February ArcGIS Online Update - Things of Note for Educators

BrianBaldwin · ‎03-06-2025

3/11/2025 - Update/Edit - added some details about MapMaker.

A great deal of updates just came out late last week with the February ArcGIS Online release (and all of the related apps). As we know… you probably don’t spend a full day reading through every product update blog to understand what updates are the most relevant for education… so we have taken the liberty of giving you a ‘summarized’ update for some of the latest/greatest items as they pertain to educators.

To have a look at all of the latest updates, please visit the ArcGIS Blog page – where you can read about them for each product and app: https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/overview/
For a more in-depth, summarized post that outlines the majority of the updates for ArcGIS Online, please refer to Bernie’s blog here: https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-online/announcements/whats-new-arcgis-online-februa...

Editing with templates

While this is an update that will make a lot of ‘data entry/data editors’ really happy, it doesn’t have a big impact on educators. A big reason for including it here is really ensuring that students ‘understand’ what feature templates are – and how important they are for streamlining the editing experience. Feature templates have been a part of ArcGIS Pro and desktop GIS for years (and they were in MapViewer Classic), but they have just landed in MapViewer.

If you are wondering what a 'feature template is' - it basically provides a streamlined way of creating data. Rather than just placing a 'polygon' for land use and then setting the attributes to denote it as 'water', etc., you can specify 'classes' of features (and default attributes) when you start creating a feature.

For a more detailed description of the updates, please visit this blog: https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-online/data-management/optimize-editing-with-templa...

Model Builder… in the web!

Model Builder was introduced in beta back in November of 2024 and it is still in beta as of this release, but it comes with a few nice enhancements for the education community. The biggest one that came out in February is the ability to ‘Save As’. Now, if you share a model with students, you can have them save a copy to update or modify.

For a more detailed description of the updates, please visit this blog: https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-online/analytics/whats-new-in-modelbuilder-beta-feb...

Editing Data in the Web, MapViewer vs. Wed Editor

Editing has been possible in MapViewer and MapViewer Classic for years now, but there’s a ‘newer’ kid on the block: Web Editor. Web Editor is a separate web application that can be launched from the ArcGIS Online applications ribbon. It provides a set of tools and options specifically for data editors.

While Web Editor cannot full replace desktop-based editing, it does offer a wealth of powerful tools for editing geometries and creating features. One of the recent enhancements that the tool offers at this latest release is batch attribute updates. Users can select multiple features with a query (or via a selection) and then update attributes. I also love how you can use 'keyboard shortcuts' to enter in deflection or distances during an edit session, just an example of some of the more advanced capabilities that were only available in desktop GIS until recently.

Check out this recent Introduction to Web Editor video to learn more: http://mediaspace.esri.com/media/1_pqd7dfdt

Sentinel-2 Explorer

One of the most exciting releases of this February, is probably the new Sentinel-2 Explorer application. If you are familiar with the Landsat Explorer app, then I won’t have much explaining to do. If either of these applications are new to you, this one provides a really easy way to explore global Sentinel-2 data, apply on-the-fly renderers, export animations, and publish analytical results!

For me, one of the most powerful aspects of this application, is the ability to create a ‘vegetation or water’ mask and then export that result to use in another map or application. Students could explore urban growth around Beijing and then export that result to use in other maps or analysis - pretty cool.

For a more detailed description of the updates, please visit this blog: https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-living-atlas/imagery/sentinel-2-explorer-another-le...

MapMaker, MapMaker, make me a map

There were a few updated and enhancements for MapMaker in this release as well. MapMaker is a mapping tool built in partnership with National Geographic that provides a wealth of easy to use map tools for exploring the globe. It's a fantastic application for K-12 and can also find a place in introductory GIS or spatial literacy courses.

For the full list of updates, please see the following StoryMap: https://www.esriurl.com/whatsnew_mm

Outro

Lastly – thanks so much to my colleagues @CanserinaKurnia & @Kylie for their help tracking down the best updates for educators. If you have any questions or have any interesting ways you plan on incorporating these new updates into your coursework, please let us know!