Geography 292: Geospatial Analysis with Web GIS

In chapter 7 of the textbook Getting to know Web GIS, the main focus was on 3D web scenes in ArcGIS and how they expand traditional 2D mapping into a more realistic experience. Instead of just looking at flat maps, 3D scenes allowed me and other users to visualize height and depth more clearly. These 3D scenes are called web scenes, which can include different types of layers such as feature layers, scene layers, and elevation surfaces. It was somewhat interesting to learn about the difference between photorealistic scenes and cartographic scenes. In scenes that are photorealistic, the use of imagery is applied in attempt to mimic the real world.  On the other hand, cartographic scenes use symbols driven by data. These symbols can include color and height, further representing information such as population density. This makes 3D useful not just for visualization, but also for analysis. The chapter also explained different scene layer types, with each scene layer helping users’ model entire landscapes and buildings. Some of the scene layer types discussed were 3D object layers (buildings), point clouds (LiDAR data), and integrated mesh layers (from drone imagery). These allow GIS users to model entire cities, buildings, or landscapes in detail. Moving on to the actual tutorial part of the reading, it showed how to actually build a 3D scene in Scene Viewer by adding layers (with the addition of styling them) and editing features. I liked how you can interact with the scene: rotate it, measure distances, and even simulate sunlight and shadows. The textbook made a connection between 3D GIS and newer technologies like VR, AR, and the metaverse. This link was interesting to me because it shows how GIS is expanding beyond just maps into immersive environments. This system is ever evolving and will be in use for years to come. I think 3D GIS makes maps way easier to understand, especially for things like cities or buildings. Seeing height differences visually is more intuitive than trying to interpret numbers on a 2D map.  At the same time, it feels more complex than 2D mapping. There are more settings (like elevation modes, z-values, and symbol configuration), which can be confusing at first so many buttons! However, once you get used to using this application, it becomes a powerful tool you can keep handy.

Application Idea 
One application idea for this chapter’s content would be creating a of a local park using my own collected data. For example, I could map trees, benches, and buildings as point and polygon layers, then use extrusion and 3D symbols to make them realistic. I could also include underground features like pipes or utilities if data is available. This would help visualize how space is used and could be useful for planning improvements or studying environmental patterns.

 

Chapter 5:

Raster tile layers are large and can take a long time to render, but once they are created, they are an important piece that works well as a base for other projects.

Vector tile layers are smaller and can be updated easier because it generates tiles based on data density.

Map image layers are mostly used for large datasets that need server-side rendering.

Map layers aren’t reusable because it’s rare for two map requests to cover the same data. All map requests read from the database and generate after the request, so they take the most time. Raster and vector tiles don’t read from the database because they are already cached or generated on the web server, so they are faster. Feature tile requests must be generated the first time they are requested, but will then be cached in the web server and faster to load.

Raster layer: the labels don’t rotate to stay upright, it is less clear, and it doesn’t display when zoomed too far. Vector layer: the labels stay upright when the map is rotated, it is clearer , and it displays at closer zoom levels.

Chapter 6:

Spatiotemporal data is observations of objects and events that change over time.

Moving: something that moves such as live feeds of vehicles.

Discrete: something that “just happens” such as earthquakes, geotagged feeds, criminal incidents.

Stationary: stands still but values change such as wind speed and direction from a weather station, highway traffic speed.

Change: change or growth such as perimeters of wildfires and floods.

Application based on 5 & 6:

I could make an application that tracks when the trees around campus drop their leaves, grow new leaves, grow flowers, grow fruit, drop fruit, etc. Pairing it with a gauge noting how many are flowering, growing fruit, etc. a list of what types of trees they are, and a map that shows where they are on campus.

Chapter 7 was interesting learning about how 3D models are made and the different ways they are used. The chapter focused a lot on to make maps more realistic and easier to understand. Instead of just looking at a flat map, you can see things like buildings, terrain, and other features with height and depth. It explains how tools like ArcGIS Scene Viewer let you explore, create, and customize these 3D environments. The chapter also goes over different types of 3D data, like feature layers and scene layers, and how elevation plays a role. Overall, it shows how 3D maps help people better visualize real-world spaces and make smarter decisions. The tutorials were fairly easy to follow with the exception of a couple parts that I had to look up. It definitely helps already knowing where a lot of the tools are on ARCGIS Online. I also thought editing and seeing the visuals on screen viewer were very cool and you could see how complex the tool can get.

An application for this chapter could be a 3D model of the bottom of a lake with depths and structure underwater. This could be a website that someone makes and makes it easier for fisherman to find drop offs and good fishing spots where fish might congregate. I could also be a tool just for overall boaters to give them warnings where shallow parts of the lake are and where to avoid. 

