Week 3
Chapter 3 introduces the Experience Builder, which allows users to create interactive experiences using maps, widgets, themes, and layouts. Each web experience starts with a template or blank document, and users can add a theme for visual appeal. You can then add your own maps or maps made by other users, and use message or data action widgets to refine map data or the map’s extent.
The tutorial was pretty straightforward and involved using many widgets, which were more time-consuming than difficult.
Chapter 4 focuses on mobile GIS applications. The three main approaches to building mobile GIS apps are native apps, web apps, and hybrid apps, emphasizing practical uses for these tools, especially for field data collection. A major portion of the chapter covers creating smart surveys with Survey123, designing forms in the web designer, and collecting data in the field. It also explains how to edit feature layers and templates to ensure consistent, accurate data entry. The chapter continues with ArcGIS field maps, showing how to prepare web maps with smart forms for map-based data collection. It also introduces QuickCapture, which allows for easy one-tap data capture in the field. Finally, the chapter explains AuGeo and explains how to prepare spatial data for AR visualizations and use it for understanding geographic context.
The tutorial was different from previous activities in that it added the aspect of collecting data with Survey123, the Field Maps mobile app, and QuickCapture, which I found interesting and potentially useful. AuGeo was also really cool to use, and I really liked the interactive experience it provided.
One application that could be created from these chapters would be using Survey123 and Field Maps to better monitor water quality in a county or city. This would allow for a higher quantity of reliable information to be shared among those involved in the water industry or in environmental science fields, where water quality is a growing concern.
Week 4
Chapter 5 explains how caching is important for improving the performance of web maps. By pre-generating map tiles with tile layers, systems can be applied to maps much faster than rendering data. This is especially important for datasets or applications that are large. In short, tile layers trade flexibility for speed, in that once they are cached, they are not easy to edit in real time. The chapter also explains on-premise Web GIS, which is where GIS infrastructure is hosted locally rather than in the cloud. This allows users to have more control over data and who has access to it. Cloud-based GIS and on-premise systems appear to have individual benefits of control and convenience.
The tutorial for this chapter began with adding a portal connection with ArcPro, then adding a web layer and publishing a map from ArcPro as a web layer and a raster tile layer, and comparing them. I did not previously know that ArcGIS Pro and Web versions could be connected so easily, which I will definitely use in the future.
Chapter 6 explains spatiotemporal data, which adds the aspect of time to GIS, and allows users to see patterns over time. This can be moving, discrete, stationary, or change, each of which is a different type of change. This is especially useful for things like weather or other environmental changes. Real-time GIS can also be used to take in live data from sensors, GPS, and IoT systems. I thought that the application of IoT to create smart cities and homes to better manage resources within them was a very interesting real-world application of GIS. This chapter also explains ArcGIS Mission, which from myn understanding, is similar to a forum where users can find works related to a cause they are interested or working in.
The tutorial for this chapter involved creating a web map, a dashboard app, and using arcade. Then, dealing with temporal data, creating an animated web map.
I would like to use cached tile layers to create a live or animated traffic map to better inform the residents of Delaware, Ohio about the current status of roads in the area, as I feel that there is a lot of unnecessary traffic in odd areas of the city. This could also be used to urge local government officials to put more resources into the planning and development of roads, in ways that would better conduct the flows of traffic based on where it is occurring now.