GIS Life: Your Biggest Breakthrough

[BriannaEttley]

We've all experienced that breakthrough moment when something we've been working at finally clicks. That might look like mastering a tricky analysis, figuring out some complex code, or discovering a tool that changes everything. "Aha!" moments like these can mark turning points in our GIS journey and open up new possibilities for our work.

What has been one of your biggest learning breakthrough in GIS? Tell us about a time you learned how to achieve something with big implications, or when you finally figured out that technique or concept you'd been struggling with.

We want to hear it all! Give others the gift of learning from your hard-earned experience by sharing about it in the comments below.

[AlfredBaldenweck]

One of the earliest big breakthroughs came while watching a video on parcel fabric in 2021 or '22, where they explained that they were using definition queries to show only active data. It was a huge lightbulb moment for me; I didn't realize that you could just hide or show things conditionally like that. It felt like magic.

More recently, I've had a couple of aha! moments while working with attribute rules, or when I finally figured out how to build annotations from scratch with code.

[JesseCloutier]

That sounds like a real, "Wait. WHAT?" moment you had with the parcel fabric video, @AlfredBaldenweck. It's been a few years since that moment. What kind of a difference has it made in your work?

[WilliamTarpai]

Having been living in Peshawar, Pakistan in the days leading up to 9/11/2001, as well as for almost 2 years afterwards, and having traveled in all 5 of the former Soviet Union states in Central Asia previously, being exposed to the importance of GIS while in Pakistan changed my life sustantially.  The aha moments started coming fast and furiously as I was able to dig down into data by location: it really started me thinking how important the work of coding is.   

Now more than 2 decades later, changing times are requiring changing policies.   I appreciate ESRI Communities commentaries.   As we promote peaceful development, and advance sustainability, our work promotes human and civil rights, and the possibility for better lives for all who live in local communities.

[JesseCloutier]

Having the opportunity to develop that global lens not just at a high level, but by seeing the value of GIS in action within individual countries must be a powerful learning mechanism, @WilliamTarpai. I imagine you find it invaluable to the work you do in promoting peaceful development, sustainability, and human rights. 

[WilliamTarpai]

Thanks @JesseCloutier The question by @BriannaEttley is really one which could be asked and answered quite differently depending on how much time one may have spent outside of advanced economies, or whether you were brought up in places where development progress has NOT occurred so rapidly.  @EzraCheruiyot might have answered different than I, as he is from Kenya, and working to help young people be introduced and hone their GIS skill sets.  Young people who may still live in areas where indoor plumbing doesn't exist, where electricity allowing them to study at night is not dpendable, where disaswter risk reduction messages aren't always helping them avoid climate risks from flooding or poor infrastrucuture.  Hopefully he and I will be able to present Story Maps made by students describing surrounding around them as they gorw up....

[WilliamTarpai]

Oops I neglected to add a link to the CASE STUDY GUIIDE FOR EDUCATORS. 2026.   Anyone in this ESRI community who may wish to contact any of the educators featured in this guide offering to help them build and publish maps, please be my guest - https://files.unsdsn.org/Global%20Schools%20Case%20Study%20Guide%20Volume%203_2026_Final.pdf 

[EzraCheruiyot]

@AlfredBaldenweck @BriannaEttley @BriannaEttleyr For me My main breakthrough has been identifying a problem getting the data and also presenting them in manner that would solve a particular problem.When we understand something then we happen to have solve the problem by half.I mean communication through maps usually sounds so interesting and appealing to both literate and illiterate and they both always find it so easy to interprete.Lately, @WilliamTarpai  and myself, through our partnership with Safina Empowerment Organization, which operates in Bomet County and has its headquarters in Nairobi, embarked on a project aimed at mentoring young learners in both primary and secondary schools.Our first engagement focused on the challenges that young girls face during their menstrual periods. From the data and observations collected, we realized that many school-going girls miss classes for as many as three to seven days each month. We discovered that this is mainly due to a lack of access to sanitary pads.This raised an important question: how can we collect and present this data effectively in order to create a compelling story map, provide evidence to communities, and amplify the voices of those affected? We realized that much of this information can be obtained directly from schools. Although some of the data is not publicly available, we can also gather supporting information from media reports, government publications such as the Kenyan Gazette, and reports published by NGOs and advocacy groups.

We also plan to integrate this information with findings from Sustainable Development Reports that have been released over time. By analyzing and organizing the data clearly and systematically, we aim to present it in a way that allows learners, community members, and stakeholders to better understand the realities on the ground and identify practical solutions to these challenges.

Another major issue we identified is the lack of adequate school infrastructure and resources. Challenges such as limited electricity, poor road networks, and flooding that cuts off access to schools can significantly hinder education in these areas. Addressing these barriers will help us develop more practical and sustainable solutions for the affected communities.weve develop stories that we are about to roll out to the public and would be so glad to share it out as well

[JesseCloutier]

Thanks for bringing up that good point, @WilliamTarpai: The learning process can be impacted by opportunity and other environmental conditions, so that it may look different in one setting versus another. I hope that the work @EzraCheruiyot has described and which you are both involved in prove to be a breakthrough in understanding for others that leads to better access to education for the communities you're working with.

[EzraCheruiyot]

We just hope that we can find assistance to get our softwares licenced and ready for use by the students what @WilliamTarpai has done is god to have computers delivered to various schools is really helpful what next now is getting the students trained on cartograhic skills and that can be possible if we all join