Community and Economic Development offers updated ArcGIS Pro workshops

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Introduction to ArcGIS Pro workshop participant references the workshop manual during a session.

The Community and Economic Development (CED) unit at Iowa State University Extension and Outreach has provided training and educational material on geospatial technology topics for more than 20 years.

During that time, the training and materials have transformed from one-off questions and training requests on specific topics to a robust and successful training program that has educated hundreds of people through in-person, instructor-led workshops.

Through that process, the Geospatial Technology Program was developed to meet the geographic information systems (GIS) training needs of Iowans. The GIS workshops utilize training manuals specifically developed by the CED Data and Technology team to introduce new and beginning-level GIS users to the essential GIS concepts, software, and tools.

GIS software, like many computer technologies, has changed significantly over the years. One of the most recent major changes in GIS desktop software is the migration from ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro. ArcGIS Pro utilizes the Windows Ribbon framework, a modern menu system for Windows applications. This change resulted in a new and completely redesigned user interface, making it a challenge for experienced GIS users to navigate and adapt their established workflow. To assist with this transition, the CED Data and Technology team has rewritten all the GIS training materials to help experienced GIS users navigate the new interface and introduce new GIS users to the software and tools.

This process has taken a few years to complete, but the Data team is now up and running with ArcGIS Pro training materials and has been conducting workshops with the new materials since January 2022.

The Essentials of ArcGIS Pro is a two-day, in-person workshop that will take participants through all the essentials basics of map making, geospatial data editing, thematic map visualizations, and data querying and analysis. Experience using Windows-based applications is highly recommended. The cost is $500 per person with discounts for ISU-affiliated staff, students, and faculty, as well as for groups of two or more from the same organization.

The next workshop will be conducted in Ames in January 2023. More information and the registration link are available on the GIS training and courses webpage (https://www.extension.iastate.edu/communities/gis/courses).