Harnessing distributed collaboration for forest restoration

Two organizations collaborate, share data, and use field data collection to assess tree conditions and strategize forest restoration.

Northern California is recovering after wildfire damage to the region’s national forests. The United States Forest Service is proposing a restoration plan for the affected areas, but the agency needs accurate data to assess the level of damage. The Forest Service is relying on residents to act as data collectors and help organization members gather necessary information about tree conditions.

The Forest Service is storing its assets in an enterprise geodatabase. Agency officials have published web feature layers using ArcGIS Enterprise to take full advantage of more complex geodatabase functionalities such as branch versioning to support multiuser editing across services.

To make the data available for volunteer data collection, the agency will distribute its tree data with D&J Forestry Initiative, a nonprofit organization. Because the nonprofit is using ArcGIS Online, the data will be shared using distributed collaboration.

Distributed collaboration members

Workflow overview

Workflow overview

U.S. Forest Service — A governmental agency that maintains all forests in the United States. Their data is primarily stored in ArcGIS Enterprise, behind a firewall, to comply with governmental regulations.

D&J Forestry Initiative — A nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing ecological restoration by pairing volunteers with specific field activities. The organization hosts its data on ArcGIS Online.

A distributed collaboration is created between the D&J Forestry Initiative (host) and the U.S. Forest Service (guest) for the Collective Forest Restoration Project. The first synchronization makes the enterprise web layers available to D&J Forestry Initiative’s ArcGIS Online organization. Then they will create a mobile app, using ArcGIS Field Maps, for the volunteers to capture tree characteristics such as tree height, tree diameter, and overall tree condition. Finally, the offline collected data is sent to ArcGIS Online by the volunteers once they connect to the network. During the scheduled workspace synchronization, the data collected becomes available to U.S. Forest Service’s ArcGIS Enterprise organization in a named branch version. The portal administrator performs quality assurance (QA) of this named version by reconciling the version, reviewing and resolving existing conflicts, and posting the curated edits to the default version. This process repeats throughout the duration of the project. Once the project is complete, the guest will leave the collaboration, and the host can delete it.

Prepare data

The first step in the workflow is to assess the current data model and enable additional capabilities to prepare the data for distributed collaboration.

Current data model

The data is stored in the USFSDB enterprise geodatabase, and it contains the following feature classes:

USFSDB enterprise geodatabase

  • Tree activities – point feature class
  • Activity areas – polygon feature class
  • Restauration area boundary – polygon feature class

Collective forest restoration map

Each feature class is  enabled  with branch versioning to allow multiuser editing through feature services.

Register feature classes as branch versioned

Note: When using the Manage tab you can register a feature class as branch and all of the required conditions for branch versioning (archiving, global ids, editor tracking) will automatically be enabled, all in one click.

Additional data requirements for collaboration

To share data in a distributed collaboration,  replica tracking  must be enabled on all the feature classes and tables that will be published.

Enable replica tracking

Publish data and feature service configuration

Next, the USFS data is published by reference to the organization’s ArcGIS Enterprise portal. When publishing the data as a web feature layer, the following requirements must be checked:

Publishing to ArcGIS Enterprise diagram

Set the workspace versioning type to branch

Share as web layer

  • The  Version Management capability  must be enabled on the web layer. The version management service exposes the management capabilities necessary to support feature services that work with branch versioned datasets.

Enable the version management capability

Note: To learn more about preparing and publishing branch versioned data, follow the  Get started with branch versioning  tutorial series.

Since they will be using the web feature layer for field data collection in an offline environment, the Sync option must be checked. This allows the published web layer to be taken offline.

Enable the sync capability

For the Sync option, the Create a version for each downloaded map option is automatically enabled. This option allows the edits collected on the receiver side (the ArcGIS Online organization) to be synchronized with the source (the ArcGIS Enterprise organization) in a named branch version. This further supports the quality assurance process by allowing the portal administrator to reconcile, review conflicts, and post to the default version.

