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By BIXEL, October 23, 2009 1:04 pm

I posted a simple question on Twitter this morning asking: What’s one piece of advice you would give someone entering the GIS field? I was inquiring, because I was asked by a professor of mine to speak to a person interested in entering the geospatial field. (Just the fact that she thought of referring me to the guy was flattering.)

The response I got from the #geoarmy on twitter was outstanding. Responses came in from all over the map and from tweeps in Local govs, State govs, some working on Federal projects, Students, Geospatial business owners, Surveyors, Planners, Open Source evangelist and ESRI die hards… your basic Geonerd.

All of the responses were relevant to any newcomer entering the geospatial field as well as those actively engaged in the profession. Some of my favorites follow:

@DonMeltz – New GISers should view GIS as a tool, not a profession. Need to know enviro, transp, engineer, planning, helath, web, etc…

@geoDAWG – Easy… #geoglobaldomination = we are the people our parents warned us about. & Actually just getting involved is really important! Ask as many questions as possible in places like The GIS Forum

@Storm72 Not to limit oneself to any one set of apps or tools, but to become proficient with as many as possible.

@Taliesn – GIS is a tool to aid a love of explaining how the world works. Be proficient with the tool but embrace the fact that you’ll never be an expert.

@quakeguy – Run fast the other way Seriously, learn where the different types of data are and how to use them.

There were others about learning as much as possible, being involved in social networking, learning programming, be a jack of all trades and being involved within the geospatial community. Again, all were very relevant and practical for the newbie and experienced geonerd alike.

Getting involved with URISA is a good place to start but certainly not the only organization out there. There is any number of local, state and national GIS user groups to be active and participate in. Finding the one that is right for you is a simple Google search away.

After the meeting I posted that I had done my part to advance the movement of #geoglobaldomination and felt that I was successful in converting one new geonerd.

Selling points, you ask? There were 3 actually 1. That GIS is a tool that is applicable to many different professions 2. It’s ever changing, challenging and advancing in new directions 3. My enthusiasm for what I have picked as a career path.

There is only so much you can cover in a 30 minute meeting after all. However, like I said, I felt good about spreading the GIS gospel and hope that I have made a difference for the better in that particular person’s life. I wish them all the best in what ever direction they decide to take in their future education and subsequent life.

Thanks for playing along, now go outside and do something fun!

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By BIXEL, October 6, 2009 6:52 pm

I attended the ESRI User Conference Recap today that was presented during the 2009 Texas GIS Forum - the following are my thoughts and observations!

STREAMLINE - “reduce the number of concepts that you have to carry in your head” my favorite quote from the entire presentation and it seemed to be the theme for the entire show.

First let’s start off with the top 9 improvements that are new and upcoming in ArcGIS 9.4. and 5.6.7.8.9….. you get the point!

9. Upgraded User Interface – ArcCatalog will now be dock-able within ArcMap, The table of Contents can be removed and added without map redraw (completely awesome) 8. Dock-able attribute tables within ArcMap. 7. New search capabilities when adding data and for finding tools. 6. New reporting apps – kind of like MS office with the addition of usable templates. 5. Geo-processing in Model Builder – popups for tool tips, UNDO for auto layout, add models to toolbars, Geo processing will run in the background. 4. New layers tab in Table of Contents – a smart legend showing only visible layers (brilliant) 3. Change symbols through a search (my #1) 2. Time awareness – temporal maps, a system clock to show time and date of your data. There was something about setting multiple fields for map tips was in there somewhere 1. Fast base Maps – Continuous redraw of groups of layers and the ability to roam (think panning in Google Earth… just sayin’)

Some of the other stuff discussed for 9.4 that is equally as impressive as the top 9 list.

The new and improved editing experience – simplified, snapping options greatly improved, 3D editing, setting fields that are visible while editing, easy to use tools, deleting vertex improvements, mini editor toolbar that follows you while editing, web based editing.

Advances in mapping and cartography: Map automation through scripting, multi-scale generalization, embedded python scripts, improved map production through map books, dynamic text and multi-page pdf export.

Spatial Analysis – I had to answer an email through this so this all I got: Location/Allocation modeling, gravity modeling and time dependent routing.

A complete 3D GIS – Fast visualization, virtual cities, real time embedded video, ability to set symbology size based on an attribute field, embedded sketch up models, skyline tools and video layers. All very cool!

ArcGIS Server and new Imagery Integration – enhanced geodatabase, open API’s, topology rules and replication, mosaics live in the GDB, highly scalable, keep your image data in its native format, real-time and up to date imagery, on the fly reprojections and pan sharpening, image display and analysis tool in a toolbar in one central location. All in all it’s a complete imagery platform (think ERDAS but not).

New and improved ESRI support; they claim that 70% of support request are resolved within 1 day.

A few other things that were noted but, that are not really new… ArcGIS Online data and the Resource Center. I did find the addition of templates for ArcGIS Server a handy piece of information to be armed with. An announcement that the world base map in the resource center would soon be complete at a scale of 1:200,000 its now 1:1,000,000. Even though ArcGIS Explorer crashed 3 times during the demo it was very impressive and the crowd seemed very responsive to its use and mapping abilities.

Anyway, that’s what I got out of an entire week of the ESRI User Conference condensed into 3.5 hours. If you attend one of these presentation in the near future let me know your thoughts, I may have drifted while checking email or twitter and missed something important.

Thanks for playing along, now go outside and do something fun!