Category: Uncategorized

Hello; my name is Emily Keckler. I am a freshman majoring in Environmental Studies. I did not take GEOG 291, so this is going to be a fresh experience for me- especially since I have very little background with geography in general.

Looking into my account I found that I have 1,000 credits to use, and- looking further- I found that there are certain online courses that require an exchange of these credits. This is particularly interesting and peculiar to me as using this program already costs a decent chunk of cheese, so it tickles me that there are additional exchanges in order to access certain “premium” content- even after purchasing a “premium” account. 

There is also a robust GIS community on this platform- blogs, forums, community posts, articles, etc. I intend to take advantage of these for questions and other troubleshooting when I inevitably encounter something new.

In “Get Started: What Is ArcGIS Online” I read into the basics of viewing scenes and maps. Now, I can have a better idea of the different capabilities that I have when interacting with media on this platform. From there, I read into the different types of maps including time and floor-aware maps.

I also began to look into the process of making an app. There are many aspects to consider when putting one together including: the type of app, audience, creating a map, inclusion of photos and text, etc. Collaboration and engagement are a particularly critical aspect in utilizing GIS to distribute information within an organization, group, or publicly, so extra emphasis is placed on that throughout the overall reading.

When I did the “ArcGIS Online Basics” web course I was introduced to some GIS terms, and I was able to familiarize myself with different types of layers alongside their sources. In addition, I made a map of mountain trails, got a little bit of experience with navigating a map, and I learned some of the various app builders under the ArcGIS umbrella. Upon completion of the course, I was left feeling a bit lost on navigating maps.

Since I did not feel very confident in my understanding of GIS from the first course that I took, I decided to take a second one- “Exploring GIS Maps.” This second course revisited some of the aspects of the first which made me feel more comfortable in being able to navigate maps and placing bookmarks on certain locations.

For GIS application areas, I decided to look up “ArcOnline Superfund Sites,” and I found a master’s thesis on the acid mine drainage around superfund sites within the Bonita Peak Mining District (Dorsk, 2020).

From: “Using Rare Earth Elements and Geochemical Patterns as In-Situ Groundwater Tracers at the Bonita Peak Mining District Superfund Site”

I also chose to search “ArcOnline Trap Neuter Release Cats.” An article that piqued my interest used information from a Central Virginia Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR) program of feral cats trapped within areas also populated by people to assess the risk of feral cats transmitting diseases (such as rabies) in local parks, schools, etc. (Taetzch, Bertke, & Gruszynski, 2018). 

From: “Zoonotic disease transmission associated with feral cats in a metropolitan area: A geospatial analysis”

My name is Ellie Dodds. I am a senior environmental science major and history minor. I took GIS 291 two years ago (back when it was 191!) but I am excited to take the second part. I love envs but I am more of a hands on field work kind of person but I like the idea of being able to use GIS to better do field work. Here is me in Japan looking at soil!

While poking around on the website I noticed training courses that deal with coding and that peaked my interest! I did some coding in high school but haven’t been able to apply it here at OWU. I am most interested in the Python courses but Java and JavaScript are what I worked with before.  The community forums also looked helpful for later on in this course.  I found the scene viewer page on the Get Started: What Is ArcGIS Online to be a nifty cheat sheet on the different icons. I noticed an elevation tool which looks cool because I love topographic maps. I definitely intend to work that into my gis this semester if possible. I found the clickable links to be helpful for navigating this much information.

The training was easy to follow and  I didn’t run into any hiccups.  I found this to be much easier than the desktop version. I loved working with the scenes, I didn’t realize that it would be in this course.  It had super specific instructions.

 

Online I found many applications relating to birds. I found someone working on an online bald eagle location map based on crowdsourced data.

Lukei Jr, Reese. “CREATION OF A NATIONAL REGISTRY FOR BALD EAGLE COMMUNAL ROOSTS.”

I also found one that used museum collections and arconline to map about bees.

Day, Baylie Lenora. “Thematic Mapping of Apidae Holdings Within the University of Arkansas Arthropod Museum.” (2024).

Hi I’m Hayden Kelner, I’m a sophomore majoring in Zoology and Environmental Science. I took the 291 module at the beginning of the semester so I’m excited to continue learning about how to utilize GIS. While poking around in the training tab I found a tutorial on migrating data to help make field maps. I love field work compared to sitting in a building so making the transfer of that data a more seamless experience caught my eye. I then looked at the Community Forums and that excited me because one of my biggest struggles in 291 was finding things. With access to the forums it’ll make troubleshooting a lot easier. I also enjoyed scrolling through some posts and seeing how recent they were uploaded.

