1. My experience with GIS in State Government
What are all these dots for?

2. Not a GIS Pro Took 2 semesters of GIS ~1998 ArcView Arcinfo 3.0
College project was DRASTIC

3. I am not a GIS professional (yet?)
Took 2 semesters of ArcView 3.0 in 1998
One day in 2013, the software just showed up at the office; it was 10.2 or 10.4
I took several on-line classes to get back up to speed
I tried to have others sit-in on the training, but they had no GIS experience

5. Difficult to get training certificate with my name: paying for the class is done by others in the office

6. Tried too much too fast; I tried to connect our Access database.

7. Sharing can be hard
Not having a “GIS Policy” makes managers hesitant to allow sharing
Data may have to be scrubbed of personal info
.mxd files can be too large to
Screen shots just don’t convey the usefulness of GIS
Map package .mpk and FTP sites are ok
GIS server connections get broken often

8. Installing updates
Not allowed to install add-ins or updates without the “IT” guys and a work order

9. Lessons learned
Desktop version takes some time to learn; Excel add-in is easy to learn and can be used by most
Use product demonstration links to let others experience what GIS feels like
Use the Help menu and YouTube to learn

10. Desktop vs Excel Add-in
Cluster; free w/ excel add-in. Not included in basic desktop.
Geocoding; easy w/ Excel add-in. Desktop version hard to build a good address locator & parsing addresses.
Points only w/ Excel add-in, lines & Polygones.
Export database table from desktop for Excel.