Latest Contributions by RobertStauder

In a previous post, I wrote about how you can view 3D layers in GeoPlanner and do nifty things like model shadows. Things get even niftier if you use Arcade with GeoPlanner to extrude data in 3D. Arcade is a new scripting language in ArcGIS that you can use to control how things are drawn on your map. GeoPlanner lets you use Arcade to control how individual things are extruded in 3D. You can extrude by obvious things like heights or elevations. You can also extrude based on expressions, allowing you to create 3D Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)! Let's look at an example of each. Extrude by Building Height The following steps describe how you can add some data to a GeoPlanner project and then visualize that data by building height. Why would you do this? This is another way of evaluating a plan. 3D can give you a different perspective on how something behaves in an environment. Sign in to GeoPlanner. If you don't have a license, follow these instructions on how to access a free trial. Click on the Don't have an ArcGIS Online subscription link. Create a new project from the GeoPlanner Template for Economic Development Planning. Click the Contents icon in the upper left corner of the app. This will open the Contents pane. Click the + icon next to the Data Layers label. This will open the Add Data dialog.  In the search box at the top of the Add Data dialog, type in GeoPlanner 3D Arcade Example and click the All link. Click the Add button in the GeoPlanner 3D Arcade Example item card. Click Evaluate on the application toolbar, then click 3D. In the Contents pane, click the gear icon next to the GeoPlanner 3D Arcade Example layer and choose Zoom to from the dropdown menu.  Click the gear again and choose 3D Settings. In the 3D Settings dialog, click the Expression Builder link beneath the Extrusion Expression text box. In the Extrusion Expression dialog, click $feature.ROOF_ELEV. This will instruct GeoPlanner to extrude each building by the height value found in the ROOF_ELEV field. Click OK twice. On the map, click the Toggle to Pan or Rotate in 3D icon. Click and drag on the map to rotate or orbit around the buildings. Your map should look similar to the following graphic: In the previous example, you extruded the buildings by the values in the ROOF_ELEV field. In the next section, you'll build on this example by creating a 3D KPI. Extrude by Expression The following steps detail how you can extrude these buildings footprints using an Arcade expression. The output will be an extrusion that shows potential employment in these buildings. Why would you do this? This is another way to visualize a KPI. There are two kinds of uses for the buildings in this example, Commercial Office and Commercial Retail. Each has a different assumption that dictates how much space in the building can be used for employment. Those assumptions are built into the Arcade script. In the Contents pane, click the gear icon next to the GeoPlanner 3D Arcade Example layer and choose 3D Settings. In the 3D Settings dialog, click the Expression Builder link beneath the Extrusion Expression text box. Type in the following expression: if ($feature.BLDG_USE=="Commercial Office") {      return ($feature.SHAPE__Area*.8*$feature.NUM_STORY*.75)/450; } else if ($feature.BLDG_USE=="Commercial Retail") {      return ($feature.SHAPE__Area*.5*$feature.NUM_STORY*.75)/750; } These equations compute potential employment capacity of these footprints by multiplying the area of each shape by a lot coverage constant (.8 for Commercial Office and .5 for Commercial Retail). The resulting product is multiplied by the number of stories in each footprint and a net factor constant (.75 for both). The resulting product is then divided by a constant for employee job area (450 for Commercial Office and 750 for Commercial Retail). Employee job area represents the amount of square feet an employee would require for each type of building. In this case, Commercial Retail facilities require more space per employee than Commercial Office. By the way, you can view a similar KPI in GeoPlanner's dashboard by examining the Jobs Capacity Office and Jobs Capacity Retail metrics. Click OK twice and use the  Toggle to Pan or Rotate in 3D tool to move around your scene. Your map should look similar to the following graphic: You'll notice that the footprints look very different now. Their extrusion represents jobs capacity instead of height, giving you a different perspective of employment potential. GeoPlanner helps you design, test and collaborate on scenarios in 2D and 3D so you can make better decisions about the future of your community. GeoPlanner enables you to plan and test ideas in what-if scenarios. Arcade is another tool in GeoPlanner that helps you understand a scenario's impact and what-if consequences. It’s easy to get started with GeoPlanner. Start planning a better future today. You can sign up for the free trial by following these instructions. Click on the Don’t have an ArcGIS Online subscription link. ... View more

