Looking to polish my rusty GIS skills

August 13, 2013 10:52 AM

It's been a while since I did much with ArcGIS beyond making simple polygons by snapping to existing features, and my classes before that were with whatever version of ArcGIS was current circa 2007. What is the best way to get up-to-speed on ArcGIS version 10+, ArcGIS Online, and Esri Roads and Highways? Can you recommend online or book resources and tutorials? My current interest is related to transportation, for what it's worth.
posted by filthy light thief to Technology (6 answers total)

I would look into maybe iTunes U and see if there are any recent college GIS classes that have been shared. I was able to find videos of entire semesters of courses at Berkeley, Duke, community colleges, etc. for some math stuff I wanted to learn how to do. Googling "itunes u gis" shows a couple, one from Indiana State and one from Oregon State -- not sure if they are the lessons you are looking for though.

My first instinct was to recommend Lynda, but I checked and they don't have any GIS courses. Still, if you google "lynda arcgis" you get some alternatives, like this or this. I don't do GIS stuff, so I can't vouch for it.
posted by AppleTurnover at 11:02 AM on August 13, 2013

Check out the Esri Virtual Campus here: http://training.esri.com/gateway/index.cfm

It offers lots of tutorials and guides for getting up to speed. I work at a University that posts its GIS graduate class lectures on iTunes U as AppleTurnover mentioned, so you should have some luck that way. We point students to the Esri Virtual Campus for extra help and tutorials.
posted by ejazen at 11:15 AM on August 13, 2013

Python in ArcGIS 10 is kind of a big deal, last I heard. Grab a book.
posted by oceanjesse at 11:55 AM on August 13, 2013

You can get started with ArcGIS Online by signing up for a personal account, it's free.
posted by InfidelZombie at 12:38 PM on August 13, 2013

Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestions so far!

Python in ArcGIS 10 is kind of a big deal, last I heard. Grab a book.

Thanks! That's news to me, but I'll start by checking out this free Esri training.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:44 PM on August 13, 2013

This is late, but I'll second the ESRI training modules.
I use them quite frequently to brush up on old skills and to supplement material I am currently learning.
For transportation, check out what you can do with Network Analyst


Also Python!

MeMail me for a couple other suggestions...
posted by tillei at 8:30 AM on August 19, 2013