by Michele Mattix
GIS job-seekers today are tempted by the idea of getting a Master’s degree in GIS as a way to better their chances of landing a job. A recent LinkedIn discussion that I have been following deals with this very issue. The majority believe that it’s more important to gain work experience in GIS before making the decision to pursue a Master’s degree in GIS.
One thing that I think confuses a discussion of the benefits of a Master’s in GIS is the nature of GIS itself. Is it merely is a tool used to help make better decisions or is it a bona fide discipline all its own? I’m not sure that there is a single answer to this question but it’s one worth pondering.
More…
Posted July 20th, 2011 in
Blog by Michele Mattix
What is a GeoCollector?
It’s a bundled hardware/software product sold by Esri that features ArcPad software on a Trimble GeoExplorer GPS unit. The bundle also includes Trimble’s GPSCorrect extension to ArcPad which silently runs in the background when you use ArcPad to collect GPS features. It manages your GPS communication protocol in ArcPad and it collects the data necessary for post-processing your GPS data. If you want to post-process your GPS data for high accuracy, you can purchase and use Trimble’s GPS Analyst extension for ArcGIS back in the office to differentially correct your data and automatically check them into your geodatabase. More…
Posted June 25th, 2011 in
Blog by Michele Mattix
I am a big fan of the data dictionary functionality in programs like Trimble’s TerraSync. It allows you to grab your GPS unit and start collecting the features and attributes relevant to your project without having to first check out the data or create new feature classes. Now I can take advantage of this grab-and-go functionality in ArcPad. New with version 10 is the ability to create custom templates – ready-to-go projects with the layers and attributes specific to your project.
More…
Posted April 15th, 2011 in
Blog by Michele Mattix
I have a pretty good memory when it comes to remembering where I’ve stored specific GIS data. Nevertheless, spatial content accumulates and I find I have to do a lot of exploratory navigation before I find the dataset or MXD I need. Continuing with my What I Love about ArcGIS 10 series, today I write about the new search window in ArcGIS.
More…
Posted November 18th, 2010 in
Blog by Michele Mattix
As many frustrated ArcGIS users have discovered, sharing only an MXD file will open a blank map full of angry red exclamation marks indicating broken data links. Even includin the data with the MXD file, the data links will be broken unless the sharer is extremely careful in preparing the map and data. Now with ArcGIS 10, sharing your map is very easy.
Continuing with my What I Love about ArcGIS 10 series, today I write about map packages.
More…
Posted October 28th, 2010 in
Blog by Michele Mattix