Useful ArcGIS resources to compliment your learning

Well, hello Dear Friends… it’s been a while….

After a course I always send out an email to delegates in which I have previously included a link to an old blog post entitled “Some Covid 19 resources“. It is a little out of date now, as you can imagine, so I thought it was time for an update of handy resources which you can use to supplement your knowledge once your course has finished.

This is a ‘live’ document so any additional websites and resources that I find will be added here, so you might want to bookmark this article and revisit it periodically.

Let’s have a look at what’s available:

Esri’s Mediaspace website

Esri’s Mediapsace website is a gateway to a trove of fantastic presentations from many conferences (for example DevSummits, Esri Federal GIS Conferences and International User Conferences, to name just three) as well as many “How to…” videos.

You can access the website through this address:

https://mediaspace.esri.com/

You can search directly for a topic of interest – for example if you type “mosaic dataset” into the search window will return all of those presentations associated with mosaic datasets.Click on the presentation to start it.

Applying a search term will return a number of presentations for you to view.

You can filter by Product, by Event – there are many filtering options you can choose from.

This is a great website and I show this to everybody who comes on my courses as there really is something for everybody.

Learn ArcGIS

A fantastic and free resource is the Learn ArcGIS website.

The Learn ArcGIS site is a fantastic resource for learning about how to use Esri products through either an individual or a series of tutorials.

To get access to the site click on the link below:

https://learn.arcgis.com/en/

Here you will gain a great understanding of how to use the various components of the ArcGIS Geo-Spatial Platform through a series of real-world scenarios.

Step by step lessons are available for all parts of the platform – from ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Enterprise, ArcGIS Online to ArcGIS Dashboards and Drone 2 Map for ArcGIS.

There are just over 300 lessons you can play with and can be filtered based upon product (as shown below), by capability, industry and lesson type (story-map, video, lesson, series etc). Not only are you guided through the tutorial using step by step instructions, you also have the ability to download the tutorial data and recreate the tutorial as and when you want to.

You can filter the tutorials by Product, Capability, Type of tutorial and type of account to name but a few.

Access to the content and resources is free but some of the lessons will require you to be a member of an ArcGIS Organisation. Lessons can be filtered depending upon if you have a “public” or “subscription” based accounts.

It’s well worth having a look just to investigate something new or you want to explore a product before using it in anger. This is the site that I come to when I need to learn a new product or I am looking for ideas for exercises scenarios for new courses.

Event Proceedings

Another place to access event videos is via the Proceedings website. Clicking on the link below takes you to the entry page for all of the various events which are covered:

https://www.esri.com/en-us/about/events/index/proceedings

For example, clicking on the Imagery Summit link will provide you with a list of PowerPoint presentations and corresponding recordings of the sessions.

Clicking on a link will take you to the proceedings for that conference

You can also get access to selected sessions from the International User Conference and the DevSummit via the Featured events options at the top of the page. For example, clicking on the Esri User Conference link takes you to the proceedings for the previous three years of user conferences:

Recent Esri International User Conferences are found within the Proceedings website.

Esri MOOCs

Esri periodically runs Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS). I love these as over a period of six or so weeks you will get an understanding of some of the latest core concepts and techniques that are prevalent in the geospatial world.

Currently, there are six MOOCs which are periodically released over the year. They range from cartographic techniques, to introducing spatial data science, to creating your own apps!

The six Esri MOOCs. Notice that the MOOCs are open for registration and run at certain times of the year.

So how do you get access to them? Go to the link below and sign up to the one you want to join (if registration is open).

https://www.esri.com/training/mooc/

Once you sign up you will then get an email informing you that you are enrolled on the course. You will then receive an email closer to the start of the event with your joining instructions.

All you do is spend about two hours a week listening to short presentations from experts in their field, perform practical exercises and undertake short quizes. You even get a certificate once you have completed the course!

And the best thing about Esri MOOCs is that they are free and you do not have to be an Esri customer to join. What have you got to lose?

Courses hosted in the Esri Academy

Finally, there is the O.G. of resources which is the training catalog hosted in the Esri Academy:

The Esri Catalog is your gateway to many free courses!

There are over 500 courses for you to explore at the following link:

https://www.esri.com/training/catalog/search/

How do you get to them?

Click on the Course Catalog link and scroll to the course formats area and click the Free check box.

There are over 250 ‘free’ courses.

You can filter courses by:

• Browse by Topic.
• Search for content by specifying a keyword in the Search Courses box.
• Browse by Product (for example ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Dasboards, ArcMap (eeek!!) ). The default is set to Viewing All.
• Choosing training based upon the Format of the training, for example Learning Plans, MOOCS, Web courses to name but a few .

Fill your boots!

And there you have it! Plenty for you to get into.

Have I missed something off? If so then please let me know via the comments and I will update the list here.

Anyone spot the Queen song? It’s in there somewhere…

Some Covid-19 lockdown training resources for you…

Its been a while…….

