Author: mlhoward

For the final project, I decided to create a survey using ArcGIS Survey123 and create a 3D scene.

Survey: I wanted to make a survey that could be useful for OWU, so I decided on making questions that would ultimately result in creating a map of study locations, along with factors that might influence where students do their work. I included questions on year, major/minors, on or off campus activities, how many hours a week the respondent spends on school work, where the respondent does most of their school work and if there is any place they don’t like to go to, how would they rate the study/work spots on and near campus, and what time of day during the week they typically do schoolwork. I believe that the results could show students and OWU staff similarities between characteristics and where they end up studying. Students can see where others involved in or studying similar things recommend studying, and faculty can see which study spaces aren’t used or liked by students.

https://arcg.is/0vfyaK0

3D Scene: I wanted to make a 3D scene mapping natural disasters. I found it hard to figure out the format of Scenes, and finding data sets that correlated with what I ended up focusing on (ex. data for specific area). I ended up focusing on California, since there was a lot of data on the state and natural disasters are common there. I first added a layer on earthquake epicenters, with taller 3d columns correlating to a stronger magnitude. Then, fires, as California is also known for those. I found a data set that included burn areas, prescribed burns, and other burns as well. I also found a data set on flooding and a damage score on buildings, but I made it a dot instead of 3D because multiple 3D sets looked very similar. Lastly, I found a data set on landslides and the reports made on them, and had to make it a 2D hashed line so it would be seen amongst everything else. Overall, I think this scene gives a good look at common natural disasters in the state, even if it was really hard to make.

https://arcg.is/0S0b9q

Chapter 7

3D is a really cool new-ish thing, so it was interesting to learn about it on a GIS level. I had done some 3D work in GEOG 291, but struggled figuring out how to make it function. 

As expected, there’s a lot of different apps and definitions talked about in this chapter. So many elements in scenes, which are a large part of 3D app creations, web scene and web scene layers and all the different mini categories included in that, different products that you can make 3D apps with, you name it. 

The different products, while they mainly mush into one in my brain, are cool. I can’t believe so many popular movies were made with ArcGIS CityEngine!! Yet another regular thing that secret uses GIS. I also appreciated the explanation of the difference between VR, AR, XR, MR and the metaverse. A lot of more techy people already know about that but I never learned. I’d like to see some examples of combined VR and real life environments, and how that would look. I didn’t even think about Indoor GIS and how that might be used and how it is lacking in data. And then there’s a bunch of different products for indoors, of course. City creation in GIS is also cool. 

Because the field of 3D is so vast and slightly confusing in my brain, it’s a bit hard to think of an original app idea. The tutorials used population and making a web scene plus all its aspects as app examples. What is most understandable to me is the idea of showing population as 3D, so something similar to that could be showing population of a certain type of animal in each state as 3D? Maybe an endangered/threatened species? I’m not sure exactly. I think it could be cool to see and would be helpful for the general population, though. I’m not sure if I’ll do that for my final app but it would be interesting if I did.

Chapter 6

It was interesting learning about all the aspects of spatialtemporal data and what it can be used for. It’s very multiversital, including things like live feeds of moving objects, perimeters and changes, and live pictures and videos from cameras, for example. There’s so much that involves this type of data that it’s hard to keep track of!

There are so many different offshoots/products of ArcGIS that I’m unsure how to remember them all. ArcGISVelocity, ArcGISGeoEvent Server, ArcGIS Arcade, and ArcGIS Mission, from this chapter alone aren’t too distinguishing right away and I feel like I’ll have to go back in chapters or google which one means what in the future.

I think the use of real time data is really important for agencies like emergency response, environmental agencies, companies gathering information and feedback, you name it. It’s interesting that you can do it through GIS.

An app idea for this chapter would be using ArcGISVelocity and creating a big data analytic item. The book describes that item as allowing “users to access and analyze big data repositories of historical observations. Big data analytics are typically used for summarizing observations, performing pattern analysis, and incident detection. Big data analytics can be configured to run once or scheduled to run on a recurring basis.” To me, looking at and analyzing something big such as natural disasters are really interesting and important. I would create an app that includes data on tornados that hit Ohio, and since it can run on a recurring basis, it would get automatically updated. I wonder if there’s a way to separate out the data to only include higher level tornados to see where and when they hit. I might do this for part of the final.

Chapter 3-

• So now we have web experiences and storymaps. I wonder if there’s situations where its best to use one over the other, or which one is best or a specific situation?
• This chapter was a lot shorter than the other ones, and I appreciate focusing on only one topic instead of multiple, I think it makes the concept more understandable.

Tutorial 3-

I can’t figure out how to get the 3D map. You can’t search for it, and I can’t find the button to make the 2D into 3D if there even is one.

Well, there’s no URL available for me to type. So I can’t do that either. Annoying.

I did the rest of the tutorial to the best of my abilities. I think it’s going to take me awhile to fully get this web experience thing because there are a lot of aspects to it, and since the right and left ribbon layouts are similar to the map viewer ones, I keep on getting confused and thinking one things in one spot when its not.

Chapter 4-

• I’m interested to learn about mobile GIS because of its different uses. For any surveying this is a great resource and I wonder how easy it is for a common user to use it for that or other easier concepts.
• Having different hosting layers, one for group members to share and edit, and another for the public to see, without one seeing the other, is a good idea and makes this concept much more applicable for wider audiences.
• I also like the different approaches that can be used for different reasons and audiences, like for websites only or for apps only on mobile.
• Being able to literally create assignments for field workers is really useful. I used to work an admin job for a restoration company and I wonder if they could’ve made their own software for assigning jobs like this.
• I feel like the ARCGIS indoor mobile app would be of good use on a college campus.

