Day 2 of the ESRI User Conference was filled with many technical workshops and time speakeing with the lead developers of the tools that IGIS utilize on almost a daily basis.  In this post I will highlight some of the technical session I attended and what I saw and learned in the exhibition hall.  It was a busy day and i am looking forward to what I learn tomorrow... Now to the highlights...

In the technical sessions I attended the following:

ArcGIS Insights: An Introduction
Before this session I did not know of the capabilities of this app.  With app you can take tabular and spatial data and analyze the data in really intuitive ways and share the output and models with your colleagues and the public.  For more information about ArcGIS Insights go to the following link.

Cartography Cutting Edge
This session highlighted some of the new symbology and vector tile formatting that can be used with the new map viewer.  The methods used included layer special effects, layer blending, and the vector tile base map editor.  Using the techniques in this session you could design a nice webmap, but that webmap could not be opened in ArcGIS Pro without pro stripping much of the formatting that you used in the session.

ArcGIS Pro Tasks: An Introduction
For the past several years, I keep thinking that IGIS should use Tasks to teach workshop workflow.  This session walk through creating and configuring a basic editing task.  I still see how this tool could and should be used in some of the IGIS Workshops.

ArcGIS Pro: Tips and Tricks
This was a nice technical sessionthat highlighted many tips and tricks.  As part of this workshop the presenters shared a storymap they created to highlight their tips and tricks.  Here is the storymap that they shared with the attendees, enjoy.

ArcGIS Field Maps: An Introduction and What's New
ArcGIS Field Maps continues to improve.  Field Maps is ESRI effort to combine 5 separate apps (Collector, Survey 123, Explorer, Workforce, and Navigator) into one.  To date they have added the functionality of the first three apps.  They have integrated many new features into the app since last year.  There is not enough room to discuss the new features. I will say that I am excited to integrate the new features into the IGIS Field Maps training.

Discussions with the Product Developers:

How to optimize multidimensional datasets for faster queries and rasters?
I have been having an issue querying merged netcdf and mosaic datasets of the yearly netcdf data.  Both methods have been quite slow.  The recommended way to optimize the querying of these data is to create a cloud raster format dataset from the mosaic dataset and that should drastically speed up the queryng of the multidimensional data.

ArcGIS Insights vs Dashboards?
I will have to play with the functionality of insights and see if it could replace dashboards in some of the IGIS use cases.

Sunsetting of Drone2Map?
In the past few months I have heard that ArcGIS Drone2Map is going to be phased out.  I asked the developers of the app and they stated that there are no plans to phose out Drone2Map and they are continuing to develop and release new versions.  The most recent version is Drone2map 2022.1.

This is the 42^nd ESRI User Conference yet in some ways it felt like the first.  This is the first in-person user conference since the COVID—19 outbreak after almost 2 and a half years.  All in-person participants had to have proof of vaccination to attend, even with that requirement there are over 14,000 participants.  I heard more than once that it was nice to be meeting again in person.

The tag line from ESRI this year is ‘GIS – Mapping Common Ground'.  They are making the case that GIS will help us as a society meet/share data on Common Ground.  This can be when addressing complex issues such as Climate Change, Conservation Planning, Urban Planning etc.  All these activities need us all to meet on common ground and mapping helps with that.  We heard about the development and use of Geospatial data from Deanne Criswell the Director of FEMA and California's Natural Resources Secretary - Wade Crowfoot Crowfoot and Nate Roth from the Department of Conservation's Chief Science and Data Advisor, they described the data and the tools created for the California 30x30 initiative these data will be available in a web app developed in concert with ESRI https://www.californianature.ca.gov/.

I the coming days I am looking forward to hearing about the new tools that ESRI have been developing.  These tools include ArcGIS Insights, Spatial Analysis of Big Data, Knowledge Graphs, etc,  I look forward to writing more about the advancements as the week progresses.

Since the Part 107 Remote Pilot Certification for regulation of
non-recreational use of small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS - aka. drones) was added to the FAA's Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) in mid-2016, there have been a number of updates to the rules over the years, including an Academic Exemption for education and research purposes (which is only apply to institutions of higher education and not other state agencies or conservation groups).  The most recent of these updates occurred in January 2021, when the regulations were further amended to allow for the operation of drones during the night and over people in limited circumstances.  For some operators, these have been very welcome changes.  However, maybe more widely relevant to our community of drone enthusiasts, in June 2021 the FAA announced the requirement of "The Recreational UAS Safety Test" (TRUST) for all recreational pilots; with the objective of ensuring that these pilots are likewise knowledgeable in the FAA's rules and regulations for drone operations.  

Amidst these updates and changes to the regulations, a common question that IGIS receives is "what do I need to do to legally fly a drone?"  To answer this question, the head of our UC System's Center of Excellence on Unmanned Aircraft System Safety (UASSafety), Dr. Brandon Stark, has provided the following simplified guidelines to help steer people in the right directions, for whether they need the TRUST and/or Part 107 certifications:

• Coursework -> TRUST
• Research in access-controlled field -> TRUST
• Research in public area with people -> Part 107
• Collection of data for another agency -> Part 107
• Promotional media -> Part 107
• Demonstration for students -> TRUST
• Demonstration for non-students -> Part 107
• Inspecting any structure for repairs -> Part 107
• Flying above the FAA's Facility Map Altitude -> Part 107
• Flying above 400 ft (AGL) -> Part 107
• Any operation that could profit the pilot in any way -> Part 107
• Strictly for fun (even if you have a Part 107 certification) -> TRUST

Note - The Academic Exception is not a loophole.  Everyone now needs to have either completed a TRUST or Part 107 certification, and preferably both.