Imagine if, in a few clicks, you could answer multiple-factor spatial questions like Where are the areas on low angled slopes, in shrubby vegetation and are far from roads? What if you could do that and emphasize the importance of one of those factors over another? You would be the hero of your workplace! Questions like this are the essence of suitability modeling. Suitability modeling is a powerful analytical technique that enables you to find the best (or worst) places for a development or conservation activity, predict the likelihood of something occurring in an area, or find risks and opportunities in that area. GeoPlanner, since its inception, has had a suitability modeling framework. That framework uses weighted raster overlay, on the web, to create models that can inform plans. Our intent was to enable anyone to use suitability modeling to make better decisions, solve tricky problems, and design a better future. We decided recently that if we were serious about enabling anyone to use suitability modeling, we’d have to make it available to everyone through ArcGIS Online. We made it part of Web AppBuilder for its June 2017 update.  What can you do with it? Suitability modeling on the web enables you to share your services and models with others and let them experiment with your ideas. This lets others get involved with your geospatial practice of planning, conservation, environmental screening and more. As a business partner once indicated, we wanted to let the public view possible outcomes that we had envisioned with a suitability model. The Suitability Modeler widget in Web AppBuilder will let you engage your constituents by allowing them to view and change a model. You can share an app that uses this widget to the public so people can access your models without signing in. Without signing in, they can change and rerun your models. If they sign in, they can change, rerun and save a new version of your model as an item to an ArcGIS Online Organization. Allowing stakeholders, constituents, decision makers, clients and others view and interact with your models will help them understand your thinking and help you build consensus for your ideas. Get Started It’s easy to start working with this widget. Here’s how: Sign in to ArcGIS Online and create a web map. You don’t even need to add layers to the map. Save the map and click Share. Click Create a Web App. Click Web AppBuilder, type in an interesting name, and click Get Started. Click a theme (like Billboard) and click on the Widget icon at the top of your browser. Click one of the grey Widget icons and then click on the Suitability Modeler icon (hint: it looks like 0  9). Click OK. In the Configure Suitability Modeler dialog, click the Validate button. This will make sure that you can access the World Ecophysiographic service hosted by Esri. Click OK. At the bottom left of the browser, click Save and then Launch. Your app will open in a new browser tab. Look for the 0  9 icon on the map. If you picked the Billboard theme, it will be in the upper left corner of the map. Click on it to open the Suitability Modeler widget. In the Select Layers list, check on Distance to Water and Population. Click Design Model to move to the Design Model screen.  In this screen, you type in percentages for each layer. This allows you specify an importance for each layer in the analysis. Type in 50% for both layers. If you want, click the slider icons to examine and adjust the class values for each layer. Click Run. You’ve just created a model of population and distance to water! Shades of red represent high densities of people close to bodies of water like oceans, lakes and rivers. Shades of green represent lower densities of people living far from water bodies. Zoom to Tokyo and you’ll get a vivid picture of what this model communicates. By the way, this process creates no intermediate datasets. It does not consume credits. The modeling operation is done in the request to and response from the ArcGIS Cloud so it’s fast! Experiment by adding more layers, changing weights, and adjusting classification values for each layer. Adjusting a classification value within a layer allows you to emphasize or deemphasize those values in your model. Alternatively, return to the configuration form and try one of the other two services. The USA_Weighted_Overlay service has 24 layers representing landscape variables for the United States. The Green Infrastructure service has 10 layers to help you evaluate landscape characteristics in the United States that are valuable for preservation. Use your data Modeling on the web helps you bring geospatial analysis to nearly anyone. We frequently hear that clients want to build models with their own data or data more local in scale. You can do this if you have the right infrastructure. This includes: ArcGIS Enterprise 10.5x with Image Server ArcGIS Pro or Desktop Learn more about building your own suitability modeling service by reviewing this topic. Building one of these services can bring a lot of value to your organization. Esri can help you prototype it by building and hosting the service for you so you can test its value yourself. If you’re interested, contact Esri Professional Services or reply to this post. Learn more I’m going to present on suitability modeling with GeoPlanner and Web AppBuilder at the 2017 Esri UC in San Diego. If you’re planning on attending our user conference, please attend one of my sessions at the following dates and times: Tuesday, July 11, 5:00 pm – 5:30 pm, SDCC – Tech Theater 18 Exhibit Hall A Wednesday, July 12, 10:00 am – 10:30 am, SDCC – Tech Theater 19 Exhibit Hall Here’s another post that details GeoPlanner sessions at the UC. Here’s some additional doc to help you understand Suitability Modeling in GeoPlanner and Web AppBuilder.   Final Words We think that web based suitability modeling is super cool. We also think that you are going to realize how powerful and valuable it could be to your organization. You will probably realize that it’s another way you can engage your constituents. It’s fast, consumes no credits and can be run without an ArcGIS Online credential. It’s a great way to bring the science of where to everyone. ... View more