When looking at the ‘Get Started: What Is ArcGIS Online’ page, I found a section on floor-aware maps. It mentioned that there are certain datasets in the system that show no only the buildings on the map but also a map of the building’s floors. Along with that I found the tab on Scenes and while clicking through I noticed a section that talked about adding weather overlays onto the scenes so I am excited to see how that can be used later on.

While doing ‘Web Course: ArcGIS Online Basics’ I enjoyed making the map in Module 3 and getting to see how this program works in comparison to the desktop version we used in 291. I also enjoyed getting to see how to use scenes because the 3D aspects of online mapping has always been something I’ve thought was very cool.

For my research on Google Scholar I looked up “ArcOnline Migratory Birds” I found an article on migratory eagles in Northeastern North America. It’s pretty cool seeing their routes collected by GPS data and then seeing their routes mapped out. I also found an article on mapping the migration patterns on Wilson’s Snipe. I’ve always loved birds so getting to see their migratory patterns and routes that they follow is always interesting. It’s also cool to see where they fly over and how that relates with their food sources so we can help preserve these feeding areas so the birds can continue to successfully migrate in the future.

Links:

Mojica, Elizabeth K., Bryan D. Watts, and Courtney L. Turrin. “Utilization probability map for migrating Bald Eagles in northeastern North America: a tool for siting wind energy facilities and other flight hazards.” PLoS One 11.6 (2016): e0157807.

Cline, Brittany B., and Susan M. Haig. “Seasonal movement, residency, and migratory patterns of Wilson’s snipe (Gallinago delicata).” The Auk 128.3 (2011): 543-555.

 

The blog does not allow you to insert formulas, so here is the file detailing my final.

GEOG292_Final

first web app is a story map of a compilation of ornithological research papers that talk about various topics like migration, sexual selection, social behavior, etc.

https://arcg.is/rXDb4

second web app is a slider of U.S. co2 emissions from transportation from 1970-2020

https://owugis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/slider/index.html?appid=4de788ec6fac45faaa2033c9dbbce69a

i tried my hardest to get labels for each point on the map to show the numeric amount but they were being super strange and either doubling for some years or freezing on certain years so i just scrapped it

Final Part 1: For my first part of the final, I created an attachment viewer app that consisted of 4 historical points at Ohio Wesleyan University. My project consisted of 4 attribute fields, which were the name of the building, a brief description of the historical significance, the latitude, and longitude of where the building is located. All the information on the descriptions came from the Ohio Wesleyan website. I was able to map out the points and was able to use the instant app to display these points. Overall, it is a more simplistic version of the interactive map on the Ohio Wesleyan website. 

https://owugis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/attachmentviewer/index.html?appid=0857c7e956b14798ba646e65c6e79939

Final Part 2: For my second part of the final, I used another set of data from chapter 6. Specifically, I looked at the weekly trends of vaccination administered in certain parts of the United States. I first downloaded the data and was able to upload the data points on maps. Using what I learned in 6.5 and 6.6, I followed those steps to help me with this portion of the final. Overall, it was quite neat to see the final results, as it shows the gradual increase of vaccinations throughout the US. It also shows which regions where people were being vaccinated at higher rates. That overall trend tended to relate more to areas that had higher populations.

https://owugis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/slider/index.html?appid=df3a0a599c4a48db95f1a33d9f49bd8b\

Chapter 7: This chapter covered 3D web GIS, which seems like a really unique and informative concept in GIS. 7.1 had me explore web scenes using a scene viewer. This section was a good introduction to the materials, as it showed me the basic tools of 3D web GIS. Section 7.2 had me make a thematic web scene. The direction that had me search for the living atlas did not work. Therefore, I used data that worked from GEOG 291, and I tried to make it as similar as possible to what the book wanted me to do. 7.3 had me create a web scene and add 3D features to the scene. This section took awhile, but it was really fun to figure things out. Section 7.4 had me work with elevation, as I added items both above and below ground. This section was quite easy and more review form the previous section. Section 7.6 had me add 3D objects to the map and showed me how to use the slice tool. A potential assignment for this chapter would be for me to create a 3D scene of a fun community, where the location would be here at Ohio Wesleyan University. I would add multiple similar objects, where some would show real items such as trees and cars. Other objects would be on the more imaginary side.

