A tutorial on how to use the generate fishnet (and the clip and buffer) tool to generate a grid of regularly-spaced points in ArcGIS 10 is now available.
Please email any questions or comments. Look for a future posting on a ModelBuilder tool to accomplish the same in a more automated fashion.
A brief tutorial for finding, downloading, and displaying Census data in an ArcGIS thematic map is now available.
These instructions illustrate only a small portion of the information available from the U.S. Census Bureau. If you wish to work more with these data, I encourage you to experiment…
See this post for the announcement from ESRI. This Service Pack will be available in July, 2012 (about the same time as ArcGIS 10.1).
A manual for learning to use ArcGIS 10, produced by Amy Hillier at the University of Pennsylvania, is available here. This 80+-page document covers many of the options new users should be familiar with, and includes tips on making maps, georeferencing, spatial joins, creating spatial data, and troubleshooting.
ArcGIS Online continues to be improved, with additional functionality and data added. With tools to import shapefiles, text data, gps files, or KML data, it eliminates the need for a local ArcGIS installation (in some cases).
See http://www.esri.com/news/arcwatch/1211/new-content-basemaps-and-tools-added-to-arcgis-online.html
or http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2011/10/12/new-arcgis-online-basemaps/
or http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/fall11articles/arcgis-online-whats-new.html for more information about ArcGIS Online.
See http://resources.arcgis.com/content/patches-and-service-packs?fa=viewPatch&PID=17&MetaID=1857 for more information. This patch addresses multiple issues with spatial joins, including null output and crashes.
It is often useful in a map to enable “MapTips” for layers in an ArcMap document. When map tips are on, hovering the cursor over a feature on the map will display the contents of a field from the attribute table in a pop-up window. This eliminates the user’s need to use the Identify tool on a layer.
To turn on map tips, open properties for the layer and choose the Display tab. In the Display Expression box, select the field you would like shown in the pop-up and check “Show map tips using the display expression“.
However, you may find this option unavailable (“grayed out”) when trying to enable map tips.
This is usually caused by the layer not having a spatial index available (see this post from ESRI for more information). The solution is to build a spatial index. This may be accomplished two ways:
1) in ArcCatalog, navigate to the layer, select it, and open Properties. Choose the Indexes tab and click Add under Spatial Index. 
2) use the Add Spatial Index tool. In Arc Toolbox expand Data Management Tools > Indexes and open the Add Spatial Index tool. Select your layer as the Input Features in the tool and click OK.
An advantage to using the ArcToolbox tool is it may be used to rebuild an existing spatial index. ArcCatalog may only be used to create an index if one does not already exist.
After creating a spatial index, the Show MapTips option should be available for your layer.
ESRI recently released Service pack 4 for ArcGIS 10. This update fixes more than 250 bugs and deficiencies in ArcGIS Desktop, and includes all updates delivered since ArcGIS 10.0 was released.
Another source for 2010 Census data is the Census Bureau’s TIGER/Line Shapefiles page. The site includes various Census geographies (e.g., blocks, block groups, tracts) as well as documentation.
See also: http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/shp.html
and
http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/ for more options
I have had some questions about how to install and authorize the 1-year ArcGIS license available for education use. I improved the directions, available as a PDF or continue to read below… If you are interested in the software, installer DVDs are available from the help desk in the Library.
ArcGIS 10 Education Edition – 1 Year Licensed Software
The Education Edition of ArcGIS version 10 requires an authorization number that must be activated before use. An authorization number will be printed on the inside of the DVD sleeve, along with instructions for activating it. Visit www.esri.com/EducationEdition to activate the authorization number before installing the software. An ESRI Global Account is required. (If you do not already have an ESRI Global Account, you can create one at this website.)
FAQs for the software are available at http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/eval-help/index.html
Please note that the some of the FAQs currently are designed for the general purpose evaluation license, and any reference to the length of the evaluation term should be disregarded. The term of the Education Edition is 365 days and the license level is Arclnfo.
•Insert the DVD and choose ArcGIS Desktop Setup
•Wait for the installer to load (authenticate as administrator if necessary), accept the license agreement, choose a Complete install, and install to the default location.
•After the install completes, click Finish and choose ArcInfo (Single Use). Click Authorize Now and choose “I have installed my software and need to authorize it”, “Authorize with ESRI using the Internet”, enter contact information, and enter your authorization number. Choose “I do not want to authorize any extensions” (and don’t evaluate any extensions either – they are included with your license).
You should download and install the latest service packs periodically, available from http://www.esri.com/ Support> Downloads: Patches and Service Packs. As of March 2012, ArcGIS 10 SP 4 is current.
If you have questions, please contact mdhyslop@mtu.edu