• Learn What's New in ArcGIS 9.2 - Free Online Seminars
• GIS Portal Toolbar for ArcMap
• New ESRI Training and Education Web Site
• Featured Site: Conservation GeoPortal
• New Books from ESRI Press

Learn What's New in ArcGIS 9.2 - Free Online Seminars

A series of free online seminars introducing ArcGIS 9.2 provides an easy way to learn about the new features of interest to you in short, focused presentations. Currently available topics are listed below, with more seminars planned in the coming months.

• What's New in ArcGIS Desktop at 9.2
• What's New in the Geodatabase at ArcGIS 9.2
• Introduction to Cartographic Representations in ArcGIS 9.2

See a complete list of free training seminars.

GIS Portal Toolbar for ArcMap

The GIS Portal Toolbar for ArcGIS is a free add-on to ArcGIS Desktop that allows you to search GIS portals such as the Geospatial One-Stop directly within ArcMap, streamlining the process of finding and using geographic information system (GIS) data. With the GIS Portal Toolbar, you can search for live map services using the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC), Web Catalog Service (CS-W) interface including many ArcIMS sites and other Web Map Server (WMS) sites.

Download the free GIS Portal Toolbar.

New ESRI Training and Education Web Site

ESRI launched a new, streamlined Training and Education Web site, training.esri.com, this summer to help visitors easily find all the company's educational resources in one location on the Internet. The site replaces two Web sites that separately handled registration for instructor-led classes at ESRI Learning Centers and the Virtual Campus training conducted via the Internet.

The Web site was designed to include a search tool that lets people find classes by typing in a subject, topic, or title and, if they wish, narrow the search by choosing the software type and a training format such as instructor led or self-study.

The new Web site also lets visitors tailor their GIS education using the Recommended Courses section, which offers suggestions about which classes to take based on a person's previous training, skills, or job responsibilities.

Visit training.esri.com for more information.

Featured Site: Conservation GeoPortal

The Conservation GeoPortal is a collaborative effort by and for the conservation community to facilitate the discovery and publishing of GIS data and maps to support conservation decision making and education. It is primarily a metadata catalog, intended to provide a comprehensive listing of GIS datasets and map services relevant to biodiversity conservation, and includes a MapViewer for exploring resources referenced in the catalog. The Conservation GeoPortal is intended to support the principles of the Conservation Commons, and data contributors are encouraged to provide their data and maps under public domain licenses so that others may freely use them.

The Conservation GeoPortal is a collaborative project sponsored primarily by The Nature Conservancy, the National Geographic Society, Conservation International, the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, and ESRI, with many other contributing partners.

Visit www.conservationmaps.org for more information.

New Books from ESRI Press

Mapping Global Cities: GIS Methods in Urban Analysis explores urbanization and urban planning policy in global cities and megacities and shows how GIS and spatial thinking can contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of urbanization and the development of effective urban management policies. The book's accompanying CD contains data and printable, step-by-step GIS exercises that enable students and users to make maps and explore themes covered in the book.

Part I of the book provides an overview of core GIS concepts and types of spatial data used in urban planning and analysis. Part II explores urban planning and policy applications of GIS for the delivery of local government and social services. Part III shows how researchers use GIS to analyze spatial patterns in metropolitan areas including locating immigrant clusters with census data and comparing immigrant clustering patterns across metropolitan areas.

GIS for Environmental Management is a collection of case studies showcasing GIS solutions that balances GIS technology with the human element to address complex environmental challenges. The book outlines the ways that GIS is fulfilling the need of humanity to better manage, protect, and preserve the environment, covering topics ranging from biodiversity to pollution to coastal zone management. This reader-friendly text is relevant for nontechnical audiences and GIS professionals.

GIS Tutorial for Health is a unique textbook for teaching GIS software to health professionals. This book is designed to help students use GIS to solve problems in health care and gain hands-on experience visualizing and analyzing health-related data. The scenarios address substantive issues of health care policy and planning. With GIS Tutorial for Health guiding the way, students will design maps to investigate patterns of uninsured and poor populations, prepare spatial data to analyze environmental hazards, analyze youth pedestrian injuries, and much more.

Visit www.esri.com/esripress for more information.