I just saw a note about VBA in regards to ArcGIS 10.  Apparently it is still available, but requires a separate install and (free) license file.  So you've still got one more version to use your vba scripts, but essentially it isn't supported.  I suspect this might be available for at least one more version, because of the vast quantity of scripts available.  Then again, ArcGIS 8 got rid of their AML and ArcView's crap scripting language.

Just saw these new videos about the upcoming release of ArcGIS 10.  I have to say, I dig the look of the new layout, way to join 2005 ESRI.  Way better than MapInfo and Manifold's 1996 designed on sandpaper layouts.  But seriously, I do think it looks really nice.  There appears to be some really great additions too. There is an attempt to include temporality in the data.  Continued support for Python (possibly expanded) and .NET.  Here is a good video where you can see the layout design, and interacting with models.  I particularly like those query layers.  I'm not quite sure how this works, but it seems they are integrating with 3D quite a bit.  Essentially letting you switch between the 2D and 3D.  This is the one that got me really drooling though.  Don't those new data editing tools look sweet!  The problem with this promo stuff is they don't really tell you what license level these will be available, and what extensions are required.  My guess is all the extensions, and working with ArcInfo. 

 

So, what did I learn from all this?  GIS Analysts do not belong in front of the camera.

I'm working on a series of maps of differing scales and different labels.  In my head I'm thinking, I'll just do one map, use bookmarks for each individual map, and annotation groups with zoom scales set.  That way I could just use the same background symbology, and just label at different scales where needed.  How come things are never easy as they are in my head?  I exported my first map to see how they were turning out.  Nothing, no labels, just the background layers.  After some mucking about it seemed to be a problem of setting the zoom scales.  I used the scale of 1:110,000 because that's what everything was set at.  Well, you can't do that, you need to have the Out Beyond and In Beyond buffer the scale of your map.  Why is this actually a huge problem?  It indicates that ArcMap doesn't export at the scale you set.  This makes you a liar, or at least your scale bar a liar.  This happens on occasion when you close ArcMap and reopen the same mxd.  Noticed those scale numbers bounced around a bit, and your scale bar changed?  I guess ArcMap does it for exports too.  This is actually a good reason to use a graphics scale bar rather than text based.  Your scale bar should shift slightly with the export...at least in theory. 

Just had a heart-attack but now I'm ok.  I have a map in ArcGIS that uses several joins to link up by statistical boundaries with the data stored in a DBF file.  I realized I was using the wrong score, and needed to update it.  Rather than do all the joins and symbology over, I opened the dbf file in Excel and changed the score field...That is I opened it up in EXCEL 2007 (THE HORROR!!!).  Sure, it opens up fine, but when you try and save to a dbf, it doesn't let, or even have the option anymore.  Curses!   Luckily, the interweb had a solution for me.  Save the file out to an Excel file (xls instead of xlsx just to be on the safe side), open it up in ArcCatalog (can do this in ArcMap as well), then simply export it to a dbf file.  Everything should be the same as before.

I needed to add a bunch of tick marks to a line in a layout in ArcGIS. I am not aware of a built-in tool to do this, so I created my own. It is just for the horizontal, but may be modified for the vertical. I made it fairly generic so that the inputs might be automated as well.

It is available here...Hopefully it will help someone.