Launching your GIS Journey: Part 1 of 2

This workshop is designed to: 1. Develop geotechnology skills, including foundational underpinnings, cloud data sources, data formats, communicating with maps, data quality; projections, symbolizing, georeferencing, measurement, classification, databases, and mobile workflows. 2. Develop spatial thinking through the use of geotechnologies. 3. Develop workforce awareness of the applicability of GIS across a variety of disciplines for instruction and research. 4. Provide confidence that you can use these skills and perspectives to move forward with your own career.

 Workshop philosophy:

1. This is your workshop. Let us know how we on the  Esri education team  can help you today and in the future as you use geotechnologies.
2. Using geotechnologies effectively is a journey that will require building a network with your colleagues.
3. We will not cover every GIS tool and data set that exists, but we will build a foundation so that you will be empowered and feel confident.
4. The activities include core themes and skills that can be used in many topics, disciplines, and scales from local to global.

Tools: The workshop uses the following GIS tools:  ArcGIS Online, web mapping applications such as Dashboards and Storymaps, and the Survey123 field data collection tool.  For more advanced work, we will discuss ArcGIS Pro and selected other tools. 

 Workshop Themes:

(1)  Geotechnologies are critically important tools in the natural and social sciences, engineering, design, and in many other fields to build a healthier, more equitable, more sustainable, more resilient future.

(2)  Geotechnologies are essential tools for your career, no matter the field:  They enable you to apply your skills and knowledge and contribute to the work that nonprofits, government agencies, private industry, and academia is using everyday. But, the most important tool is your brain--GIS is first and foremost a thinker's tool.

(3)  Modern cloud-enabled GIS tools and spatial data mean that it is easier than ever to learn how to apply GIS to solve problems, and for teaching and research. But the world is a complex place and hence - using GIS is a lifelong journey.

Maps as decision-making tools  

Maps have always been essential tools for the decision maker. For centuries, maps stirred imaginations and inspired explorations of the unknown. Today, maps are still used to explore the unknown, but instead of “terra incognita”, maps are used to help understand relationships across areas, regions, scales, and themes. Maps were drawn on wood blocks, copper plates, silk, film, and paper—each of which was an innovation for its time but had its own set of limitations. Today, maps are created and used in a digital environment within Spatial Technology. 

In a GIS environment, maps are dynamic—map scale, symbology, and content can all be changed so that the issue can be better understood. 

These maps no longer are simply reference documents that help us understand where things are, but can help us understand why things are where they are and help us plan for a more sustainable future. Digital maps created with and viewed within spatial technology can be combined with other maps and information, charts, stories, and multimedia. 

Components of GIS

In 2004, the US Department of Labor identified three growing and essential fields for the 21st Century: Biotechnology, nanotechnology, and geotechnology. Geotechnology includes:

1. Geographic Information Systems (GIS). GIS is the way almost all modern maps are made, but more than a map-making toolset, a GIS allows people to perform spatial analysis, considering patterns, relationships, and trends, and to plan for the future.
2. Remote Sensing.  Examining the Earth from a "remote position"--from satellites, airplanes, and UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or drones).
3. Global Positioning Systems (GPS), or more accurately, Global Navigational Satellite Systems (GNSS). Technology that allows people and objects to determine their position accurately on the Earth's surface or at sea. Location underpins all of LOCI, so GPS/GNSS is a critical piece of geotechnology. 
4. Web Mapping (which many see as an outgrowth of GIS). Creating and sharing maps online, serving geospatial data online, and creating and serving maps and services online. 

Combining these 4 components, geotechnology helps people make everyday decisions more effectively and efficiently.

Defining Geographic Information Systems (GIS) 

Most university textbooks and industry manuals define GIS in terms of its "components" as follows: GIS is composed of hardware, software, data, methods (tools, models, and procedures), and people. Another useful definition is a process-oriented one: “GIS is a system for collecting, management, manipulation, analysis, and presentation of spatially referenced data.” Still another definition is a systems-oriented one: A GIS enables us to help capture, model, store, manage, and present complex systems in a problem-solving environment.  

 Another way to conceptualize GIS is to break apart its three words : The “G” or “Geographic” component refers to the location-component that GIS has—everything in a GIS is referenced to real-world coordinates. These coordinates can define a single point, a line, or a polygon, or define the starting point and extent of a grid, or image. 

The “I” or “Information” component refers to the informational database behind the spatial data; a geo-database, usually stored as a table or set of related tables, containing spatial fields (such as latitude-longitude or street address or city names), and a-spatial (or non-spatial) fields (such as housing type or number of people between 10 and 19 years old). The “S” or “System” component ties the “G” and the “I” segments together—one can select a feature via using the map, or via a row in the data table. The "S" part can also refer to the analytical capabilities that GIS has, including spatial statistics, map overlay, proximity, routing, geocoding, and others. The “S” component ensures that a GIS is not just a set of graphics floating around in cyberspace, but that the attributes are always linked to the mapped feature.  

