ArcWatch: GIS News, Views, and Insights

August 2013

A Transformational Esri UC

By Carla Wheeler
Esri Writer

Recording artist will.i.am is into much more than music: the founder of the Black Eyed Peas calls himself a “tech enthusiast” who, when he saw GIS during a visit to Esri, realized its potential for students at Roosevelt High School in East Los Angeles. Through his i.am.angel Foundation, the geospatial technology reached the students, four of whom presented their mapping projects at the 2013 Esri International User Conference (Esri UC). will.i.am was there to cheer them on and answer questions posed by Esri president Jack Dangermond about what drives him to encourage young people to learn science, technology, engineering, and math. Read the article.

Esri president Jack Dangermond welcomes recording artist will.i.am to the Esri International User Conference.

The Headlines

Into the Wild

Esri ArcGIS powers the maps on the Smithsonian WILD website, where you will find more than 200,000 images of animals, such as giant pandas and snow leopards, in their natural habitats. You also will see the mapped locations where the photos were taken using camera traps. Read the article.

Fighting Crime with GIS

Detective Justin Frank and Grant Ervin, public safety GIS program manager for the City of Philadelphia, show how the Philadelphia Police Department’s crime mapping and analysis application helps to nab criminals such as a burglar nicknamed “the Grinch That Stole Christmas.” Watch the video.

Mapping a Historic Flight

This Esri story map shows the path of the Winnie Mae, which Wiley Post piloted when he became the first person to fly solo around the world in a fixed-wing plane. Read this blog and visit the Air & Space/Smithsonian website to learn more.

News Bytes

What ArcGIS 10.2 Brings to You

ArcGIS is transforming into a comprehensive platform to help you do your work. Read this article about what the new ArcGIS 10.2 release offers. Learn more.
Esri Business Summit Stories "Inspiring"

Simon Thompson from Esri talks about the success stories shared at the Esri Business Summit and why location analytics was a hot topic. Listen to the podcast.
Keep Land Records Accurate

Learn to use the Local Government Information Model with the ArcGIS parcel fabric to automate parcel editing workflows and make sure your land records data is accurate. Take the course Editing and Maintaining Parcels Using ArcGIS.
GIS for Retail Real Estate

Gregg Katz from The Shopping Center Group says GIS and location analytics provide the "information you need when you need it, where you need it, [and] how you need it." Listen to his podcast.
2013/2018 Updated Demographics Released

What areas of the United States are the most diverse? Find out using Esri's new 2013/2018 Updated Demographics database.
Hurricane Season Is Here

Prepare for the storms ahead using resources such as the Esri Disaster Response Program and the Hurricane Public Information Map.

Centerpoints

Create a Collector Map

Use ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS 10.1 for Desktop, and the free Collector for ArcGIS app (available at the Apple App Store or Google Play) to make your own collector map for use on a smartphone. Take the tutorial.

Beginnings of Geodesign

Professor emeritus Carl Steinitz takes you back in time to the early 1960s when GIS was young and Howard Fisher ran the Laboratory for Computer Graphics at Harvard University. In this article, supplemented with his original designs, Steinitz talks about some of his early computer mapping projects.

ArcGIS Online Workshops

Register for one or both of these two half-day workshops to learn how to author, publish, discover, and work with content using your ArcGIS Online for Organizations site. Read this blog to find out which workshop is right for you.

Technical Talk

Displaying Speed, Direction

Read this blog to learn how to calculate and symbolize the speed and direction of wind or water currents when the data is stored as U and V vectors. "U" is the velocity toward east, and "V" is the velocity toward north.
Working with Dropbox Files

Want to learn how to use Dropbox files with your ArcGIS Online web maps? Read the tip.
Map Tour Story Maps Made Easy

Authoring and publishing a map tour story map just got a little simpler with some new features and capabilities in the template. Read the blog.
Spatial Mathematics

Esri's Joseph Kerski and the University of Michigan's Sandra Lach Arlinghaus bridge math and geography in their new book Spatial Mathematics: Theory and Practice through Mapping.
A Serious Game

A team of student researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology developed a game in ArcGIS to measure the spatial thinking ability of emergency responders when faced with a disaster. Read the article.
Five Lidar Tips

Learn how to make the most of lidar and ArcGIS. Read the article.
Get Started with ArcGIS Online

This free web course teaches you how to prepare to implement ArcGIS Online for your organization.

Et cetera

Creating 3D Cities in ArcGIS 10.2

See what ArcGIS 10.2 will offer to organizations that want to build 3D cities. Watch the video.
Registration Opens for Geodesign Summit

Get in on the conversation at the Geodesign Summit, January 29–30, 2014, at Esri headquarters in Redlands, California. Register today.

GIS Managers Connect at Esri UC

The GIS Managers' Open Summit tackled the issues near and dear to the people who run the GIS shops: open data, breaking down silos, capturing institutional knowledge, and more.
Podcast: GIS in Mobile Mapping

In this podcast, Stuart Woods from Leica Geosystems talks about how ArcGIS is used in Leica’s mobile imagery processing.
Free Geospatial Lessons

SpatiaLABS, the computer-based activities from Esri Press, are now available at no additional charge to Esri education site license customers. Learn how to get access for your school.
New Esri Bookstore App

Access ArcNews, ArcUser, Esri Press e-books, and more, for free from the palm of your hand. Get the app.
Register Today for GIS Day

Host a GIS Day celebration and help make the world a better place! To receive free items to hand out, register your event by September 20.
Famous Names in Football

This story map shows which players, team owners, and other officials have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame over the last 50 years.

Endpoints

Zombie Analysis

When the zombies arrive, where will they appear? Which way will they travel based on their speed? Where will they congregate? These are some of the questions that GIS answers in Edward González-Tennant’s classes at Monmouth University in New Jersey. Read the article.

Be Prepared

The Esri Press book Enabling Comprehensive Situational Awareness will help you develop expertise using GIS to prepare for crises. You will learn how analyses can be integrated into the common operating platform for use in emergency operations. Buy it today.

Hardware Offer

Motion Computing will provide a discount through September 11, 2013, on all Esri F5t offerings. These ArcPad and ArcGIS for Windows Mobile packages include an F5t Rugged IP54 Tablet PC, which is rugged, lightweight, and built for workers on the go.

Newsroom