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2 Class Class meets here 7:00 Tuesdays for between 1 and 1.5 hours A Lab immediately follows the class in 143 Baker A second lab is Friday 2-5 in 143 Baker The labs are essentially times when you know you can reach me or Mr. Halligan You are NOT required to attend any lab and are free to attend either of them.

3 BUT… What usually happens is that after 2- 3 weeks (labs) people get comfortable enough with the software that they work on their own and lab space opens up. When that happens any one can go to any lab as long as there is machine available.

4 How the Class works There are NO exams – useless in a course like this There are quizzes and the focus of them is on terminology and where “stuff” is located in the ArcGIS interface There are weekly assignments …

5 Assignments Each week the following assignments are usually made –A module of the ESRI on-line course –The ESRI quiz results for each exercise in the module are turned in at class the following week –A no-hands-held assignment by me that reinforces the module material is also turned the following week ESRI on-line course 

6 Texts The main text is ESRI’s on-line course “Learning ArcGIS 9” I is free! (but you need a password) The other text is “Practical Vector GIS”. A reader from the Marshall Mall Copy Center ($8) A suggested text is “Getting to know ArcGIS” but make sure you get the edition for version 9.1! (Amazon is cheaper)

7 More on Passwords These Access Codes are ~14 alpha characters That makes it easy to make a mistake So copy the password from the and paste it into the dialog requesting the password.

8 College assigned It is very important that you use the assigned address It is the ONLY one I will use It is very easy to forward mail from the SU account to the account you usually use – DO IT! Quiz 1 requires that you do it!

9 Doing the on-line course Method 1 –You can do it by having two windows open on the computer ArcGIS Web page with instructions –You then flip back forth (and lose your place) Method 2 –Copy and paste lessons/exercises into word –Print it – now you have a book –You put that next to the computer and check off what you do (and don’t lose your place)

10 Where are Assignments found? On the FOR557 schedule that can be accessed from the course web page – lets go there! The schedule is where you will also find: –Lecture topics and PowerPoints –Reading Assignments –Notes

11 Where are the rules? On the course web page in the Syllabus Course descriptions Grading Rules about handing stuff in Etc. Note: The only paper handed out in this class is a) Quizzes and b) Grade reports. Everything else is on the web!

12 Please Read and check the web pages! –Course Information Details, details, details –Schedule –Links My is

13 Forwarding If you don’t want to use assigned to you by the College then go to Click on address registry And you end up here…

14 Forwarding

15 Easy

16 Data Management Data for all MY exercises will available on the Baker Lab’s Server Academic1 or on- line via the course web site Some of this data is large (megabytes) So this raises the question “where do I store my data?” Media…

17 Backing up is YOUR responsibility! First choice of media –128 or 512 meg flash memory stick –These devices plug into USB ports and are pretty idiot proof 2nd choice of media –250 meg Zip disk –NOT 100 meg and NOT 750 meg –250 meg seems to be universal on campus The smart person has 2 of either of these! It is very easy to trash the contents of either one!

18 Storage of Exercise Data Since Zip disks and flash memory sticks are relatively slow the best solution is… Get in the habit of running exercises from a workspace on C:\ and NOT from your backup storage device! Workspaces left on a cluster machine have about a 99.99% probability of not being there when your come back to the machine (assuming you remember exactly which machine you were using!) That means that you must copy workspaces from C:\ to your backup media and vice-versa.

19 Trashing backup media? Very easy to do! XP (and other Win versions) store what is to be written to a flash stick or Zip in a buffer. The buffer is written to the media when a.The device is stopped (USB flash or zip) b.The Zip is properly ejected (Never eject by pushing the eject button on the drive!)

20 Basic Procedure 1.Create workspace on C: on lab machine 2.Create folder in workspace for exercise 3.Do work 4.Save to C: 5.Copy to workspace to C: 6.Verify that it was copied 7.Delete workspace on C: 8. Return to lab, any machine 9.Copy workspace from stick to C: 10.Continue working or create a new exercise folder 11.Go back to #5

21 Trashing backup media? Yup! XP (an other versions) store what is to be written to a flash stick or Zip in a buffer. The buffer is written to the media when a.The device is stopped (USB flash or zip) b.The Zip is properly ejected (Never eject by pushing the eject button on the drive!)

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24 ArcGIS ArcGIS has 3 license levels –ArcView –ArcEdit –ArcInfo Power  License level  ArcView ArcEdit ArcInfo And every license level has 2 programs ArcMap The main GIS software ArcCatalogA data management tool

25 We will be using… ArcView 9.1 The lowest license level of ArcGIS The same as ArcGIS but without the full set of tools that the ArcInfo license level has. I will be able to provide any student who wants it with a 1-year copy of ArcGIS. But be aware that you must have a fast machine with lots of memory and diskspace. The size of the software is in 10s of megabytes

26 Extensions to ArcMap Allow even more capability in ArcView 9.1 Spatial Analyst – raster GIS 3-D Analyst GeoStatistical Analyst Business Analyst ArcPress – for making published map files ArcIMS – Internet Map Server And many others

27 ESRI? ESRI is not the only company making GIS software. There are others –IntergraphMapInfo –Small WorldIDRISI So why is ESF fixated on ESRI products? –Defacto standard for many states including NY.

28 The Schedule The course schedule is kept up to date on the web Since this is almost a new course you can expect changes in the schedule as we work through it so don’t bother to print it! Where is it?

29 Course Web Resources The schedule is the key to what is going on. PowerPoints, exercises, etc. can all be downloaded – we hand out very little paper! (quizzes). Notes – sources of information Help at esf.edu

30 Addendum No exams Weekly lab assignments 3-6 hrs per assignment – some time more Computers and people who use computers can be very frustrating! Don’t fall behind or you are dead Have to turn stuff in ON TIME!

31 And… Since there are so many people in here this year I have to change the way I teach As a result the schedule may, at times (like now) only be good for the current week

32 The End