Chapter 3: This chapter explores the ArcGIS Experience Builder that facilitates the process of creating projects, templates or map features. Using this tool can be very helpful when it comes to providing data triggers, like 2D or 3D maps or layouts. I also learned that each web app is called a web experience when made from using the Experience Builder. One can customize this and can format it so it works with other devices. In addition to these web experiences, one can create various forms of widgets and pages to organize their data. I believe this is a helpful tool and I really like that one can personalize it (to an extent) the way they want. Although I would like to know why there are so many editions of the experience builder? Would it not be possible to just put all the features in one edition?
Application: An application idea I have related to chapter 3 is to use it to create a map displaying floods in Ohio. I would use the Experience builder to create a web experience, and it would include a basic widget to display a map of Ohio floods. Additionally, I think a message action for the widget would be appropriate for this study. That way, the map can be up to date when there is a severe flood in Ohio. Perhaps I would just focus on a city like Toledo since it is near a body of water, and it could also facilitate adding data of one city instead of an entire state.
Chapter 4: This chapter focuses on using GIS on a mobile device such as smartphones. Some of the advantages of using mobile GIS is that it is more portable, more accessible, and can have more accurate data. However, there is a limited amount of time and digital space available in order to work on mobile applications. The chapter mentions that it is important to adjust the GIS features in order for it to function on the mobile device. One of the ways one can do this is by using feature templates in order to get data. An important aspect of working with GIS on the phone must be to allow permission for some people to add, edit, or delete data. Other topics I learned in this chapter was that GIS can work indoors or outdoors, and surveys are created using Survey123 Connect. I was surprised to learn about this topic because smartphones are small compared to a PC, so working on a project must be challenging. I wonder what would have been of GIS if we still continued to use PCs instead of mobile devices. Would it have been the same, better or worse?
Application: An application idea that I have related to Chapter 4 is to create a survey asking college students if they study 15 hours a week. I could use a large university such as OSU to gather more information and get a large range of answers. I would use the Survey123 Connect to help me set up and create the survey. If possible I would also like to follow up with a second question asking where they study the most on the college campus. I have yet to choose which application idea I would like to pursue for Week’s 6 assignment, because I like them all!