GIS News & Notes - UT Arlington

The following GIS-based courses are being offered during the Spring 2008 semester. As with all courses, register via MyMav.

• Foreclosure Property Investment Analysis using GIS - Topics in Real Estate (REAE5392-001)
• Geographic Data Analysis Project (GEOL4334/5324)
• GIS Workshop (CIRP5331)
• Intermediate Geographic Information Systems (CIRP5357)
• Python Programming for ArcGIS - Topics in Geology (GEOL4305-002/5356-002)
• Remote Sensing Fundamentals (GEOL4333/5323)
• Understanding Geographic Information Systems (GEOL4330/5320)

GIS Certificates and Degrees:

• B.A. in Geology (GIS Option)
• B.S. in Geoinformatics (Earth Science Option)
• B.S. in Geoinformatics (Professional Option)
• Certificate: Geographic Information Systems
• Certificate: Spatial Information Systems

UT Arlington – GIS Day 2007, November 14 (http://library.uta.edu/gisday)

As many of you know, November 14 is GIS Day (http://www.gisday.com). As long as I have been here, UT Arlington has never held any GIS Day activities. This year, let’s all get together on this day and talk GIS and showcase our various projects!

The Library is hosting GIS Day 2007 on Wednesday, November 14, at 11am. Help spread the word.

What is this about?

Come and have fun learning about geographic information systems (GIS) and the various ways our faculty and students are using the technology. Listen to Dr. Chris Scotese (Earth Environmental Sciences) talk about GIS, peruse examples of spatial analysis and maps, chat with others, learn how GIS can help you to successfully invest in real estate, play games, win prizes, and of course partake in the giant GIS Day cake…

GIS Day will take place during the National Geographic Society’s Geography Awareness Week, November 11-17, 2007.

GIS Day is a global event where thousands of users of geographic information systems (GIS) technology open their doors to schools, businesses, and the general public to showcase real-world applications of this exciting technology.

Stay the entire afternoon, arrive late or leave early! Your attendance would be appreciated as we join in this global event and attempt to educate millions of people. Your participation could make a difference!

Want to Participate?

Everyone is welcome to showcase your GIS research or project during the GIS Day activities! To participate, please email gislib@uta.edu with a brief description of your project or research.

UT Arlington – GIS Day 2007, November 14 (http://library.uta.edu/gisday)

Hope to see you there!

The second UT Arlington Library: GIS workshop will take place next Thursday.  We will be joined by Dr. Melanie Sattler, whose research interests include emissions measurement, air quality modeling, and air pollution control technologies.  Using measurements taken from the TCEQ air monitoring stations in North Texas, we will interpolate an estimation layer for the entire region and then analyze road segments using files from the NCTCOG.  Everyone is invited!

Title: Stuck in Traffic: Find the Road Segments With the Highest Pollution Levels
Date/Time: October 25, 2 - 4pm
Place: Central Library, B20 (basement)
Presenters: Dr. Melanie Sattler (Civil & Environmental Engineering) & Joshua Been (GIS Librarian)
Description: Learn how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be used to statistically estimate pollution levels within the DFW metroplex and to then identify the street segments that traverse through the regions with the highest levels. Data sources include pollution measurements from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the North Central Texas Council of Governments. This hands-on workshop requires no GIS or scientific experience. Open to everyone.

The following workshops are open to everyone, including faculty, students, staff, and the general public.

Title: Sleepin’ at the Bowl: Best Locations for New Hotels for Superbowl XLV
Date/Time: September 27, 2 - 4pm
Place: Central Library, B20 (basement)
Description: Learn how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be used to analyze the number of hotels, rooms, and occupancy rates in Arlington. We will then identify the best location for the construction of a new hotel to help handle the influx of football fans. Data sources include hotel data from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and commercial property data from the Tarrant Appraisal District. This hands-on workshop requires no GIS experience. Open to everyone.

