GeoInquiries™: The road ahead

[TomBaker]

Since the initial release of GeoInquiries in 2014, millions of students have experienced how GIS can bring a new, spatial perspective to many different subject areas. By all pedagogical accounts, this program with its curriculum-first design was very successful. As underlying technology, leadership, partnerships, and capacities change, so do our instructional offerings.

Classic GeoInquiries (2014-2021)

Based on the retiring “classic” Map Viewer, these activities are retired and unsupported now.  While they are still “discoverable” in ArcGIS Online, they should not be used especially beyond June 2025. Please do not use or direct teachers to these. They remain discoverable only in ArcGIS Online to ease the transition. By Q1 of 2026, they will be non-functional.

“New” GeoInquiries (2020-present)

These GeoInquiries use the “new” or modern Map Viewer in ArcGIS Online.  As of May 2025, these activities are accessible from esri.com/geoinquiries.  Most of these GeoInquiries will shift to a “retiring and unsupported” state in June 2025. A subset of activities will remain discoverable through esri.com/schools, including a few activities from each collection:

• Environmental science
• US history
• Elementary  
• Government

All activities from three collections will be discoverable through arcgis.com:

• Earth science
• Human geography
• World geography

A few activities from these collections may be discoverable through arcgis.com:

• Math
• American literature

Over the next year, we expect all remaining functional activities to only be discoverable through arcgis.com. Activities will have varying levels of ongoing support from “none” to “maintain but do not enhance”.

GeoInquiries for MapMaker (2023-present)

These three collections (Earth science, Human geography, and World geography) will be discoverable through arcgis.com however both the Human geography and World geography activities will be discoverable on esri.com/schools through at least the end of 2025.

• Earth science (arcgis.com)
• Human geography (esri.com/schools)
• World geography (esri.com/schools)

Related notes

Your copies of GeoInquiry maps

Thousands of copies of GeoInquiry maps are all across ArcGIS Online and equal numbers of the teacher  PDFs have been saved to local computer and school district network drives.  During the summer of 2025, we expect many data layers used in GeoInquiries to stop working. When that happens copies of GeoInquiry maps made by teachers and students (along with the original maps) will stop working – partially or completely.

Discoverability

During June 2025, expect to see the web pages at esri.com/GeoInquiries change.  This URL will begin to redirect to a new education resource gallery containing a limited number of GeoInquiries.

Beyond 2025

 Several states have created state-level GeoInquiries. Most of these activities should continue to work. Original creators of these activities may email geoinquiries@esri.com to resolve questions about specific data services.

GeoInquiry instructional activities are licensed under Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA).  Educators can freely modify these activities, create a new map, and even release the activities for other educators to use.  The Creative Commons license requires that you acknowledge Esri’s original creation and do not use for commercial purposes (including selling the activity).

A follow-up blog will be posted in June confirming changes and providing links to updated locations.