Author: ckhagans

For my first app, I followed the format from Chapter 1 with the Redlands Attraction app. However, I created an app that had information about five different Dark Sky locations. Dark Sky International is a non-profit organization that aims to preserve the night sky, and they recognize areas all over the world as Dark Sky locations if they have protected land and skies. These places are all great for stargazing! First, I found the five locations I wanted to use on the Dark Sky International website (https://darksky.org/what-we-do/international-dark-sky-places/all-places/), then I created a CSV with the location name, a caption, and the coordinates that I could upload into ArcGIS Online. I also found pictures of each location and added them by enabling attachments on the layer. I saved this and created a feature layer that I used to create the web map. This part was pretty easy, it was mostly just opening the feature layer in the Map Viewer, then I could customize the basemap and style the points. Finally, once I made the web map, I opened it in the Instant App feature, which allows it to be viewed on different devices! Hopefully, this app is helpful for people who enjoy stargazing and want to discover some good destinations!

Here is the link to the app: https://owugis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/attachmentviewer/index.html?appid=9fcd89442d8646c7ac7360aa8b230608

For my second app, I chose to show the change in ozone concentration in 10 US cities from 2000-2020. I modeled this app after Chapter 6. First, I had to find data on pollutants in the US, which was surprisingly difficult. I could find many sources ranking cities from most to least polluted, but none had actual data. Finally, I found data for ozone concentration on the EPA website. I found data for the years 2000 and 2020, so my app looks a little different than the tutorial we did in the book. Because I didn’t have data for the years in between, it’s more of an abrupt time slider rather than showing gradual changes over 20 years. Once I found the data, I had to put it in Excel in a way it could be recognized in ArcGIS. Then, I exported it as CSV and created a feature layer on ArcGIS online, where I enabled the time setting. After this, I opened it in the map viewer and had to play around a bit with the style so I could best show the changes in ozone since some of the values were very close. I found that the “heat map” style for the ozone concentration was the best for showing slight changes! Then, I added the time slider option and exported it into instant apps, which took forever to load! Eventually, I was able to add the map I created from the ozone feature layer to the instant app and add the legend and time slider! I wish I could have found more data from each of the years between 2000 and 2020 to show the change a little bit better, but I think this map gets the idea across pretty well! There may be a way to do this that I don’t know of, but I think if I could adjust the time slider (I played around with it and I couldn’t get it) to go from just 2000 to 2020, it might be a bit better, but for now, if you want to see the change, you just have to slide from 2019 to 2020! Again, while the map itself here isn’t super complex, I think for these kinds of maps, there is a lot more behind-the-scenes work with creating the CSV and finding the appropriate data. For the GIS 291 final, most of us used the Delaware County GIS data, so we didn’t have to create our own CSVs, but since ArcGIS online is a little more customizable, I imagine that most people will have to go searching for specific data and will have to format it correctly to upload as a feature layer like I did for both of my apps.

Here is the link: https://owugis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/slider/index.html?appid=23e27784a1b04dc99b10a12bc9eac801

This tutorial was very short and interesting. I was able to get most of the steps completed, but a few of my scenes turned out a little different than the ones in the book. I enjoyed learning how to symbolize the 3D objects in the park scene, and I liked how much variety of symbols ArcGIS provides. It was also interesting to learn how to display population density on a 3D map, although I think we did this a little in GEOG 291. A few of the buttons are labeled differently from what the book says to look for, so some of the tutorials took a little longer just to search for the right buttons. I also am beginning to realize how easy it is to manipulate and symbolize a scene to show very specific things. This chapter also went over ways to make 3D scenes realistic by adjusting the size or height at which the 3D symbols are placed in the scene. I think some of the scenes they have us practicing on may be a little crowded with cars and helicopters! Using techniques from this chapter, I think it would be a cool idea to use either the Delaware GIS data or another set of data I could find to symbolize a certain area in a 3D scene. For example, I could symbolize trees, benches, and other features of downtown Delaware, or another area with that available data.

