Geography 292: Geospatial Analysis with Web GIS

Hi, my name is Auzlynd, I am a junior majoring in environmental science and biology.

I already have an OWU ArcGIS Online account from taking the Geog 291 course earlier this semester. 

In the My Profile section, the projects I did in 291 are saved there. The training section shows courses you can take to gain skills in web mapping and analysis and The ArcGIS blog section shows what is new in ArcGIS Online with various other articles. 

From the reading “Get Started: What is ArcGIS Online” I learned that ArcGIS is a cloud-based mapping and analysis software with many uses like making maps and analyzing data. It also serves as a facilitator for sharing and collaborating. You can create maps, scenes, apps, and notebooks and manage the data you explore and analyze. This software can be used in field activities as well as configuring sites and provides tools for accessibility. 

The course “ArcGIS Online Basics” helped give me a solid foundational understanding of all the features of ArcOnline. I have attached some screenshots.

Using ChatGPT I looked up how hiking or camping could be applied in GIS. I learned that GIS can be used to make maps of trails used for hiking and these include useful information like difficulty, trail length, elevation gain, and points of interest. This is helpful so that hikers and backpackers can plan hikes and navigate trails. Here is a source I found that I thought was interesting: “Planning of recreational trails in protected areas: Application of regression tree analysis and geographic information systems” (Aleksandra M. Tomczyka, Marek Ewertowskia)

Hello, my name is Jack Zimmerman, and I am a senior majoring in Quantitative Economics. I took this course as a general requirement, but I am interested in data analysis and thought this course would be fun. Additionally, my primary area of research is real estate, so I thought this would be an excellent complement to my existing knowledge.

Looking Around:

The overall site layout on ArcGIS seems fairly straightforward and intuitive. I explored some layers created by other students and added them to the map. Data management seems to be something I need to reconcile later.

Getting Started: What Is ArcGIS Online

I spent most of my time in the “Manage content and data” section. Looking at the “Perform analysis” subsection. It seemed interesting, but I think I will stick with doing analysis with R Studio. The primary issue was that data must be publicly available, which is something I can’t do with the data I want to use. The second issue is ArcGIS’ credit system. Doing analysis requires credits, and I have already used all of mine to import some data. Next, I looked at the “Manage content and data” section. Overall, this section was pretty unhelpful, and it just told me stuff I already knew. A few of the embedded links inevitably led me to some helpful articles on data management. However, I still need to do further reading.

Web Course: ArcGIS Online Basics

This was okay. I found myself just using the book and just skimming over this.

 

ArcOnline Applications:

I know I want to do something with real estate, so I looked up papers on real estate-based applications. My goal was to find papers on methods and processes for handling data.

Paper 1: Laban, K. N. (2017). Integrating Gis and Real Estate Management Systems to Market and Manage Facilities on the Web (Doctoral dissertation, University of Nairobi).

The first paper I looked at, “Integrating GIS and Real Estate Management Systems to Market and Manage Facilities on the Web,” discussed combining real estate management systems with GIS maps. This paper is super detailed (121 pages detailed) and includes information about cleaning and analyzing data. Below is an outline of the process used in the paper and one of the websites created.

Paper 2: Kwon, P. (2012). Analyzing Southern California Residential Real Estate Prices: A Spatio-Temporal Approach.

The second paper I looked at, “Analyzing Southern California Residential Real Estate Prices: A Spatio-Temporal Approach,” analyzed both spatial and temporal autocorrelation patterns in real estate data. The approach taken by the paper to analyze the data seemed a bit too simple but was nonetheless interesting. I think the paper also made a few mistakes in how they clustered the areas and conducted the tests, but they somewhat fixed it in the end. The paper used Moran’s I as the metric to measure spatial autocorrelation. I hadn’t heard about Moran’s I, but I did look it up, and it is very similar (mathematically) to other correlation measures, such as Pearson and Spearman. However, the way the paper implements it seems to make percentage changes in housing prices a function of inverse distance. This doesn’t seem appropriate since variation correlated to the percentage change in housing prices usually exists exogenously, not at the spatial level. Anyway, I went way too deep into that. Here’s an image showing the clusters of housing prices over the years.

