Chapter 5: Caching and on-premises Web GIS
This chapter goes into a lot of detail about two different types of GIS platforms, which are ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise. We have already learned about ArcGIS Online – which is a large platform managed by Esri – so learning about ArcGIS Enterprise was a new thing for me. This platform allows different organizations to build their own private GIS systems within their own buildings or infrastructures. When organizations do this, it seems like they use it when they need greater security or if they have limited WiFi. I think that is helpful for organizations that do not want their specific data spread out to the world (even though they could keep it private). So that part was a little confusing to me but it’s still neat! There was also a lot of information on how the data can come together and make maps, layers, and applications, especially in the sense of an organization who wishes to keep that information under wraps.
ArcGIS Enterprise has four main components, and all of those components had different examples at the end of the chapter which was nice! There is a Server, a Data Store, a Portal, and a Web Adaptor. It also included different ways that organizations can include their data and share it with others over the ArcGIS Enterprise Portal. It seems like they are able to improve efficiency and data control when using Enterprise, which would be helpful within a large organization. The chapter also focused a lot on how different web layer types can affect the performance of a GIS platform. I went through a tutorial that demonstrated this. Like we have learned in previous chapters, the layers you use matter for what data you have! The chapter ended with discussing how to create workflows in ArcGIS Pro, something that I think will be helpful for the future.
Chapter 6: Spatiotemporal data and Real-time GIS
I think this has been my favorite chapter so far, because it relates to real-life situations that GIS can demonstrate and help people visualize. Chapter 6 focuses on how the Web GIS platforms can support real-time data and also a time-based analysis, which is very helpful for understanding weather patterns, traffic interruptions, or even natural disasters. I think that is why this chapter was interesting to me; because I got to learn about and create real examples using GIS! This whole concept is called real-time GIS, and it involves data that is constantly being updated and changed in order for people to visualize current conditions. I think that this application of GIS is so cool and something that more people should be aware of. It is important to note that this is a step up from static maps and how they provide information, because these are always evolving. The examples for this chapter were really neat too!
Chapter 6 goes on with discussing how to interact with different tools and feature layers. There is not one simple map that is not static, it is a whole combination of charts, indicators, and filters that are used to create one large moving demonstration that illustrates patterns and changes. I also noticed that users can configure differences with interactivity, which basically means how the data is displayed to different viewers. The tutorials for this chapter were a little longer than the other ones, but were still useful in helping me understand how to visualize different types of data. ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online are two platforms that help create moving images and datasets, which is neat to me. It just made me wonder how many things in my daily life are made from GIS? It’s cool to think about. The chapter discussed how make the real-time and spatiotemporal data analyses helpful in everyday life and how important they are for keeping up with changes in real time.