Title: Stuck in Traffic: Find the Road Segments With the Highest Pollution Levels
Date/Time: October 25, 2 - 4pm
Place: Central Library, B20 (basement)
Presenters: Dr. Melanie Sattler (Civil & Environmental Engineering) & Joshua Been (GIS Librarian)
Description: Learn how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be used to statistically estimate pollution levels within the DFW metroplex and to then identify the street segments that traverse through the regions with the highest levels. Data sources include pollution measurements from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the North Central Texas Council of Governments. This hands-on workshop requires no GIS or scientific experience. Open to everyone.

Title: Buy & Sell That House: Find Houses to Flip
Date/Time: November 14, 230 - 4pm
Place: Central Library, B20 (basement)
Presenters: Dr. Andrew Hansz (Real Estate) & Joshua Been (GIS Librarian)
Description: Learn how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be used to analyze the residential property market in Tarrant County to identify ideal investment houses to flip. Data sources include sample Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data from the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems (NTREIS) and foreclosure listings from the Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This hands-on workshop requires no GIS or real estate experience. Open to everyone.

There have been numerous difficulties installing the 12-month student version of ArcView. (For information on obtaining a license to install on your home computer, see here.)

Here are some pointers that seem to be resolving most problems so far:

1. The following is an excerpt from an email from ESRI…

Please advise each student to review the site listed below before installing the software:

[ LINK ]

Please also advise the students that as they register the software, they should make sure to write out the full school name in the organization field rather than using any acronyms, the word “Student”, or the word “Self”. When those words or initials are used, there is a delay in the registration time as it is required that ESRI manually review the registration rather than having the process be completed automatically.

2. Install ArcView Service Pack 3, which can be found here. Use the ArcGIS Desktop version.
3. If you want to include access to extensions, be sure to check them when prompted during the installation.
4. See here for the latest on ArcGIS & Vista

Through our educational site license with ESRI, we can generate an unlimited number of passcodes for the following online courses available through ESRI Training & Education website. Please remember that these passcodes can be generated for educational purposes only.

Anyone needing a passcode for a particular course listed below should email gislib@uta.edu specifying (1) the course, (2) the quantity of passcodes for that course, (3) your name, and (4) your status [faculty, staff, student]. Requests must be made using your UTA.EDU email account.

• Basics of the Geodatabase Data Model
• Cartographic Design Using ArcGIS 9
• Creating and Editing Geodatabase Features with ArcGIS 9.0-9.1 (for ArcEditor and ArcInfo)
• Creating and Editing Geodatabase Features with ArcGIS Desktop (for ArcEditor and ArcInfo)
• Creating and Editing Geodatabase Topology with ArcGIS 9.0-9.1 (for ArcEditor and ArcInfo)
• Creating and Editing Geodatabase Topology with ArcGIS Desktop (for ArcEditor and ArcInfo)
• Creating and Editing Labels and Annotation
• Creating and Editing Linearly Referenced Features with ArcGIS 9
• Creating and Integrating Data for Natural Resource Applications
• Creating and Integrating Data for Natural Resource Applications (for ArcGIS 9.0-9.1)
• Creating and Maintaining Metadata Using ArcGIS Desktop
• Creating, Editing, and Managing Geodatabases for ArcGIS Desktop
• Creating, Editing, and Managing Geodatabases for ArcGIS Desktop (for ArcGIS 9.0-9.1)
• Customizing ArcGIS Desktop
• Customizing ArcGIS Desktop (for ArcGIS 9.0-9.1)
• Customizing ArcIMS
• Customizing ArcMap: Easy Ways to Extend the Interface
• Customizing ArcPad
• Editing Spatial Data in ArcMap: Tips and Tricks
• Geoprocessing with ArcGIS Desktop
• Geoprocessing with ArcGIS Desktop (for ArcGIS 9.0-9.1)
• Georeferencing Rasters in ArcGIS
• Introduction to ArcScan for ArcGIS
• Introduction to ArcView 3.x
• Introduction to Map Production System-Atlas (for ArcGIS 9.0-9.1)
• Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning Using ArcGIS 9
• Introduction to Visual Basic 6
• Labeling in ArcMap: Tips and Tricks
• Learning ArcGIS 3D Analyst
• Learning ArcGIS 3D Analyst (for ArcGIS 3D Analyst 9.0-9.1)
• Learning ArcGIS Desktop
• Learning ArcGIS Desktop (for ArcGIS 9.0-9.1)
• Learning ArcGIS Spatial Analyst
• Learning ArcGIS Spatial Analyst (for ArcGIS Spatial Analyst 9.0-9.1)
• Learning ArcIMS
• Learning Visual Basic for Applications for New ArcGIS Developers
• Linear Referencing with ArcGIS Desktop
• Spatial Analysis of Geohazards Using ArcGIS 9
• Storing Raster Data in an ArcSDE Geodatabase (for ArcEditor and ArcInfo)
• The 15-Minute Map: Creating a Basic Map in ArcMap
• Turning Data into Information Using ArcGIS 9
• Understanding Branching and Looping in VBA
• Understanding GIS Queries
• Understanding Map Projections and Coordinate Systems
• Using ArcCatalog: Tips and Tricks
• Using CASE Tools (for ArcEditor and ArcInfo)
• Working with Forms in VBA
• Working with Geodatabase Subtypes and Domains (for ArcEditor and ArcInfo)
• Working with Map Topology in ArcGIS
• Working with Rasters in ArcGIS Desktop
• Working with Rasters in ArcGIS Desktop (for ArcGIS 9.0-9.1)
• Working with Survey Data in ArcGIS
• Working with Variables and Functions in VBA