Tutorial 4-

Based on the chapter, I was missing information on certain questions so I couldn’t complete it yet again. Because again there were so many little pieces missing that added up and overall the instructions make no sense.

I had really no problems otherwise. Just me being annoyed at how the chapter is for me.

Overall, these were all really interesting concepts to me! It just sucks that I wasn’t able to comprehend them all the way right now. I’ll definitely look into it for later though. I also did the Delaware Data Inventory in 291 so I don’t have to worry about that right now.

Chapter 1-

• I really like how Web GIS was designed with every user in mind, and making it accessible for people who aren’t familiar on the subject or the best with technology to use.
• I also appreciated a definition of GIS- the science of locations, and the explanation that the “science” is both GIS as a science and GIS being used for science. A bit more complicated than I would’ve originally thought.
• When I think of who uses GIS, I think of Government Orgs, like 911, businesses, and such. The fact that it can be used by whoever to help decide things like shop, eat, stay, and get from place to place is interesting.
• Johns Hopkins using ArcGIS Online to make a real time Covid tracker that is widely used and sourced is actually really cool and important.
• The attachment viewer seems like a good way to quickly and easily provide information, and is easily accessable as well.

Tutorial 1-

I’ve learned that getting the data will be a little different for me because I’m using a Macbook, and right now mine is being glitchy with uploading files for some reason, so I have to drag them in to upload, like the picture shows.

Once I was in the map viewer, I started having some trouble. I’m used to ArcGISPro from GEOG 291, so everything being in a different place took some getting used to. There are so many buttons on those side tabs that they’re confusing me a little and I’m having trouble locating certain things.

As you can see in the screenshot, sometimes the tutorials are missing information for me. I’m not sure if its the format I’m using or what. So take that into consideration when reviewing my work.

I can’t seem to select the “instant apps” button, even though I am clicking it, so I am unable to do 1.4.

Chapter 2-

• Arcade seems really complicated. Expressions (I think thats what those codes are) are things not easily comprehended to me. We had to deal with a little bit of that in 291 and I was confused, so it’ll be interesting to see how much different (and hopefully easier) this web version will be.
• I am familiar with Living Atlas already from 291. I really like how easy it makes to find a bunch of information types, including basemaps, boundaries, etc. I’ve found that it makes map making so much easier in the past.
• In 291 I found storymaps to be a different than usual way to get information across. When I made one, it was a bit complicated to make, but since it acts like a mini website I’d say it’s easy enough in the long run. I wonder what ways you could potentially use storymaps without maps, like with just images or something.

Tutorial 2-

Again, the tutorial is leaving out parts, as seen by the screenshot below. I made the Y offset 5, idk why. Made the opacity 25 too since I wasn’t given any directions. I just thought it looked nice.

I am very surprised I managed to do that coding section. Some things seemed to fill in for me instead of me manually having to do them so that helped.

I actually really liked the create a map portion of this tutorial. I found it to be very useful for figuring out how the map viewer works with a relevant and interesting topic.

Of course, I can’t find the data for the storymap. Anywhere. And what they’re telling me in the tutorial is slightly confusing. Typically I can infer but its nowhere. Lovely! It’s possible the data is from an already existing map anyways and I just didn’t know. So yet again, I can’t do a section. Sorry.

 

Overall, I think these two chapters and tutorials are a good introduction to what can be done with WebGIS.

Hi, I’m Maddy Howard, and I’m from outside of Cleveland, OH. I’m a sophomore majoring in Environmental Studies and Geography, and I just took GEOG 291 so I’m interested to see what GEOG 292 is like.

Poking Around:

I’m not sure if it was the website or my laptop in general but it took me a while to load any of the options below “my profile”, especially the training portion, which is super annoying. I will see if this continues soon or if it’s truly just my laptop. (Note from a later date- OWU wifi was terrible and made it impossible to load any of the training resources)

Get Started: What is ArcGIS Online Read Through

I spent a good amount of time re-reading the explore content-view and use items section of the Get Started reading. There’s a lot of complicated parts to just looking at what you see on the website. Also, the notebook on the website seems like it would be useful but the interface, especially the edit menu, has a lot of information. Plus, I know nothing about coding so the thought of python scares me. I have a feeling that I will be referring back to this get started section a good amount of times.

Web Course: ArcGIS Online Basics

I thought this training was really helpful. It provided good insight into what this all is and what it can be used for. I found the exploring ArcGIS online content the most helpful, as I think it went into detail about the types of things included in the maps and apps. 

2 training courses that seem of interest:

Field Data Collection and Management Using ArcGIS- I didn’t think of this as a use for ArcGIS. It seems like it makes field activities more accessible to wider audiences which is really cool!

Create Smart Surveys and Forms Using ArcGIS Survey123- This is an interesting addition to all the things ArcGIS does. If you had a presentation or something this allows you to get feedback on the same website. 

GIS Application Areas Based on Keywords:

Florida Panther Telemetry- It’s really interesting seeing each panther’s activities. I looked up more about them through the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and had no idea that they are endangered and some sort of unknown disorder affecting them. That makes maps like these really important so you can monitor the species. 

Hurricane Harvey Damage Assessment- Natural Disasters are interesting to me, and I know ArcGIS has some resources about it, so I tried to find a map relating to it. I came across this one which shows a lot of information about building damage in Houston after the hurricane. There is actually a complete tutorial on how to get to this final result that can be replicated for other circumstances, which is a great resource.