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Alyssa Gregory Week 1

Hey everyone! I’m Alyssa Gregory, and I’m looking forward to continuing my experience with GIS in this course. I have already taken GEOG 291, because of which I already have some familiarity with ArcGIS Online and its user interface. This week, I finished the required tasks which included reviewing the syllabus and schedule and completing the training course. Because of my experience in GEOG 291, navigating ArcGIS Online felt somewhat easy and familiar. Also, while looking through my account, I noticed that the My Profile section can be used to organize and present projects in a more discrete and professional way, which seems important beyond just this class and in the workplace too. I also looked at the Training and Help sections, which showed how learning GIS is an ongoing process, with a wide range of resources available depending on how proficient you are. The reading “What Is ArcGIS Online” reintroduced some ideas I had seen before and also helped clarify the bigger picture within those ideas. One key point is that ArcGIS Online is a cloud-based platform, which makes mapping more accessible and flexible compared to traditional GIS software (so many files to download!). Another important note of ArcGIS Online is its focus on sharing and collaboration. This software shows how maps function not just as tools for analysis, but also as a way to communicate information and connect people.

In addition to looking over the website, I completed the ArcGIS Online Basics training course. This course served as a review, while also providing a deeper knowledge of certain features. In the training, I practiced adding and styling layers. These actions showed how presentation of data can influence how it will be interpreted. The course also emphasized that maps are not neutral, and that design choices play a role in shaping understanding (this idea was presented in various sections throughout GEOG 291.

While looking through other ESRI training options, I found a few that seemed especially useful in the future: Spatial Analysis with ArcGIS Online and Getting Started with Mapping and Visualization. These courses seem like they would help build more advanced skills and a stronger understanding of how GIS can be applied. Exploring GIS applications through Google and Google Scholar showed how widely this technology is used in different fields.

Noise pollution mapping uses GIS to measure and put numbers into visual images. The mapping data will include variation in sound levels throughout different areas. This will be especially clear in cities with heavy traffic or even just a high-density population. These maps help identify high-noise zones and guide decisions like adding sound barriers or planning where to construct roads.  Source: Slabbekoorn, H. (2019). Noise pollution. Current Biology,29(19), R957–R960. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.07.018

Indoor GIS focuses on mapping spaces inside buildings like airports, hospitals, and malls, where GPS and the internet doesn’t work well. This helps with navigation and emergency response services. This is done by using detailed floor plans and spatial data.  Source: Li, Y., Kong, N. N., & Hum, K. (2021). Indoor GIS Solution for Space Use Assessment. Papers in Applied Geography, 7(1), 104–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/23754931.2020.1843526 

Chapter 3: It began with telling us about the ArcGIS Experience Builder, which appears to be an app that is more flexible, configurable, and functional than any other instant ArcGIS app. I did have to read through that a few times just to make sure I had all of the information right, then I noticed that they provided a similar table as they have in previous chapters, which displays all of the features we have learned about so far and compares them, which is really helpful. The chapter went on to describe how we can use code, 2D and 3D maps, and specific widgets to create different types of applications. I personally found this chapter really interesting because I did not know you could do all this on ArcGIS Online! An important thing that I noted was that a web experience has to have one page but can have multiple pages or windows, which are basically the building blocks of the application. I went through some of the examples and was able to play around with the different data, which helped me see how everything was meant to be displayed. 

The chapter continued with more information about the Experience Builder, and gave more tutorials on how to complete tables and maps using Widgets (which I never knew existed outside of the iPhone). Tutorial 3.5 focused on how we can configure the Filter and Chart widgets, which I found very helpful in terms of the applications we were given. This feature seems like it would be helpful for my project! There also seemed to be a lot of data you can use for the ArcGIS Experience Builder, which is cool because we don’t have to be limited in the data we find or what we want to examine. I also really like how they include questions and answers to those questions at the end of the chapter. I was curious about how some code can get embedded but not others, and that helped with my confusion. 

Chapter 4: Chapter 4 had a similar introduction as Chapter 3, except they focused on Mobile Gis instead of the ArcGIS Experience Builder. There are three building applications, which are browser based, native based, and hybrid based. This seems really convenient that there is Mobile GIS, and it does not have to be affected by any hard-drives, wires, or set WiFi systems. It seems super easy to use on the go. It also can be used on a bunch of different platforms and devices which is cool! They continued with talking about the different feature layers and how you can add, update, and delete features, and it also talked about how you can define a feature layer in ArcGIS Desktop or Map Viewer in ArcGIS Online. Then the authors defined the different building applications and how they can be used with different coding languages, such as JavaScript/HTML. There are different ways on how you can create a survey using tables and maps. 

