GIS Tutorial 3: Advanced Workbook (GIS Tutorials)

Geodatabases are something I’ve frequently encountered in my GIS work, but prior to working through this book I had little experience with them. I didn’t understand their purpose or why using one was better than working with individual shapefiles, and for whatever reason even my GIS classes in grad school didn’t emphasize them. The Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop book for version 9.3 was very useful in my introductory GIS course, so I went looking for something similar that dealt with more “advanced” topics.Well lo and behold, ESRI Press came out with just such a book back in 2011 for the release of version 10. GIS Tutorial 3 deals almost exclusively with geodatabases, and it uses the same step-by-step format that I originally learned the basics with. I won’t go into details about what’s covered – Amazon lets you view the table of contents and whatnot for free – but some of what I learned here I was able to immediately apply at work. It turns out I actually enjoy importing feature classes into geodatabases and lining up fields…hmmm…For the most part the tutorials and exercises work out as intended, and the review questions at the end of each exercise are pertinent and thoughtful. The only issues I have with the book are minor. Chapter 6 begins with how to customize a toolbar, which is something that would make more sense at the beginning of the book (assuming it’s included at all). That’s followed in section 6-2 by a Python script tutorial, but don’t expect to learn scripting from it. There are entire books on scripting, so if you want to learn it check one of those out (not to mention I couldn’t get Exercise 6-2 to work). Given that Chapter 5 covers geodatabase topology and 7 covers ModelBuilder, 6 feels like a random afterthought. I noticed very few typos in the book; the only memorable one is on page 245 which seems to be missing a line or two in its third paragraph, which begins mid-sentence.If you’re looking for something to advance your GIS skills, I highly recommend this book. I’ve been able to apply what I’ve learned at work, and the book’s ease of use and layout make it worthwhile both as a learning tool and reference. Partway through the book I switched to using ArcGIS 10.1 and was still able to work through the tutorials without a problem (the legend options have changed however), so you don’t need to worry about buying something out of date if you’re using a later version of the software.

Although I've only just started working through this book, I'd like to make a couple of observations ...I used the 2nd book in this series by the same author and though it was very good. Overall, this book also presents well, but I've noticed a few things about it that prospective buyers might want to consider. My biggest issue so far is that some of suggested exercises can be a little vague, in my opinion. For example, Section 1-1 presents a very detailed example of a sample geodatabase design. Then, in Exercise 1-1, they instruct you to design a second geodatabase based on a very brief set of instructions. I appreciate that the author is trying to get readers to think on their own, but if you're trying to work through this book independently (without benefit of an instructor or an answer key), you really have no way of knowing whether or not you've completed the task correctly. This wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that the Exercises in subsequent chapters build off of the earlier exercises. So if you do something wrong initially, you'll have to go back and start over - a very tedious process given the technical nature of the material. I think this method is very effective in a classroom setting, but has some shortcomings for people who are studying on their own.In general, though, a great series of books that have taught me a lot.

I recently finished a formal course using this text. The entire book was covered and it was a lot to cram into a semester. Since the ArcMAP license works much longer than the class, I have been able to review the parts of the book that most interest me. This text is much more comprehensive than the previous volumes in this series. It covers each topic presented in enough detail to become comfortable working with the software. Of course, to completely cover each topic would not be possible due to the vast capabilities of the ESRI software. But if you master the presented material, you have the knowledge to explore any topic in more depth on your own. There are a few errors in this book, but only a few. For example, in the Python programming section, a hard-coded file path is used that will most likely not exist on your machine. But this will teach you that it is always best to make every parameter used by a script user selectable on the tool interface. I have worked in GIS for seven years. My job keeps me occupied with a subset of the ArcMAP environment. For topics I am familiar with, I was able to extend my knowledge and come up to speed on some of the version 10 capabilities. I came away from this class feeling that I got my money's worth.

For those of us who are eager to increase our practical skills in GIS, books such as this seem very enticing, since it is expensive and time consuming to take classes. David Allen's previous books were well written and very useful, thus I am disappointed to say that he missed the mark with this volume. Too many times his text either skips important steps, or sidesteps them, and leaves the student to go 'fishing' to try to determine what the author is talking about in order to complete sections of the book. My advise is to save your money and use the tutorials provided by esri with the install of the product. Postscript: I come back to this book every now and then hoping to prove my initial impression wrong. Instead, my impression remains that Mr. Allen and Mr. Coffey either have a problem with the English language, or they did not proof read their own text, which begs the question: does Esri press proof read their publications? In this case, the answer is clearly no.

Excellent arrived as described in very good condition