The last three months has seen many people’s work patterns change dramatically. If you, like me, are working from home while juggling home schooling and trying to ignore the over-excitable noise coming from Joe Wicks, then you have my sympathies.

We have all been affected by what has happened in someway – whether we know somebody who has been touched by this virus, whether you or you know somebody who has been furloughed or whether you are now working from home….

But somehow we are muddling through.

I think we have all tried to keep some sense of normality in our day to day work. For me, being able to continue to teach courses online, from the spare room (not really a Tenement Funster..), for Esri UK has certainly helped my own mental well-being and I know from those who have also attended courses that it has provided focus to their week; it has almost been something to look forward to (!) and provided structure for a few days.

A number of people have asked if there are extra things they can do post-course to enhance and supplement their learning.

So what I thought I would do is bring together my post-course Covid-19 resources for you to have a look at. Even if you are not an Esri customer there is something here for you.

I hope you get something useful from this….

Esri MOOCs

Esri periodically runs Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS). I love these as over a period of six or so weeks you will get an understanding of some of the latest core concepts and techniques that are prevalent in the geospatial world.

There are six MOOCs which are periodically released over the year. They range from cartographic techniques, to introducing spatial data science, to creating your own apps!

So how do you get access to them? Go to the link below and sign up to the one you want to join (if registration is open).

https://www.esri.com/training/mooc/

Once you sign up you will then get an email informing you that you are enrolled on the course. You will then receive an email closer to the start of the event with your joining instructions.

All you do is spend about two hours a week listening to short presentations from experts in their field, perform practical exercises and undertake short quizes. You even get a certificate once you have completed the course!

And the best thing about Esri MOOCs is that they are free and you do not have to be an Esri customer to join. What have you got to lose?

Learning ArcGIS

A fantastic and free resource is the Learn ArcGIS website.

To get access to the site click on the link below:

https://learn.arcgis.com/en/

Here you will gain a great understanding of how to use the various components of the ArcGIS Geo-Spatial Platform through a series of real-world scenarios.

Step by step lessons are available for all parts of the platform – from ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Enterprise, ArcGIS Online to ArcGIS Dashboards and Drone 2 Map for ArcGIS.

There are just under 200 lessons you can play with and can be filtered based upon product, capability, industry and lesson type (story-map, video, lesson etc).

 

You can filter the lessons by a number of options

There is also a dedicated section for teachers and educators who might want to include content and lessons to enhance classes.

Access to the content and resources is free but some of the lessons will require you to be a member of an ArcGIS Organisation. You can get a free 60 day trial account (from the link above) if you do not already have one.

It’s well worth having a look just to investigate something new or you want to explore a product before using it in anger.

Esri’s You Tube channels

Esri has a number of YouTube channels. There is the official Esri channel….

But the one I would like to highlight is the Esri Events channel as this is where you can have a look at conference sessions from a number of recent conferences, such as the DevSummit (including tech sessions), Esri UC, GeoDesign Summit to name but a few.

You can find the Esri Events from the Esri Channel or by clicking the link below:

https://bit.ly/EsEvents

This is a good resource to have a look at as you can get excellent technical information from these presentations. I’ll let you into a secret – this is where I get my training from if I can’t get to DevSummit.

Esri UK Box set

As you might be aware Esri UK could not hold the traditional Esri UK Annual Conference in London this year so instead we decided to create a box set of presentations (tech sessions and demos) for you to enjoy and view at your leisure.

There are sessions as diverse as finding out about what is new in the ArcGIS Platform, apps for taking your work into the field, techniques for spatial analysis and even using Python libraries for machine learning.

Get access to the Esri UK and Ireland Box Set from the link below:

https://www.esriuk.com/en-gb/about/events/box-set/overview

The Esri  UC

And of course there is the upcoming Esri UC which is an online event this year, for obvious reasons. It will be held from July 13^th to 16^th.

The UC landing page can be found at the link below:

https://www.esri.com/en-us/about/events/uc/overview

and from here you can view the agenda and register. If you are on an existing Esri maintenance plan or a subscription then you can join the UC from the comfort of your own… wherever it is you are most comfortable.

It took me 3 minutes to register it is that simple.

Esri online courses

Finally, I am contractually obliged to remind you of the Esri Training website 😊

There are over 450 free courses for you to explore here.

How do you get to them?

Click on the Course Catalog link and scroll to the course formats area and click the Free check box.

The courses can be further refined by filtering by topic.

Fill your boots!

Also, from the Esri Training website, you can also find various Learning Plans for topics you might be interested in plus access to the MOOCs and the free training seminars that are frequently held on a Thursday for an hour.

And there you have it! Plenty for you to get into.

Have I missed something off? If so then please let me know via the comments and I will update the list here.

Anyone spot the Queen song? It’s in there somewhere…

KYA

Have fun!!