Training by Scribble - Hands-on Courses and Certifications

Training by Scribble is a set of hands-on courses inside the Scribble Maps editor. You do each task yourself on a real map, and Scribble, the built-in AI assistant, guides you and checks your work as you go. After every lesson there is a short quiz.

The Silver 1 courses, starting with Scribble Maps Basics, and the three GIS 101 courses are free for every account.

Start the course

1. Open the editor at scribblemaps.com/create.
2. In the Launch Pad, look under Learn and choose Training by Scribble.
3. Sign in if you are asked to. Your progress is saved to your account.
4. On the Courses tab, choose a course, then Start (or press its play button).

You can also open it from Get Help > Tutorials, Courses & Certification, or ask Scribble to start it. Try "teach me the basics" in the Scribble chat.

What you will learn in Basics

The Basics course has five lessons:

1. Drawing: add a marker, draw a line and draw a polygon.
2. Editing: move a marker and reshape a polygon with the Edit tool.
3. Styles: change a shape's fill color, line color and line thickness.
4. Deleting and undo: delete a shape, then bring it back with Undo.
5. Saving: give your map a title and save it.

How it works

• You do the work. Each step asks you to do something on the map. The lesson panel checks what you actually did, and the step is done when the map shows it. Scribble will not do the task for you during a lesson, but it will explain how and point to the right button.
• Hints when you need them. Press Hint on any step for a tip. Scribble can also show you where a control is.
• Feedback on mistakes. If you draw a line when the step asks for a polygon, or change the wrong style, the panel and Scribble tell you what to change.
• A quiz after each lesson. Most questions are multiple choice, and some ask you to select every answer that applies. Some ask you to answer in your own words, and Scribble checks your answer and explains what was missing. You can try again until you get it right.
• Answer by talking to Scribble. During a quiz you can tell Scribble your answer in the chat or by voice, for example "the second one". Scribble can help you think it through, but it will not pick the answer for you.

Courses and certifications

The Training by Scribble panel has three tabs: Tutorials (see below), Courses and Certifications.

• Courses lists every course, grouped by the certification it counts toward. Each certification has three courses. Silver and GIS 101 courses are ready now. Gold and Platinum courses are coming soon and are shown faded until they open:
• Silver 1 (free for everyone): Scribble Maps Basics; Markers, Labels and Popups; Sharing and Embedding Maps.
• Silver 2 (Pro Basic): Shapes, Text and Freehand; Styles and Base Maps; Legends, Printing and Images.
• Silver 3 (Pro Basic): Measuring Distance and Area; Folders and Layers; Search, Places and Street View.
• Gold 1 (Pro Basic): Mapping Lists and Spreadsheets; Importing and Exporting GIS Files; Attributes and the Data Table.
• Gold 2 (Pro Basic): Filters and Thematic Maps; Heatmaps and Clustering; Buffers and Geometry Tools.
• Gold 3 (Pro Basic): Routes and Directions; Mapping Faster with Scribble AI; Imagery and 3D.
• Platinum 1 (Pro Business): Live Data Connectors; Salesforce and CRM Data; ArcGIS Online.
• Platinum 2 (Pro Business): Territories and Service Areas; Travel Time and Network Analysis; Map Kits and Location Intelligence.
• Platinum 3 (Pro Business): Teams and Collaboration; Map Permissions and Security; Scribble Maps API and Widgets.
• GIS 101 (free for everyone): Location, Scale and Projections; Spatial Data; Spatial Analysis and Data Quality. These teach the core ideas of GIS (coordinates, scale, projections, vector and raster data, attributes, distance and travel time, clean edges and data quality) with practice in the editor.
• Certifications shows the badges you will be able to earn, in two groups. Certification levels: Silver 1 to 3, Gold 1 to 3, Platinum 1 to 3, and Master. Specialty certifications have an icon on the badge. GIS 101 is free for everyone. The others are paid certifications for an industry: Real Estate, Sales Territory, Construction, Agriculture, Insurance, Logistics and Delivery, Retail and Site Selection, Utilities and Energy, Emergency Management, Environment and Conservation, Government and Planning, and Education. They are grey until you earn them (point at one to see it in color). Silver 1 uses only free courses, so everyone can earn it. Click a certification to see its courses.

