44 G I S C O Offerings Esri Partner M M U N I T Y N E W S Esri maintains relationships with more than 2,000 partners that provide focused assistance to our customers. These partners have extensive experience providing GIS solutions and services across several industries, ranging from custom ArcGIS applications to complete system implementations. For a complete list and description of our partners and their offerings, visit the Esri Partners website at esri.com/partners. K–12 Education Administration Davis Demographics & Planning, Inc. www.davisdemographics.com SchoolSite Planning Suite for ArcGIS The SchoolSite Planning Suite provides essential tools for K–12 demographic reporting, facility planning, and growth management. Implemented as an extension to ArcGIS Desktop, SchoolSite is used by more than 100 school districts in 26 states. Recently upgraded for ArcGIS 10, the SchoolSite Planning Suite includes the ability to create 10-year and maturation/build-out enrollment forecasts for multiple grade configurations at multiple geographic levels, including planning areas, attendance zones, and districts, as well as extensive redistricting tools for modeling attendance boundary changes and the opening and closing of school sites. In addition to desktop software licensing, SchoolSite is also used by Davis Demographics to provide planning consulting services to school districts throughout the United States. Public Sector and State and Federal Governments CyberTech Systems and Software Inc. www.cybertech.com CyberTech serves the public sector and state and federal governments for a variety of business needs, from geodesign to public safety and national security. CyberTech has a large enterprise client roster and focuses on enterprise GIS integration and assimilation while also building next-generation, lightweight GIS applications. CyberTech focuses on driving Esri and ArcGIS product absorption in multiple theaters by delivering state-of-the-art geographic information solutions. New Training Offerings from Esri Training Students Rate ArcGIS 10 Training With the release of ArcGIS 10, Esri created new training courses and adapted existing courses to ArcGIS 10. A survey of students who completed ArcGIS 10 courses showed that • 86 percent reported that they learned shortcuts they wouldn’t have discovered without training. • 92 percent learned effi cient workflows that they would not have known without training. • 90 percent said they were able to immediately apply what they learned to their job. Find instructor-led courses, including What’s New in ArcGIS Desktop 10 and What’s New in Editing at ArcGIS Desktop 10, at esri.com/training10. Learn Key Ingredients for an Enterprise GIS Dave Peters, manager of systems integration at Esri, created the System Architecture Design Strategies training course to help organizations large and small successfully plan, implement, and manage an enterprise GIS. Peters’ recipe for success includes communication, planning, project management, and performance milestones. In the course, you will learn comprehensive guidelines for planning and selecting the right system architecture to meet your organization’s needs, as well as unique performance validation and system capacity planning techniques for your enterprise GIS deployment. Find out more and register at esri.com/coursecatalog. Travel Still an Issue? You can take training from Esri instructors without leaving your office. The online classroom provides an interactive classroom experience for most Esri instructor-led courses. See if the online classroom is for you at esri.com/virtualclassroom. Learn a Lot in 60 Minutes In free one-hour training seminars, you have access to Esri technical experts who guide you through new features and functions of ArcGIS 10. • Live training seminars are presented two to three times per month and give you the opportunity to interact with presenters. View the schedule at esri.com/lts. • Recorded seminars let you learn when it’s convenient for you. See the schedule at esri.com/ts. For More Information Training website: Find a course: Training Matters blog: Training on Twitter: Subscribe to the training newsletter: Esri Press books: esri.com/training esri.com/coursecatalog esri.com/trainingblog twitter.com/Esritraining esri.com/trainingnews esri.com/esripress URISA Announces Advocacy Agenda Prior to GIS-Pro 2010 in Orlando, Florida, URISA chapter leaders from across North America were asked to gather relevant issues from their local members and report them during the chapter roll call at the conference. The concerns expressed by all the chapters on behalf of their members revealed the commonality of the issues. This input and subsequent discussions were used to develop URISA’s first advocacy agenda. The association, its chapters, and its private-sector partners will use that advocacy agenda to guide efforts in communicating with national and state/provincial governments, county commissions, city councils, and other geospatial and professional organizations about actions that will help resolve those issues or address those concerns. Four primary themes emerged, along with areas of activity being discussed and pursued: 1. Executive support and sustainable funding for geospatial programs • Develop, promote, and implement URISA’s ROI model. • Promote and enhance the geospatial community. • Encourage the development of GeoAuditing. 2. Nationwide development of high-quality, publicly accessible geospatial data • Develop and implement the GIS Capability Maturity Model (discussed in the ArcNews Winter 2010/2011 issue). • Coordinate advocacy with the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) and other organizations on For the Nation data initiatives. • Support the Coalition of Geospatial Organizations (COGO) Geospatial Report Card and NSGIC Geospatial Maturity Model. 3. Affordable geospatial training programs offered by academic institutions and other organizations • Support the GeoTech Center and others in developing affordable geospatial training. • Identify and promote open educational resources initiatives internationally. • Promote more federal financial aid opportuni ties for part-time and nontraditional students. • Continue developing web-based curricula of URISA workshops and webinars. • Create web collaborations to extend the reach of geospatial education beyond URISA. 4. A highly capable geospatial workforce to meet current and future demands • Support implementation of a Geospatial Technology Competency Model. • Promote the use and understanding of the Geospatial Body of Knowledge. • Develop Tier 9 of the Geospatial Technology Competency Model. URISA’s advocacy agenda is posted online at www.urisa.org/advocacy_agenda. Visit the site often for updates on activities and progress and attend GIS-Pro 2011, URISA’s 49th Annual Conference for GIS Professionals (www.gis-pro. org) in Indianapolis, Indiana, in November to join the discussion in person. Send comments to Wendy Nelson, URISA executive director, at wnelson@urisa.org. Esri Technical Certification Register to Take a Certification Exam Registration opened to users worldwide on January 17, 2011. Already, hundreds of Esri users have successfully completed exams and achieved one of five certifications currently available: • ArcGIS Desktop Associate • ArcGIS Desktop Professional • Web Application Developer Associate • Enterprise Geodatabase Management Associate • Enterprise Administration Associate Prepare to Take an ArcGIS Desktop Certification Exam We’ve also introduced two new courses to help you prepare for the desktop certifications: Skills Review for ArcGIS Desktop Associate In this course, you will review, apply, and extend your ArcGIS skills in the areas of GIS data management, editing, visualization, and analysis. Hands-on practice with ArcGIS Desktop software is emphasized. Skills Review for ArcGIS Desktop Professional In a fast-paced class environment that emphasizes group discussion and hands-on practice, you will review, apply, and extend your ArcGIS skills in • Vector and raster data management • Data visualization • GIS analysis • Modeling and Python scripting • Map production and sharing You will leave these classes with a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in your body of ArcGIS knowledge, so any other preparation time you spend will be more focused and productive. For More Information Certification website: Registration site: esri.com/certification pearsonvue.com/esri Esri Publication Services To subscribe to Esri publications, visit esri.com/subscribe. To unsubscribe from Esri publications, visit esri.com/unsubscribe. Requests for back issues, missed issues, and other circulation services may also be sent via requests@esri.com; 909-793-2853, extension 1-2778; or faxed to 909-798-0560. To update your mailing address, visit esri.com/coa or use any e-mail, phone, or fax options listed here. Outside the United States, contact your international distributor to subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your address. For a directory of distributors, visit esri.com/distributors.