ArcGIS accounts are free for UC ANR employees. An account provides access to both the ArcGIS Pro software as well as almost everything on ArcGIS online. Follow the steps below to setup your ArcGIS account and continue down your GIS journey!
1. Create your ArcGIS Account
Whether you’re interested in running ArcGIS Pro on your computer, or just want to work with ArcGIS online, the first step is to create an account. If you have UC ANR single-sign on (SSO), creating your account should just take a few minutes.
- Go to ArcGIS Online: https://www.arcgis.com/
- Click the ‘Sign-in’ button and select the “Your ArcGIS organization’s URL” on the sign-in page. Enter ucanr as the first part of the URL, and click the blue Continue button.
- You will be taken to the ANR Single Sign-on (SSO) screen where you can log in with your UC ANR credentials.
After a minute or two you should have a full-featured ArcGIS account. Congratulations - you can immediately start using all the online features of ArcGIS.com, including web maps, Story Maps, Field Maps, etc.
To install the ArcGIS Pro desktop software on your computer, continue reading!
2. Install ArcGIS Pro
Check the requirements
- ArcGIS Pro only runs on Windows. Sorry Mac users! (but feel free to reach out to IGIS for some options).
- ArcGIS Pro is a big program. Click here to view the minimum and recommended computer specs for running ArcGIS Pro.
- Installing Pro on work computers (common gotcha). Installing ArcGIS Pro requires administrative privileges on your computer. Most UC ANR employees do not have administrative privileges for their work computer. But do not despair!!
If you don’t have local administrative privileges, stop right here and draft an email to CSIT (help@ucanr.edu). Tell them you’d like to install ArcGIS Pro on your work computer. Someone should respond fairly quickly, and set up an appointment when they can install it for you remotely via remote desktop. - ArcGIS Pro requires current versions of .NET Desktop Runtime. If you don’t have the latest version of this library, you can download and install it here. If you’re not sure if you have the latest version, you can keep going and the ArcGIS Pro installation will tell you if you need to update it.
After you’ve checked all of the above requirements, you may continue reading….
Download the ArcGIS Pro setup program
- Login to ArcGIS.com and click on your avatar (photo) on the top right. From the drop down, select My Settings.
- On the left of the Settings page, you should see the "Licenses" tab. Click on it then scroll down until you see the download link for ArcGIS Pro.
- Download the setup program and run it. Installation may take a while.
- Launch Pro. The first time you open Pro, you’ll be prompted to log-in to activate the software. You can use the same ArcGIS log-in as above - just make sure to select the “ArcGIS organization’s URL” option.
3. Request Any Missing Apps
The Licenses tab in Account settings will show you all the software you have access to, most of which are ArcGIS online 'apps' (like Story Maps).
There are a few online applications and desktop programs that are not automatically provided to all new users (example: ArcGIS Notebooks), but an administrator might be able to grant you access. If there's an ArcGIS online service or download you would like to use but don't see it listed, contact Shane Feirer or Robert Johnson and they'll get back to you.
4. Take a Training
Although GIS products in general tend to have a bit of a learning curve, the good news is there are lot of resources available to get started.
If you're completely new to GIS (or very rusty), a primer on basic terms and concepts would be time well spent. This IGIS video covers most of the key concepts relatively quickly, and there are others like it.
A good place to start is learn.esri.com. ESRI has invested in developing training resources for all of its core products at every level from beginner to developer. You can find written tutorials and recordings covering short use cases up to a full introductory course. Some of the tutorials require that you're logged in, but many are open to the public. There are lot of other good quality tutorials on YouTube and learning platforms.
If live training is more your style, start by looking at the IGIS workshop schedule. We teach introductory workshops on ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, and ArcGIS Story Maps on Zoom every semester, and more specialized topics once a year or two. Workshop recordings are also posted on our YouTube Channel. We also have Office Hours for the UC ANR network which is a good way to get past a stumbling block, find data for your project, etc.