 

Chapter 1: 

• First off it was really interesting to see all the advantages of Web GIS and it seems more friendly to use than desktop GIS.this seems to be a program where you can heavily connect to various data and people to gain information and learn.I didn’t quite fully understand the information about hosted and nonhosted feature layers but it might make more sense down the line. The tutorial was a little hard for me to understand, I wasn’t able to download the files correctly. Therefore I am planning to set-up a meeting to discuss that. 

Chapter 2:

• The beginning of this chapter talks about hosted layers more in depth which was helpful. I thought it was really cool to see the sample smart-mapping styles. I think the idea of storytelling through GIS is really cool. In the previous course we did a little storytelling but I am interested to see more components. I was struggling again to get the download correct therefore I wasn’t able to complete the tutorial. 

Chapter 1:

• Web GIS is the combination of the web and geographic information systems.
• The first operational GIS was developed in the 1960’s by Roger Tomlinson.
• Web GIS is used within the government, business and science world, and even in people’s daily lives.
• ArcGIS online is a software offering web GIS, ArcGIS.
  • With the benefits and easy to use software ArcGis online has been picked up by many governments and commercial organizations around the country. 
  • ArcGis enterprise is a web gis software product that organizations can use.
• ArcGis online has four software components: Portal for ArcGis, ArcGis server, ArcGis data, and ArcGis web adapter. 
• In chapter 1 the first tutorial shows you how to create a Web GIS app that introduces the points of interest (POIs) on maps.

Chapter 2:

• Smart mapping and storytelling with GIS
• Feature layers: the most common type of operational layers
  • Web layers are essentially web services that can be reused in many web maps, scenes, and apps.
• This chapter mainly focused on hosted feature layers, which are the most widely used operational layers.
• Smart mapping enables users to visually analyze, create, and share professional-quality maps.
• Tutorial 2 will show you how to create a Web GIS app that presents the spatial patterns of populations. 

 

Geog 291 application:

I used the applications from chapter 1 and 2 to help me show the population in Delaware county as well as the population that was above a certain age.

Chapter 1:
I think it is very cool and important that a part of data analysis can be so visual. I know for me that this makes data more digestible and understandable. I liked the figure describing the multiple pathways and “generic workflow” for creating web apps. One thing that I think will take some getting used to is figuring out and deciding what map style will be the best to display certain information. I assume this will come with trial and error and testing out what works best with what kinds of data.
A question that came up is how do I access “Arcade?”
Tutorial 1:
This tutorial was very helpful in terms of learning how to get a map/app to look the way you want it to. This eased some of my worries about picking and choosing what style goes with what. I believe now it is really whatever looks right in the moment and it can always be changed to represent something different.
Chapter 2:
I think the ArcGIS Living Atlas is such a cool resource that really has a lot of information present in one place. It is also cool that it can be updated in a matter of minutes. The idea of storytelling through these maps and apps is such an engaging way to think about gaining information. I like the visual of Maps+Narrative+Multimedia=Story.
Tutorial 2:
I liked that this tutorial focused on the story aspect of the maps and how to cohesively present a story about the data that is both understandable and interesting. I wasn’t able to figure out how to add the curved arrows on my map, but I figured some of the other stuff out.

Both tutorials gave me examples of what the readings discussed and I thought it was very helpful. Put it all together and into practice. I believe my question about Arcade was answered in Tutorial 2. I appreciated that the tutorials came with all the data and images needed to complete it. I thought that made working through it much easier and almost seamless.

Idea:
One idea I had was (from Chapter 1) to map supermarkets in Delaware and how many average shoppers are there a week. I could use the pop-ups to describe each store and the people that shopped there. I also could use the story feature to illustrate the history of each store and indicate whether it is a chain store or a local one.