Chapter 4 continued with more examples and tutorials! There was also a cool feature in there called ArcGIS Indoors, which is something I never considered that could be used with GIS. I had always assumed that it had to be used outside, but it totally makes sense for indoor use as well. It works with connecting to WiFi and Bluetooth inside specific areas, which allows for people to use it anywhere. I think I would tie this back into my bird breeding ground experiment somehow, and try to make the app useful for indoor use as well. I think I would make it so the locations of buildings or structures near the birds’ breeding grounds appear. I would compare highly occupied breeding grounds to unoccupied breeding grounds and see if the interior of the structures had any similarities or differences. I went through a few of the tutorials to finish up the chapter, and that helped my knowledge on how to work the Mobile GIS. This seems like a really helpful feature to be able to use, especially for using maps, data, and different applications needed in a mobile setting.

Intro: Hello, my name is Alayna Moore. I’m a Sophomore, and I transferred to OWU at the end of my freshman year.  Delaware Ohio is my hometown, so I always wanted to go to OWU. I plan on double-majoring in Biology (B.A) and Environmental Science (B.A). As for a career, I want to spend time in the field doing surveying. I’m interested in working as an environmental consultant or working for a national park. I’m very new to GIS, but I hope it will help me succeed in these fields of work.

As for accessing the WordPress and ArcGIS accounts, I previously completed this in GEOG 291. I also took the quiz.

This week’s work:

         Before exploring my account, I navigated to my profile at the top right corner and added my basic information to my profile as instructed. When clicking on this, I also found the previous projects that I had to create for my last GEOG 291 class. That is why I am somewhat familiar with the website, but still struggle with navigating. I started exploring the website more and eventually found the training tab that took me to the Esri Training courses. These courses look very helpful, so it was nice to figure out they are readily available. 

         Next, I read through “Get Started: What Is ArcGIS Online”. One thing that the reading made clear is that ArcGIS Online is more frequently used as a tool to share information on ArcGIS projects than it is used as a tool for advanced GIS processing. However, being able to create these complex GIS projects means little if you can’t share and communicate the map with its intended audience. ArcGIS Online facilitates this. I also found it interesting that ArcGIS Online integrates multiple tools like data hosting, web app creation, and spatial analysis all in one accessible place. Instead of just focusing on map-making, it supports many avenues of visualization/analysis without requiring us to rely heavily on complex desktop software. 

          I have completed the course “ ArcGIS Online Basics”. I found this course to be a useful way to prepare students to use an unfamiliar website. For example, they introduced how to navigate web maps and use basic tools within ArcGIS Online. The course also described how we can share maps and build web applications, which was a nice refresher, as I remembered sharing one or two applications in ArcGIS Online in GEOG 291.

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   Application 1:  You can use ArcGIS to visually analyze animal habitat distribution. For example, in the map “Endangered Species Critical Habitat Areas” by EPA Geospatial. This map depicts designated habitat data for species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Link: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=d46156cc921d4b41923c70c280b82458

    Application 2: You can use ArcGIS to designate different types of habitats by importance to their surrounding ecosystem. For example, the map “Key Freshwater Habitats in the Mountain Region of Central Asia” by Evgeny Egidarev. This map depicts key freshwater bodies of water deemed important for the survival of endangered fish endemic to Central Asia. These bodies were identified during a more than two-year-long research project. Link: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=cadb59d8d14d43919230947a2cfaa91a

Introduction

Hello, my name is Sam Frary. I’m a senior taking this class in my last semester before graduation. I’m a general zoology major that found out about this class from friends. It sounded interesting, as I’ve never quite interacted with anything like it. I have a lot to learn because I have not taken the first module. On campus, you may see me playing women’s lacrosse or working at the Testing Center!

Beginning Tasks

For this first week, I completed the required activities. This included viewing the syllabus and familiarizing myself with the website for this course. This was followed by the syllabus/course quiz. Continuing to follow the directions, the next step was to schedule some future meetings with Prof. Krygier. From my understanding, these meetings can be in person or on zoom- but I will have to confirm that with Krygier.