If the Sync option were set to None, all the edits synchronized with the source (the ArcGIS Enterprise organization) would be applied directly to the default version without this quality assurance step. 

Note: To learn how to prepare branch versioned data for offline use using ArcGIS Pro, make edits in a disconnected environment, and synchronize, follow this  applied workflow .

After all the necessary parameters are set, the web feature layer is published to ArcGIS Enterprise.

Collective Forest Restoration web feature layers

Note: If your data is not branch versioned, the data requirements might differ.  Review data preparation  specific to other scenarios.

Create collaboration

Now that the web feature layer is published, the next step is to prepare for the distributed collaboration. A  distributed collaboration  allows two or more organizations to collaborate on common projects by sharing and synchronizing their data, maps, and analysis across their organization portals.

Set the stage for collaboration

When planning for a collaboration between portals, it is important to understand the considerations associated with each element in a collaboration. The  key concepts of a collaboration  are the host, the guest, and the workspace.

The guest and host responsabilities in a collaboration

Let’s review the workspace properties.

Collaboration workspace


Steps

The host

From the host side, Diana Muresan, is the portal user who has been assigned the Administrator role for the D&J Forestry Initiative ArcGIS Online organization. The host creates the distributed collaboration, the workspace, and invites the guest organization to join the collaboration.

Note: You must sign in as an ArcGIS Online member who has  administrative privileges  to manage the organization's collaborations.

D&J Forestry Initiative ArcGIS Online home page

To create a distributed collaboration, the administrator clicks the Organization tab, then clicks Settings.

Organization tab

In the Contents pane on the left, the administrator clicks Collaborations, then under Distributed, clicks the Create a distributed collaboration option.

Create a distributed collaboration

Note: To understand the difference between the two collaboration types, partnered and distributed, check out this short  help topic .

Start by providing a collaboration name, Collective Forest Restoration Project. Then provide a collaboration description.

Set up the collaboration name and description

Then assign a workspace name, Volunteer Data Collection, and a workspace description.

Set up the workspace name and description

Next, define the group associated with the collaboration workspace. Because the ArcGIS Online organization didn’t create a group ahead of time, a new one will be created, Forest Restoration Group.

Create a new group

In the last step, it is decided how the web feature layers will be shared between these two organizations.

When sharing layers, there are two options:

Share as a copy The data is copied from the source organization to the recipient organization as a hosted feature layer. The web layer needs to support sync, because the edits will be synced on a set schedule.

Share as a reference A layer is created in the recipient organization that references back to the source layer. Edits are available immediately.

For this workflow, the Collective Forest Restoration web layer will be shared as a copy with the ArcGIS Online organization.

To support edits in both directions (from the host to the guest and from the guest to the host), the Allow two-way sharing of feature service edits to eligible participants option must be checked.

Set the workspace sync settings

The final step is to invite the guest organization to the collaboration by entering the organization URL. The host also needs to establish the guest access to the collaboration workspace. For this workflow, set the workspace access to Send and Receive Content. This will allow for the guest, the ArcGIS Enterprise organization, to first send the content, by making the Collective Forest Restoration web layer available to the guest organization, the ArcGIS Online organization. The guest organization will then receive content when the edits are synchronized back from the ArcGIS Online organization.

Set the workspace access type

An .invite file is generated in the Downloads folder. The user then sends the file as an attachment in an email to the USFS administrator so they can join the collaboration.

Next, we are going to review the steps the guest organization will perform to join the collaboration, the workspace, and set the synchronization intervals.


The guest

On the guest side, the portal administrator is signed in as the portal administrator user to the USFS ArcGIS Enterprise portal.

The US Department of Agriculture Forest Service ArcGIS Enterprise home page

The first step the guest organization takes is to accept the host invitation to join the collaboration. The administrator clicks the Organization tab, then clicks Settings. In the Contents pane on the left, the administrator clicks Collaborations, then under Distributed, clicks the Accept Invitation option.

