Overview
Welcome to http://assistance-en-sig.blogspot.com/. Over the next ten weeks you'll work through four lessons and a final project dealing with ArcGIS automation in Python. Each lesson will contain readings, examples, and projects. Since the lessons are two weeks long, you should plan between 20 - 24 hours of work to complete them, although this number may vary depending on your prior programming experience. See the Course Schedule section of this syllabus, below, for a schedule of the lessons and course projects.
As with GEOG 483 and GEOG 484, the lessons in this course are project-based with key concepts embedded within. However, because of the nature of computer programming, there is no way this course can follow the step-by-step instruction design of the previous courses. You will probably find the course to be more challenging than the others. For that reason, it is more important than ever that you stay on schedule and take advantage of the course message boards and private e-mail. It's quite likely that you will get stuck somewhere during the course, so before getting hopelessly frustrated, please seek help from me or your classmates!
I hope that by now that you have reviewed our Orientation and Syllabus for an important course site overview. Before we begin our first project, let me share some important information about the textbook and a related Esri course.
Textbook and readings
The textbook for this course is Python Scripting for ArcGIS by Paul A. Zandbergen. This book came out in 2012 and has been a hot item among Esri software users; I suggest you order your copy immediately in case of shortages or delays.
Back when Geog 485 was rewritten as a Python course, there was no textbook available that tied together ArcGIS and Python scripting. As you read through Zandbergen's book, you'll see material that closely parallels what is in the Geog 485 lessons. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; when you are learning a subject like programming, it can be helpful to have the same concept explained from two angles.
My advice about the readings is this: Read the material on the Geog 485 lesson pages first. If you feel like you have a good understanding from the lesson pages, you can skim through some of the more lengthy Zandbergen readings. If you struggled with understanding the lesson pages, you should pay close attention to the Zandbergen readings and try some of the related code snippets and exercises. I suggest you plan about 1 - 2 hours per week of reading if you are going to study the chapters in detail.
In all cases, you should get a copy of the textbook because it is a relevant and helpful reference.
Esri Virtual Campus Courses Using Python in ArcGIS Desktop 10
There is a free Esri Virtual Campus course, Using Python in ArcGIS Desktop 10, that introduces a lot of the same things you'll learn this quarter in Geog 485. The course consists of a one-hour recorded seminar and a walkthrough exercise. If you want to get a head start, or you feel you want some reinforcement of what we're learning from a different point of view, it would be worth your time to complete this Virtual Campus course.
All you need in order to access this course is an Esri Global Account, which you can create for free. You do not need to obtain an access code from Penn State.
The video moves very quickly and covers a range of concepts that we'll spend 10 weeks studying in depth, so don't worry if you don't understand it all immediately. You might find it helpful to watch the video again near the end of Geog 485 to review what you've learned.
Questions?
If you have any questions now or at any point during this week, please feel free to post them to the Lesson 1 Discussion Forum. (To access the forums, return to ANGEL via the ANGEL link in the Resources menu. Once in ANGEL, you can navigate to the Communicate tab and then scroll down to the Discussion Forums section.) While you are there, feel free to post your own responses if you, too, are able to help a classmate.
Now, let's begin Lesson 1.
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