Chapter 3: It began with telling us about the ArcGIS Experience Builder, which appears to be an app that is more flexible, configurable, and functional than any other instant ArcGIS app. I did have to read through that a few times just to make sure I had all of the information right, then I noticed that they provided a similar table as they have in previous chapters, which displays all of the features we have learned about so far and compares them, which is really helpful. The chapter went on to describe how we can use code, 2D and 3D maps, and specific widgets to create different types of applications. I personally found this chapter really interesting because I did not know you could do all this on ArcGIS Online! An important thing that I noted was that a web experience has to have one page but can have multiple pages or windows, which are basically the building blocks of the application. I went through some of the examples and was able to play around with the different data, which helped me see how everything was meant to be displayed.
The chapter continued with more information about the Experience Builder, and gave more tutorials on how to complete tables and maps using Widgets (which I never knew existed outside of the iPhone). Tutorial 3.5 focused on how we can configure the Filter and Chart widgets, which I found very helpful in terms of the applications we were given. This feature seems like it would be helpful for my project! There also seemed to be a lot of data you can use for the ArcGIS Experience Builder, which is cool because we don’t have to be limited in the data we find or what we want to examine. I also really like how they include questions and answers to those questions at the end of the chapter. I was curious about how some code can get embedded but not others, and that helped with my confusion.
Chapter 4: Chapter 4 had a similar introduction as Chapter 3, except they focused on Mobile Gis instead of the ArcGIS Experience Builder. There are three building applications, which are browser based, native based, and hybrid based. This seems really convenient that there is Mobile GIS, and it does not have to be affected by any hard-drives, wires, or set WiFi systems. It seems super easy to use on the go. It also can be used on a bunch of different platforms and devices which is cool! They continued with talking about the different feature layers and how you can add, update, and delete features, and it also talked about how you can define a feature layer in ArcGIS Desktop or Map Viewer in ArcGIS Online. Then the authors defined the different building applications and how they can be used with different coding languages, such as JavaScript/HTML. There are different ways on how you can create a survey using tables and maps.
Chapter 4 continued with more examples and tutorials! There was also a cool feature in there called ArcGIS Indoors, which is something I never considered that could be used with GIS. I had always assumed that it had to be used outside, but it totally makes sense for indoor use as well. It works with connecting to WiFi and Bluetooth inside specific areas, which allows for people to use it anywhere. I think I would tie this back into my bird breeding ground experiment somehow, and try to make the app useful for indoor use as well. I think I would make it so the locations of buildings or structures near the birds’ breeding grounds appear. I would compare highly occupied breeding grounds to unoccupied breeding grounds and see if the interior of the structures had any similarities or differences. I went through a few of the tutorials to finish up the chapter, and that helped my knowledge on how to work the Mobile GIS. This seems like a really helpful feature to be able to use, especially for using maps, data, and different applications needed in a mobile setting.