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Reading/Working through chapter 1 was a nice review from ArcGIS and week 1. Having a chance to remember all the features that GIS can offer was a good way to get back into the mindset. It was also interesting to learn how WebGIS has evolved with cloud based computing over time, going from stand alone units, to one way communication, to full communication, and finally more complex networks managed by portals. Some of the terms and links in the website have changed since the publication of the book, but nothing unsolvable.

 

 Chapter 2 was again a nice review of the intro module from week 1 and showed a lot of expansion onto those ideas. The living atlas looks like it will be a very valuable tool and I’m guessing I’ll be using it often. Tutorials went the same as the first chapter, no big problems.

 

Based on these chapters, I had an idea for an app that records wildflowers and their locations in parks using crowdsourced data. Users could upload a picture to the app, and their phone would record the coordinates, automatically uploading that data as well. It could also be linked with an app like Inaturalist to identify the flowers. This could be used for hobby naturalists or Natural Resources workers or anything in between

Chapter 3: This chapter was fun to complete to show the differences between 2-D and 3-D maps, specifically having them side by side. Doing simple GIS tasks also lets you learn about the world around you. I learned where the natural disasters happen around North America and actually on the GIS system, I learned how you can select certain points to view them easier. I was able to follow the instructions and pictures scattered throughout the chapter. 

Application: From chapter 3, I would like to create a 3-D map showing the world’s tallest buildings and where they are located. 

Chapter 4: Within these chapters, I have enjoyed working with different types of ArcGIS online systems. I really enjoyed making the survey. I didn’t know that was possible on GIS. This chapter is going to be really handy with regards to making maps of places and pin pointing certain locations and where they need to go. For example, making an amusement park map cellular would be a good example of a time to use this chapter’s learnings in. Also, simple paths can be made with a system like this to get from one place to another.  

Chapter 7 was neat in the sense that it taught us how to make our flat GIS map into a 3D one, and that was exciting! One of the main concepts was 3D Web Scenes, which is how the 3D maps are created. You can use WebGIS and ArcGIS Pro to create the maps, which can also be interactive. The chapter also explained how we can create, share, and interact with the geographic data through the different web platforms. From what I understood, the web scene is the 3D equivalent of a web map, which made it a lot easier to understand! You can use it to create different landscapes, such as elevation and topography, buildings, and even clouds! I did have to look through each tutorial carefully in order to get all this information, but it wasn’t bad once I did that. It seems like the web scenes are also really helpful for big data sets, which would be nice for large organizations to display their data; as discussed in previous chapters. 

Chapter 7 continued with talking about the application and the creation of certain 3D maps. You can create a 3D map using ArcGIS Online, and you can do that by changing the feature values of the height of different objects. One of the tutorials highlighted this, and that was helpful to see. I thought it was cool that you could also adjust the shadows of different objects! That is something I’d want to use in my project. Another thing that they discussed was analysis in 3D, such as shadow features and how the features interact in space. I think this would all be helpful in environmental planning and architecture, especially in urban environments. There are some really neat tools described in the tutorials as well, and I definitely did not know how to use them until I went through the tutorials, so that was something cool I learned. I think an application I would use from this chapter would be using the 3D Web Scenes feature to compare the height of trees and houses in close proximity within Delaware, Ohio. I think this could be useful because then we could see the amount of space that is being used for development and how those houses could impact sunlight exposure in different neighborhoods.

As someone who had some difficulty using the desktop GIS, I had some high hopes that web GIS would be more straightforward as it did not require a whole software system nor an external hard drive. However the first week of learning the ropes of web GIS proved me VERY wrong.  Though map and scene creation was significantly easier for me, I found the uploading and copying of data onto the map and the logistics of the layers to be rather troublesome to learn. I’ll have to devote some extra time to learn the ins and outs of this software this week.

One hope I do have for web GIS is that the final project would not be limited strictly to activities within Delaware County, as I found that to be a rather frustrating limitation when I was working on my project last unit.

Chapter 3: ArcGIS Experience Builder

The introduction of this chapter describes ArcGIS as more than just an app: like the name suggests, it is an experience. Its various facets can be curated and combined into whatever application your specific project needs, and because every step is completed through the ArcGIS platform, combining these different steps and components is seamless.

The flowchart showing the connections between data sources, the ArcGIS Online Enterprise, and client apps has appeared in every chapter, but seems to fit well into this discussion. You can take data sources in the form of shapefiles, geodatabases, photos, and the like from any source, and use ArcGIS desktop tools to turn them into ArcGIS layers and tools and perform analytics. Then, this information (as processed by ArcGIS) can be turned into an app using more ArcGIS apps and templates.

I ran into a few issues during this section. When I selected a line of text below the 2D and 3D map views to change its size, the entire section of text was deleted and undoing the action did not retrieve the text, so I had to recode the hurricane and earthquake summary. Additionally, when I selected hurricane and earthquake locations in the table, all of the locations remained on the map, but those selected were highlighted in blue. Maybe I missed some steps, but those two (albeit minor) issues stood out to me.

