Hands on Activities to teach Location Analytics in Business Education

[JosephKerski]

The best way to learn location analytics is to actually do it -- that is, engage with it in a hands-on way.  The maps, infographics, dashboards, and story maps are captivating, and the problems that can be solved are relevant and timely. 

Faculty:  Feel free to use this assortment of hands-on activities in your courses and programs and give you confidence that you can use these tools in instruction. 

Students:  Use these activities to further your own learning, empowered with skills that you can take into your future  workplace. 

1. A Learn Path guiding you through a sequence of 12 videos, readings, case studies, and lessons, is here.
2. A set of videos on the ArcGIS Business Analyst Web App.
3. A set of additional lessons on railroads, supply chain management, and more, here: https://community.esri.com/t5/education-blog/location-analytics-for-business-education-list-of/ba-p/...  
4. Attached to this essay are hands-on activities about: (1) regional business patterns, (2) choosing the optimal location for a convenience store, (3)  choosing the optimal location for a dog kennel business, (4) analyzing art behavior in a city for placement of an Art-o-Mat machine, (5) crime patterns in a city, which might impact the business community, and other themes.  These activities have been used in a variety of schools of business, and focus on developing spatial thinking, critical thinking, and problem solving with GIS.  Along with each lesson is an answer key. 
5. For additional hands-on activities, including Learn Paths containing a sequenced set of lessons, including the above tools as well as ArcGIS Pro, see the Learn ArcGIS library of business-related lessons.

Drive times using Business Analyst Web - part of one of the attached lessons.