Tag Archives: iPad
Fun with GIS 142: iPad GeoPower
Small but powerful, iPads have taken hold in many classrooms. With good connectivity, these tablets offer rich exploration, data gathering, analysis, and presentation, via ArcGIS Online. Lacking the horsepower, browser plugins, and multi-function mouse of a full computer, there are limits, but savvy users can still accomplish quite a lot.
The ArcGIS for iOS app opens existing projects containing modest data sets. With sustained wifi or cell connection, field data entry is a snap, including adding on-site photo/video and using GPS-based location. Swapping basemaps and turning layers on and off just requires accessing side panels. Shifting between multiple accounts is easy, as the app can store full connection info.
But I just use the iPad’s regular web browser, because it permits full access to authoring (including saving and sharing), layer controls like transparency, and the rich and growing body of ArcGIS Online data and analysis power, just like my computer. It takes only a few seconds to get used to tapping to focus the tablet’s attention and then tapping again to engage a control.
Even maps with data loads that overtax the ArcGIS for iOS app (such as “GLOBEdemo” above) often work inside the iPad’s web browser. This means that, if you can do it on a computer in a regular browser, including playing a presentation (such as “TX Demographics” below), you can usually do it on an iPad.
Many schools today are looking for reasons to use the banks of iPads they have acquired, particularly in activities that engage students in analysis and presentation. ArcGIS Online provides unlimited opportunity for educators who are willing to unleash students in exploring, creating, and analyzing data.
Charlie Fitzpatrick, Esri Education Manager
Fun with GIS 136: Analysis Rocks!
“Please computer show me all features where…” I think this is the sweetest phrase in all of GIS. Why does GIS rock? Analysis! It’s technology’s marvelous ability to sift through a bunch of data, and show the answer to a compelling question. The user has to provide the data and craft a clear and meaningful question that the computer can answer. For an educator, this is magic! It is a wonderfully simple, clear, and potent demonstration of problem-solving. The guts of GIS is features and their attributes, but the brain of GIS is analysis.
The latest upgrade to ArcGIS Online now makes it easy to see and practice analysis, allowing educators to build problem-solving skills from even a young age. Any feature service can now display a table of attributes, where users can sort and select and see relationships even more clearly. And properly formatted data can be filtered with queries, sifting out features that meet specific criteria.
To demo, I downloaded some data about US states – four years of 8th grade math scores in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test. In Excel, I collected summary scores from 2011, 2009, 2007, and 2005, and calculated the difference between 2005 and 2011. (For such a demo, I could have used as few as three features and three attributes, but making it realistic adds power.) I used Esri Maps for Office to convert the spreadsheet into a map layer, and then shared that layer through my ArcGIS Online organization.
Back in a classroom, students on computers or iPads could practice analysis, using the map, table, and filter tools! This is a fabulous workflow for educators – build a simple data set, publish it to ArcGIS Online, let your students bang away on it! In addition to the classification and symbolization that is a hallmark of GIS, now students can explore that table and select features of special interest.
Students can then filter out according to carefully crafted criteria, with simple queries about a single thing to very complex and even parameterized queries! And users don’t even need to be signed in if the data is shared with the public! This is awesome!
Education policy leaders are yearning for analytical thinking. Employers seek workers who can analyze information. The new geography standards and next generation science standards both call for students to demonstrate analysis. The Common Core State Standards call for analysis. STEM fields require constant analysis. This is why I’m so excited about the powerful combination of ArcGIS Online as a critical thinking arena, especially when used in conjunction with Esri Maps for Office. Opportunities for students to build analytical power are endless!
- Charlie Fitzpatrick, Esri Education Manager
Fun with GIS 134: iPad GIS
Once upon a time, computers were huge and slow. Now? I’m typing this and snagging screenshots on an iPad. These devices rock for reading and writing. But can they do GIS? It depends on what you want to do. Visualization? Analysis? Data creation? All doable. OK, an iPad running ArcGIS Online does not have the horsepower of a robust workstation running ArcGIS Desktop, but it’s easier to tote around and use anywhere there’s connectivity.
With the ArcGIS for iOS app, one can open any number of pre-created maps, and use them largely as the designer intended for a laptop and larger. Here’s a screenshot from a popular resource, “USA Demographics for Schools,” accessible without being signed in, simply by typing the title in the “search for map” box in the ArcGIS for iOS app. Open it up, zoom in to the region of interest, and explore the layers. (See other US maps at http://esriurl.com/funwithgis119.)
Since 2002, a favorite resource for educators working with GIS has been “Mapping Our World.” It was created for ArcView 3, then for ArcGIS 9, then for ArcGIS 10, and is now available for free, engaging ArcGIS Online. Here’s a screenshot of the most commonly used lesson, exploring earthquakes around the world, and the map it uses. I floated back and forth between the doc and the map easily on my iPad.
