- Author: Sean Hogan
The thing that I possibly like the most about the ESRI Users Conference is that you not only get to see all of the recent updates that the company has recently developed but also glimpses of what is coming soon. In particular, I am excited about the advancements that they have made in respect to web mapping applications.
Are you an ArcGIS Online user, and have been wondering when to transition from the Traditional Web Map Viewer to the new Web Map Viewer? To answer that question, for myself, I think the time is now. At this point, per ESRI, there are now only four remaining functionalities that remain to be added to the new Map Viewer to give it all of the functionality that the Traditional Map Viewer had, which will be discontinued in late 2025, including the abilities to:
- Calculate fields (this would be nice to have)
- Add additional relationships to related records (something I have never needed to do previously)
- Vector tile style editing (not something I have ever needed to do, but which I could see being useful for some people)
- Saving/duplicating layers (there is a relatively simple work around for this, but it would be nice to have it built into the Map Viewer)
That said, there are far more than four added functionalities that the new Map Viewer has that the old version lacks, including:
- Easier browsing of data
- Feature editing enhancements
- Analysis enhancements, both for vectors and rasters
- Shortcuts
- Improved visibility, filtering, and effects (on the fly)
- Toggleable layers
- Charts (donut and pie)
- Label enhancements (including improved bookmarks and placements)
- Blending (in a group layer); including blending layers with basemaps and multiply effects
- Added display expressions
- Multidimensional imagery support, including an imagery slider
- The ability to upload feature symbols (svg)
- Sketch layers (as opposed to Classic's notes) with snapping, and also with the ability to upload custom symbols
- The ability to add and manually georeferenced media layers (jpg or png) using control points (on which media blending and effects can also be applied)
Besides all of these additions, the interface has been thoughtfully revamped with usability and efficiency in mind. Some of the above enhancements will now allow you to complete some work flows/functions several times faster than they could be done before. I must admit that I am very pleased!
- Author: Shane Feirer
Today was a great day at the ESRI User conference. I attended several sessions covering the use of raster and vector data in big data analyses, the use of python and r for data science, and the use of arcpy to create and modify maps in ArcGIS Pro.
Speaking of big data and arcgis, over the past 5 years I have watched ESRI develop their software from a desktop environment to a distributed computer platform capable of analyzing millions of spatial features in minutes and hours instead of days or weeks. These tools are now accessible to the average users of arcgis without the need to understand the underlying big data frameworks and software. We now have the ability to install tools such as GeoAnalytics Server, the Spatial Temporal Datastore, and ArcGIS Pro and take advantage of big data analytics within ArcGIS Pro. By using these tools we do not have to know how to setup and manage tools like apache spark, elasticsearch, or other tools.
The above tools are used to store and analyze vector data. To analyze multidimensional rasters, we have the ability to use mosaic datasets to store and analyze multiple raster datasets and multiple raster formats. Over the past years I underestimated the capability and the utility of mosaic datasets. These datasets have the ability to calculate custom raster functions on the fly. These datasets can also be shared via ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Online. I look forward to utilizing the datasets in the future.
One thing to note at the ESRI User Conference is that like last year all of the presentations that I have seen by ESRI staff this year have been on ArcGIS Pro. The ArcGIS Pro software is getting more powerful and ESRI is building more functionality into this new software platform.
I cannot wait to see what day 4 brings tomorrow.
- Author: Shane Feirer
Of all the technical session and talks I went to today the topic that was the most exciting was the “ArcGIS Maps for Adobe Creative Cloud”. The plugin for Adobe Creative Cloud is a bridge between ArcGIS and Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. This plugin allows cartographers and graphics designers to import vector and raster data directly from ArcGIS Online and from shapefiles into Illustrator and Photoshop. Once these data are in Illustrator and Photoshop the data can be manipulated and styled using the native tools in Illustrator and Photoshop.
This tool fills a need that cartographers have wanted filled for many years. I foresee these tools as being very important to allow graphics designers within our organization to extend the spatial data that we have created to publications and other materials that UCANR produce.
To download and start using these tools you will need access to Adobe Creative Cloud https://exchange.adobe.com/addons/products/16913 and an ArcGIS for Organizations account http://www.arcgis.com. If you are a member of the UCANR network and do not have access to ArcGIS Online fill out the following form and we will help you gain access to the ArcGIS Online http://igis.ucanr.edu/resources/esri_software/.
Notes and stray thoughts:
- ArcGIS Pro 2.0 and ArcGIS 10.5.1 Released in advance of the User Conference this year. To see what is new in these new releases go to http://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/get-started/whats-new-in-arcgis-pro.htm for ArcGIS Pro 2.0 and http://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/latest/get-started/introduction/whats-new-in-arcgis.htm#ESRI_SECTION1_76DF146740D047C78D38DC5FFF917CCD for ArcGIS 10.5.1.
- ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS will be have new releases every 6 months in to the future.
- As always, the ESRI User Conference is a well done production with professional presentation and branding.
- Being at the ESRI Conference is always a nice opportunity to see old friends in the GIS community.
More to Come Tomorrow
- Author: Robert Johnson
The ESRI User Conference is always an exciting and educational experience, and this year was no different. In addition to the new offerings discussed in the previous post, there were a few very interesting new developments in the web mapping arena.
First, there were a host of new features announced for ArcGIS Online: the ability to create presentations from the map viewer, several new spatial analysis tools including interpolated surfaces and route planning, some revamped security options, and support for related data. It has been quite interesting to watch ArcGIS Online develop over the years from a very basic online mapping and data sharing interface into a robust, easy to use application capable of creating some very powerful web mapping applications. This is truly a great tool for UCANR.
Another great new product coming out in the near future is the Web App Builder. This is a tool developed for ArcGIS Online and Portal for ArcGIS that provides a very simple environment for creating web maps using preconfigured widgets in a drag-and-drop interface. The Web App Builder is javascript based, so it functions across all platforms including mobile platforms. The Web App Builder is currently in beta, but is scheduled for a full release with ArcGIS 10.3 later in the year.
The User Conference was a great experince. It's always amazing to see just how many people are using GIS throughout the world and all the creative ways they are taking advantage of this technology. I had a great time and I'm looking forward to attending again soon.