Our next update to GeoPlanner for ArcGIS will occur in conjunction with ArcGIS Online at the end of June 2017. This is going to be a great update with lots of goodies to help you plan, design and test scenarios. We’ve worked hard over the past few months to help you better understand and analyze your scenarios and other assets in your GeoPlanner projects. This includes support for selection sets, new reports, planning study areas, and a dockable dashboard. One big announcement – We’ve made our suitability modeling tool (that thing that does fast web-based weighted overlay) part of the Web AppBuilder. You can now create, discover and use models in either environment! Select scenario features You can now select multiple scenario features in GeoPlanner. To help you be more productive in scenario design, you can cut, copy, paste and delete selected scenario features. The dashboard can also report on selected features so you can more precisely understand and assess scenario impact. Work within planning study areas To help you define areas in which planning activities take place, you can now configure study areas. Study areas are areas in which you can design scenarios and report on key performance indicators in the dashboard and reports. You define study areas by sketching polygons into a new study area layer. When a study area is activated, GeoPlanner reports on scenarios that intersect the active study area and masks the area outside the activated study area. You can import features that are within a study areas into a scenario. Study areas help you evaluate your plans and designs. Use study areas to easily toggle between different planning subareas. You can see how your dashboard changes as you move between different areas. New types of reports This update to GeoPlanner includes two new types of reports, a baseline natural assets report and a chart report. The baseline report, at this update, creates a PDF or XLSX of USA Landscape layers within a US State, County or Hydrologic Unit (HUC). Supported HUC levels include 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. The report works against curated layers within Esri’s Living Atlas so you can use authoritative datasets to generate information products for comprehensive, open space or other types of planning elements. You can also use this report for environmental screening reports. Future releases of this report will include the ability to use custom geographies and generate reports outside the USA. The chart report is useful for environmental screening workflows and helps you evaluate potential impacts of your scenarios on an area. Use this report to understand how a development initiative, a conservation plan, or any other project impacts an area. If your charts reference a suitability model, the report will show how your scenario features summarize your models. You can include models created by GeoPlanner’s modeler utility or those created using the classification tool. Reports are currently available in CSV format. You can use a study area to define a geography for GeoPlanner reports. Dockable dashboard GeoPlanner dashboards can be moved, maximized, minimized and now docked to the bottom of the application. This will help you see more Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as you work. You can also scroll through your docked dashboard. Suitability modeler now part of Web AppBuilder GeoPlanner’s modeler utility helps you perform suitability modeling so you can identify risks and opportunities in an area. This utility is now a widget in the Web AppBuilder. You can use this widget with three Esri-curated suitability modeling services in the Living Atlas or with services that you build and host in your own infrastructure. This widget allows you to create new models from services or from an existing model. Models created by this widget can also be used in GeoPlanner. Use this widget to enable others to discover, use and share suitability models in your custom web apps built with Web AppBuilder. Don’t have GeoPlanner? Don’t worry! You can try it for free. Follow these instructions on how to access a free trial. Click on the Don’t have an ArcGIS Online subscription link. ... View more