Non-spatial information associated with a spatial feature is referred to as an attribute. A feature in a GIS is linked to its record in the attribute table through a unique numerical identifier (ID). Every feature in a map layer has an identifier. It is important to understand the one-to-one or many-to-one relationship between a feature and its attribute (usually stored as 1 record in the attribute table). Because features on the map are linked to their records in the table, you can click a feature on the map and see its attributes in the table. When you select a record in the table, the linked feature on the map is automatically selected as well.

Some data are represented as grids, or "rasters". Raster data can also have attributes only if their data (shown as pixels) are represented using a small set of integer values. Raster datasets that contain attribute tables typically have cell values that represent or define a class, group, category, or membership. Not all GIS raster data formats can store attribute information.

Consider the map below of most intense and deadliest world earthquakes in a GIS. Think of the "G" as the map of the earthquakes, the table below with the earthquake locations, magnitude, and fatalities as the "I" part, and the "S" means that you can select an earthquake on the map and that selected point will be selected in the data, and vice versa, you can select an earthquake in the table and it will be selected on the map.  

Click on earthquakes and note the attributes that appear in the pop-ups. The pop-ups pull data from the table associated with the map.

Layers > Open Attribute Table. Note the fields. These fields are available for use in symbology, classification, in popups, for charts, and elsewhere.

Earthquakes map in ArcGIS Online.

By combining the spatial with the aspatial data, we create a holistic view of the world. GIS data as layers, along with data analytics can help us capture some of the complexity and connections between phenomena in the world and make sense of them. 

GIS answers questions.  GIS is sometimes defined in terms of the questions it can answer, and the analysis that it can do, including:

• Location: What is at………….?  This question seeks to find out what exists at a particular location. A location can be described in many ways, using, for example place name, post code, or geographic reference such as longitude/latitude.
• Condition: Where is it………….?  The second question is the converse of the first and requires spatial data to answer. Instead of identifying what exists at a given location, one may wish to find location(s) where certain conditions are satisfied (such as an unforested section of at-least 2000 square meters in size, within 100 meters of road, and with soils suitable for supporting buildings).
• Aspatial Questions: "What's the average number of people working with GIS in each location?" is an aspatial question - the answer to which does not require the stored value of latitude and longitude; nor does it describe where the places are in relation with each other.
• Spatial Questions. "How many people work with GIS in the major neighborhoods or centers of Delhi" OR " Which centers lie within 10 km of each other? ", OR " What is the shortest route passing through all these centers". These are spatial questions that can only be answered using latitude and longitude data and other information such as the radius of the Earth. GIS can answer such questions.

Consider: What spatial question(s) are you most interested in? First and foremost, GIS is a Thinker's Tool. It empowers people to make smarter decisions.

GIS Data.  GIS data has always been "big data" - large satellite images, databases with millions of records, and so on. GIS data are represented as layers, which cover such themes as buildings, water and electric lines, land use, hydrography, zoning, ecoregions, transportation, elevation, climate, and more. As shown in the graphic below, these layers are all georeferenced to a specific location on the planet. Each layer can be 2D or 3D. 

Using geospatial data and mapping is laden with ethical considerations and meaning! Use the  Spatial Reserves  data book and blog to help you teach these concepts and skills:

1. How to find spatial data.
2. How to know if that data is any good.
3. Societal implications: Location privacy, ethics, fee vs free data, crowdsourcing, and more.

Each essay in the book and blog are short and designed for hands-on work and fostering meaningful class discussion.

Spatial phenomena.  Two types of spatial phenomena exist: discrete and continuous. A discrete spatial phenomenon is anything that exists that is individually distinguishable, with well-defined boundaries. It is easy to see where it begins and ends, and does not exist between where we observe it to be. Rivers and roads are good examples. A continuous spatial phenomenon is something that exists between our observations. It is data of a continuous nature that cannot be isolated as an individual. Temperature is a good example: It varies through space; a reading at a single location does not exist in isolation but is influenced by the readings or "surface" around it; elevation is another example.

GIS Data Models.  GIS data is represented as two data models--vector and raster. Vector is typically used for discrete data, and raster is typically used for continuous data (but not always).  Vector data is represented by discrete points, lines, and polygons, such as a single coordinate with x and y values (such as latitude and longitude) for a water well or a mine, at least two coordinates defining a line segment (such as a road or powerline), and several coordinates defining an area (such a lake, a police precinct, or a country). Raster data is represented by a grid, or array, of cells, each cell having a value. In an elevation grid, each cell contains an elevation. In a remotely sensed satellite image, each cell could contain a set of reflectance values in a specific part of   the Electromagnetic Spectrum (Links to an external site.)  

Why does the data model matter in your use of GIS? The data model determines what tasks you can perform on it, how you can symbolize and classify it, and it also impacts data quality. 