Chapter 7: 

Chapter 7 focuses on 3D web scenes, which are basically 3D maps. These 3D web scenes expand GIS beyond the traditional 2D maps. 3D maps are useful for specific industries that may need a detailed 3D view of certain geographic features, such as urban planning applications. It gives these industries the ability to visualize height, depth, and structure, adding a new layer of understanding and analysis that would be difficult to achieve otherwise on 2D maps. The chapter introduces different types of 3D layers. These include 3D object layers, integrated mesh, and point cloud layers. These layers allow the user to represent visuals from simple objects to highly detailed real-world environments, allowing for flexibility when creating 3D maps. It also discusses the differences between cartographic and photorealistic scenes. Cartographic scenes are 3D scenes that are largely symbolic and do not necessarily represent real objects, but are designed to communicate spatial phenomena and data. They are useful for showing abstract data and patterns, such as population statistics and transportation flow. Photorealistic scenes aim to recreate an accurate depiction of reality by focusing on realistic/detailed visuals, which can be useful for gaining a visual understanding of the space as well as creating engaging visuals for the general public. I found the distinction between photorealistic and cartographic scenes interesting because it shows that realism is not always the goal. Sometimes clarity and simplicity are more important, depending on the purpose of the map and the data it is trying to display.

Application:  An application based on ideas from Chapter 7 could be a 3D web scene of my daily environment. I’m curious what it would visually look like if I created a photorealistic scene map of a state park that I frequently visit from publicly available data. I would be able to examine the map and discover areas I had previously never discovered. It would also allow me to identify hiking paths and create an application of the 3D map displaying these paths for the public. I chose a photorealistic scene in order to give the public a visual sense of the trail they wish to hike. 

Chapter 7: 

The 7th Chapter is about 3D Web mapping, which is explained to be helpful for communicating data in an efficient and easy to understand manner. They also have the upper hand in providing application to a larger array of uses, such as storytelling, urban planning, film making, defense simulations, and much more. I actually find it quite shocking to see that there are creative applications that can come from ArcGIS, as I had previously thought of it as primarily for data visualization, analysis of said data, and urban planning. The 3D makeup can present in one of two ways, photorealistic, and cartographic, which is more abstract. The maps themselves are made up of 4 separate aspects: The surfaces, features, textures, and atmospheric effects. Knowing the extent of what can go into the creation of the maps, it makes it easier to understand the ways in which it can be used in the context of film creation. The chapter goes on to explain the additional options a user has when creating a 3D map, as they can create an overview, which allows them to view buildings as a single layer. They can also create disciplines which combine multiple layers into different categories of buildings. There is also a filter which allows the user to view different features included with each building. The 3D feature can be used across various different GIS platforms such as ArcGIS pro, ArcGIS city engine, ArcGIS online, and ArcGIS enterprise, so there is a wide variety of accessibility to this tool. 

Future applications:

I could create a 3D map that displays an urban landscape of an urban area with high rates of house fires and visualize how many houses contain gas stoves versus electric stovetops, using the filter layer to accompany other data such as what type of furnace is being used, and what type of ventilation system is in place. Then I could do the same to another urban area with similar qualities that has lower rates of fires, to see if there is a correlation between the two. 

Chapter 7 

The 3D world and its advanced forms are making GIS more intuitive, immersive, and useful. In ArcGIS, 3D web maps are referred to as web scenes. This chapter introduces the basic terminology of web scenes and the types of scene layers. Using 3D brings advantages to data visualization, analysis, and communication. Users typically find 3D scenes more interesting and intuitive to interpret which gives 3D GIS a wider applicability in storytelling, urban planning, and many other industries. Based on the visual effects, scenes can be grouped into two main types: photorealistic- which aims to re-create reality using photos to texture features, and cartographic – which takes 2D thematic mapping techniques and moves them into 3D. There are two view modes for scenes, local mode which displays features on a planar surface, and global mode which displays features on a sphere. Scenes have four main types of elements: surfaces which are continuous measurements, typically elevation with one value for a given x,y location; features which live on, above, or below the surfaces; textures which provide exterior or interior covers of your 3D features; and atmospheric effects like lighting and fog. 

Chapter 7 covers the 3D uses and types used in ArcGIS. 3D maps allow for a better understanding of presented data, improving communication, visualization, and analysis. There are two types of 3D map types in ArcGIS: cartographic and photorealistic. Each of these types have their own uses in different cases. Photorealistic provides a direct, real-world view of the presented area and would be more useful in areas such as architecture or infrastructure, while cartographic is better at portraying abstract ideas or values, being more useful in cases covering a larger area, such as showing populations of counties or states. 3D mapping has a multitude of uses with both visualization types (photorealistic and cartographic) and can be utilized in a wide variety of cases. From interior design, interactive digital situations, plumbing, game design, artistic interpretation, environmental protection, and many, many other situations. There are endless possibilities and utilizations of not only the basic 2D mapping in ArcGIS but also the more immersive and complex 3D mapping and visualizations.

The ideas introduced in Chapter 7 can be applied by combining a cartographic map of an apartment complex’s resident population and a photorealistic map of the lots. This can help provide a landowner with an idea of why certain locations are more sought after than others. Things like the apartment’s view, closeness to highways/major roads, ease of entry, and other factors can play into this and be seen from the photorealistic map. The cartographic map will help with seeing trends of desired locations around the complex.

