What's new in ArcGIS tutorials May 2025
Add data to a web map from ArcGIS Living Atlas
One of the main challenges when starting a GIS project is finding the right data. The ArcGIS ecosystem contains thousands of data layers that have been shared publicly. Many of these layers, even those with information at regional or national scales, can be used alongside your own data to enhance analysis and visualization. In this tutorial, you'll search for data using authoritative layers that have been shared in ArcGIS Online.
As an analyst beginning to study housing access in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, you need to find data on affordability. Affordable housing is a major challenge in many places. While the causes and effects of both affordability and availability vary by area, many cities are facing a shortage of affordable housing that is driving up costs. You'll start by exploring data from the American Community Survey, and then filter the data and customize your map so that it only shows data for your community.
Animate a map through time
In this tutorial, you'll use ArcGIS Pro to create a short animation of earthquakes in Japan. You'll learn how to configure time properties for a feature layer, animate 2D data through time, add both static and dynamic text overlays to an animation, and export an animation to a video.
In this scenario, you've been asked to create an animation for use on a TV documentary that illustrates the frequency of earthquakes in Japan. Animated maps are also useful for sharing geographic stories on web sites, social media, and in presentations. Once you've completed the tutorial, you could use the same process to animate other geographic data, for example to show the changing extent of a wildfire, the travel paths of airplanes, and crime patterns over space and time.
Measure the benefits of green space with metrics
Pfingstweid Park in Zurich West is an example of how urban spaces can adapt to meet the evolving needs of a community. Originally used for grazing land, it became a community garden for local factory workers after World War I. As the area transitioned to residential use, the park was redesigned and reopened in 2015 through a community design competition.
In this tutorial, you'll step into the role of a planner for Zurich, giving new purpose to Pfingstweid Park as it continues to evolve and serve the changing needs of the community. Green space in a city can serve many important functions. First, you'll review your colleague's metrics to determine whether the park provides enough green space per resident to meet the World Health Organization's recommendations. Then, you'll build new metrics to analyze how these green spaces contribute to reducing stormwater runoff. This aligns with Zurich's "Sponge City" initiative, which aims to improve climate resilience by reducing impervious surfaces and enhancing stormwater management. These metrics will help measure the effectiveness of green spaces in managing stormwater and supporting the city's environmental goals.
Publish data from ArcGIS Pro to ArcGIS Online
You've created a layer in ArcGIS Pro that shows homelessness by state in the United States, and now you want to share it with the public. In this tutorial, you'll publish your layer as a web layer in ArcGIS Online, where it can be viewed by anyone with a URL to the data.
Set up custom data for infographics in ArcGIS Pro
California's climate disruptions are characterized by increasingly severe wildfires, prolonged droughts, and extreme heatwaves. All these issues are exacerbated by climate change, which threatens housing markets, water resources, agriculture, and overall ecosystem stability. Climate-driven disruptions have continued to grow in frequency and severity, impacting businesses in California.
Many investors, insurers, financial services providers, and nonprofit organizations rely on information about localized physical climate risks, like floods, hurricanes, and wildfires. The outcomes of these risk projections have significant economic consequences, including allocating investment capital, impacting housing prices and demographic shifts, and prioritizing adaptation infrastructure projects.
With the help of FEMA's National Risk Index data and the custom data setup workflow in Business Analyst, decision-makers and executives can fully understand how region-specific risks impede their operations or the downstream impact they will have. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to integrate this data source, set up custom variables, categorize them, and apply them to assess risks effectively for your specific region.
Find suitable areas for new affordable housing
Affordable housing is an increasing problem, especially in urban areas. A lack of affordable housing can impact a city's growth, livability, and sense of economic mobility. As housing becomes more expensive, renter-occupied housing units increase, diminishing the percentage of residents able to build wealth through their home. Expensive aging homes also cause higher homeowner expenses for improvements. Ultimately, residents may leave a city that does not have enough affordable housing, causing population decline.
In 2023, the United States Census Bureau estimated that the population of Long Beach, California, had declined since 2020. This decline might be due to high housing prices compared to the city's average household income. In this tutorial, you'll use infographics in ArcGIS Business Analyst Web App to learn more about housing in Long Beach. Then, you'll perform a suitability analysis to determine which census block groups throughout the city would most benefit from the development of new affordable housing.