I recognize that I make mistakes and so I’ve become a fan of automating my processes to make them reproducible. I’m self-taught in this area. I make little tools for almost everything that I do. One example is that I built a toolbox for processing data for the ENSITE tool that I developed while working for the US Army Corps of Engineers. This tool was key for developing a “mission folder” which was a consistent way to process data. Without my pressure for automation and consistency, the project would not have been as successful as it was.
I’m most comfortable in ArcGIS model builder, but I have comfort in R and Python.
What I’ve learned:
- How to ask for help from both people, forums, and the internet at large.
- General best practices for tool development.
- How to teach others to make tools