Supporting a modern GIS course with a textbook
Long gone are the days when one textbook can fully support the needs of a GIS course. With updates to technology happening so quickly and the need to create more timely and relevant content, a text can provide a strong foundation, but it will still need to be supplemented with additional resources, exercises, and materials.
Below are a few texts that were recently released that I recommend faculty take a look at to supplement their course.
To browse through these and other publications, visit the Esri Press website here: https://www.esri.com/en-us/esri-press/browse
To request copies of any of these texts – please go to VitalSource: https://www.vitalsource.com/educators
You can also visit this blog from Esri Press for more details: https://community.esri.com/t5/esri-press-books-blogs/how-to-request-a-desk-copy-from-esri-press/ba-p...
Getting to Know Web GIS, Pinde Fu
This is the 5th edition of this text, and the updates include mentions of more recent Esri web applications and frameworks. The text can be a nice supplement to a more ‘traditional’ GIS course that is focused heavily on desktop GIS, as it includes a wealth of lessons on creating maps, configuring applications, mobile data, etc. in ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise.
The one potential gap for faculty is a 'bridge' between ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online. While the text discusses the roles of ArcGIS Pro and desktop GIS, the 1st chapter dives right into Web GIS - so faculty looking for 1 text that includes both web and desktop content, will need to supplement.
Switching to ArcGIS Pro from ArcMap, Maribeth Price
This text can be used for introductory GIS classes that are starting with ArcGIS Pro (for users that have no context with ArcMap), but one thing to be aware of is that there are lots of references to ArcMap (ex. “Geoprocessing in ArcGIS Pro is much like geoprocessing in ArcMap.”) which could come across as superfluous or confusing to users that have never used ArcMap.
Yet, all of the exercises, the screenshots, and directions do provide a great introduction to ArcGIS Pro.
The included chapters cover a lot of the core fundamentals of using a desktop GIS: Tables, Layouts, Managing data, Editing, etc.
Introduction to Human Geography Using ArcGIS Online, Chris Carter
This text was recently introduced to me by an Esri colleague. What I love about this text is the applied nature of the lessons – and the fact that they are all based in ArcGIS Online. The text includes lessons for each chapter (all hosted in ArcGIS Online) – so you can simply direct students to those maps and layers to start on the exercises.
As with Fu's Web GIS text - the potential pain-point for some faculty will be the omission of ArcGIS Pro or desktop GIS.
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What did I miss? What texts are you currently using? What would you like to see? Please let us know in the comments below!