Author: heroberts

App 1: Places to See in Montréal

https://owugis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/attachmentviewer/index.html?appid=f4181d6cea2546eda6533bef7a3de982

The first app I made for my final project reflects the topics covered in the Getting to Know Web GIS chapters 1-4. I particularly enjoyed using the Instant Apps program to make a detailed app showing points of interest, such as the one completed in the chapter 1 tutorial. Places to See in Montréal uses the same Instant App format as the one in the tutorial, but with this app I wanted to incorporate points of interest that I saw or visited during a trip with my parents in 2023. To create the app, I first started by making a .csv file with Google sheets; In it, I included the name of the point of interest, a short paragraph to caption the location, and the location’s longitude and latitude. Following this, I then loaded the .csv file into ArcOnline as a Feature Layer, which I opened in Map Viewer to edit basemap, symbology, and visible fields to ones that were cleaner and more cohesive. Once this was complete, I loaded the map into an Instant App preset, and finalized the project. The result is an interactive map displaying 10 pinned locations, each with a caption and 2-3 relevant images attached.

App 2: Hocking Hills Hiking Guide

https://owugis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/27e9fc7199cb463f98f874c5f1d7de81

The second app I made for my final project reflects the topics covered in the textbook chapters 5-8. I took inspiration from the chapter 6 dashboard tutorial and made my own dashboard for people interested in hiking in Hocking Hills State Park. The dashboard was designed to provide information for hikers about the status of trails, weather conditions, and other helpful landmarks like parking lots and trail waypoints to ensure a safe and well-planned excursion. I started this project by using the ODNR’s Hocking Hills map for the location of trails and points of interest. After hiding the nonessential information, refining the pop-up details, and changing the symbology, I added the map to a new dashboard. I turned on features such as a search bar and location finder to help hikers navigate to a specific point of the park or their own location. Afterwards, I added in a map of weather advisories from the National Weather Service that automatically refreshes. I finished up the project by adding legends, titles and subtitles, and a theme to make the dashboard clean, legible, and effective.

Chapter 7: The textbook explanation of the difference between XR, AR, MR, and VR seems like it could be increasingly more relevant in today’s modern world (I previously was not aware that the terms XR and MR even existed). Also, the fact that an ArcGIS program was used to build cities in several movies is not something that I expected to read, but it makes sense given the abilities of the program. The state population density map visual turned out really neat, but I could not figure out how to resolve the issue with Alaska’s mountains sticking out through the polygon extrusion (I could not locate the elevation mode setting that the book said to use to fix the problem). While the 3D features might have some advantages, I definitely had issues with this specific Fun Park scene. Some of the feature placements and counts just seemed strange- the parking lot was a solid sea of cars (with some the size of buildings and others the size of chickens), I could not locate any helicopters, and there were giant cars in the lake and picnic tables in the middle of the road. The final link was not any better and included a sky overwhelmingly full of helicopters in addition to the hundreds of Teslas. Overall, the provided scene was messy and inaccurate, but the features of the 3D scene viewer could make a great visual if used properly.

Assignment: I think it would be really cool to use this program to plan out a park on an empty plot of land. The possible 3D marker shapes make this entirely plausible and the ability to realistically scale objects to size would make it an excellent planning tool. For example, I could take an empty spot on campus and plan a small garden/path/seating area using the ArcOnline tools. I could also use the program to mark already existing features like we did in the tutorial, which I could apply to a section of campus like the area in front of Slocum.

Chapter 6: The introduction of chapter 6 talks about incorporating real-time data into ArcGIS Web apps and touches upon the idea that there is technology all around us that can be used in such programs (ex. all the technology in a smart home). I saw an example of this in week one when we looked for applications of ArcOnline resources when I found the web app that monitors weather stations throughout the United States (when the program was active).  When moving onto the tutorial, I found the dashboards feature to be pretty straightforward. I also forgot that I made one in 291 until I saw the dashboard under my Content page, but I think I understand the functions of the dashboard app more than I did in the Spring. I did have an issue with the advanced options while making my current dashboard and was not able to get the heart icon to appear despite double checking the code I entered compared to what the textbook instructed. This was a little disappointing, but I was glad that the other coding for highlighting and coloration did not give me any issues. I liked the resulting visuals from the instant app even though it took me a frustratingly long time to figure out how to change the title after a spelling error. I could see the slider being helpful for displaying other chronological data as well, but would also be interested in exploring other similar instant apps on my own time.