The earthquake map above uses native ArcGIS Online and the iPad’s native browser, which means users can have a more or less similar experience as on a computer, just with finger-work on a touch-screen instead of mouse-clicks on the desk. This can take a little getting used to, and some activities call for two-handed work even on a computer, but many of the basic activities are just as easy on an iPad. So you can do some basic classification of layers, tweak the symbols, play with the transparency, do an identify, and so forth. Here’s a map built from scratch on iPad, using the “election2012″ layer from “Map the Vote“, showing the added layer classified (electoral votes available in 2012) and symbolized, and a feature identified.
Another blog included a lesson using editable feature services with smartphones. As long as your iPad has connectivity in the field, it’s just another field data collection device, with the benefits of portability, screen size, GPS, and camera. This is why many organizations are turning to tablets in the field for on-site data collection and integration. Here, I’m adding a data point with my favorite breakfast beverage (OJ, of course).
As with any technology in the hands of any user, the key is what’s going on in the user’s head. It’s vastly more exciting seeing people do powerful work with basic tools than do basic work with powerful tools. Even such an elegant tool as the iPad has limits, but with ArcGIS Online, users who engage vigorously have access to galaxies of data and an array of capacities that would have made GIS users a decade ago gape. “Explore, analyze, solve, communicate” is as relevant to an iPad-based user of ArcGIS Online as a workstation-based user of desktop GIS.
- Charlie Fitzpatrick, Esri Education Manager
Fun With GIS 116: Carbon Density
“Can web GIS be used in science?” asked several visitors to our exhibit at the recent conference of the National Science Teachers Association. The resounding answer is “YES!” Besides the typical examples of volcanoes and earthquakes, rivers and watersheds, tornadoes and hurricanes, and oceans and atmosphere, a new opportunity has arrived, thanks to the researchers at Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC).
Carbon density is an issue of huge concern for global climate change and land use decision making: What’s the amount of live woody biomass over a given parcel of land? WHRC researchers have created a dataset for the land between the Tropics, at 500m resolution, and posted it in ArcGIS Online. You can see it in an embedded map, and read about the impact of carbon, and how the data were assembled.
With a hypothesis in mind, I used ArcGIS Online to create a three-panel map, looking at biomass, terrain, and human population density, then synchronized scale and location.
On my computer, I explored key sites within Indonesia (above). On my iPad, I browsed over to Brazil and looked at the province of Rondonia (below). Many sites deserve scrutiny over time.
Carbon storage, environmental health, and land conservation are vital in discussions about climate, population, and food. Seeing the patterns and examining the relationships are important tasks for science teachers. Students must become map-savvy to take advantage of the growing rivers of data. These biomass data came from a mix of MODIS and LiDAR data. Understanding the nature of these data gathering techniques helps students grasp what the data mean. This a fabulous blend of physics, chemistry, biology, earth, and environmental sciences. So, without question, web GIS is good for science! Certainly the scientists at WHRC think so!
- Charlie Fitzpatrick, Esri Schools Program Manager
Fun With GIS 115: Weather or Not
Tornadoes, storms, drought, and fire: It’s only a week into spring and already the conterminous 48 states have had plenty of wild weather. ArcGIS Online is a terrific platform for seeing it develop and helping students consider the implications of short-term weather and longer-term fluctuations in climate.
“US48Weather” is a simple but powerful Map Viewer map which includes precipitation, clouds (infrared), and wind (observed and modeled). An iPad or smartphone can also display this map, and users can zoom in and seek the spaces where strong winds circulate.
This map is just a starting point, and purposefully incomplete. There are other key layers that should be added to make it more valuable to particular locations. What would you add? (Fire? Drought? Temperature? Tornadoes? Hurricanes? Population?) Chances are there are layers you would want, and that they are available through ArcGIS Online.
Springtime can be glorious or tragic. We live on a planet in which conditions change, and we need to understand the interrelationships at play in our world. It is hubris to pretend these don’t matter or that humans can control everything.
- Charlie Fitzpatrick, Esri Schools Program Manager
Fun with GIS #107: Terrain Profiles
Terrain profiles have teaching power! Draw a line on the map, and get a profile of the elevation change. Cool! The EdCommunity WebMapping page includes a link to a Flex-based tool that educators have used successfully for months. Click and hold to draw a line, let go … magic! It even works underwater! (Note Hawaii, below.) And if you wander your cursor along the profile, it shows your position on the map. Nifty! (Try mapping out a local run or bike ride!)
Now, there’s another version to explore. This is a Javascript-based tool, so it works on a tablet. Click the Measure tool, set measurement units, click to start, double-click to stop. (And — YAY! — this version draws lines in a Great Circle Route.) Here it is on an iPad.
These and the other apps on the EdCommunity WebMapping page are powerful tools for helping students of all ages understand a variety of concepts and skills. Many such apps are carefully documented and ready for others to modify as desired. For educators wondering about GIS and STEM, a quick stroll through the ArcGIS Galleries should prove that there are endless opportunities for people with GIS knowledge, contextual background, and technical skills.
