Hello! My name is Haley Roberts and I’m a second year Environmental Science major and Biology minor. I took the 291 class last semester, which went well considering that I’m not very great with technology. I figured it would make sense to take the 292 course this semester since it seems like being familiar with the ArcGIS programs could be useful in a future career.
One of the items that stood out to me while looking through my account was the Community and Forums section, which took me to a page labeled ESRI Community. I didn’t remember seeing this before, but it seems like a really good way to learn more about ArcGIS. It looks like people also troubleshoot in the online chats to solve issues with the program, so this might be helpful if I run into any issues in the future.
A second section that caught my attention was under the settings category and on the credits page. It currently lists 1,000 credits under my profile, which was not what I expected. The link under the credits took me to an informational page that explained that credits can be used for premium features. This seems like something that could be nice to keep in mind for use in a project.
I thought the tutorial for the Online Basics was helpful. The Instant Apps feature was especially neat because it seems like it could be included in a project and save a lot of time rather than if you tried to make the app yourself. I also like that the tutorial tells you exactly how to preview and use the apps, which made the information easier to understand. The tutorial also spent a lot of time emphasizing the difference between public and organizational accounts as well as the different sharing options. I could see this being extremely important in a workplace setting or if someone is working on a group project for a class.
Since the tutorial mentioned emergency response, I wanted to look at ArcGIS uses in mapping/presenting information on natural disasters. The first map I found was of tornado paths in the United States, which I found very interesting. I could see maps such as this one being used to track long-term weather patterns or to group natural disasters by year or severity to compare with other factors such as average temperature or annual rainfall. I also found a second map on ArcOnline that used to be updated every half hour to display the current weather reports from stations across the United States. While it no longer works, I think the map was a cool example of what all can be accomplished using ArcOnline.
(2023). Arcgis.com. https://www.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=01672085b139432e8fe1296a743f67d7