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I know that there are several resources recommendation questions, however, they are all from GIS people trying to learn Python (for example, What are some resources for learning ArcPy?).

My situation is the opposite: I have worked extensively in Python, but know nothing about ArcGIS. What is the best way to learn?

To be more specific, I want to learn the following:

  • Create maps from shapefiles
  • Incorporate other social science-y data on map. For example, conflict site, social network, economic activity, etc.
  • Most importantly, statistical modeling with a spatial component (network, hotspot analysis, etc.)
Community
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Heisenberg
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  • It would be useful to focus your question a bit. For example, what aspect of ArcGIS are you interested in learning and to what end? – Aaron Jun 26 '14 at 21:21
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    @Aaron I further clarified my goals. – Heisenberg Jun 26 '14 at 21:31
  • The clarification helps but each of these is still a question in its own right, and the second and third are still very broad. I think you should research/ask each separately here. I suspect research alone may answer some. – PolyGeo Jun 26 '14 at 22:01

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There are a host of free and fee based ESRI web courses which are quite valuable and well put together. Many of these classes are designed to develop specific skills such as editing or georectification. ArcGIS has an amazing Python site-package called arcpy which allows you to utilize virtually every geoprocessing tool in the arsenal. There is extensive documentation on all of the arcpy functions and classes.

If you are looking for a more general overview of ArcGIS functionality, I would recommend either a general on-line course such as ArcGIS 1: Introduction to GIS or see if you can sit-in on a university intro to GIS course.

Aaron
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  • I have done more researches and found both general introductory GIS resources and Arcpy tutorial. However, the general introduction always use GUI tool, whereas the arcpy introduction always assumes GIS knowledge. That's my dilemma. Is it possible to learn GIS from scratch but not involving GUI tool? (which is too slow and irreproducible to my taste) – Heisenberg Jun 27 '14 at 15:07