 

This chapter went very smoothly and I finally didn’t run into any problems using ArcGIS Online. The beginning of the chapter went through how to create a dashboard app, which is useful for displaying information that is constantly changing and the dashboard can keep it up to date, which is a very useful application. This section also introduced me to new elements on ArcGIS Online and how to put multiple elements on one page to display as much information as possible. The next section went over how to use Arcade to format certain things. This section involved adding a bit of code, but it was pretty easy and I got it to work. Next, the chapter went over how to add a time slider to show how things like population can change over time. I got more practice with symbolizing attributes and what sizes and colors to use to show up best on maps. I think it would be very interesting to use the time slider for a project idea, and this could really be used to show a wide variety of data. If there is data available, I think it could be cool to show a time slider of tree leaf fall in autumn. It would be interesting to see how leaf fall compares from state to state. 

 

Application idea: I think it would be interesting to create an application using the School District data set from the Delaware Data Inventory and use it to highlight the school districts in Delaware County and some of their accomplishments, mascots, facts, history, etc. I didn’t go to school around here, but I think this would be an interesting app for locals who are interested in the high schools around Delaware. If I could find it (if it’s even available), I could also do this using schools from the county where I am from so that it would feel a little more personal and relevant. This could be turned into something unique using the Experience Builder feature!

Chapter 3: Chapter 3 is all about learning to use the Experience Builder, which as I understand it, is a feature in ArcGIS Online that allows people to make unique and interactive web experiences without having to worry about too much coding! I think this a really cool concept that makes app building much more accessible and allows for more information to be shared. The book explains that you can choose from a template and pick the theme of your web experience, and then you can use multiple tools to design it the way you want. 

Tutorial 3: This tutorial was an overview of how to use the ArcGIS Experience Builder to map an application about natural disasters. For the most part, it was pretty easy to follow and understand, but like other people, I ran into a few problems. It was interesting to see all the different widgets that are available to customize the web experience. I wasn’t able to link my Views Navigation to the 2D and 3D map, so there might be something buggy with this feature since other people appeared to have issues as well. I thought that the Dynamic Content feature in the Text widget was really cool to use. I had a little trouble with the SQL builder and I’m not quite sure I did it correctly. Tutorials 3.5 and on were a bit difficult because it built on stuff in 3.5 which I couldn’t quite get to work. However, I was able to do 3.1-3.4 easily, so I’m glad I got the basics of the Experience Builder so I can use it in the future because it is a really useful tool!

Chapter 4: This chapter is about Mobile GIS and some of the other ways you can utilize ArcGIS Online to reach a broader audience through phones, tablets, laptops, etc. Some of the terms they use in the introduction are a little out of my realm of knowledge, but I mostly understood that Mobile GIS is a very powerful and versatile tool. The ArcGIS Field Maps is a really interesting concept that could probably be used for some of the biology field labs that we offer here at OWU since it gives tasks and assignments based on locations. It is also interesting to see how VAR and AR can be incorporated into these applications for a very visual concept. 

Tutorial 4: It’s a little hard to begin with all of the different GIS features because they all seem to have different names for the Panes and all of the tools are in new places each chapter. For example, in tutorial 4.1 I couldn’t find the Add Tab button in the location the book said it was. It’s a little frustrating when you can’t find something because then I had to skip most of the rest of 4.1 since it builds on the Add Tab direction, which wasn’t there. I wonder if sometimes they just update the names of the items on ArcGIS, but the book is a bit older. Sometimes I can work around the little differences, but since I’m not familiar with Survey123, I couldn’t find another feature to replace the Tab with. I also didn’t publish this Survey since it didn’t even have most of the things from the tutorial. I think this is an interesting concept, but I wish I was able to find the option to add the actual survey parameters. There were also a few things I couldn’t find in 4.3 like the Change Style button, but this was mostly doable. Some of the things I could find on a different tab than what the book specified. I wasn’t able to do the Expression builder in this chapter. I struggled with this in a previous chapter because the book has different directions than how the Expression builder is set up now, so I have no idea what I should be doing. The bad thing about this chapter is that every other tutorial requires you to try out the app you just built in the previous tutorial, but I haven’t been able to complete an entire app without some sort of issue, so I’m never able to try it out with the mobile app. The AR app was very cool! I was testing it out in my room, so I couldn’t completely see some of the POIs I put in, but it was still fun to test out.

