My name is Zach White and I am a senior environmental studies major. I am minoring in politics and government as well as Spanish. I am from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Atlantic City, New Jersey. I love the ocean, music, basketball, and fishing.
I completed the email and its required due diligence for Tuesday 10/14. I’ve also taken the Geog 292 quiz and that went smoothly. I have an Arc account from Geog 291 but I still did some exploration. I added my basic information to the my profile section in my ArcGIS online account. I also reviewed the My Settings, My ESRI, Training, Community and Forums, ArcGIS Blog, and Help sections of my account. I think ESRI training is a great resource and can facilitate our learning and progression as we do applications and so forth. I was also reminded of the ArcGIS Blog tab through which we can display our applications of GIS and just a useful resource overall for ArcGIS related work. I like that through the my profile section we can see an overview gallery of our items. We can also customize our maps and applications by manually selecting them and reordering them in whatever way we want. While there is some sort of structure by relevance there by default, this is nice to be able to personally assemble this content.
I also completed a read through of Get Started: What Is ArcGIS Online. One facet of the text that stood out to me was the fact web GIS is browser based for our Geog 292 course. This is different from Geog 291 where we worked with installed software. I think a core benefit of this web GIS is that we can access it anywhere, facilitating effective and efficient collaboration through private or public sharing groups. Access through ArcGIS apps or mobile devices is super cool. I also like that ArcGIS Online is more accessible to a wide range of users and applicable to a more representative selection of operations/functionalities. For instance, ArcGIS online supports field activities and fosters field work.
Another main point is that ArcGIS Online is flexible and versatile and you can join in different ways and merge/convert accounts. You can join an organization with an ArcGIS account created for you, you can join with your organization-specific login, you can join with an existing public account, you can join with a new account you create with an ArcGIS login, or finally, you can join with a new account you create with a social login. Additionally, I found that through settings you can change your password or security question. I don’t know why I choose to include this, probably because I frequently forget my passwords to things. Finally, I learned about the details of ArcGIS Notebooks that can be used for conducting analysis and showcasing that analysis. Python code can be worked into this as well.
I then moved on to some training with the Web Course: ArcGIS Online Basics. One thing I noted from the course is that the ability to create a geospatial hub that allows for collaboration between colleagues, teams, agencies and so forth is a core function of ArcGIS Online organizations when solving real world problems. I also learned that web scenes are different from web maps in that they exist and function in a 3-D environment. Another cool thing that taps into how generally compatible ArcGIS Online is that web maps can be created with ArcGIS Online content without any proficiency or experience with coding.
Screenshot from the create a web map section of part 3:
In section 4 I learned about one of the critical and ultra-convenient tools employed by ArcGIS Online. That is smart mapping. The web GIS essentially works through its internalized set of cartographic principles and elements to identify and suggest things like the symbology of a field. Needless to say you can also manually alter the symbology or whatnot. The cool thing is even when you do that on your own, ArcGIS Online applies its cartographic values and mapmaking tools to whatever change you made to make that change most successful.
One additional training course that sounds interesting to me is Field data collection and management using ArcGIS. I would also consider the course that entails analysis in ArcGIS Online.
ArcGIS Online Application 1).
I looked into ocean warming as a facet of global climate change. Coral bleaching was a common topic that came up and so I explored this. I found some work done showing sea surface temperatures the implications of coral bleaching that occur with warming waters. This map used ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World to pinpoint coral reef stress from heat, helping to identify areas at risk and so forth. I think this map is useful for directing conservation and learning about ocean acidification and warming. This is a nice display of raster data.
Map in a minute: Map sea temperature and coral bleaching using arcgis online and arcgis living atlas. ArcGIS Blog. (2023, August 2). https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-online/mapping/map-in-a-minute-map-ocean-temperature-and-coral-bleaching-using-arcgis-online-and-arcgis-living-atlas
ArcGIS Online Application 2).
Next, I explored some relative data on my favorite type of shark, the sand tiger shark. The work I found identified areas where these sharks are most vulnerable to fishing and overexploitation for shark fin soup. This particular project that I include was made into an ArcGIS story map showing where restrictions on targeting these creatures exist, where they don’t, and where they need to be established. Sharks are the apex predators of our oceans and this conservation work is vital for the future of the planet. I like the story map a lot. It is super engaging as you scroll through, incorporating some text, great imagery, and the map(s) that were developed.
Wise, A. (2023, December 8). Where are sand tiger sharks most endangered?. ArcGIS StoryMaps. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/bd17cb2144474996a42294dda927496b
One final application I found is improving storm drain efficiency and infrastructure related to storm surge. I did a project on flooding and storm surge so this is interesting to me. The particular work I read focused on the storm drain network in Santa Monica California. Stormwater infrastructure is super critical especially in the face of global warming and its associated more intense storms and tidal events. I was just in Florida and there was a storm off the coast and a king tide. The water was exceptionally high, higher than I’ve ever seen. High waters can be excessively damaging. I think this use of ArcGIS Online to identify storm drain networks, engage stakeholders of the watershed and so forth is going to be an essential thing moving forward.