Chapter 1: 

WebGIS allows for work to be done everywhere and also serves as a way for information to be accessed, essentially, instantly. I feel like WebGIS is a more evolved and user friendly version of ArcGIS. This is because WebGIS has a lot of perks compared to ArcGIS, but there are still similar aspects like creating an app/map and the terminology with that. The first perk is that it is good for sharing. WebGIS allows for your app to be seen by literally billions of people. Along with that, there are options that allow for you to select who sees your app, it can be globally or it can be within your organization. WebGIS is also easy to use. It was designed to be convenient, simply, and be able to be used without having any technical background. Another perk of WebGIS is that it is affordable. You don’t have to pay for the software itself, and there is a low cost per user per app. Conversely, in my opinion there are also a lot of similar features to ArcGIS. The most basic creation in WebGIS is an app. An app consists of a basemap, operational layers, and tools. All of those features are what is used to create a map in ArcGIS. A basemap is the very first layer of an app. It provides background information or serves as a basic point of reference. An operation layer is the different theme your apps will have. These are things like buildings, data, etc.. These serve as the interactive layer and are more likely the reason for creating the app. A tool is what is used to create an app and to do things beyond mapping itself. This can be data analyzing, customization, etc..

I could not find the “Select fields for: Locations” in the chapter 1 tutorial so I was unable to complete 1.4 

Chapter 2: 

I was not aware of how many different types of layers there are in WebGIS. In ArcGIS everything is just called a layer by our textbook, and now there are a lot of different layers. At the most basic level, there are hosted VS non hosted layers. A hoster layer becomes a hosted layer when it gets published to ArcGIS Online. ArcGIS “hosts” your layers and the data that is in them. A nonhoster layer is when your layers or data are not posted into ArcGIS online but instead are in a user-managed database. There are also a bunch of different subcategories for these layer types. For hosted layers, there are hosted feature layers, hosted web feature service (WFS) layers, hosted tile layers, hosted vector tile layers, hosted web map tile service (WMTS) layers, hoster scene layers, hosted image layers, and hosted map image layers. If you want to post a hosted layer to ArcGIS Online, there are a few ways you can do so. The first way is to create a feature layer from your own data. Your data could be a CSV file, a shapefile, a file geodatabase, or other things. To do this, you would go to ArcGIS Online Content, then click New Item, select where you want to upload your data from (IE: google drive, device, etc.). The second way to create a hosted layer is to create a feature layer from an existing template. To do this, you want to have an empty layer containing the same attribute fields with no data. To then find a template go to ArcGIS Online then go to content, new item, feature layer, and then use a template. The third way to create a hosted layer is to create an empty feature layer and define your own fields interactively. To do this, you also go to ArcGIS Online then go to content, new item, feature layer, create a blank layer, and then choose the type of geometry you need. After you create the layer, you go to the item page, data, fields, and add fields.

IDEA:

My app idea is to use the “GPS” data from the Delaware data set to make an app to educate people on the different GPS monuments in Delaware county. I would make a feature layer that symbolizes all of the monuments, then I would configure their popups to tell a little story about what each monument is and when it was founded. I would then create a pie chart consisting of the dates that each were founded to allow the viewer to compare the history of each GPS monument. I would also try to find a link that would take the viewer to an informational site saying what a GPS monument is, and maybe even an educational video. 

This opening chapter goes over the fundamentals of Web GIS. It explores how the cloud revolutionized data storage and sharing, and how Web GIS software has evolved over time. While the chapter goes about the technical aspects of geospatial cloud capabilities, I found the historical background of Web GIS particularly interesting. Chapter 2 takes a deeper look into web app development within Web GIS. It talks about different features like feature layers. These features let you customize and style however you would like and this helps you create a pretty decent map. Something that I found really interesting was also the different type of mapping styles in chapter two. Like I have never heard of a vector field, a predominant map, dot density or comparing “A” to “B” map. I’m not gonna lie, I had a hard time trying to create an app so I will probably have to come in person to do that or I’ll probably just see if I can find some youtube videos that will show me how. Other then that though the readings were pretty fine. I found a map that showed different characteristics about the U.S population like the age groups of people who worked in different cities.  

