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Why AI in GIS Education

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GeriMiller
by Esri Regular Contributor
Esri Regular Contributor
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Purpose of Blog

AI has had a profound impact on how we do our work. This blog aims to explain why we want to use AI in GIS Education, and where to go as next steps.

It is a series of 4 blogs:

What is possible with AI – customer examples outside of Education

Before we dive into educational uses, it is always good to cross-check what industry, private or public sector are doing. Below are some examples of existing uses, which illustrate the point that this topic must be incorporated into curricula activities as these skills are needed for today and tomorrow’s workforce.

Below are samples of common workflows, along with specific GIS customer examples. AI integrates with GIS workflows to solve problems, and ArcGIS makes it easy to implement AI capabilities, as they are already part of the system. It’s important to understand that AI is not a product, but a collection of capabilities that can be applied across ArcGIS.

  •  Extracting and generating data (data management)
    • Interpreting geospatial data effectively to extract valuable insights
    • Automating and scaling creation and manipulation of spatial data from various sources
    • Leveraging NLP (Natural Language Processing) to create spatial data from unstructured text
    • Incorporating Deep Learning on imagery, video, point clouds to extract features, classify objects  
    • Customer Examples:
      • Cobb County, GA - used GeoAI to analyze multiple years of single vehicle fixed object crashes across the county and found that the highest contributing factors to those were slope and curvature. They can now focus transportation improvements in those areas to mitigate the risk. See video here.
      • Finnish Forest Centre - improved data accuracy to prepare for automation, use of AI to conduct accurate forest inventories without field inspections, and ensure data is accurate and accessible, see story here.
  • Analyzing data (analytics)
    • Using pre-trained models to solve spatial problems
    • Implementing pattern analysis/clustering
    • Doing prediction and classification
    • Pixel classification and object detection with deep learning
    • Performing time-series and forecasting
    • Customer Examples:
      • Fairfax County, VA – Using GeoAI to Detect Hemlock Trees, fight pest infestation, check story here.
      • Douglas County, Nebraska - saved six months of staff time, to analyze identify ADA Curb Ramps using 1 inch resolution imagery, check story here.
  • Integrating with field workflows (mobile)
    • Integration of AI techniques could be a powerful way to automate mobile field data collection.  
    • Customer Examples:
      • City of Tempe graffiti removal - city vehicles are fitted with cameras that capture imagery of possible graffiti and stream that to the cloud. The imagery is then run against object recognition models, and if graffiti is detected, staff are notified of current incidents via event messaging, check story here.
      • City of Vilnius, Lithuania - employs drones and AI functions - AI models scan drone footage to note the condition of streets, walkways, and other public spaces. Movement data applied to the map gives Vilnius planners a way to analyze and change the city’s infrastructure, check story here.
  • Visualizing data (visualization/sharing)
    • Improving how we present information
    • Automating how we share information with stakeholders
    • Customer Examples:
      • Escondido, CA – use of IoT for Park Planning, improving dashboard visualizations. Sample dashboard here.
      • Turkcell, Turkey - expanding Telecommunications with Machine Learning. Results were displayed in a web application using ArcGIS Online, with a time slider that shows projected increases in Turkcell subscribers, check story here.

Why AI in GIS Education

There are multiple reasons to use AI in Education.

  • Enhanced productivity – AI enhances productivity. It is a system of understanding, and it can help us achieve faster results to solving a problem. It can advance our work in GIS and create a more intuitive experience along the way. 
  • Prepare the next generation workforce with AI skills - students must learn AI as a decision-making or guiding tool, as AI is being leveraged in the workplace. And if organizations aren’t using AI yet, a student may get hired because of this knowledge, i.e. they would bring AI to improve organizational workflows.
  • Inevitably AI will be used, understanding of limitations – no matter what we do or don’t do in the classroom, students will use AI. We should ensure students understand the benefits and limitations of AI tools, as well as understand that human brain is important for assessment of results. Balancing ethical standards is crucial.
  • Get students excited, prepared for next steps – when AI is introduced early on, even in introductory courses, it provides students opportunity to leverage learned skills in other courses (Electives, Capstones, etc.). It gives students a wider range of knowledge of what can/cannot be done.

Why ArcGIS

For those teaching with ArcGIS, there are multiple reasons to leverage the tools within ArcGIS.

  • AI is already in ArcGIS – it is available and supported.
  • ArcGIS is infused/enhanced with AI for main GIS functions - there are various options – GeoAI tools/workflows, and AI assistants, depending on educational objectives. 
  • Esri provides pre-trained models and learning resources - designed around GIS workflows, it is easy to get started.
  • Esri has strong guiding principles for Trusted AI in ArcGIS - resources on Trust website related to security, privacy, transparency, reliability, accountability.
  • Esri has strong principles in supporting scientific community - integration of our tools with open AI platforms. Make science more approachable and accessible.
  • Esri and the GIS education community provide support / best practices – via various event presentations and community spaces.  

Resources, where to go for help

Please check the next blog in the series, “What is possible with AI in GIS Education”.

There are a lot of resources that can be used to get started. Please take a look at the below, and comment on what else could be helpful.

If you need to speak to a person, please reach out:

 

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