The library will provide GIS assistance in the GIS Lab (Central Library, rm. 510) during the following hours beginning Tuesday, August 28:

• Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: 4-530pm
• Saturday: 9am-2pm and 5pm-8pm

We can assist any student, faculty, or staff member with data acquisition, management, analysis, desktop programming (Python & VBA), web maps, and map presentation.

Josh.

A friendly reminder that instructors using ArcGIS in the classroom can request 1-year student licenses for each student in your class(es). This service is included with our educational site license and so there are no additional charges. Go here to fill out the quick form.

It does not seem as if students can make use of this directly.

You can request either ArcGIS 9.1 or 9.2. I requested 9.2 for my Fall 07 classes. Even though OIT has not yet upgraded their labs to 9.2 (as far as I am aware), I want to get the latest versions possible in the students hands. This is just my opinion.

If you choose to do so as well, remind 9.2 users to save their MXD projects as FILE/SAVE AS COPY and select ARCMAP9.0/9.1 DOCUMENT for the projects to be readable by ArcGIS 9.1. Personal geodatabases created in ArcGIS 9.2 will be unreadable in 9.1. If anyone knows a workaround for this, please write it as a comment to this post. Thanks!

Josh.

As part of Governor Perry’s Trinity River Basin Environmental Restoration Initiative, the Trinity River Authority’s Clean River Program in cooperation with TCEQ has funded the Trinity River Information Management System (TRIMS) through Texas A&M University’s Institute of Renewable Natural Resources.

To learn more about the system and how it can help you, please join us at the Ellison Miles Geotechnology Institute (located in Farmers Branch on the Brookhaven College campus) Room H-126 on September 5, 2007 at 1:00 p.m. for a presentation and question and answer session hosted by the developers.

• TRIMS Invite (PDF)

Forwarded email message originally sent on (08/16) from:

Webster M. Mangham
Environmental Planning & Management Division
Trinity River Authority
(817) 493-5139 office

Josh.

The latest word (as of August 2, 2007) from ESRI regarding support plans for various ArcGIS 9.x products on the Windows Vista operating system can be found here. Briefly, ArcGIS Desktop (ArcMap, ArcCatalog) is not certified, but they are working on it.

The university has not yet upgraded from XP to Vista, but I wanted to send this information out anyway. Also, ESRI has been distributing bulk copies of 12-month licenses to GIS instructors, and I have already begun assisting students with Vista issues on their laptops.

Josh.