Assignment: One of the ideas that I could create using ideas from this chapter is a dashboard for people in Ohio to use before they would go on a hike or other outdoor excursion. The dashboard could include real-time weather updates and have a map that includes information about trails. Another option could be to use the Delaware data and create an animation similar to the one in the tutorial that shows the development and distribution of buildings and land parcels over time.

Chapter 3: This chapter’s tutorial was a bit more complex than the previous ones and took me longer to complete. I ran into several minor issues including a missing dynamic content button and the fields pane being empty when writing expressions in the text box. Fortunately I was able to work through both issues after visiting the ESRI community page and finding a comment and solution for the exact issues I had. Later on I had an issue where a ‘sort by’ value that was listed in the book wasn’t an option for me to select, but it appears that my chart still matched the information that I wanted it to present. I also noted that when the book instructs you to type a URL you need to add ‘https://’ to the URL even if it is not mentioned in the tutorial, otherwise the URL will not work. It seems like the experience builder app has a lot more functions to unpack and practice, but I would imagine that after using it several times it could be very helpful in interactively displaying data.

Chapter 4: I enjoyed this chapter and found it much easier to figure out than the previous chapter. I did run into several issues in which the book was not similar to the screen as a result of an update, so I had to use trial-and-error to figure out how to proceed. For example, the ‘set rules’ setting for the incident type question was completely different from what the book showed, so I actually had to instead edit the dependent question’s rules to get the same result as the textbook. The tutorials of the different apps were interesting and I could see how they could become useful, but it was inconvenient that each app was its own entity and had to be downloaded seperately.

Assignment: I think the survey feature could be useful in monitering invasive species, so creating an app to report sightings of spotted lanternflies in a region could be efficient. The ability to add locations and photos would also make the survey especially convient. Another idea I had was to use the web experience as an interactive way to display information about natural landforms in Ohio or state parks.

Note: I completed the Delaware data inventory when I was in Geog 291.

Chapter 1: I at first found some of the information at the beginning of chapter 1 to be a little bit repetitive after taking the intro course for week 1, but I thought some of the applications were really cool demonstrations of what ArcOnline can do (such as with the COVID tracking app). The step by step tutorials included in the book were very helpful in guiding me through creating maps and app. However, I did have one question while working on section 1.3: What is a ‘Community Map’? I didn’t have one listed as an option for a basemap, which left me a bit confused and I opted to leave the basemap as topographic.  I initially ran into another issue in 1.4 where the words “No attachments found” appeared in place of the attachments for the ESRI location, but later realized the .jpg attachment had somehow removed itself.  Overall, I found the tutorial easy to follow and the program pretty straightforward, I will just need a little more practice to feel confident in doing these tasks myself.

Chapter 2: This section reminded me of working on the symbology in the Geog 291 class, so the similarities made it easier for me to understand. I found the tutorials easy to follow and thought it was satisfying to watch the map and pop-ups look cleaner the further into the tutorial I got. The only issue I had in completing this section was that I realized I mixed up the labels for Median Household Income and Median Home Value and had to backtrack to correct my mistake. The second half of this chapter that focused on StoryMap making was especially familiar because I already created a StoryMap for Geog 291. However, it was still helpful to review all the functions.

Assignment: One of the suggestions under the assignment section on page 35 of the GIS book is to create an app that highlights places that you’ve visited on a recent vacation, which I think sounds like it could be really cool. Last summer I went on a trip with my parents to Montréal, Canada, during which we visited a number of significant landmarks and interesting locations. I think incorporating these points of interest into an app would be a good way to represent the potential of ArcOnline app making while still pertaining to my personal interests in travel.

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