Getting Familiar with ArcGIS

Before spring break, I made sure both WordPress and ArcGIS accounts were set up and ready to go for the remaining part of the semester. Now it came time to put the accounts to use. Logging into ArcGIS, I made sure my profile was correct and proceeded to explore the site and its different tabs. I was completely unfamiliar with Esri- or really anything involving geographic information systems. I learned that they are the global market leader in GIS software and mapping. On the “Community and Forums” tab, which displayed a combination of posts, questions, and ideas from the GIS community.

Get Started: What Is ArcGIS Online

It seems like you can do a whole lot with ArcGIS Online, including making maps, web apps, and even notebooks. The introduction tabs split up the learning into working with maps, scenes, apps, notebooks, and data.

ESRI Free Course: ArcGIS Online Basics & More

This was a lot of information to take in, but it also wasn’t super complicated to complete because of the step-by-step instructions. I’m excited to continue using this software to make more maps/explore.

If I were to complete more courses in the training section, “Telling Stories with GIS Maps” seems interesting and up my alley!

GIS Application

Eagles and Wind Turbines: Using Maps to Protect Animals and Increase Renewable Energy Use. This uses GIS application in a way that supports conservation of both living things and energy consumption. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19338341.2022.2117725

Using GIS and Web GIS to Visualize the Canadian Arctic Food System. This article uses Web GIS to show food systems/information of the Canadian Arctic, such as seafood exportation pathways (shown below). https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2323/SKI-Canada-2019-7-1-2.pdf

Hello, my name is Kathleen, and I am from Dallas, Texas. I am a junior majoring in astrophysics with a minor in environmental science. I plan to work in meteorology or compact object research.

I took the quiz, and I did the ArcGIS online account setup in GEOG 291.

When exploring my account, I found that the help section has a multitude of resources, such as blogs, tutorials, and setup help. Also, the online community is active and has a surprising amount of community types, such as Python and roads and highways.

While reading through the get started pages, I noticed that there are a lot of keyboard shortcuts for Mac when editing map layers. I also learned about floor-aware maps, which can show floor plans and are helpful when looking at optimizing large spaces.

I am glad the training course went so in-depth on the types of sharing. I really enjoyed the activities they provided; they helped me solidify the content from the readings.

The two courses I found most interesting are the field-led data collection and management using ArcGIS course and the ArcGIS field maps migration guide course.

Application 1: Spatial analysis using ArcGIS of the Valles Marineris region of Mars during the 2018 global dust storm
Description: They used ArcGIS to superimpose their data onto a geological map. This shows the distribution of dust with the Valles Marineris terrain.
Link: http://www.jsussenbach.nl/Mars%20en%20ArcGIS_JBAA.pdf

Application 2: Conservation Improvement Program in Minnesota: Addressing an Organization Challenge with ArcGIS Online
Description: This study focuses on creating a story map in ArcGIS online “to benefit Commerce staff by presenting easy-to-understand CIP quantitative and qualitative information for a legislative or general public audience”.
Link: https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstreams/7ac2d94a-20a3-4255-ab24-c8f978f54e48/download

I am Henry Isaacs I am from northern Ohio and am a sophomore at Ohio Wesleyan University. I am on the Baseball team here and am a Quantitative Economics and Data Analytics major. 

I completed the quiz. I have access to the ARCGIS account from 291.

Through exploring around in the Esri pages and training I found that there a lot of different trainings you can do and some of them take a significant amount of time like one took 6 weeks. I also found that some of the pages like the ARCGIS Pro page wasn’t available at the time. 

On the Get started page I found out that you can collaborate on projects with other people from out organization which would be cool. I also learned about the scene viewer tool and how you can visualize things in 3D.

I have completed the Web Course: ArcGIS Online Basics training and thought it was a good refresher of what it ARCGIS is and its many applications. I thought it was useful and even taught me new stuff like when creating and editing web maps. 

The first GIS application I looked into is fisheries management. This application is useful for providing information specifically to where fishing activity takes place in the world. The website showed how you can create maps to show density on fishing activity and other interesting visuals. 

The next application I looked into is the application to stream and river fisheries. Using GIS you can map and model habitats with different aquatic life. The website mentioned how this use of GIS is inter

esting because rivers and streams are always changing. 

I am Claire Evans, a second year Environmental Science major and Art History minor. I took GEOG 291 last quarter.

I created my account for accessing the Community page and found that the link to ArcGIS Blog leads to a 404. The Help page seems like it will be helpful if I forget something basic from the first course and want to re-learn it.

