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.

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)

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

The UC system and Esri, the world leader in GIS software, have an agreement that allows each UC campus to distribute software to students and faculty. IGIS worked collaboratively with UCOP and the UC system to expand the master site agreement to enable academics and staff within UC ANR access to software and tools provided by ESRI. Because UC ANR is covering the cost for the whole division, UC ANR users will have access to these software and tools at no additional cost.

This change in the master site license will benefit UC ANR in several ways. First, academics and staff who want to use ESRI GIS software (ArcMap) will not need to buy the software from an affiliated UC campus. We can now distribute ESRI GIS software and licenses to academics and staff in UC ANR at no additional cost. Second, UC ANR will have a cloud-based geoportal hosted by ESRI on ArcGIS Online for Organization (http://ucanr.maps.arcgis.com/home/) where academics and staff will be able to browse maps and data created by others within UC ANR. At the geo-portal we will be able be to create and share data and maps containing mash-ups of our data, as well as data from others available from the web. These online maps can then be used to create web mapping applications, mobile apps and dynamic maps for use in presentations. Third, with the access to the new software and tools, problems will arise that we may not be able to resolve on our own. In the past we would have had to work through one of the campuses to receive technical support; now we have direct access to technical support within ESRI.

How do you get access to the new tools?

ArcGIS Software and Data— Desktop application and data that academics and staff can use to create maps and analyze spatial data. To get access to the software you need to go to http://ucanr.edu/sites/IGIS/ESRI_Software and login with your ANR Portal credentials and submit the ESRI Download form. After you submit the form you will receive the links to download the image files for the ESRI Software. Staff at IGIS will create an authorization file and email it to you to complete your installation.

ArcGIS Online for Organization— A cloud-based geo-portal where academics and staff can browse maps and data created by others within UC ANR. To get access to the geo-portal at http://ucanr.maps.arcgis.com/home with the ability to add data and create maps and apps, you will need to request a login from igis@ucanr.edu and complete the user registration.

For more information, contact Shane Feirer at (707) 744-1424 x114 or stfeirer@ucanr.edu.