The 2017 Esri User Conference is nearly here! At the UC, you'll have many opportunities to learn about GeoPlanner for ArcGIS and how it can help you plan, design and test scenarios. The GeoPlanner development team will be working in the Convention Center main Expo hall in the Apps and 3D areas. Stop by to meet the team, ask questions, and share your comments about GeoPlanner, Planning, Green Infrastructure and Geodesign. Here’s a list of GeoPlanner sessions at the UC: Technical Workshops: GeoPlanner for ArcGIS: An Introduction - Get an introduction to GeoPlanner as a lightweight-easy to use web app that enables you to quickly propose, visualize, and test ideas. This session will cover analysis, design and scenario comparison so you can understand GeoPlanner’s effectiveness in planning across different industries. Tuesday, July 11, 4:00-4:30 PM, SDCC – Tech Theater 18 Exhibit Hall A Thursday, July 13, 11:00 am – 11:30 am, SDCC – Tech Theater 18 Exhibit Hall A Living Atlas for Green Infrastructure – This combined Living Atlas – GeoPlanner session will help you learn to plan with green infrastructure. You’ll also see how GeoPlanner can create landscape inventories and environmental screening reports so you can understand your natural asset base and visualize growth capacity. Wednesday, July 12, 1:30 pm – 2:45 pm, SDCC – Room 05 A GeoPlanner: Performing Suitability Analysis – Learn about suitability modeling in GeoPlanner. This powerful analytical technique allows you to classify, weight and combine different layers to create results that reveal risk or opportunities in an area. GeoPlanner’s suitability modeling framework is now available in the Web AppBuilder. Tuesday, July 11, 5:00 pm – 5:30 pm, SDCC – Tech Theater 18 Exhibit Hall A Wednesday, July 12, 10:00 am – 10:30 am, SDCC – Tech Theater 19 Exhibit Hall Demo Theaters: GeoPlanner: Create, Analyze, and Report on Alternative Planning Scenarios - This session covers GeoPlanner examples including land use, re-zoning and green infrastructure planning. Presenters focus on a complete, easy-to-use, web-based planning approach that seeks to envision, update, and engage. Tuesday July 11, 3:30 pm – 4:15 pm, SDCC – Demo Theater 12 – Apps GeoPlanner for ArcGIS: Configuring for Use in Your Organization - Learn how to customize and create GeoPlanner templates so you can work with indicators, symbols, attributes and default values that are specific to your planning practice or domain. Tuesday, July 11, 9:30 am – 10:15 am, SDCC – Demo Theater 12 – Apps Showcase GeoPlanner will be featured in Exhibit Hall B1 in the ArcGIS Apps for the Office section. It will also be featured in the 3D section. Don't forget that you can try GeoPlanner for free! If you don’t have a license, follow these instructions on how to access a free trial. Click on the Don't have an ArcGIS Online subscription link. Search the UC Agenda and review the User Conference Home Page for more information. Stop by the sessions and exhibitions to learn, ask questions, and meet some of our team members. We look forward to seeing you at the UC! ... View more

Interested in learning more about GeoPlanner? Interested in green infrastructure planning in GeoPlanner? Esri Training recently released a new course that will introduce you to green infrastructure concepts and how to use GeoPlanner's analysis tools to discover patterns and phenomena in data.  Exploring the Green Infrastructure in your study area The course is the first of three and is exploratory. You'll learn how to create a new GeoPlanner project, use the GeoEnrichment service to add demographic information to a layer, and visualize that layer in 3D to gain a different perspective of risk. You'll also execute the Create Buffers and Find Existing Locations tools to generate layers that model an impact and flood zone area.  Performing analysis to reveal risk or using visualization techniques like 3D and classification to change your perspective are concepts you can use in any GeoPlanner project.  This course is free to anyone with an Esri account. Learn more about Esri accounts here.  You'll also need a level 2 publisher account on ArcGIS Online with a GeoPlanner license. If you don't have these, don't worry! Sign up for the free trial by following these instructions. Click on the Don't have an ArcGIS Online subscription link. ... View more

