You can review a full list of qualifications, skills measured, and software that a candidate should be familiar with on the Esri Technical Certification website at https://www.esri.com/training/catalog/582b66bb146072a52e8e55c3/arcgis-desktop-professional-10.5/.
Using this book
We encourage you to use this book as the first step on your path to achieving certification. The best opportunity for success lies in a combination of study and hands-on, practical experience. This book contains content that will help you to become familiar with fundamental concepts and will point you to supplementary exercises and study materials wherever they are available. Although it is advisable to study all chapters for a comprehensive review, you may choose to focus on a specific chapter to close any gaps in your knowledge.
Organization
Each subsequent chapter of this book covers one of the four exam sections: data storage, data management, visualization and sharing, and analysis and geoprocessing. Each chapter covers the skills and concepts measured by an exam section, as listed in the skills measured.
Within each chapter, you will see these components:
Prepare: ArcGIS documentation topics that should be studied before taking the exam.
Practice: Tasks to perform or links to resources, including Esri Academy web courses, to give you hands-on software practice. You can also search for additional web courses on the Esri Academy website at www.esri.com/training.
Skills check-in: A list of tasks that you should be able to perform.
Navigating the documentation
Throughout this book are ArcGIS Pro, ArcMap, and ArcGIS® Online documentation topics that you should review. You can browse to the topics by using the online documentation links in this table, by clicking the Help links in the digital version of this study guide, or by consulting the Help documentation installed with the software.
Online documentation
ArcGIS Pro https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app
ArcMap https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap
ArcGIS Online https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-online
The ArcGIS Pro online documentation reflects the most current release of the software. This version of the ArcGIS Desktop Professional exam tests your knowledge of ArcGIS Pro 1.4. At each release, the ArcGIS Pro online documentation Help topics may be reorganized or renamed. To see what has changed from ArcGIS Pro 1.4 to the current release, go to http://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app /get-started/whats-new-in-arcgis-pro.htm. One important change is that the Project pane and the Project view in ArcGIS Pro 1.4 were renamed the Catalog pane and the Catalog view, respectively, in ArcGIS Pro 2.0. As you read the ArcGIS Pro online documentation, keep in mind that software changes may occur from version to version.
The ArcMap online documentation is organized by version from ArcMap 10.3 to the present. You can choose documentation for topics or pages corresponding to a specific software version.
You can also browse to the documentation using the installed Help programs: ArcGIS Pro Help and ArcGIS Desktop 10.5 Help. Occasionally, the name of a documentation topic differs between the online documentation and ArcGIS Pro 1.4 installed Help. In these instances, this book lists the path to the most current version of the ArcGIS Pro Help documentation.
Additional resources
These resources can be used to supplement the exam preparation information in this book.
Exam preparation resources
ArcGIS Desktop Professional 10.5 preparation resources http://bit.ly/2AFUFXc
Esri ArcGIS Desktop Professional Certification 10.5 Learning Plan http://bit.ly/2Q4pdMD
Esri Technical Certification: Sample Questions for ArcGIS Desktop Professional web course http://bit.ly/2Q4n7wf
Esri Academy Course Catalog http://bit.ly/2AC2VXY
GeoNet http://bit.ly/2DTUx9r
E360 Esri Video https://www.esri.com/videos
Chapter 2
Data Storage
This section of the exam tests your understanding of data storage. With ArcGIS, you can store your data in a way that fits your system architecture and existing business workflows. This functionality includes storing data as individual files, in relational databases, in geodatabases, or in the cloud. This chapter covers ways that ArcGIS handles data, including the capabilities of the geodatabase and its supported data elements. This chapter is divided into five skills.
Skills measured
1 Given requirements for a specific project, determine how to design a geodatabase.
2 Select appropriate data formats for an intended use.
3 Given a task, determine the data, settings, and parameters for creating a complex dataset.
4 Given a task, determine the data, settings, and parameters for creating an address locator.
5 Given a scenario, determine how to synchronize replicated data.
Given requirements for a specific project, determine how to design a geodatabase
A geodatabase gives you the ability to store data in a central location for easy access and management. It can be used in desktop, enterprise, or mobile environments, and it supports the storage of many types of GIS data. A geodatabase allows you to manage your data using advanced capabilities for modeling behavior, maintaining data integrity, and working with spatial relationships. This section covers the fundamentals of geodatabases and some of their supported data elements. This skill has three parts: (1) geodatabase fundamentals, (2) associating features and records, and (3) topology.
Geodatabase fundamentals
A geodatabase provides structure and a framework that allows you to accurately model the real world while maintaining the relational integrity between your spatial data. Three geodatabase types are supported in ArcGIS: personal geodatabases, file geodatabases, and enterprise geodatabases.
Reminder
Personal geodatabases are not supported in ArcGIS Pro.
File and personal geodatabases are supported at all license levels. These two geodatabase types also support the full information model of the geodatabase. They are