For the sake of drone operators everywhere, it is extremely important that we all abide by these rules and regulations; as it could take only one grievous mistake (even if the mistake is unwitting) to legally set back all of the progress that has been made for the allowance of sUAS operations, both within and outside of the UC System. 

For more information on the TRUST and Part 107 certifications, please refer to the FAA's official site:  https://faadronezone.faa.gov/

For all UC drone operations, please do not forget to file your flights in advance through the UC's UAS Safety App, https://ehs.ucop.edu/drones/.  This is not only required by the UC System, but also provides the valuable benefit of insurance coverage for you and your drone in the event of an accident.  Additionally, the recently created UC Drones knowledge portal is an incredible resource for a wide range of drone safety and regulation information:  https://ucdrones.github.io/  

July 2021 marks the fifth anniversary of Drone Camp, and thanks to an all-star lineup of presenters and instructors and a fantastic and diverse group of over 255 attendees from all over the world, it was a massive success this year. Initially launched in 2016 by the UC ANR, IGIS Statewide program, DroneCamp has now evolved into a multi-campus and industry collaboration, with a network of drone experts hailing from UC ANR, UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley, UC Merced, UC Davis, CSU Monterey Bay, and the Monterey Bay Drone Automation and Robotics Technology corporation. From 2016 to 2019, this event was held in-person at Davis, San Diego, and then in Monterey, CA.; however, in 2020 it was moved online due to COVID-19. The move indoors, to discuss a very outdoor-oriented topic, came with some challenges. We had to shelve our important (and fun) hands-on equipment and flight training, for example. Yet it had rewards. We were able to reach a more diverse and a greater number of participants, and widen the scope of content.  Ultimately, 2020 was a great success, but in the process we recognized that it could be even better with additional help from our network of drone expert friends from around the state.

Like last year, we came together online for DroneCamp 2021 in July. Over 255 people joined from around the world to learn about theory, application, regulation, and data processing. We learned about the practical aspects of maintaining safety while flying, we took deep dives into various software workflows, and explored agricultural, forestry, and vegetation mapping examples. This year we hosted 5 Plenary sessions, and had some electrifying plenary talk sessions from cutting-edge scientists from around California: Crashing drones! Precision Agriculture! Citizen Science! Mapping aquatic environments! 

Because the overall objective of DroneCamp remains to provide the most practical and comprehensive learning experience possible for attendees, we are working on an in-person, hands-on training day that is being scheduled for October, to be held in Monterey/Marina California. And, as the threat of COVID-19 subsides, additional in-person training sessions will be added around the state of California in the coming year. 

 

DroneCamp Overview:

DroneCamp is designed for a wide range of skill levels and interests, for those who are interested in using drones for anything other than non-recreation use (calling for a part 107 remote pilot's license), from complete beginners with little to no experience in drone technology, to intermediate users who want to learn more advanced data processing and analysis.  Between presentations on contemporary applications of drones in environmental and agricultural research, and hands-on data processing and analysis exercises, attendees have the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the following topics: 

• Flight Skills: Safe Launch and Landings, Basic Operations, Traversing and Avoiding Obstacles, Night Flying 

• Safety and Regulations: Safety and Regulations Overview; How to be a Good Visual Observer; Operating in Controlled Airspace

• Hardware: Sensors, Platforms and Field Accessories

• Data Collection: Mission Planning; High Precision Mapping

• Data Processing: Stitching Drone Images with Pix4D, Agisoft Metashape, ArcGIS Pro, and OpenDroneMap; Analyzing Processed Drone Data in QGIS and ArcGIS Pro

• Data Analysis and Management:  Vegetation Analysis, Vegetation Analysis and Classification in ArcGIS Pro;Analysis of the Intertidal Zone; A case study of data management, from collection to storage and sharing of data outputs. 

It was super fun and rewarding, and a great success for ANR and all the other collaborators. We built networks, increased collaboration, learned some very cool technical stuff, and got updated on current regulations, including the fact that you can now renew your 107 license easily here. 

 

Some inspiring quotes from anonymous attendee reviews:

I was so appreciative of the extremely high caliber faculty/instructors that were recruited to give presentations, demos, and use of software. You all worked so well together to impart different pieces of expert knowledge. You all are brilliant and I'm inspired!!!

 

Loved it. We started off heavy which blew my mind but all the talks were so informative and fascinating. Really appreciate the diverse group of people you gathered together. Just wish it was in person! I would love to meet everyone. 

 

Excellent presentation that allowed those of us with ArcMap experience to see the similarities and differences offered by ArcGis Pro. Again, a wonderful presentation (by a professional) that accounts for all the practical steps involved with data manipulation rolled into a final product.

 

Once I read through my notes, look at my screen captures and watch some of the presentations again, I will be able to structure my drone classes for my students. I'm developing a drone program from scratch for middle and high school students at a local charter school.

 

Consider signing up for the in-person training in October, and keep DroneCamp 2022 in your sights!  Further information will be coming soon to the DroneCamp website,  https://dronecampca.org/