You can open the certifications at any time from Menu > Certifications (the last button in the menu).

Each course shows the plan it needs and roughly how long it takes, for example About 15 min. Most courses take 10 to 25 minutes. When a course opens, you can take it on that plan or a higher one.

Tutorials

Tutorials are quick, hands-on how-tos for one task, like Import a list, Add a legend or Get driving directions. A tutorial runs on the map you have open: Scribble shows you where to go and checks each step as you do it. There is no quiz.

Open them from the Tutorials tab in Training by Scribble, from Get Help > Tutorials, Courses & Certification, or from a Learn how link where it applies (the Import List panel has one). You can also ask Scribble, for example "how do I import a list?".

Tutorials are open at any certification level; they only need the plan the task needs. Finishing a tutorial counts toward its course: when you take that course, it skips those steps and asks only the lesson's quick quiz.

Earning a certification

You earn a certification when you finish every course in it. Silver 1, Silver 2, Silver 3 and GIS 101 can be earned now. Gold, Platinum, Master and the industry specialties open when their courses are ready.

When you finish the last course of a certification, its badge appears in the middle of the screen, then moves to its place on the Certifications tab and fills in with color. A panel then shows the courses you finished and the level that opens next.

Every certification you earn comes with a certificate. Choose Share or Download on its badge to get a PDF certificate, add it to LinkedIn, or share a link anyone can check at verify.scribblemaps.com. See how to share or download your certificate.

The GIS certifications

GIS 101 is the first of four GIS certifications, taken in order: GIS 101 (free), then GIS 201 (Pro Basic: thematic maps and classification, overlay and proximity, networks and accessibility), GIS 301 (data capture, data management and imagery) and GIS 401 (spatial patterns, suitability models and a final project). GIS 201, 301 and 401 are coming soon. Each one opens when you have finished the one before it.

Your certification level

Your highest certification level is shown in Menu > Account Settings, under your email. Until you earn your first level you have the bronze New User badge. Click the badge to see all your certifications.

Levels open in order

Certification levels open one after another: Silver 1, Silver 2, Silver 3, then Gold 1, Gold 2, Gold 3, and so on. A level opens when you have finished every course in all the levels before it. Inside a level you can take the three courses in any order.

A course that is not open yet shows Finish (level) first, for example Finish Silver 1 first. Once you have finished a course, it keeps counting even if you start it over. GIS 101 is a specialty, not a level, so its courses are open at any time.

When you finish a course, Go to next course takes you to the next open course you have not finished.

Your practice map

Training opens a practice map for the course. You draw on it during the lessons and save it in the last lesson.

• The practice map does not count toward the free plan's map limit.
• It is saved as a private map, so only you can see it. You cannot use it as a public or shared map.
• If the map you have open has unsaved changes, Scribble asks before switching to your practice map.
• Your practice map stays in Your Maps after the course.

Pause, continue or start over

• Close the lesson panel at any time. Your progress is saved after every step and every quiz answer.
• To continue, open Training by Scribble again, choose the course and then Continue. You pick up at the next step you have not done.
• To practice again, choose Start over. You keep the same practice map.

Troubleshooting

• "You left your practice map." A step only counts on your practice map. Choose Back to practice map to return.
• A step does not finish. Check that you finished the shape (drag and let go to draw a line; to close a polygon, double-click, click the first point, or click the X) and that you changed the exact thing the step names. Press Hint if you are stuck.
• A course says "Finish Silver 1 first" (or another level). Finish every course in that level and the levels before it. Your finished courses show Completed on the Courses tab.
• "Training is not available right now." Try again in a few minutes. If it keeps happening, contact support.