Chapter 7

This chapter was all about 3D web scenes! Following the theme of previous chapters, it started out explaining the basic terminology of web scenes. I learned that web scenes are just another name for a 3D web map, which we already have plenty of experience with in this class. Web scenes are especially useful for better visualization of many different applications. The textbook mentions that web scenes can be good for urban planning, architectural designs, and even filmmaking. The latter was an application that I hadn’t previously thought of using Web GIS for…but what I’ve learned taking this course is that this type of software can be used for pretty much anything! Similar to web maps, scenes are also capable of having multiple layers. These layers can have completely different visual styles, like photorealistic layers or cartographic layers. For designing urban planning or architecture, I can see the photorealistic effect coming in handy. This is what I’m envisioning for my second web app design for this course. Later in the chapter, before the tutorials, there are general step-by-step guidelines to get you started on creating a web scene. I found this especially useful and will also be revisiting this when I need help designing my scene. VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) also find a place in this chapter. The differences between the two are described along with some visual examples. I’ve seen some pretty cool applications for VR, specifically for video games where completely new worlds are constructed. Crazy cool technology!

Future applications

Before I even finished the chapter, I decided I wanted my second web app to be a web scene displaying some form of nature conservancy/park/garden design. In order to accomplish this, I plan on following one of the tutorials supplied at the end of the chapter (likely the park design one). Included in this design will be a native species layout with pop-ups giving some basic information about the species. The exactness of the layout will depend on what public data/symbols I can use for the feature layers. 

Chapter 5 of the book continues by introducing and going into ArcGIS Enterprise, which is a more private version than its ArcGIS Online counterpart. ArcGIS Enterprise allows its users to manage their own infrastructure or choose which cloud providers manage it, unlike ArcGIS Online, where all cloud and data is managed by Esri, which allows users more flexibility and privacy with the ArcGIS programs. ArcGIS Enterprise is a program that contains multiple different ArcGIS components that, in turn, allow for its flexibility and use in more private cases. With ArcGIS Enterprise, as shown in one of the figures in the chapter, organizations that are separate but closely related can hold their own private ArcGIS programs while also sharing necessary information and mapping, increasing communication ease and flow. Overall, Chapter 5 goes into the more technical and realistic properties of ArcGIS and ArcGIS Enterprise beyond mapping and app creation. Looks like the tutorials of this chapter utilize ArcGIS Pro, which was covered in GEOG 291 if you have taken that course. ArcGIS Pro, I find, has many more options for mapping utilities and is a more in-depth version of ArcGIS Online, with ArcGIS Online being more accessible for publishing projects.

Chapter 6 of the book covers spatiotemporal and real-time data uses and implications within ArcGIS Online. This chapter covers the four types of spatiotemporal data that can be utilized by GIS systems: moving (transportation or other actively moving objects/beings), discrete (events that just happen), stationary (not moving but changes in value, like wind speeds), and change (the area covered by something, such as building parameters or flood covered land). Time duration of mapped events can be a point in time (short, direct) or a duration (length of time).

A real-world application of the ideas covered in chapters 5 and 6 is a real-time updating map system for tracking fire spread, area, and severity, or for tracking crime locations and types within a community. These maps can then be used by the relevant department (fire or police) to implement the appropriate protocols for such situations and shared with government officials or environmentalists (in the case of wildfires) to address potential problems in the area for recurring instances.

Chapter 7: 

This chapter really continues to dive deeper into some of the topics we’d previously covered in previous chapters about 3D web mapping and the very beneficial aspects of it. Some of the 3D modeling examples or pictures they use to show the capabilities remind me a lot of some different building systems I have used to create designs in the past. With this being the case, the chapter continues to talk a lot about the variety and availability of layers, such as Building scene layers that have quite a few features that allow you to visualize very complex models and also separate a majority of the features to be able to look at individual things as well, like plumbing systems or literally just looking at specifically windows. There is also a number of other scene layers, including integrated mesh, point cloud, voxel, and 3D object scene layers. Another big part of the chapter is explaining VR, XR, and the metaverse. Which the concept of virtual reality is pretty easy to understand, considering I have used VR headsets before. XR is much more interesting, and I have never heard of it before reading this chapter, but it is essentially a combination of different reality technologies. I think the uses for this (i.e., design or entertainment) are also really cool; it can be used for such a large variety of things and to create new imagery. From what I understood, the metaverse is essentially the possible social interaction within these examples of reality technologies, that being interacting with others through these systems. 

Tutorials: 

It was really interesting implementing the individual features like the bushes, trees, etc., to see how to implement 3D objects. I especially liked adding in the cherry trees just because it made the map really pretty and kind of reminded me of how parts of campus look right now.  

Application: 

I was thinking of an application I could use the 3D mapping to create, basically a 3D model of a national park, since sometimes they aren’t the most accessible thing, but it would allow people to see one of the parks. Now that I think about it, I also wouldn’t be surprised if this has already been done, especially because I feel like virtual tours and such are really common now.