ArcGIS Mapping and Charting Blog

Automated data checks help organizations efficiently detect errors and ensure that data adheres to business rules and quality standards. As users of spell-check programs know, however, some errors cannot be detected by automated methods. In this course, you will learn visual review techniques to supplement automated data checks. This second layer of quality control is essential to ensure the accuracy of mission-critical GIS data and all the products derived from that data. Learn how to:

• Identify scenarios when a visual data review is appropriate.
• Generate a statistically significant random sample of your data for review and analysis.
• Create a polygon grid to guide a systematic visual review of feature geometry.
• Indicate missing, misplaced, miscoded, or redundant features.
• Inspect versioned data and identify differences between versions.

Check it out today!

Data QC with ArcGIS: Visual Review

http://training.esri.com/gateway/index.cfm?fa=catalog.webCourseDetail&courseid=2886

If you found this course helpful, you may also enjoy the following complementary course. This course teaches automated workflows to ensure data adheres to your organization's quality standards. You will learn about the three phases of the quality control life cycle and techniques to validate data consistently and efficiently.

Data QC: Automating Validation

http://training.esri.com/gateway/index.cfm?fa=catalog.webCourseDetail&courseid=2687

Geodesy is defined as the science of accurately measuring and understanding the Earth's geometric shape, orientation in space, and gravity field.  Or, as NASA puts it, it is the study of where you are, where you've been, and where you are going.  Simple enough, right?  Geodesy as a science has existed for thousands of years, evolving from equations based on point-to-point data to space-based measurements used to determine coordinate systems for mapping our planet.

If you have studied geography or worked with GIS, you have relied on geodetic standards to provide context for your data.  The following video put out by NASA does a fantastic job of explaining the basics of Geodesy - what it is, where it came from, and how it forms the foundation of our study of the earth.  Check it out and share - this would be a great intro video for students or those in training to learn more about the field.