The guest accepts invitation

In the Accept Collaboration Invitation window, the administrator loads the invite file received by email by the guest organization representative and accepts the invitation.

The guest loads the invitation file

Now the Collective Forest Restoration collaboration is listed as an active collaboration on the guest side.

Collective Forest Restoration Project

After the response file is generated and saved on the local computer, the guest portal administrator sends it by email to the host organization.

In the meantime, the guest joins the Volunteer Data Collection workspace.

The guest joins the workspace

On the guest side, the workspace is pointing to an existing portal group, Forest Restoration Group, where the Collective Forest Restoration web feature layer is stored.

The Forest Restoration Group

The last step for joining the collaboration is to determine the feature layer sync interval. For this workflow, the guest sets the workspace to be synchronized every 24 hours at 10:15 a.m., then joins the workspace.

Set the sync intervals

After the guest successfully joins the workspace, the workspace status changes to Joined.

Workspace status changed to joined

Back to the ArcGIS Online organization, the host receives the response file by email and needs to accept the response file.Back to the ArcGIS Online organization, the host receives the response file by email and needs to accept the response file.

In ArcGIS Online, at the workspace level, the portal user clicks the View Guests option.

View collaboration guests

On the host side, the collaboration invitation is still pending. The host will accept the guest by clicking the settings button in the Action column, then selecting the Accept Guest Organization option.

The host accepts the guest organization

The host then loads the response file received by email from the guest organization, the USFS ArcGIS Enterprise, and accepts the guest organization.

The host loads the response file

Finally, the guest organization status is set to Active.

Guest organization status changed to active

The collaboration has successfully started and the organizations are ready to share data.

First workspace sync diagram

The initial sync scheduled by the guest makes the feature layer available to the host organization, ArcGIS Online.

Collective Forest Restoration hosted feature layers

Field data collection

Now that the Collective Forest Restoration feature layer is available in the host organization, D&J Forestry Initiative can start preparing the field data collection application.

Doploying a field data collection diagram

Design the Tree Assessment application

The first step is to create a data collection app using Field Maps Designer. This will reference the Collective Forest Restoration web map created in ArcGIS Online portal using the Collective Forest Restoration hosted feature layer.

Open the Field Maps Designer

In Field Maps Designer, select the Collective Forest Restoration web map as the starting map for the field app.

Select the Collective Forest Restoration web map

The next step is to create the app form using the Tree Activities layer that volunteers will use to collect tree information.

Create a form

In the field, organization members will be able to edit existing features and volunteers will be able to collect the following details:

Field name

Attribute values

Type of maintenance

·  Removal ·  Plantation · Routine check

Collector

·   Volunteer · Organization member

Tree height

Numeric entry

Tree diameter at breast height (DBH)

Numeric entry

Tree condition

·   Healthy ·   Fair ·   Poor · Completely damaged

Data to be collected

To prepare the app for offline use in the forest, it is recommended that you create map areas to decrease download times and define the relevant data and area of the map mobile workers can take offline.

Manage areas for offline use

Finally, the map is shared with the public to ensure volunteers along with organization members can access it in the field.

Make the app publicly available

The map is now publicly available and ready to use.

Note: To learn how to create maps, build forms, and streamline mobile workflows with the Field Maps Designer web app, follow the  Get started with Field Maps Designer  tutorial series.

Volunteer data collection

Taking map offline to collect data

Using the ArcGIS Field Maps app installed on their phones, the volunteers and organization members can start collecting tree information to help with the overall forest assessment.

The Field Maps app on a mobile device

In the mobile app, the volunteers select the Collective Forest Restoration Web Map.

The Collective Forest Restoration web map is available to use

With the map active, they can start collecting new data by creating new features.

