ISBN158948083X

This book is very user friendly and concepts are well explained. However, some single exercise instructions contain too many steps which one can easily skip or confuse with other things. Such instructional steps could be made as simple and as many as possible.

This book is really good with giving step by step directions. I had no prior knowledge about ArcGIS or any of the software and it walked me through every process. I highly recomend it for beginners and nonbeginners.

This book is a superb learning resource. The 180-day evaluation copy of ArcView 9.2 is icing on the cake.

The book takes the reader through a series of 20 lessons covering a number of practical scenarios with each chapter having two to four examples, where the material is prepared as mxd documents. So it is straightforward to get into the actual purpose of the exercise.

Each page is fully illustrated to reassure the reader that what they are seeing on screen through the structured lesssons is correct.

I worked solidly through the book in about 4 days as preparation for the taught Introduction to ArcGIS 2. I should'nt have bothered with the instructor-led course, there was very little new material and the exercises were rushed. By contrast the book enables you to re-work a difficult area, at your own pace.

I would rate this book 10/10 for content, presentation, structure and choice of examples. I now wish there were a follow-on book to build on the foundation this book has provided.

Make sure the copy you get is the latest version (currently 2004).

I never use ArcGIS before and this is my first experience. This book is used as a textbook in my class and it's very helpful for those who needs step by step guide in using ArcGIS. Still, it is very important to have a teacher to guide you as you will learn more in depth. For those who needs an intro, this is a very good book although you might find some instructions in the book which is different from what you see on your computer but still it's easy to make out the right steps. Good for beginners.

The manual is well written, with an extreme emphasis on "doing things" rather than on "reading things". A little different, but I like the hands-on approach. It is definitely possible to read-ahead without actually doing the examples as, while they do build on each other, a new starting place (example file) is included for each logical breakpoint.

Having the full use of the software during this period is definitely an added bonus.