The ArcGIS Book is an easy-to-comprehend guide to 10 big web mapping ideas and how to use the ArcGIS platform to put those ideas into action.
Redlands, California— People around the world are discovering that online maps do more than direct consumers to stores or help travelers navigate from point A to point B. Web maps communicate important information that helps everyone make decisions. That’s why Esri has published The ArcGIS Book: 10 Big Ideas about Applying Geography to Your World, an easy-to-comprehend guide to 10 big web mapping ideas and how to use the ArcGIS platform, Esri’s geographic information system (GIS) technology, to put those ideas into action.
ArcGIS is a complete system for discovering, creating, consuming, and sharing geographic data, maps, and apps that fully operates on the web and mobile devices. "At Esri, we recognize that the web, cloud computing, smartphones, and tablets have forever transformed how GIS technology is applied," said Clint Brown, director of product engineering at Esri. "In response, ArcGIS has become a web GIS platform. We wanted to publish a book that not only describes how these trends have transformed GIS but also teaches people how to use the system."
Among the 10 big ideas covered in The ArcGIS Book are the online mapping revolution and its role in GIS; storytelling with maps; mapping in 3D; the social implications of web GIS; the power of spatially intelligent apps; and the emergence of mobile GIS on smartphones with, as the book says, "a live data sensor in your pocket."
In an interesting way and with interactive components, the book takes readers on a journey on how to create and share GIS web maps, use new smart mapping capabilities in ArcGIS to make beautiful and well-designed maps, do spatial analysis online, make 3D web scenes, work with mobile GIS, and do much more.
Each chapter also includes an ArcGIS Lesson that readers can access online. They can put what they learn to work using Esri-provided data and ArcGIS and get hands-on experience in all aspects of web GIS, including crafting a Story Map, solving problems with spatial analysis, editing geographic data, and building a 3D model. The book also inspires the enthusiastic and visionary mapper, providing links to hundreds of live examples of web maps and apps and videos of thought leaders describing some of the trends driving the industry.
TheArcGISBook.com hosts the Learn ArcGIS lessons and other supporting materials. "There is no better way to learn than by doing," Brown said.
Interspersed throughout The ArcGIS Book are short essays by thought leaders such as Esri president Jack Dangermond and Allen Carroll, program manager, storytelling for Esri, and the former chief cartographer at National Geographic.
The ArcGIS Book was written for a diverse audience, including GIS professionals just venturing into the new world of web GIS as well as web technologists, information workers, web designers, and others who increasingly recognize how maps play a pivotal role today in clearly communicating information. The book also serves as a perfect introduction to web GIS for managers and executives interested in understanding how maps can help them make sound business decisions for their organizations.
The ArcGIS Book was edited by Christian Harder, a writer at Esri and the author of several books about GIS including Understanding GIS: An ArcGIS Project Workbook,Second Edition, published in 2013 by Esri Press.
The ArcGIS Book is available in print (ISBN: 9781589484498, 152 pages, US$19.99), as a free downloadable PDF, and on an interactive website at TheArcGISBook.com. The book is available at online retailers worldwide, at esri.com/esripress, or by calling 1-800-447-9778. Outside the United States, visit esri.com/esripressorders for complete ordering options, or visit esri.com/distributors to contact your local Esri distributor. Interested retailers can contact Esri Press book distributor Ingram Publisher Services.