GIS Training

The Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) hosts ESRI certified GIS training for the 13 county region.  Classes are held twice a year - occurring both in the spring and fall.  Due to the large volume of GIS users in the Houston-Galveston area, training is offered to the following groups in the order listed below:

1. H-GAC internal staff
2. Geographic Data Committee (GDC) members
3. H-GAC member government staff
4. General public

Training is located at the H-GAC's main office building (address below) and the training facility can hold up to 12 students with one student per PC.

Class Time Schedule:

It is up to the discretion of the teacher/trainer but training classes are usually held from 8:00am - 5:00pm with at least a one (1 ) hour break for lunch.  Students should take into consideration traffic and weather conditions and plan ahead in order to arrive promptly by 8:00am on the first class day since orientation and housekeeping items normally take up to an hour.

Upcoming Courses:

We are wanting to host basic ArcGIS courses for the upcoming Spring time frame and need for those of you who are interested to reply back; no dates have been set until we first determine if the classes will make but we are shooting for the April-May time frame.

The following are the courses that we would like to hold here in the H-GAC training room. There are 12 seats available.

The prices above are based upon whether we receive a minimum of 8 students per class; if less students apply, the costs will go up.

Class Outlines:

Intro to ArcGIS Desktop I

This course provides the foundation for understanding what GIS is, what it can do, and how others are using it. You learn the basic functions of a GIS, why a GIS database is powerful, and what coordinate systems and map projections are and why they are important. In course exercises, you work with ArcMap to visualize geographic data, create maps, query a GIS database, perform spatial analysis using common analysis tools, and solve geographic problems using a systematic approach. This course teaches the skills and knowledge needed to take other ArcGIS Desktop courses.

Intro to ArcGIS Desktop II

ArcGIS Desktop software is an integrated system that includes all the tools needed to get the most out of a GIS. This course teaches the range of functionality available in the software and the essential tools for visualizing, creating, managing, and analyzing geographic data. The hands-on course exercises emphasize practice with ArcMap and ArcCatalog (the primary applications included with ArcGIS Desktop software) to perform common GIS tasks and workflows. The tools for creating and managing geographic data, displaying data on maps in different ways, and combining and analyzing data to discover patterns and relationships are highlighted, and you learn how ArcGIS Desktop provides a complete GIS software solution. By the end of the course, you will be prepared to start working with the software on your own.

Classroom Management

All students are expected to take care of the area around their PC including the desk, chair and floor area.  Food and drinks are not allowed in the classroom. At the end of each day, it is the student's responsibility to clean up the area around their desk, chair and floor if necessary.  The training room must be returned to the original clean condition.

Abuse of equipment or students will not be allowed and will be dealt with immediately with possible financial penalties. 

Finally, it is the hope of H-GAC that your training experience will be enjoyable and that you will continue to consider H-GAC as a GIS training resource in the future..