delivered by experts in both audio and video – Anyone can learn regardless of your learning style (auditory or visual)
You can repeat lessons anytime you like, from anywhere you like (you can’t do that with classroom training).

Fall GIS Training Schedule from GeoSpatial Training Services

epimpler — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:48:33 +0000

We’re looking forward to an exciting Fall schedule of web-based, instructor guided training as well as traditional face to face training. Here is our current schedule.

Traditional face-to face training

GIS Programming 101 for ArcGIS 10
Aug 23rd – 25th
Duluth, GA – Keck & Wood Headquarters
$1325.00
Programming the Flex API for ArcGIS Server
Nov 7th – 8th
SHRUG 2011 Workshop
$560.00

Web based, instructor guided

Mastering the ArcGIS Server JavaScript API
Aug 29th – Sept 30th
$615 when you register by July 31st
Programming the ArcGIS Server API for Flex
Aug 29th – Sept 30th
$615 when you register by July 31st
ArcGIS Server Bootcamp
Sept 12th – Oct 21st
$599 when you register by Aug 15th
Open Source GIS Bootcamp (PostGIS + GeoServer + OpenLayers)
Sept 6th – Oct 7th
$615 when you register by July 31st
ArcGIS Desktop 10 Asssociate Exam Preparation
Aug. 29th – Sept. 1st
$600
Introduction to Managing ArcSDE with SQL Server
Sept. 26th – Oct. 14th
$499 when you register by Aug. 15th
Coming Soon is our Python GIS Programming Bootcamp
Consists of Introduction to the Python Programming Language, GIS Programming 101 for ArcGIS 10, Intermediate Python Programming, and Open Source GIS Programming with Python
Take the entire bootcamp or register individually.
More details coming soon!

GIS Salary Survey Results

epimpler — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 18:54:03 +0000

We’re keeping the survey open through July 31st. If you haven’t already participated in the survey please take a few moments to do so and forward this to your colleagues.

To date we have had 731 respondents. Here are some of the highlights:

40% of respondents list their job titles as either GIS Analyst or GIS Technician. 16% are GIS Managers/Coordinators/Directors, and 6% GIS Developers/Programmers.
40% of respondents have 10 years of experience or greater.
43% have a Master’s degree or higher. Should You Get a Master’s Degree in GIS?
70% of respondents are male. I suppose this is better than it was 10 years ago, but we really need to attract more women to the field.
41% of you are between the ages of 30-39. 24% are between the ages of 40-49. Less than 2% are above the age of 60.
Salaries appear to be widely dispersed with 29% between $50,000-$70,000/year. I was surprised to see almost 13% below $20,000/year.
ESRI is far and away the most popular platform with 93% of respondents indicating this as one of their primary platforms. This question allows more than one platform to be selected. Open Source GIS software came in second at 14%. I suspect this will grow quite a bit in the coming years.
Primary programming languages in use include .NET (55%), Python (50%) , JavaScript (27%), Java (20%), and Flex (17%). You can learn more about Python, JavaScript, and Flex through our training classes.

You can get all the results here.

Web Mapping Programmers Bundle

epimpler — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 19:27:02 +0000

Today we are pleased to announce that our Web Mapping Programmers Bundle is now available for purchase.

This is a set of four self-paced, web based courses focused on developing web mapping applications with three of the leading JavaScript APIs.

Courses include:

This bundle of courses will be made available on Monday, July 18th. Links to each of the courses will be sent out on that date.

Through July 22nd you can pre-purchase this bundle for $299.00. After July 22nd the bundle will sell for $399.00.