GIS Tutorial for Python Scripting (GIS Tutorials)

In a niche that already has two entry-level books on Python programming for ArcGIS is there a need for this book? Mr. Allen, author of several other ESRI Press books, demonstrates that writing a better book than the competition provides the answer - for "GIS Tutorial for Python Scripting" is the introductory book you should buy. The alternatives are Paul A. Zandbergen's "Python Scripting for ArcGIS" (ESRI Press, 2013) and Eric Pimpler's "Programming ArcGIS 10.1 with Python Cookbook" (Packt Publishing, 2013). Mr. Allen takes a "workbook" approach to the subject: each chapter has worked-out examples matched with tutorials. I appreciate that when the author provides technical details he also provides a good explanation of what is going on. The essential topics - stand-alone Python scripts, Python toolboxes and Python add-ins - are covered in sufficient detail for an introductory text to give the reader a solid grounding. What distinguishes this book from the others is its superior organization, clarity of text, examples and tutorials. Though the other books cover similar material (I own them both) Allen's "GIS Tutorial for Python Scripting" is the one I recommend for those new to this subject. The data for the book is available for download at esripress.esri.com/bookresources/ and a 60-day trial of ArcGIS for Desktop software is also available. Unlike ESRI Press books of the past there is no data dvd bundled with the book. Appendix B, "The Tool Index", is another helpful feature and my first stop when using the book. Keep in mind that all three books are introductory books. Practice using the tools will be essential for you and ArcGIS help, resources and forums will be valuable aids for your development as will many other websites found by googling the subject on the web. Debugging Python scripts for ArcGIS remains a tedious process and even here Mr. Allen makes useful suggestions to minimize the pain. Though this book is a good addition to the field I will note that this area currently lacks any intermediate books on the subject though several are in preparation by other authors.

I've read numerous books regarding Python programming and GIS. By far, this is the best book I've read. The author not only explains Python concepts but goes very in depth into the arcpy module. With that being said, this not a general book on GIS and Python. You won't able to program in QGIS using this book. But, if you're an ArcGIS user, this book will be extremely helpful. Besides the standard geoprocessing and mapping topics, the author also delves into Python Add-ins and Python toolboxes. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn ArcGIS and Python programming.

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This book is very frustrating to use. The most frustrating part is that many of the example scripts shown in the book are buggy, incomplete and just do not work! In one case, the example code ran off the side of the page! Fortunately, I was able to figure that program out on my own. However, much of the other example code is buggy - some of which I was able to figure out, but some I was not. One perfect example is 'Tutorial 2-7 Using Cursors'. This code does NOT work at all (fails at the very first cursor - which does not seem to be set up correctly) so it is completely useless! It is difficult enough to learn a new computer language - especially a language that uses ArcGIS objects and methods - when you have to DEBUG the author's code in the book! The book is not worthless, but needs to be revised and corrected. The reason there are NO completed programs included in the download data is no doubt because so much of the code does not work! I suggest that the author correct these example programs and include final versions with the downloaded material - both the "tutorial" and "exercise" programs...

For those wanting to dive into GIS python scripting as a beginner I would not suggest this book. I have some previous experience with python scripting so this was not a problem. I'd say if you'd played around with model builder and published to python scripts, or have programmed before, or used python before then this is a good book. I have the ESRI GIS scripting book, which I would recommend over this one for beginners. Otherwise the book is useful. Tutorials are a good learning angle for those wanting more practice, or need a refresher.

The book is a poorly structured Tutorial Book. I found it difficult to understand and hard to follow. This book is definitely not for beginners. If you’re just starting out learning Python for ArcGIS I would stay away from this book. Before beginning each tutorial there’s extensive reading to be done on ArcGIS for Desktop Help as a preparation to the information presented in the tutorials. This book is definitely not an all-inclusive Tutorial book. This additional reading could easily make this book a 500 page endeavor instead of the 288 pages shown inside the book. The author makes very broad learning assumptions from Tutorial to Exercises. Sometimes the exercises feel like they don't coincide with the tutorials. If you don’t have previous Python experience or you are unfamiliar with using Python for Geo-processing you will struggle to get through the tutorials. There is always something new introduced in the exercise that was not covered in the tutorial. This led to a lot of frustration when trying to complete the exercises. The book is also littered with mistakes. I could not find errata available online at the time of this review.

I'm a strong intermediate GIS python programmer and this book is not only a great tutorial but a great reference as well. Really happy with it and would recommend it to anyone that is interested in expanding beyond the basics of python programming in a GIS environment.

This book was purchased for one of my college students. Price was good,I can not attest to its content. However,this is probably an Amazon issue, slowest delivery ever! I am generally satisfied with the delivery speed, but this time I was not happy.

good