GIS is Changing.  GIS is dynamic--changing with each passing year. More recently, some definitions have focused on GIS moving from a system of records to a system of engagement. GIS now supports a mechanism by which ordinary citizens can have a greater role in their own local government. For example, where is the best location for a proposed urban greenway? Can my city fix the broken sidewalk in my neighborhood? Where are the floodwaters from scheduled to be in 2 hours? For more, examine these  5 forces, 5 trends, and 5 skills most critical in today's GIS world .

The implications of the evolution of GIS are vast, including for education:

In short, GIS for its first phase was focused on doing digitally what we used to do with paper maps. Now, GIS is focused on seeing things and solving problems that we could never solve with traditional mapping methods. ArcGIS is a key part of this new modern world of GIS.

1. Go to www.arcgis.com > Map. Make sure you are using the new map viewer (the URL should be, when you are creating a new map:  https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html).  
2. Map Navigation: On map using your mouse or touchpad: Zoom in and out, and pan. Use + and - tools to navigate. Drag a box and zoom in on box. Use Home to Zoom back to default view. Right panel: Map Tools > Search > University of La Verne > Set bookmark. Set another bookmark to California. Navigate via your new bookmarks.
3. Right panel: Map Tools: Measure something. Practice Location using different formats.
4. Left panel: Try different basemaps.
5. Left panel: Add data > Browse Layers > Web service: Enter this URL for the HDI:  https://services.arcgis.com/BG6nSlhZSAWtExvp/arcgis/rest/services/Human_Development_Index/FeatureServer  > Add to map. Note symbology and what variable is mapped.
6. Open attribute table and examine fields and data.
7. Change symbology: Styles > Style Options > Classify Data > Manual Breaks > 2 classes. Adjust class break to 0.70. Observe patterns.
8. Styles > Choose Attributes > + expression: $feature["HDI_2019"]- $feature["HDI_2010"]. Rename expression to Change from 2010 to 2019 > Save > Test > OK. Note patterns. Delete HDI variable so you are only mapping the 2010-2019 change. Use counts and amounts (color). Style options > Classify data > Manual Breaks > 2 classes. Adjust class break to 0 > Done. Left panel: View legend. Observe patterns. See result  here .
9. Note that some countries with no data are being symbolized as declining in HDI. Not useful! Thus > + Expression and > use the following expression so that if there is no value for 2010 or 2019, no value is returned, and then use the "show features with no values" as a separate color which will clearly show those countries with no data: if (IsEmpty($feature["HDI_2019"]) || IsEmpty($feature["HDI_2010"])) return null; $feature["HDI_2019"]-$feature["HDI_2010"] Name expression: 2010 to 2019 with no data countries ID'd > Test > OK > On map: Change back to Counts and Amounts (color) > Classify > 2 classes > Manual Breaks, set break at 0 > show features with no values > set symbol style on no values to red > Change label to No Data > Done. See result  here . 10. Left panel: Note that since you are not signed in, you cannot save the map. But the above activity points to the fact that there are powerful things you can do in the ArcGIS platform without signing in.

1. Download the following data table in CSV format generated from a community litter survey, from here:  https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=6ab9ef065844463e920bd881df9fc0e2 
2. Download and examine this table in Excel. Note the location fields lat and long.
3. Access www.arcgis.com (ArcGIS Online) > Sign in with your credentials > Content > New Item > Your Device > navigate to and choose the CSV > Choose "add CSV and create a hosted feature layer or table > Take defaults for ALL fields to be included > Next > Take defaults for location settings latitude and longitude but note other choices > Next > Metadata: Change title to more intuitive title, add tags, and add summary > Save.
4. On "Item page" for your new feature layer > Open in Map Viewer. It should look similar to the following map below.

In this activity you will add a set of data collected in the field and use Smart Mapping techniques to uncover patterns and relationships in the data.

In this activity you will gain further skills in visualization and analysis with a focus on bivariate mapping.

In this activity you will gain further skills in visualization and analysis with a focus on filtering and mapping effects.

In this activity you will create 1 basic instant app and 1 story map from your wildfire and populations map.

Keep learning! Resources

GIS in education: What are the 10 most important skills, benefits, and strategies in using GIS in education?

 https://community.esri.com/t5/education-blog/what-are-the-10-most-important-skills-benefits-and/ba-p/1105349 

Reasons to embrace GIS as a teaching tool - eBook:

 https://www.esri.com/content/dam/esrisites/en-us/media/ebooks/15-reasons-to-embrace-gis-as-a-teaching-tool.pdf 

Smart mapping   lesson in Learn ArcGIS Lesson Library  .

How to make relationships map:   How to smart map: Relationships .

Making thematic Maps: Article: Smart Mapping Can Make Compelling Thematic Maps in Minutes | ArcNews | Summer 2022   https://www.esri.com/about/newsroom/arcnews/smart-mapping-can-make-compelling-thematic-maps-in-minutes/ 

Esri MOOCs:  https://www.esri.com/mooc  Free, rigorous, fun 6 week long courses with a cohort.

Learn ArcGIS Lesson library:  https://learn.arcgis.com