- Charlie Fitzpatrick, Esri Education Manager
Fun with GIS #106: Data and Diplomas
Data and more data! It’s a challenge for today’s students, educators, administrators, and policy makers alike. The US Government just unveiled a new portal for education data. I spent some time browsing, and found a set of data I’d like to see in a map with a chart: high school graduation rates.
As an educator, I might push this data into a shapefile and post it for students to use, or ask them to go through the exercise. The first route maximizes time for analysis, the S and M elements in STEM; the second route maximizes development of the T and E in STEM. Either way, it’s a benefit.
I used the same data enhancement process described in a previous blog. There is a basic US states shapefile available online for enhancement. I downloaded the graduation data, and carefully pushed it into the basic shapefile. I signed onto ArcGIS Online, pushed up my new data, made a map, and customized the popup. Here’s the result, as displayed in my iPad.
Students today are facing exploding universes of data, and the need to learn how to make decisions about its quality, its relevance, the ways it can be employed, and what it means. They need frequent practice with these tasks. It needs to become second nature if they are going to be good problem solvers in the years ahead.
- Charlie Fitzpatrick, Esri Education Manager
Fun with GIS #105: EcoRegions, Drought, and iPad
A year ago, I wrote a blog about using ArcGIS Online to explore ecoregions, and doing it on an iPad, in addition to a regular computer. I want to enhance the map by adding another key layer: drought status. I’m interested in learning which ecoregions face a near-term issue.
The U.S. government runs a portal about drought, with maps, data, news, and links. But what if you just want to see drought data added into your ecoregion map? Think back to another recent blog entry that walked through finding and adding special services. This time, we need to find some drought data. By searching the information, links, and applications at the drought portal, I found the National Climate Data Center’s web service for the Palmer Drought Severity Index. See the combined map.
Finally, since the two color layers compete, I used the idea from another blog entry to create a three-panel map, showing a location by terrain, drought, and ecoregion. And all of this can be done on an iPad, in addition to a regular computer.
Whether working with a regular computer or a mobile device, and long-term or short-term data, and cultural or physical data, making these analytical maps with disparate resources helps students build critical content knowledge and technical skills that they can use for solving problems. This is why GIS is important in STEM education and beyond.
- Charlie Fitzpatrick, Esri Education Manager
Planning a Field Trip Using ArcGIS Online
I was invited to give a keynote address at the 2011 GI-Forum at the University of Salzburg, and as it was my first trip to Austria, I wanted to maximize my time there by creating a map in ArcGIS Online. I have always used maps as the central planning tool for any trips that I take for a conference or to gather data with students, but my old method was to print an online map of the area I was interested in, and draw points with pen on that map that I was interested in visiting.
The ArcGIS Online method has several clear advantages. First, I can save the map and later add content to my map after my trip has already begun, as long as I can connect to the Internet. Second, I can hyperlink images, videos, or informative text to each point, line, or area that I create. Third, I can switch between different basemaps such as topographic, street, imagery, and others, or add content such as real-time weather, geology, soils, or other layers. Fourth, I can change the scale that I wish to examine the area with, and I can also change the symbols for the content I am adding. Fifth, I can share that map with others at the conference or students I am working with in the field. Sixth, I can always print these maps if I wanted to take them with me in the field, but even better, I can access these maps on my smartphone using the ArcGIS Online app that I have already downloaded.
You can find my map by accessing http://esriurl.com/giforumsalzburg. The rich basemap content included buildings, which made it easy for me to add the points I needed. I also added a few lines and areas representing additional places I want to visit if I have the time.
Part of the map for the GI-Forum that I created on ArcGIS Online.
The ArcGIS Online map as it appears on my smartphone.
How might you use ArcGIS Online to plan your next field trip to a conference or to collect data?
- Joseph Kerski, Education Manager
Fun with GIS #84: ArcGIS.com Presentations
Geopresentations on an iPad! Or any other device using ArcGIS.com Map Viewer, the “one-foot high jump” intro to GIS. From its birth a year ago, ArcGIS Explorer Online has been able to create presentations (see Fun With GIS #80), but they were originally available for viewing only on the same tool. Since Explorer Online uses the Microsoft Silverlight browser plugin, full Macs and PCs could make and view presentations, but iPads could not. Now, however, the ArcGIS.com Map Viewer can read and play these presentations. It’s a great asset, as presentations can now play on any Javascript-capable browser, including smartphones and tablets, and school labs lacking plugins.
To demo, I steered my iPad to ArcGIS.com and typed “communityatlas” (all one word) in the search window.
Two options appeared, so I clicked the “WashDC” version, and went to an ArcGIS.com Map Viewer display. Over on the left, there is a new choice: “View Presentation”
When clicked, this launches a new browser window, with controls at the bottom. Users have full control to pan and zoom (including pinch/spread on iPad), and wander back and forth between frames.
Because users of ArcGIS Explorer Online can build any number of projects, with lots of intro GIS experience embedded, this is a tremendous development that will help new users grasp key concepts and skills that are crucial for GIS, while learning solid STEM (including social studies) content.
- Charlie Fitzpatrick, Co-Manager, Esri Schools Program
