I really do enjoy books that ESRI publishes (if only they were cheaper) and I’ve noticed two books coming up that really interest me.
The first, “Building a GIS” by Dave Peters looks to be a big help with implementing GIS at organizations. In fact ESRI is pushing it as a “companion” to Roger Tomlinson’s Thinking About GIS, which is one of my favorite books (I even got a signed copy). The table of contents reveals how deeply it will visit many of the topics folks email me daily on such as ArcGIS architecture and security (feel free to continue emailing me though 😉 ). I know many folks avoid these books because they have an obvious ESRI slant to them (given the publisher), but I find their approach valuable in any geospatial implementation.
The second book is one that I think I’m even more interested in reading, “The Business Benefits of GIS, An ROI Approach” by David Maguire, Victoria Kouyoumjian and Ross Smith. ESRI linked to an interview with David Maguire on the book and David hit a on something that I think is why this book will be very valuable. David rightly points out there are very few examples of “measurable” business benefits of GIS projects and no standardized way to estimate the ROI on using GIS. (read the interview for more insight). A good methodology to establish true value of a GIS will greatly improve its acceptance in both enterprise and smaller organizations. ESRI has even set up a website to support the book (http://gis.esri.com/roi/).
According to Barnes & Noble, the books won’t be shipping until late August, but maybe there will be something at the ESRI UC next month on them. Even at their cost (especially the second book), I think will be very valuable in my bookshelf.
Update: It looks like there will sessions for both books at the UC.