Bookshelf Why GIS Is a Great Investment for Government New book on decision support and public policy Learn how GIS technology can help government officials streamline operations and deliver smart solutions that save time and money in GIS for Decision Support and Public Policy Making. This new book from Esri Press describes how GIS can be integrated into many aspects of governing and policy making. Book chapters cover topics such as how to use GIS for making budget-related decisions, reaching compromises, allocating resources, supporting policies, and making decisions. The book provides 27 examples of how government organizations used GIS software to analyze and map data, collect information from the field, and publish geographic information services on the Web. For example, GIS was used to find the best locations for fire stations in Denver, Colorado; prioritize waterline repairs and construction in Houston, Texas; track code compliance problems in Pasadena, California; analyze natural disaster risk areas in British Columbia, Canada; and map immunization data in Utah to improve health care for children. "Oftentimes, community leaders are recipients of the by-products of GIS such as reports, maps, and analysis," said the book's coauthor Christopher Thomas. "The book shows how GIS directly supports management and elected officials in developing and implementing decisions and public policy--not as a by-product but rather as an integral part of the process." Exercises included at the end of each chapter underscore the importance of including GIS methodology in the decision-making process. The book's return on investment (ROI) matrix illustrates how the use of GIS in these projects paid off in terms of saving time and money, increasing efficiency and accuracy, generating additional revenue, enhancing communication and collaboration, automating workflows, and improving allocation of resources. "Geography and GIS can provide enormous benefits to an organization including providing the right kind of support to make accurate and informed decisions," Esri president Jack Dangermond wrote in the book's foreword. "Government officials are under increasing pressure to make the right choices while minding the budget and delivering value at the same time. You'll find many examples in this book about how they are doing just that." Esri Press, 2009, 204 pp., ISBN: 978-1-58948-231-9 New Edition of Best-Selling GIS Text Workbook covers ArcGIS 9.3 release Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop: Basics of ArcView, ArcEditor, and ArcInfo, an Esri Press best seller for the last seven years, has been revised so exercises are compatible with ArcGIS 9.3. This workbook requires no previous knowledge of GIS concepts or software. It supplies an overview of GIS and introduces the features and functionality of ArcMap and ArcCatalog, the core products in ArcGIS Desktop. The remaining sections of the book cover displaying data, getting information from features, analyzing the relationships between features, creating and editing data, presenting data, and modeling data. Step-by-step exercises, accompanied by numerous screen captures, teach the basics of tasks such as building and editing spatial databases, mapmaking, and performing spatial analyses. Each exercise focuses on specific GIS tasks or skills. While exercises later in the book build skills learned in earlier chapters, the maps and data for each exercise are supplied on an accompanying CD so exercises may be worked independently. Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop: Basics of ArcView, ArcEditor, and ArcInfo, Second Edition can be used as a classroom text or self-study guide. Exercise data and a fully functional, 180-day trial copy of ArcView 9.3 are also provided with the book. Esri Press, 2008, 600 pp., ISBN: 978-1-58948-210-4 58 ArcUser Spring 2009 www.esri.com