Or is it technically week 2? I don’t know but I’m gonna call it week 3 for simplicity. Chapters one and two are fairly interesting but also very confusing. Chapter 1 introduces the basic aspects of Web GIS, such as the ‘cloud’ for data sharing and storage, the evolution of the software (can I even call it software if its all online?), types of users, content, and apps. Now I thought 291 was painfully technical in its explanation of things but I’ll say this for the record; 292 and Web GIS takes the technical aspects of 291 and cranks it up to 100. Half the things the chapter tries to explain go directly over my head and therefore my feeble little brain fails to comprehend any of what is said. The book content tutorials are similar to the ArcGIS program at least. For the 1.3 tutorial there was no ‘community map’ as asked by the steps in the tutorial. Everything else went smoothly until attempting to create the app with which I was met with a blank screen that didn’t load a preview even after 10 minutes so not sure what’s going on there.

Chapter 2 discusses web apps further and going more into different features such as ‘feature layers’ which allow you to style and customize them in a way that fits your needs and can be used to create a ‘story’. For example, different types of ‘smart mapping’ are shown which can be utilized. The chapter also discusses the ArcGIS Atlas which if I recall correctly was used briefly in 291 but I may be mistaken. Overall the chapter discusses ‘storytelling’ which now that I think about it seems odd to discuss in this setting but I digress. In tutorial 2.3, working the attribute expressions didn’t work either as the book asked me to input a code yet there were no options to do what it was asking me to do. I have the 5th edition book so I don’t know why things aren’t working… I’ll need to sort that out next week as I can’t complete the work like this if I just keep hitting dead ends halfway through the tutorials.

An idea for a map utilizing information from chapters 1 and 2 and also using data from 291, an interactive app could be developed towards those engaging in recreational activities involving water (boating, fishing, swimming, etc) that displays the sources and spread of things such as pollution and algal or bacterial blooms using data published by whatever local government organization publishes data on said factors. This could warn water-goers of these areas and focus cleanup efforts on said areas.

The first chapter of this book starts by explaining some of the benefits of having GIS on a web-based platform- such as increased interactions, wider access, and easy use. I also learned what HTTPS, HTML, and URL stand for (abbreviations we all use every day but probably don’t know what they actually mean). The first chapter also goes into a lot of technical explanations about the geospatial cloud capabilities- which didn’t make a ton of sense to me, but it was still interesting to see how widely available Web GIS is. It was interesting to learn about the history behind web GIS websites and how they used to be all separate before the 1990s, which made it incredibly difficult to share information with others. Once the internet and web became more sophisticated in the late 1990s, GIS applications became much easier to view, use, and share. It was also interesting to read about how Web GIS uses AI and machine learning currently. These chapters also go over some of the content involved in ArcGIS Online- most of which are similar to ArcGIS Pro, but the apps and web maps are a new concept (though we partially looked at some of these in 291). One very nice part about the GIS apps is that they don’t require any coding or programming- which makes them much more accessible to a wider range of people. The tutorials were all fairly easy- there was a bit of a learning curve finding where all of the things are located in the different toolbars since it is slightly different than what I had become so familiar with on ArcGIS Pro. I enjoyed creating the apps, and I also thought it was a good feature to have a preview of how the app would look on a phone, computer, etc. It was also fun getting to style some of the points in ways that ArcGIS Pro couldn’t. 

One idea for an app based on the techniques used in chapters 1 and 2 would be an interactive app/ web map that would be directed toward road trippers or people traveling through the US. Routes could be drawn on the map, with stops in cities or landmarks that have interactive points with information on each location. Another application of these techniques would be to show the pollution data of various cities and even show how it has changed over time by comparing current pollution data to previous recordings (using the above and below feature). This would give us an idea of what cities have strived towards decreasing their pollutants and which have increased their pollution.