ArcMap Archives | JuneauNature

Map + database = power

Bob Christensen introduced me to Arcmap in 2001. I’d already been making maps for 20 years, lovingly stippling with rapidograph, sometimes even shading with colored pencils. That transition was a little like handing a caveman a scoped rifle. No going back—although I do sometimes share the nostalgia for those more patient, predigital years.

Increasingly over the past few years, we’ve tried to make ArcMap a more ‘front-side’ component of our workshops for educators, more than just an under-the-hood map generator. We strongly encourage the District to offer more classes in GIS for students at the Middle- and High School levels.

An intermediate option is ESRI’s ArcGIS Online, which hosts maps by members such as Discovery Southeast. In the Media types > Maps section, some of the links take you to user-controlled maps in the Arc-online interface. There, for example, you can chose between airphoto and hillshade basemaps, zoom to desired extent, click on layers to see attributes, and export custom maps.