Projections and transformations can be very confusing, especially if you don't do it very often. A common transformation when working with North American datasets is NAD 83 projections to WGS 84 (Latitude & Longitude). When you use the Project tool found in ArcToolbox > Data Management Tools > Projections and Transformations > Feature (or Raster) > Project, you need to specify which Geographic Transformation you need to use. Below is a guide :

First part is the name of the transformation -> Second part is the code -> Third part is the area of use (where is the data located that is being transformed).

• NAD_1983_To_WGS_1984_1 -> 1188 -> Canada, Central America, Mexico, and United States (Alaska, CONUS)
• NAD_1983_To_WGS_1984_2 -> 1251 -> United States - Alaska - Aleutians
• NAD_1983_To_WGS_1984_3 -> 1252 -> United States - Hawai'i
• NAD_1983_To_WGS_1984_4 -> 1308 -> United States - CORS ITRF94
• NAD_1983_To_WGS_1984_5 -> 1515 -> United States - CORS ITRF96
• NAD_1983_To_WGS_1984_6 -> 1696 -> Canada - Quebec
• NAD_1983_To_WGS_1984_7 -> 1697 -> Canada – Saskatchewan
• NAD_1983_To_WGS_1984_8 -> 1702 -> Canada – Alberta

The above was taken directly from a document installed with ArcGIS, it's usually found at C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Documentation\geographic_transformations.pdf.

Have you ever wanted to increment or increase the value of a field by 1 or a fixed amount? Here are the steps to do so in ArcMap 9.x:

1. Add or use an existing numeric field(Short Integer, Long Integer, Double).
2. Start an edit session.
3. Right click on the numeric field from step 1, and click Calculate Values.
4. Check the Advanced check box.
5. Paste in the following code into the Pre Logic VBA Script code:

Static rec As Long
Dim pStart As Long
Dim pInterval As Long

pStart = 1
' Make pStart equal whatever number you want to start at.

pInterval = 1
' Make pInterval equal whatever number you want to increment by.

If (rec = 0) Then
rec = pStart
Else
rec = rec + pInterval
End If

6. Type the word "rec" into the bottom text box (below fieldname =).
7. Hit the OK button to run and remember to Save your edits.

This was based on the instructions at: http://support.esri.com/index.cfm?fa=knowledgebase.techarticles.articleS...

Did you ever wish that the attributes window in ArcMap would pop-up after you added a new feature? Well at the 9.3 release ESRI made this possible.

Steps to setup:

1. Start an edit session in ArcMap
2. Click on the Editor menu of the Edit toolbar
3. Choose Options
4. Click on the Attributes tab
5. Check the "Display the attributes dialog before storing new features" box
6. You then have the choice of doing this for all layers, or check which layers you this behavior with
7. Click the OK button to apply this

I want to give credit to the source where I saw this tip, which was a Training Seminar from ESRI called Editing in ArcGIS 9: Tips and Tricks III.

ESRI has a library of Recorded Live Training Seminars that are mostly free (some of the seminars older than 2005 have a cost) and last about 60 minutes each. If you are interested in ArcGIS Server, that has been one of the main topics of the seminars in the past few years.