Getting to Know ArcGIS ModelBuilder - Softcover

Allen, David W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1589482557 ISBN 13: 9781589482555

Publisher: Esri Press, 2011

Synopsis

Getting to Know ArcGIS ModelBuilder teaches readers how to develop and run reusable geoprocessing workflows and models in ModelBuilder, a visual programming technology available in ArcGIS. Getting to Know ArcGIS ModelBuilder presents basic and more complex concepts and demonstrates best practices through hands-on exercises. Divided into seven chapters addressing model basics interactive models, flow control, multiple inputs, model iterations, model environment, and building documentation, this book fosters a comprehensive knowledge of ModelBuilder for the classroom and forself-learners. All the data needed for the exercises, as well as examples of models, Python scripts, and custom applications are included in a companion DVD.

About this title

From the Author:

As the program coordinator for the GIS degree offerings at Tarrant County College, I teach a lot of ModelBuilder techniques in my classes, but I don't have the time to cover everything. Students routinely ask if there is a good reference book for ModelBuilder so that they can study this on their own. I've also given presentations at regional GIS meetings on programming with ModelBuilder and I get the same question. I even found myself needing a good reference book for the models I build at work with the City of Euless. Well for everyone who has asked "When's the book coming?", here it is.
What's even better is that we delayed publication so that we could include all the new, amazing features that were added to ModelBuilding in ArcGIS 10. This will fast become your defacto programming interface, and you'll be making impresive models and Python scripts before you know it!

From the Back Cover:

Getting to Know ArcGIS ModelBuilder is a workbook that teaches how to build custom tools and applications using a visual programming interface called ArcGIS ModelBuilder. As a component of ArcGIS, geographic information system (GIS) software from Esri, ArcGIS ModelBuilder allows you to string together geoprocessing tools and Python scripts to form your own innovative tools. These tools can then be controlled through models with programming techniques such as looping, iterating, and batch processing. 
Getting to Know ArcGIS ModelBuilder lays the foundation for using ArcGIS ModelBuilder to build models that help simplify geoprocessing tasks. ArcGIS ModelBuilder can be used as a simple, stand-alone programming tool or as a more complex interface for Python and VB scripts. In fact, the book's use of Python scripting in ArcGIS ModelBuilder serves as an introduction to Python programming.
While not intended as a how-to on performing analysis, Getting to Know ArcGIS ModelBuilder shows how to convert analysis projects you design into models that will make these projects more flexible and easier to manage. The book consists of seven chapters, including thirty exercises that reinforce the skills of model building, as well as an appendix that features five challenges to help you practice building models that can be used again and again and shared with others.
This book illustrates how ArcGIS ModelBuilder can help you to

• Build custom tools and applications
• Incorporate all the ArcGIS 10 components
• Automate geoprocessing tasks
• Perform batch processing
• Add decision-making components to models
• Set up interactive models
• Write custom Python scripts and include them in a model
• Build helpful model documentation

Like other books in the best-selling Esri Getting to Know series, Getting to Know ArcGIS ModelBuilder uses a proven learning method that employs conceptual materials and step-by-step exercises with richly detailed illustrations to support students in the classroom along with self-learners. All the data needed for the exercises as well as examples of models, Python scripts, and custom applications are included in a companion DVD that comes with this book.

About this edition

• Publisher: Esri Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1589482557
• ISBN 13: 9781589482555
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 362