Webinar Discussion: Introduction to GIS Software and ESRI ArcView

This is the place to ask your follow-up questions to the " Introduction to GIS Software and ESRI ArcView" webinar on February 24, 2009. View the recording here: https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/schedule/display.do?udc=es4yu822pm43

Please either reply to this post if you have a specific question or comment about the webinar.

Thanks for attending today, I hope you got excited about what GIS can do for your mission!  We will be answering your questions as we can on this forum. For more information and a good summary of GIS for the nonprofit sector and how to plan your own system check out www.nonprofitgis.org

thanks

Spike

The first question we have a response for is from Steve who asked about data/file structures.

Answer in detail is available here

Andrew asked about climate, land use and water data for developing countries.

I have summarized some good resources for these kinds of data here

Linda asked: How current are the satellite images?

This varies depending on the source of your data. Some data are now updated daily!

Google earth lets you view new and old data so you can see changes for many parts of the world.

More detailed answer here

Kuelli asked: Would ArcGIS be able to do this for files that contain tens and thousands of records?

Any modern GIS can handle huge datasets, over a million records is common for many groups. The question is can your computer and natwork handle this? More details here.

Khalid asked about tracking participants with a database. could GIS software help us and how?

GIS is a great tool for that kind of work. They can all integrate with all types of databases and this is a great way to manage your data also. We have a great tutorial on how to do this in a simple scenario too here.

Andrew asked: These blocks of color are auto generated from the massive data points, or are they customized through more coding? (slide 15)

Eric asked: To produce a thematic map what type of time is involved? I realize that this is a general question but are they a general rule of thumb?

Thematics are actually fairly fast and easy to create- once you have your data in the right kind of format! It takes some time to get familiar with the ways to format your data to make large thematic mapping projects more efficient but they aren't hard to generate. More info here and a tutorial on Thematics coming in the next few days.

It may take a few hours to prepare your data or you may have it in the appropriate format to begin with- generating the thematic part is a matter of minutes- just learn about classification techniques and cartographic color theory first- these things really matter! This is the easiest way you can accidentaly lie with maps.

Janelle asked: in Arc 9.2 you can transfer data to a  KML file? Or do I need a converter tool?

ArcGIS 9.2 has an add-on that lets you do this yes, in version 9.3 this is included in the install. It's a great feature and really helps nonprofits to distribute their data, promote their cause and share knowledge.

Kay asked: Can I use GIS to map our stacks and create a method for getting from a catalog record to a shelf location?

Answer: Definitely! This is a great example of innovative thinking. Some pointers and links are listed here.

Charles C. from ESRI asked me to post this for him:

"I have provided contact names and sites for people who would be of help to most of the types of groups who participated in today's webinar, from legal aid to libraries. It's at http://www.conservationgis.org/Techsoup/Index.html

I have also updated our online version of the ECP grant form for those interested, it's at  http://www.conservationgis.org/grant.html"

It was a pleasure to meet you all. I apologize for being a bit slow to respond but I'm not as fast getting onto all of the different URL's involved here. I have tried to keep up a running list of questions on my own site, where I have provided resources I know of and contact people who are good to check out and contact for the different specialized areas you are all working in.  As I mentioned, ESRI's grants now involve at least 40 different sectors of non-profit work ranging from environmental justice to historic preservation.  The "Conservation" name is simply where it all began.  There are a few dozen groups out there who have done grants thru both the ESRI direct program and the new Techsoup program, and when asked to compate the common reply I got was that the ESRI program was too slow.  While that was indeed true a couple years ago, we have made a great many improvements in the past year to make our turnaround time days rather than weeks.  It's indeed that same program that lies behind the Techsoup program, and it was the needs of Techsoup that energized much of our work to improve our GIS grant processing.  Our hope is that these two programs, different as they are, can continue to improve one another.

The Techsoup page  I have is at: http://www.conservationgis.org/, just click on "Techsoup GIS Grants" and scroll down. I am busy working right now on the first of what I hope will be many expansions to the Techsoup gis grants program.  At my site you can also peruse the other projects we are involved in, ranging from climate change to a new conservation planning textbook.

My email is ecp2 at esri dot com for those who want to get in contact that way or for any non-profits who need something from ESRI and need help or guidance. You are also welcome to contact Sasha Yumakaev, syumakaev at esri dot com, who works with me on the Society for Conservation GIS.

regards, Charles Convis

Bill Davenhall at ESRI is in charge of GIS work at hospitals, 909-793-2853 x1714. He is in the marketing department but he is very friendly and approachable.  MIT did a fascinating demonstration of the 3D analyst extension (soon to be added to techsoup) where they had mapped out several campus buildings down to the room, door and window level and used that to analyze exit routing during different kinds of emergency scenarios.  That kind of modelling is being done more and more under names like emergency response GIS, or situational awareness GIS.  I have not yet seen a library done that way but it would be an identical approach to map and model shelf heights and locations.  "Penobscot Bay Media" is a new company who do interior space 3d mapping using a little cart they roll around with GPS and Lidar on it, they were testing it out at ESRI a couple months ago and come to the ESRI user conference.  They were friendly and quite willing to talk about their technology, I would guess that they will soon be ready for hire for that service. a voxel is the new term for a 3d spatial "pixel", so you can also try searching on "interior spaces voxel gis" or something like that.