This course was outstanding. Nick does an excellent job of breaking down the key elements of ArcGIS into easily digestible lectures as well as applying those elements in exercises and quizzes. There truly is no experience necessary before jumping in. If you work in a field that currently uses GIS or could, this course and specialization is right for you - and likely a better use of money than getting a degree or certificate in GIS.

During my master studies, I had a course where we had to use ArcGIS but it was very problematic to understand the software due to the structure of the learning program. This course is completely the opposite. The lectures are very clear, and the theory behind each operation is given. The exercises are simple and help one put into practice the newly gained skills. I recommend this course to everyone go wants to learn about GIS.

This course was an excellent introduction to Esri's ArcGIS! I really liked the format it followed, where there were video tutorials followed by forum discussions, quizzes, and practice assignments, which prepared me well for the final assignment. The professor was able to clearly and simply explain concepts, and provided lots of helpful examples. I would highly recommend this course to anyone who wants to begin learning GIS!

I'm getting started in the world of GIS. My profession, for that last 10-15 years, has been librarianship. I found this course both well designed and a very good orientation for the beginning student of GIS. The method of delivery and the instruction via the lecture was very helpful. The evaluations were useful in building GIS skills and fair. Being introduced to ArcGIS by ESRI was very helpful to the novice. Great course!

I really enjoyed this course. Some of the videos seem a bit above the introductory level but they are not what you are tested on. I use GIS for work and this was a great explanation of the basics of ArcGIS; they provide additional resources for how to solve problems on your own. The final peer review assignment was a fun way to test your knowledge of GIS and get to see how others in the class interpreted the data as well.

This course was extremely useful for me to kick start learning about GIS and software. It has clearly laid our syllabus and neatly made videos which help overcome inhibitions about technical nitty grittties.. The course has instilled confidence in me to continue further studying various aspects of GIS. I enjoyed doing my assignments too. I highly recommend this course to any one who deals in spatial aspects in their work.

This course is very well structured and extremely well organized. Professor Nick Santos managed to create an A level introductory course . The basic concepts are given in a very practical way, making you confident about the things you learned. Undoubtedly I've learned much more things compared to the knowledge I gained at my College course. Definitely I am going to continue to the rest of the specialization's courses.

I thoroughly enjoyed this class! Nick Santos does a fantastic job of breaking down the core concepts and making them easy to understand while at the same time showing you how to jump right in and start learning by doing. I'm hooked! At this point, all the other things in my life (job, family, dog, sleeping, eating etc.) are just annoyances that are getting in the way of me being able to learn more in these courses.

my only problem with this course is the use of Arc GIS.I have been able to download it or parts of it and I'm not sure which, but I can't get a license to work even the temporary one so I can't do the work. And frankly I don't have any intention of using the Arc GIS when I am done I intend using integrated program that I can use within Adobe's CAD system. So I really don't want to have to buy a full copy of Arc GIS

This was my first introduction to GIS and I really enjoyed how this course provided a comprehensive and hands-on overview of the topic. The content of the course is very well structured and the different lessons nicely build upon each other. All the necessary information to successfully complete the assignments were readily available. The lecturer's excitement for GIS was truly infectious! Can only recommend!

I've taken GIS tutorials before, both free and paid, but they have never really stuck. This course answered a lot of my questions about the behind-the-scenes pieces of GIS that were really tripping me up. Like, what do these files mean, how do I open this, why is this map that used to open now having problems? Nick's explanations of how ArcMap "thinks" really filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge. 5 stars

Great course! The instructor is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic and makes the material relatable to many different fields. The assignments closely align with the material and are at the appropriate difficulty level with good walkthroughs to get you started. And the final project was also appropriate for the scope of the course - very doable but took a little bit of tinkering and experimentation.

E​xcellent course, well-paced and detailed. All lecture Arcmap materials are provided for download so you can follow along with the lessons (highly recommended). Videos & content provide specific & real-world examples. Lecture videos can be downloaded in case you're doing pieces of this course offline. Getting Arcmap downloaded and licensed can be a bit finnicky so follow the instructions exactly.

Very helpful course in getting my hands on GIS as someone who has never touched GIS before. Nick's videos are always very clear and concise. The practice projects with step-by-step instructions were very helpful, and I appreciate how the peer-reviewed project really allowed me to make sure I could apply the skills from this course. Looking forward to the other courses in this specialization.

I have been browsing the internet so hard for a good course about GIS until I suddenly came across Coursera. I have never been so amazed with how everything was well-organized and well-thought. Thank you so much to the team, especially to Nick Santos for putting up such great effort for such great course. I am looking forward to taking the next few courses to complete the specialization.

This course was a lot more challenging than I anticipated, but in a good way. I enrolled because I wanted to challenge myself with something more technical/mathematical than the biological/nature-based approach that I'm used to in my work. I wasn't disappointed, and I'm happy to have learned a lot. I plan to take the other courses so I can widen the scope of my future research projects.

Everything was perfectly explained by Mr. Nick and I feel really confident about ArcGIS after finishing this course and I feel the assignments were perfect for my understanding of the topic in hand at the end of each module. The peer review really helped me understand the other ways through which I could do my final assignments and showed me my faults through other pupils assignments

Excelente curso, con un dictado claro y bastante preciso de los conceptos y herramientas de análisis de los sistemas de información georeferenciados (GIS) en el software ArcGis, invito a la comunidad latinoamericana a iniciar el curso no requiere de un profundo dominio del idioma ingles para aprender y desarrollar los trabajos, basta con un conocimiento a nivel intermedio del ingles.

This course is outstanding in every way. All the learning material, including the video lectures, are top-notch. Instructor Nick Santos has terrific presentation skills and his knowledge of the material is beyond reproach. Developing GIS skills while using industry-standard software is a wonderful opportunity, and as a participant, I just couldn't be more pleased with this course.

This course was great! Nick provides very thorough descriptions and explanations of features and concepts that do not require any prior knowledge of GIS before starting this programme. I am now comfortable playing around with many features within ArcGIS thanks to practical skills put into practice through the assignments. I look forward to continuing with this specialisation.

I really enjoyed this course. I thought that the teacher was very helpful and thorough for an introduction course. This is my first time doing an online course so I don't have much to compare it to, but it definitely exceeded my expectations. Nick Santos or maybe Professor Santos is a very enthusiastic teacher and really encourages the student to excel and succeed. Thank you!

Fundamentals of GIS was a very well put together course! I enjoyed the well-done and informative presentations, the attention to a good learning sequence, and the excellent examples to encourage us to try on our own. The final project was a good one to test basic knowledge of analyzing data and preparing a final map. I look forward to taking the other courses in the series!

As an introduction to GIS, I thought this was excellent. I do wish it had been more in depth regarding data types, how to integrate (for example raster data) the different types. It's also obvious that the sheer number of tools available is huge. In other words, I've got a lot to look forward to in upcoming courses and I hope I can learn enough to become a GIS professional.

The course is well structured, informative and enjoyable. I like the fact that it is flexible, I could work at my own pace and repeat the modules whenever I wanted. The video presentations and assignments were excellent. I feel that I have greatly improved my skills and now have a good understanding of GIS, and a strong foundation to build on with further specialisations.

Although it is not yet over, I would like to rate this course. I think the course structure is very good and the contents are very useful. I like the way it works. As well, I would like to thank the instructor, Mr. Nick Santos and all the team, since the explanations are great (besides, as a non-native English speaker, I could understand everything without any problem).