Figure 1: The Live View of my completed ArcGIS Web Experience for Historic Natural Disasters.

Chapter 4: Mobile GIS

As the name suggests, this chapter discusses the importance of online GIS, and its increasing prevalence today. Nowadays, everyone has mobile devices, and being able to access GIS apps and experiences on your phone, on-the-go, means that GIS can play a much larger role in our everyday lives. According to the chapter, mobile GIS is more accessible, versatile, location- and time-accurate, and can withstand a larger volume of users as compared to traditional desktop GIS. Mobile uses can also appeal to a wider variety of users, from individual consumers to entire organizations.

Another aspect of Web GIS that seems pretty interesting is the fact that editing capabilities can be modified to include people in the same group or organization. Similar to Google Docs, you can collaborate in real time and track editing history. Now, like any group project, I’m sure there are ups and downs to this, but it is certainly a feature advantage over desktop GIS. It certainly makes GIS a useful tool for citizen science! I find ArcGIS Indoors to be a neat application as well. There are so many busy indoor places that can be hard to navigate, such as malls, stadiums, offices, and campus buildings. It only makes sense that they would have navigation services as well!

While creating the survey for Tutorial 4-1, the interface felt like a slightly upscale version of Google Forms. The rest of this chapter wasn’t too bad either–it was kinda fun to explore all the different ArcGIS apps!

Figure 2: The web view of my QuickCapture app.

Application using these topics:

I think it would be really cool to create a birdwatching app using the QuickCapture app. When you’re out birdwatching, you can snap a quick picture of the bird, then send it to the database for all users to see. This might even help map migration and population patterns in the long term!

 

The beginning of chapter 1 sounds like an advertisement. Looks like its written by an Esri employee, so that makes sense. The more I learn about GIS, especially ArcGIS Online, the more I realize how much stuff is made using this software. I really enjoy working in StoryMaps, since its so intuitive. I find the creating expression portion difficult though.

In 1.1, the instructions for adding photos doesn’t match with the wording of ArcGIS Online. Working further, it seems like a lot of the instructions for this don’t match up, so ArcGIS Online has probably updated this stuff since the book was published. I think it helps me stay engaged to have to figure out which tool will do the thing I’m trying to do, since it isn’t too hard to figure out but I do have to think for a moment. I find it interesting that the web maps don’t automatically save, since most apps like this do. Does arcgis online count as an app, or a software? I’m not tech savvy, so I’m not sure exactly what the difference is.

An idea for an application based on Chapter 1&2 is a map and story map exploring parts of the world that I have been, where I recommend going, and places I want to go. I think that would be a pretty easy one. It could be a StoryMap that first goes through places I have gone and recommend going, including pictures and extra information linked in the pop-ups, and then go though places I want to go.

Another idea is something to do with countries that are trying to get their pieces back from museums in other places and who has succeeded in getting reparations and who has not. That one would take a lot more research, but it would probably be more interesting and could be helpful to my art history minor. A swipe block would be an interesting way to show that information, to allow the maps to be compared more easily.

Chapter 1: 

At the beginning of chapter 1, it explains the logistics of how web GIS has enabled a much wider use of the system that wasn’t necessarily available before. It also references how important GIS is as a science because of its wide use by government programs, businesses, and among many other users. There is also quite a bit of contrast from ArcGIS Pro. It was interesting to see the parts of ArcGIS broken down, like explaining datasets and layers, which seem somewhat similar to Pro we used in 291. In contrast, something new that we learned about was the apps and app features, and the different user features, which allow you to see how GIS is used in different ways. Later in the chapter, it dives into the history of webGISs and explains the differences from previously used websites versus the now-in-use web services, then continues to explain Hosted and non-hosted, which was interesting because they kind of explain (hosted) already available data to look at Vs “user managed data” (non-hosted) which, allowed for organizations to create their own data to look at using GIS. This chapter also continues to talk about 2D and 3D Mapping throughout some of the tutorials as well.

 Chapter 2:

 At the beginning of the chapter, it was interesting to learn just how many different kinds of feature layers there are in detail, along with the purpose of each one, and hosted feature layers being the most common use, which makes sense. While this chapter is focusing on hosted feature layers,s it continues to talk about the many forms of mapping we will use, starting with smart mapping. It ultimately doesn’t seem very complicated, as it works as both a function in web GIS and something you have to work out yourself, a process to decide the best functionality in properly putting together your different kinds of layers within an individual map. It was also interesting to learn about popups and ArcGIS Arcade, as they’re both individual features within maps, and I just thought it was interesting that GIS basically has its own simple Expression language. The Living Atlas serves the purpose of easily accessible information for your basempaps and layers, making finding the necessary content for whatever you need significantly easier, so it is an incredibly important part of webGIS. A few other topics that were interesting to learn about were storytelling and express maps.  

Application: I think that an application that could be really interesting is mapping wildfires to potentially see where the most damage would be within the areas, and further seeing the range of effects on surrounding areas.

