- Author: Shane Feirer
IGIS goes to the ESRI Open GeoDev Hacker Lab at the University of California Berkeley – GIF on January 15th. ESRI came to the GIF to demonstrate their open tools and data. We were able to create free developer accounts at http://developers.esri.com, with these accounts were able to create feature layers that could be used in webmaps, webapps, and mobile apps hosted by ESRI through ArcGIS online. We also learned how to use these services with other open web mapping tools such as leaflet. With a little javascript programming and patience it seems like the sky is the limit when it comes to what we could create with these tools. In the future IGIS plans to develop a training on using the ArcGIS Online system to its fullest potential and some of the things we learned at this event will be included in the training as well.
Thank you to ESRI and the GIF for making this training opportunity possible.
- Author: Shane Feirer
The last day of the ESRI User Conference was as informative as the first. I attended several different sessions covering several different topics. The first session I attended was about smart mapping. Smart Mapping is a new set of tools that are being integrated into ArcGIS server and ArcGIS online. These tools are intended to take the make the creation of beautiful maps easier and allow the GIS professional more flexibility and creativity.. From what I have seen smart mapping does what ESRI intended. The next session that I followed was a session about advanced regression and spatial regression analysis using ArcGIS. They have improved on the previous set of existing spatial statistics functions available in ArcGIS and I look forward comparing these new tools to those available in R. The last session that I attended was about 3d cartography. This session highlight the principles of creating impactful 3d scenes with ArcGIS Pro, Scene, and ArcGIS Online. I look forward to using these techniques and tools at IGIS.
In summary the 2015 ESRI User Conference was a great event as always. ESRI is rolling out many innovative applications and tools that are making sharing data and information easier. These tools will allow UCANR and IGIS to work with our constituents and provide our research in an interactive and fun manner. As I have stated numerous times over the last week, I look forward to implementing many of these new tools in the coming weeks and months. I hope that I have the opportunity to attend this conference again next year.
- Author: Shane Feirer
The third day at the ESRI User Conference was a good day with serveral great sessions about Web Scenes (online 3d scenes), think google earth with ESRI data and ESRI Story Maps. What are ESRI Story Maps?… to quote ESRI “Esri Story Maps let you combine authoritative maps with narrative text, images, and multimedia content. They make it easy to harness the power of maps and geography to tell your story.” To see many examples of ESRI Story Maps submitted by other GIS users following this link to view the Story Map Gallery .
I think that this technology could be used extensively by IGIS and UCANR to communicate what we do to our internal and external audiences. We could use Story Maps to highlight the UCANR Research and Extension Centers, the UCANR Statewide Programs, the UCANR Strategic Initiatives, and the list could go on. To use these technologies to their fullest we will need to collaborate with many different groups within UCANR including Communications Services, Marketing, and Digital Media groups. As I stated yesterday, I look forward to implement these technologies in the near term as well.
Beyond these sessions I met with many ESRI developers to discuss different GIS tools, GIS apps, GIS workflows, and solve some of the technical challenges that IGIS has been facing with ESRI tools in the GIS Service Center in the past year.
It was a good day and I cannot wait to see what tomorrow brings.
- Author: Shane Feirer
The second day at the ESRI User Conference was an exciting day. I started out the morning by learning more about ArcGIS Pro and the improvements that have been made to the geoprocessing and analysis tools. After learning about ArcGIS Pro I attended a session devoted to the geoevent server extension for ArcGIS Server. This session talked about how to set up geoevents within the ArcGIS Server environment. Both of these session were well done and informative, but what was the coolest and probably the best things I learned about today was the AppStudio for ArcGIS. I attended two session, a basic session about the tool and a more advanced session about programming and creating applications from scratch with this tool.
The AppStudio for ArcGIS will allow UCANR and IGIS to leverage our investment in ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS online technologies to easily create native applications for numerous devices (Windows, OSX, Linux, iOS, and Android). With this tool we can create native applications within a few hours from start to finish and have them be available on multiple platforms. There are many advantages of native applications over web applications:
- They can be branded and compiled and made available to the general public through the app stores for any of previously mentioned platforms and/or they can be made available to people within UCANR through our site builder websites.
- They can be easily used offline.
- They can utilize the sensors and tools of the individual devices like the camera, local storage, speakers, and microphones, etc.
I look forward to working with members of the UCANR Network in the near future to put these new tools into action. Click Here to learn more about AppStudio for ArcGIS
(Photo Credit: Eric Gakstatter)
- Author: Shane Feirer
Today was the first day of the ESRI User Conference in San Diego. It was a day filled with new software, apps, and inspirational talks by special people. The plenary talk today, as always, highlighted the newest and greatest software and tools in development at ESRI. These tools included ArcGIS Professional, this is a new desktop gis platform developed from the ground up to be a multi-threaded 64-bit application for the windows platform. This new application has new and more intuitive workflows for GIS professionals. Beyond the new software ESRI highlighted several new tools for building web and mobile apps that we can build with little to no programming. These apps ranged from new web apps that are available from within ArcGIS Online to new native application builders such as App Studio for ArcGIS that will allow for the easy design, implementation, and deployment of native applications for iOS, Android, Linux, and Windows phone devices. After the initial talk by Jack Dangermond and his team we had the pleasure to hear from the former Governor of Maryland about how local and state government have changed by using GIS. We also heard from the President and CEO from National Geographic Society and his vision for a geographically enlightened youth in the United States and the world and the role that GIS plays in this vision. Last, we heard from a head doctor within the World Health Organization (WHO) and the important role that GIS played in the control and the continued fight against EBOLA in the past year. I am sure that we will hear a lot more about these new software and apps in the days ahead.
To view videos from the Plenary Sessions they can be viewed and shared from the following link:
- Keynote from Jack Dangermond
- R&D at Esri
- Southwest Florida Water Management District - A Mission-Critical Approach to Water
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport - Web GIS Delivers Safety and Efficiency
- Beck's Hybrids - Feeding the World: Precision Agriculture Simplified
- State of Victoria, Australia, Government - Proactive Rejuvenation: Ignite Your Potential
- World Health Organization - The Battle against Ebola and Polio
- National Geographic Society - Understanding Geography
- Mentoring the Next Generation - Connecting GIS with Education
- Keynote from Martin O'Malley - Smart Government: Reduce the Distance between People