Today's GIS topic - Taming the beast: Starting your journey with ArcGIS and living to tell the tale!

Yes, ArcGIS is a powerful tool for accomplishing just about anything in collecting, processing and analyzing geographic data. Whether it is pipelines, highways, powerlines etc... If you're new to ArcGIS then don’t let the sheer power/complexity of it intimidate you. It takes years to develop a mastery of ArcGIS so don’t feel like you need to learn everything all at once. Here's your first tip. Whenever you use google to research how to use a tool in ArcGIS make sure to boomkmark that page in your browser! That way when you need to use the same tool again you'll have a "how-to" guide that's just one mouse click away.