 

Chapter 1: Web GIS allows users to share geographic information with anyone. It is also low-cost, easy to use and maintain. It has many uses, such as data management, analytics, and supporting decision-making. Each user can create and join groups, share content, and include specific metadata to help further their content reach. Data is published to web layers, which are added to web maps and scenes, which, along with tools, are used in apps. Types of data include CSV, shapefiles, and JavaScript. There are also a multitude of layer types: feature layers, vector tiles, image layers, and OGC standard layers. Web maps are 2D and scenes are 3D. They can have multiple layers. Tools perform the analytical tasks, such as geocoding and summarizing data. Apps are the map-centric programs that can be used on all devices. ArcGIS Pro is an app. There are multiple types of users: viewer, storyteller, editor, and creator. Each map is composed of basemap layers and operational layers. Basemaps provide map context, and operational layers are layers you can interact with. Feature layers are the most common type of operational layers. Feature layers have vector data and can be hosted or non-hosted. Hosted data is directly from ArcGIS. Non-hosted data is from the user. When completing the tutorial, I had a bit of trouble finding certain features because the instructions didn’t exactly match up with what I saw on my computer, but after a little bit, I was able to easily find everything. I really enjoyed being able to do this on my personal computer, and the tutorial was very helpful in using ArcGIS online for the first time.

Chapter 2: ArcGIS smart-mapping allows you to change the style of a map so it can support your message. The map styles are heat map, color and size, compare A to B, relationship, dot density, predominant, type and size, continuous timeline, and vector field. A pop-up shows geographic information and defaults to a list of attributes and values. You can format the pop-ups to be in the style that you want. ArcGIS Arcade allows you to alter data when you don’t have access to do so. It is a language written for ArcGIS to style, label, and add values to pop-ups. For example, to calculate the weekday of the crime events, you type “Weekday($feature.Reported_Date_Time)”. It is similar to Excel formulas. ArcGIS Living Atlas provides content for operational and basemap layers and has thousands of options. Stories have maps, a narrative, and multimedia (who, what, where, when, and why). In the StoryMaps Builder, there are blocks and the block palette. A block is a component in your story, such as text, image, or a sidecar. The block palette combines all blocks into a menu so you can add any block to your story. A sidecar creates a side-by-side reading experience. A slideshow block uses horizontal scrolling and allows your content to fill the screen. A map tour block allows you to create a guide of locations. A swipe block allows you to compare two maps. A timeline block creates a series of events. Express maps allow you to quickly create reference maps on which you can draw features. The tutorial was a little longer, but the result was really cool. I like the swipe map.

Application idea: I could use chapters one and two to create a story map that talks about soil attributes and how they differ on hills and near water sources. The story map would include a map with the location, texture, and elevation.

Hi, my name is Rene Villanueva Henkle, and I am a senior at OWU. This week I did the quiz and looked around the ESRI portal.

 

I had already put in information on my profile in 291, so I did not need to worry about that. It’s nice that there are so many resources available to new users on the ArcGIS site, and that there are many others willing to help as well. 

I’m excited to see other people’s projects on ArcGIS, I remember Dr. Merkel showed us someone’s 1:1 recreation of Middle Earth in her Folklore class, and I found that dedication fascinating. I also think that the aspect of making interactive maps that others can truly connect with is a very powerful tool. 

I had no idea that there were so many different layer types within ArcGIS, I figured that this would be a much simpler program than ArcGIS pro. I will have to spend some time learning about the apps that I can use to help make data accessible.

This map shows all subway related fatalities in NYC over a 13 year period between 2008 and 2021. I would have expected there to be much more fatalities per line within Manhattan as it is the densest area, but there seems to be the same amount of deaths along each line, no matter if in Brooklyn or Queens.

This map shows recorded emotions by travelers when on these commuter routes. The colors indicate an emotion that is shown in the legend. Hotspots are represented by a flower on the map itself. I find this way of looking at cities to be largely beneficial and can really help with urban planning by showing where problem areas are.

Chapter 1: 

Chapter one starts off with a lot of background information from GIS and a lot of the common applications that are seen in GIS. It talks about the enhanced map database going from 2-D to 3-D. Sharing with groups and different organizations has become easier with ArcGIS online systems.  For the actual activity, it was easy to follow the book to determine what specific maps and pictures/symbols needed to be created. I learned how to create an app using GIS and online software. Instead of using dots to describe the different locations within Redlands, using the government icon makes seeing the different locations easier. Within the GIS field, you also learn about these different cities and areas within the book. The only question I had with chapter 1 was what all of the things the chapter told us to do means? More on the fact of why this is helping us develop a map. Going back and reading the intro paragraphs did help with this question. 

Chapter 2: 

Starting off with chapter two, I enjoyed seeing the different colors and types of maps under the sample smart-mapping styles. Over time, I would enjoy trying to make these types of maps. Doing the actual tutorial part of chapter two was a little more difficult than chapter one because there were a lot of minute details that mattered and could not be missed for any reason. The expressions were a bit confusing, but once I re-read the directions, it made sense as to what they were actually doing for the map. 

Applications:

One idea I had was mapping out wildlife sightings in a certain location or park. This would be a good idea to visualize where the animals were seen, and also could be used as a good educational tool for others to see.