The Notebooks creation seems interesting, though I don’t know any Python so I doubt I’ll use it. I’ve learned that a floor-aware map is a map that shows different levels of a building, such as the polygon of the general building shape and the floor plan inside. I’m interested in architecture, so this seems like a fun tool to play with.

It’s interesting that you must turn off searching only within the organization; it’s useful if you are working with organization specific data but less helpful when learning the program. When I accidentally clicked out of the course, it made me start from the beginning again, so that’s something I’ll have to keep in mind.

Integrating CAD data with ArcGIS seems neat to me because I remember thinking that the CAD integration in GEOG 291 was cool. The Systems Approach to ArcGIS: Architecture Pillars sounds cool too because I like architecture. Python 101 for AcrGIS could be a useful course, since I don’t have any coding experience and it could make me a more competitive job applicant.

Applications of ArcGIS:

Using GIS and Open Web Resources the Reconstruct Great Tang Records of the Western Regions

This paper uses ArcGIS and the biography of Buddhist pilgrim XuanZang to map the locations of many city states and monasteries and uses topographical information to see what routes he likely took between them based on what would require the least amount of climbing mountains or particularly rough terrain.

Generation of a Multi-Scale Historic BIM-GIS with Digital Recording Tools and Geospatial Information

This project used ArcGIS and BIM to 3D model a historic Romanesque town in Italy for UNESCO information and further analysis, since it was difficult to properly model the town using more basic tools due to the large size of the land area and the unusual features of the buildings.

Hi, my name is Rio and I am a sophomore majoring in Sociology and Environmental Studies.  This is my second GIS course. I took the Desktop class earlier this semester.

I completed the quiz, and took Geog 291, so I did not schedule an appointment for weeks 2 and 3. I also already have access to my OWU ArcGIS online account from earlier this semester.

I had trouble finding the areas we were supposed to look at on the ArcGIS Online website and while I was looking I found past student projects which were really cool to see. 

The Introduction to ArcGIS Online was helpful for understanding what is possible with the software and how to access it. 

The ESRI training was very informational and very easy to use. Directions were clear and concise and it was easy to navigate. 

Using ArcGIS Online for wildlife monitoring and conflict mitigation allows conservationists to track species, map habitats, and manage human-wildlife conflicts through real-time data collection, analysis, and visualization

https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-solutions/11.1/reference/use-conservation-outreach.htm#:~:text=a%20protected%20area.-,In%20a%20browser%2C%20sign%20in%20to%20your%20ArcGIS%20organization%2C%20and,Review%20the%20incident%20details. 

ArcGIS Online enables habitat  conservation and land use analysis by providing cloud-based tools to map, monitor, and model environmental data. It is used to identify biodiversity hotspots, track habitat changes over time, create suitability models for restoration, and visualize environmental impacts using Global Forest Watch or ArcGIS Living Atlas data.

https://wildvirginia.org/how-environmentalists-use-gis/#:~:text=GIS%20models%20are%20used%20to,decision%2Dmaking%20for%20sustainable%20planning.  

My name is Andrew Deem and I am a first year student at Ohio Wesleyan. I am majoring in botany with a minor in environmental studies because I enjoy being outside and find plants particularly interesting. I am from Marion, Ohio and took GEOG 291 earlier this semester. I have completed the quiz.

Esri account:

Comment 1 – The first thing I noticed about this website is that all of the links around the profile area took a lot longer to load than other links for some reason.

Comment 2 – I noticed that the links for “My Esri” and “Profile and Settings” led to the same place.

Getting Started:

Comment 1 – This portion reminded me of some of the basics I learned in the geography 291 course and refreshed my memory on this topic.

Comment 2 – I noticed that our accounts have access to a number of apps related to ArcGIS, so I wonder if those will come up later in the course.

Esri Training:

Comment 1 – I found that this training helped me to remember some of the details about the class I took earlier this semester as well as teaching me a few things about how ArcGIS operates.

Comment 2 – I can see how ArcGIS and other Esri applications could be useful in corporate or other group oriented careers. I learned a lot more about the group functionality of these services in the web course.

I was able to find some GIS applications related to my interests, such as this one which shows the return amount from corn and soybeans that was expected in 2015. The map shows a large portion of the midwest and east coast and demonstrates how some areas performed better than others in terms of profit that year.

This map shows worldwide deforestation from several causes. Maps like this are useful for getting a point across quickly, such as in this case showing how South America and parts of Africa have been greatly affected by deforestation.

My name is Gustav. This is my week one post. Most everything required I have done in GEOG 291.