 

Chapter 6: This chapter introduced me to working with both spatial temporal data and real-time GIS. 6.1 had me create a map with real time layers. This was a lot of review from previous chapters, which made it easy to follow. 6.2 had me create a dashboard app. This was a good review from GEOG 291, so the steps were not that difficult. 6.3 had me continue work on the dashboard app, where I configured actions and targets. This section was quite cool to see the results take shape. 6.4 had me work with coding to configure advanced formatting. It was quite a long section, but I was thankfully able to make it work. Section 6.5 had me create a time-enabled feature layer. This was quite similar to what Chapter 1 had me do, which made it a good review. Section 6.6 had me create an instant app based on my work from section 6.5. This was another straightforward section and was also neat to see the finished product. A potential application assignment would be for me to look at weekly US Vaccination rates during the COVID era. I would pretty much follow the similar steps from section 6.5 and 6.6. 

Chapter 3: 3.1 Started off by creating a 2D and 3D integrated web experience. This section took a while, but it was easy to follow through for the most part. I was unable to figure out the view’s navigation widget. Section 3.2 had me configure map actions. A fairly straightforward section, and it was cool to see the results. 3.3 had me configure the dynamic content, which I was easily able to do. 3.4 had me configure the table widget. This was another easy section, but it did take longer then the previous one. Section 3.5 had me create the filter and chart widgets. This section was another easy one, but it did take the longest. 3.6 had me create and mess with multiple pages. This was a nice and neat way to end this chapter. For this assignment, I could create a web experience that uses the battle data that I mentioned in Chapter 2. This would consist of maps of the locations of the battles, along with all the other criteria such as the proper widgets and multiple pages.

Chapter 4: The chapter focused on the survey app. 4.1 had me start off my designing a survey. This was quite a cool process, and I was able to complete the survey for the most part. The add rule section was not present when trying to do so. 4.2 had me take my own survey, which was really neat to do so. 4.3 had me create an editable feature layer with domains. I was able to figure out everything, but I was unable to complete the last steps since I was unable to select the change style button. 4.4 had me configure a web map and create forms off of that. Some of the material is outdated, but I feel like I was able to navigate through the updated material. 4.5 was quite similar to 4.2 section, which made it another interactive section. 4.6 had me create a quick capture project. The app seemed to be updated, which messed up a lot of the steps in this section. 4.7 was very similar to section 4.5 and 4.2. Section 4.8 had me add data using  AuGeo, which was quite cool to do so. This section was quite easy and actually worked smoothly unlike some of the other recent chapters. 4.9 was another section where I downloaded and interacted with my data. A potential assignment idea would be to create a survey based on the approval of the food here at Ohio Wesleyan. I would ask questions about all areas on campus that would serve food. I would also add other important information that the requirements ask such as date and time. 

 

Chapter 1: This chapter was quite a useful introduction into what the content of this class is actually about. Since I took GEOG 291 earlier in the semester, a lot of the information is quite familiar to me. However, I did learn new content, especially when working with GIS Online. When I started Chapter 1.1 it was actually quite a difficult start, since I barely used GIS Online in the previous course. However, I figured out that taking the steps slowly and trying not to rush through the steps helped things go by more smoothly and quickly. In 1.1, I learned how to publish data from a csv file, which was a neat way to introduce the chapter. 1.2 was a relatively easy section, which consisted of me adding a field and editing its own attribute values. 1.3 was a bit more complicated and a little more time consuming. This section had me create my own web map, which was overall a unique process. 1.4 was definitely the most challenging section out of all the sections. I was able to follow all the steps but some of the last few steps. Overall, I was able to publish on the app. An application idea for this chapter for me to create an attachment viewer that relates to historical buildings on campus. This would have captions on certain points on campus, along with the title of the building and the coordinates of the building.

Chapter 2: 2.1 started off by having me create a feature layer using geocoding. This was very similar to the 1.1 section, which made it a good review section. 2.2 had me configure the layer style, which showed population trends of the top 50 US cities. This was quite an easy and fun section to mess around with. 2.3 had me use code to create a new attribute layer. This section was quite difficult for me, but I was able to make things work. 2.4 was another easy chapter, where it had me add images and graphs to my layer pop-ups. 2.5 was working with storytelling, which a lot of it was reviewed from GEOG 291. I was not able to work the last step in this section however. 2.6 had me add finishing touches, and then had me finish off the story map by having me publish it. An application idea for this chapter would be for me to review a map of battles. Some data that I could put in would be comparing duration, significance, and death toll of battles in a particular war. I would create a story map that shows the locations of the battles as well as interesting data trends as well.