GeoPlanner helps you design, test and collaborate on scenarios in 2D and 3D so you can make better decisions about the future of your community. GeoPlanner enables you to plan and test ideas in what-if scenarios. We recently added support for 3D visualization to GeoPlanner. Totally wicked you say! I agree. Here’s a nifty video that shows 3D in GeoPlanner. It was created by my colleague, Joe: 3D in GeoPlanner is an evaluation tool. This means that you can use it to understand and assess impact of a scenario or a plan. This can be as simple as viewing how shadows are cast throughout the day to writing advanced Arcade expressions to extrude your data by values other than height. Arcade is a new scripting utility in ArcGIS that you can use to control how things are drawn on your map. Want to learn more about Arcade? Check out these online resources. View 3D data in GeoPlanner Sign in to GeoPlanner. If you don’t have a license, follow these instructions on how to access a free trial. Click on the Don't have an ArcGIS Online subscription link. Create a new project from the GeoPlanner Basic Template. On the map, click on the Place Finder icon (hint: It looks like a magnifying glass) and search for Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, Deutschland. Click the Contents icon in the upper left corner of the app. This will open the Contents pane. On the application toolbar, click Evaluate, then 3D. Click the + icon next to the Data Layers label. This will open the Add Data dialog. In the search box at the top of the Add Data dialog, type in Berlin, Germany Buildings, check on 3D Layers and click the All link. A list of available layers displays. Click the Add button in the Berlin, Germany Buildings item card. Zoom in 1 or 2 levels, then click the Toggle to Pan or Rotate in 3D icon. Now click and drag on the map rotate in 3D. It’s that easy! Model Shadows Let’s try the Daylight tool next to see how shadows are cast by the buildings around the Potsdamer Platz. This might be useful in understanding how your scenarios obscure or shade their surroundings throughout the day. On the map, click the Daylight icon. Drag the time slider until the scene begins to darken. Check on Direct Shadow.  Your scene now displays shadows cast by the buildings around the Potsdamer Platz. It should resemble the following graphic. There’s a lot more you can do, including creating slides (aka bookmarks), viewing key performance indicators in 3D, and writing an Arcade expression to extrude features. For now, we’ll leave Arcade for a future post. With 3D support in GeoPlanner you have the power to visualize your data and scenarios in another dimension. This will give you another way to plan and evaluate your ideas. This can help you improve your decisions about your community’s future. It's easy to get started with GeoPlanner. Start planning a better future today. You can sign up for the free trial by following these instructions. Click on the Don't have an ArcGIS Online subscription link. ... View more

GeoPlanner for ArcGIS now supports visualizing your data in 3D so you can better evaluate your scenarios. Discover and use scene layers Add 3D to your GeoPlanner projects. In the GeoPlanner 3D evaluation mode, you can use the Add Data dialog to discover and use scene layers. The Contents pane allows you to access the Add Data dialog so you don’t have to move out of 3D mode to search for data. Visualize your data in 3D Visualize any feature layer in 3D by entering 3D mode in the Evaluate segment. You can extrude layers by attributes, constants or Arcade expressions. The Arcade scripting language allows you to rendering on a per-feature basis. View Key Performance Indicators In 3D mode, you can access a dashboard and view your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) so you can understand your plan's impact. Model shadows You can also configure dates and time of day so you can visualize the shadows cast by data in your plan. This will help you understand your plan’s impact on its environment at different times of the year. ... View more

Interested in planning and Green Infrastructure? GeoPlanner has a new template you can use to plan and test scenarios using Green Infrastructure. The template has many authoritative layers to help you identify valuable landscapes, prioritize which to protect, and plan connections to those landscapes so you can visualize and plan for development before it happens.  Symbols available for sketching and design include Green Infrastructure and Land Use types. A subset of those types are shown in the following graphic: How do you get started with this template? It's easy -  Go to geoplanner.arcgis.com and sign in. (note: You'll need to configure a license in your org) Click Create New and choose the GeoPlanner Template for Green Infrastructure Planning. Zoom into an area of interest Open the contents pane by clicking the  contents button. Check out all the Green Infrastructure data you have access to! Many of these layers can be used in GeoPlanner's dashboard to inform your plans and designs. Click Explore > Add Data and add your land use data. If this is your first time using this tool, pick a smaller dataset to help you learn how to work with scenarios. Click the Scenario dropdown link in the upper left corner of the app and choose Import. Work through the Import Scenario wizard to add your land use data to a scenario. Open the dashboard and review your indicators! GeoPlanner dashboard showing a summary of the Human Modified Index by land use types Check it out on geoplanner.arcgis.com! ArcGIS Online trials include GeoPlanner in case you don't have it already.  ... View more

We recently added an Economic Development Planning template to GeoPlanner. This template will help you plan and test scenarios related to the economic impacts of land use transitions. The template has symbols and attributes useful for this type of design work.  It also has a dashboard with 16 different indicators, including jobs capacity, estimated residential units, area of parks, and more. Here's a graphic of the New Single Family Units indicator: How do you get started with this template? It's easy -  Go to geoplanner.arcgis.com and sign in. (note: You'll need to configure a license in your org) Click Create New and choose the GeoPlanner Template for Economic Development Planning. Click Explore > Add Data and add your land use data. If this is your first time using this tool, pick a smaller dataset to help you learn how to work with scenarios. Click the Scenario dropdown link in the upper left corner of the app and choose Import. Work through the Import Scenario wizard to add your land use data to a scenario. Open the dashboard and review your indicators! https://community.esri.com/groups/planning-and-design‌ ... View more