Collect new tree data

They can also edit existing features. The collected information is automatically saved on the volunteers’ mobile device. Once the volunteers reconnect to Wi-Fi, the collected records can be sent successfully.

Edit existing data

Note: To learn how to collect data in the field using Field Maps, follow the  Collect geological data with ArcGIS Field Maps  tutorial series.

When volunteers send their edits, the field edits sync with the Collective Forest Restoration hosted feature layer in ArcGIS Online. Next, we will see how these edits become available to the source feature layer in the ArcGIS Enterprise organization using collaboration workspace sync.

Offline sync diagram

Workspace sync

Every time the collaboration workspace syncs, the edits made by the volunteers in the ArcGIS Field Maps app powered by ArcGIS Online become available to the source layer in ArcGIS Enterprise. In this example, the sync was scheduled by the guest to occur every morning at 10:15.

Workspace sync diagram

Let’s see how the edits are referenced back to the source USFSDB enterprise geodatabase.

Data becomes available in the collaboration named version

In ArcGIS Pro, in the Catalog pane, the administrator accesses the Manage Replicas tab using the right-click context menu.

The Manage Replicas tab

When a new collaboration is created a new feature service replica is also created. This is because replica tracking was enabled on the feature classes as part of the distributed collaboration requirements. The feature service replica tracking keeps track of the workspace sync between the host and the guest organization.

Note: To learn more, see  Manage feature service replicas  help topic.

The feature service replica associated with the collaboration

Another important detail is the version information. This replica is associated with a named version, portaladmin.portaladmin_Rest_1699463980330.

The named version associated with the feature service replica

This is because sync was enabled with the option to create one version per downloaded map to take advantage of the branch version quality assurance capability. All the edits resulting from the workspace sync between D&J Forestry Initiative (ArcGIS online host) and USFS (ArcGIS Enterprise guest) are stored in this named version.

Now let’s add the web feature layer to the map and connect to the named version to inspect the edits sent.

Quality assurance

The quality of the data is ensured by the reconcile and post process. In this step they will reconcile the named version with the default version, review possible conflicts, and post only vetted edits to the default version.

Reconcile and post process diagram

The map below points to the Collective Forest Restoration web feature layer that the USFS administrator published by reference to ArcGIS Enterprise. The map reflects the data in the default version. As you can see, it looks the same as when the data was published, because edits are being made in named branch versions and not directly to the default version.

Collective Forest Restoration map - the default version

Now, the administrator connects to the named version, using the Change Versions dialog from the Data Source tab in the Contents pane.

Change to the named version

In the named version, the data collected by the volunteers using ArcGIS Field Maps can be visually assessed. The southwest area of the map shows the new tree features that have been added.

Data collected is displayed on the map

To compare the edits coming in from the field data collection with the original data in the map, the portal administrator will use the Differences view.

On the Versioning tab, the portal administrator clicks the Version Changes option to open the Differences view.

The Version Changes option on the ribbon

In the Differences view, the portal administrator confirms that 58 tree activities have been recorded in the first synchronization, 57 new features and one update to an existing feature.

The Differences view

After reviewing some of the attributes of the newly collected features, the next step is the QA/QC process. The portal administrator reconciles, reviews possible conflicts, and posts the named version.

First, the portal administrator reconciles the collaboration version using the Reconcile option on the Versioning tab of the ribbon.

The Reconcile option on the ribbon

A pop-up appears with the message that conflicts have been detected. The portal administrator will next review the conflicts.

Reconcile process detected conflicts

The Conflicts view appears. It lists any feature classes that are in conflict. In this case, the Trees activities feature class is listed. The (1) after its name indicates that it contains one Update-Update conflict. This type of conflict means that the feature was updated in both the current and target versions.

An update-update conflict is listed in the Conflicts view

The information grid displays the attribute values for all representations of the feature. In the current version the tree condition is listed as Poor and the maintenance status is set to Plantation required. In the target version, which is the default version, the same tree feature has the attribute Healthy as the tree condition and Routine check as the maintenance status.  