The first chapter of this book starts by explaining some of the benefits of having GIS on a web-based platform- such as increased interactions, wider access, and easy use. I also learned what HTTPS, HTML, and URL stand for (abbreviations we all use every day but probably don’t know what they actually mean). The first chapter also goes into a lot of technical explanations about the geospatial cloud capabilities- which didn’t make a ton of sense to me, but it was still interesting to see how widely available Web GIS is. It was interesting to learn about the history behind web GIS websites and how they used to be all separate before the 1990s, which made it incredibly difficult to share information with others. Once the internet and web became more sophisticated in the late 1990s, GIS applications became much easier to view, use, and share. It was also interesting to read about how Web GIS uses AI and machine learning currently. These chapters also go over some of the content involved in ArcGIS Online- most of which are similar to ArcGIS Pro, but the apps and web maps are a new concept (though we partially looked at some of these in 291). One very nice part about the GIS apps is that they don’t require any coding or programming- which makes them much more accessible to a wider range of people. The tutorials were all fairly easy- there was a bit of a learning curve finding where all of the things are located in the different toolbars since it is slightly different than what I had become so familiar with on ArcGIS Pro. I enjoyed creating the apps, and I also thought it was a good feature to have a preview of how the app would look on a phone, computer, etc. It was also fun getting to style some of the points in ways that ArcGIS Pro couldn’t. 

One idea for an app based on the techniques used in chapters 1 and 2 would be an interactive app/ web map that would be directed toward road trippers or people traveling through the US. Routes could be drawn on the map, with stops in cities or landmarks that have interactive points with information on each location. Another application of these techniques would be to show the pollution data of various cities and even show how it has changed over time by comparing current pollution data to previous recordings (using the above and below feature). This would give us an idea of what cities have strived towards decreasing their pollutants and which have increased their pollution.

My name is Carsyn Hagans, and I’m a sophomore biology and environmental science major! I just got done with GIS 291, so I’m excited to see how this course goes.

When I was poking around ArcGIS, I noticed that it has links to a lot of different apps, and I remember from last semester that ArcGIS Online can be used for a variety of things. Also, there appears to be a pretty big online community that uses ArcGIS Online, and when I opened up the Blog and the Forum, there were a lot of posts and information about GIS, which would be helpful to anyone using the website that had questions. 

When I looked through the Getting Started section, I noticed that while ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online seem to have similar features, ArcGIS Online looks a little more modern and user-friendly, in my opinion. Because the online version can be done on a laptop, it is also nice to know I can use the Macbook keyboard shortcuts that I am used to. Another thing that I found interesting in the Getting Started section was the How to Visualize Weather section. This section talks about the different ways you can manipulate your scenes to show different weather effects, which seems like a very cool feature. Throughout this entire section, I mainly learned that there are so many ways to use ArcGIS Online to reach a diverse audience. 

When I completed the intro course, a lot of it was either similar to how we created maps in 291, so I remembered it well, or I remembered it slightly from when we actually used ArcGIS Online. It was interesting to learn about some of the more specific ways that you can share web maps with specific people or groups, and it is nice that the Sharing tool is easy to manipulate. Also, it was interesting to see how ArcGIS Online is a little more limited in its capabilities than Pro, but it is still a very useful tool. Here’s my certificate 🙂

One interesting way I found (on Google) that people have used ArcGIS Online is to map the distributions of reefs. Because reefs are so sensitive to temperature changes, lots of organizations are keeping a close eye on their health. People have used ArcGIS Online to map how reefs have become bleached and what their current conditions are. This is very useful for scientists or conservationists because it allows them to target their conservation efforts to one location that is at the most risk. Interestingly, I found a live feed of coral reef bleaching incidences that an organization keeps up to date with NOAA data! 

https://hub.arcgis.com/maps/26e71d14067c4b3f8dd31d1a4e008cfb/about

Additionally, I found that ArcGIS Online can be used to share maps of animal distributions and populations. Specifically, I looked up the distribution and population density of sea otters, but I’m sure there are many different maps that show how other species are distributed as well. I think this kind of information could be useful for a wide variety of people, from undergraduate students to researchers. These kinds of interactive maps can even be used in schools or museums when giving lessons on certain organisms! 

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?layers=f631c975b1e348d89961eddc13b498a5