After expanding all the fields, the portal administrator looks at the Ownership_Code field and confirms that the edits in the target version are made by an organization employee who reconciled and posted their edits to the default version. Whereas in the named version the edits were made by a volunteer.

The OWNERSHIP_CODE field

The portal administrator resolves the conflict in favor of the target version and keeps the edits made by the employee.

Replace value with the target version

Finally, the version administrator marks the conflict as reviewed and saves the edits made in the Conflicts view.

Mark th conflict as reviewed

The edits in the collaboration version can be posted to the default version.

The Post option on the ribbon

The default version now has the most up-to-date edits, and this version becomes available to the entire USFS organization.

Collective Forest Restoration map - the default version

Note: To learn more about performing version administration and quality control on branch versioned data, follow the  Reconcile and post versions  tutorial.

Project closure

The above process—make edits in ArcGIS Field Maps, send edits to ArcGIS Online, sync the workspace to make the edits available to ArcGIS Online, reconcile and post—will be performed multiple times until the entire area of interest is assessed by the field volunteers.

When the project is complete, the collaboration between these two organizations comes to an end. The guest, the ArcGIS Enterprise organization, leaves the collaboration.

The guest leaves the collaboration

The host then deletes the collaboration.

The host deletes the collaboration

Data considerations after the distributed collaboration is terminated

On the guest side, the named branch version is not contingent to the collaboration. The version can be further used to make edits in ArcGIS Pro, reconcile, and post.

On the host, ArcGIS Online, the Collective Forest Restoration hosted feature layer is not deleted and can be further used by the organization. In this example, the D&J Forestry Initiative is utilizing the hosted web layers to power a publicly accessible dashboard. The purpose of this dashboard is to showcase the work they do and inspire volunteers to get involved.

D&J Initiative - Collective forest restoration dashboard

This story illustrates a workflow example where two organizations are sharing data to support forest restoration using distributed collaboration. Now that you learnt the ins and outs about how you can share data with other organizations using distributed collaboration, it’s your turn to apply this approach in your own workflows.

Distributed collaboration members

Workflow overview

USFSDB enterprise geodatabase

Collective forest restoration map

Register feature classes as branch versioned

Enable replica tracking

Publishing to ArcGIS Enterprise diagram

Set the workspace versioning type to branch

Share as web layer

Enable the version management capability

Enable the sync capability

Collective Forest Restoration web feature layers

The guest and host responsabilities in a collaboration

Collaboration workspace

D&J Forestry Initiative ArcGIS Online home page

Organization tab

Create a distributed collaboration

Set up the collaboration name and description

Set up the workspace name and description

Create a new group

Set the workspace sync settings

Set the workspace access type

The US Department of Agriculture Forest Service ArcGIS Enterprise home page

The guest accepts invitation

The guest loads the invitation file

Collective Forest Restoration Project

The guest joins the workspace

The Forest Restoration Group

Set the sync intervals

Workspace status changed to joined

View collaboration guests

The host accepts the guest organization

The host loads the response file

Guest organization status changed to active

First workspace sync diagram

Collective Forest Restoration hosted feature layers

Doploying a field data collection diagram

Open the Field Maps Designer

Select the Collective Forest Restoration web map

Create a form

Manage areas for offline use

Make the app publicly available

Taking map offline to collect data

The Collective Forest Restoration web map is available to use

Collect new tree data

Offline sync diagram

Workspace sync diagram

Data becomes available in the collaboration named version

The Manage Replicas tab

The named version associated with the feature service replica

Reconcile and post process diagram

Collective Forest Restoration map - the default version

Change to the named version

Data collected is displayed on the map

The Version Changes option on the ribbon

The Reconcile option on the ribbon

The OWNERSHIP_CODE field

Collective Forest Restoration map - the default version

D&J Initiative - Collective forest restoration dashboard