Latest Contributions by DawnWright

 A new Esri Press book, GIS for Science: Applying Mapping & Spatial Analytics, edited by Dawn Wright and Christian Harder, is due for release this summer, time for the UC. Every attendee of the Esri Science Symposium on Tuesday of the UC will receive a free copy.   This book is about how many things geospatial, including geospatial data science, are a force multiplier for great science writ large, especially as enabled by geographic information systems (GIS). However, rather than a dry research monograph, this book is much more visual, along the lines of Wired magazine meets National Geographic, and thus for a broader Scientific-American-type audience. It will also have a comprehensive accompanying web site, GISforScience.com, where data, maps, videos, web apps, story maps, workflows and snippets of computer code, including Python notebooks, from the chapters will be freely available.   We increasingly see GIS used as part of scientific workflows to address a broad range of critically-important problems. The chapters in this book show how GIS, particularly Web GIS, provides an objective platform for effectively conducting and sharing scientific research. At a time in history when so many indicators of long-term sustainability are pointing in the wrong direction, I think we can all agree that the world desperately needs spatial applications of the very best in scientific thinking. Hence we have assembled this collection of great examples from across the scientific spectrum (with more to come in a second volume next year).   The Table of Contents includes a very strong cast of scholars working at the intersection of GIS and science, and from institutions such as Harvard, the University of Minnesota, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and the National Audubon Society, the US Geological Survey (USGS), and more.   An introductory reflection is written by Kathryn Sullivan, retired NASA astronaut and former NOAA administrator.   Praise for the book is pouring in. This a sample of endorsements from as many as 35 scientists who have read a special advance copy: James Fallows Staff Writer, The Atlantic; former Chief Speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter "This book is beautiful as well as illuminating, and it dramatizes the ways in which the new science of geospatial information is enriching and empowering all other scientific disciplines." Jane Lubchenco Environmental scientist, Marine ecologist, former Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (2009-2013); former U.S. Science Envoy for the Ocean (2014-2016); University Distinguished Professor "Maps, images, data, and stories collide brilliantly in this volume to shed new light on scientific challenges and societal problems.  Place plus time plus rich information can be a powerful accelerator of comprehension, engagement and solutions."    "If you love maps like I do, you’ll be drawn to this book.  But you’ll quickly discover so much more: the power of harnessing multiple perspectives and data types that infuse maps with even more meaning and catalyze new insights.  A veritable treasure trove of ideas. " Jessica Hellman Director, Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota “There is no better tool to understand our place in the world than GIS, and this book puts its power on beautiful display. It’s a book for scientists and all of Earth’s stewards.” Lynn Scarlett Vice President of The Nature Conservancy; Chair, Science Advisory Board, NOAA “'The Science of Where' comes alive in GIS for Science. The book is, yes, informative, helping us understand how the world works, how it looks, and how we see it through images, maps, and more. Above all, it is dazzling, combining knowledge with a sense of wonder, bringing a desire to press for more discovery, and invoking a deep appreciation for why smart decisions spring from taking science to action.” ... View more

Several of us are away at two fairly large scientific conferences, the 2019 American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting (AAG) and the 2019 European Geosciences Union General Assembly (EGU), both ranging from 9000-15,000 attendees. Here is a sampling of the scientific research being presented:   AAG 2019 Symposium on Frontiers in Geospatial Data Science  http://cybergis.illinois.edu/event/aag-2019-symposium-on-frontiers-in-geospatial-data-science/   And papers/posters by Esri staff at EGU: Esri Romania Esri Consultant: Assessing the performance of various machine learning algorithms for forest disturbance mapping    Esri Germany Melanie Brandmeier: Coupling Deep Learning and GIS for forest damage assessment based on high-resolution remote sensing data Esri Germany Melanie Brandmeier: Lithological classification using multi-sensor data and Convolutional Neural Networks Orhun Aydin, Esri HQ: Spatio-temporal co-location analysis of dynamic plastic debris and marine life in the Pacific Ocean | download poster   ... View more

Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Esri have come together for a Smart Oceans Panel at SXSW 2019, entitled Technology from Surf to Seafloor  The demand for oceanographic data has never been greater—we need to understand how our coasts, open oceans, and coral reefs are changing if we are to preserve and efficiently utilize the ocean’s vast resources. Marine technology development must confront challenges such as turbulent waves, intense pressure at depth, and remote and (big) data transfer issues, for example. Now, more than ever, scientists and engineers need to make their complex discoveries accessible to broad audiences via high-tech data visualization and storytelling. This panel will explore innovative ways that technology development is advancing in the ocean—from the Internet-of-Things-enabled surfboard fin that aims to measure coastlines changing due to sea-level rise, ocean acidification, and more, to mapping technologies that `visualize and interpret the ocean from the sea surface to the seafloor. The panel occurs Monday, March 11, 2019 Watch this space for a short recap. ... View more

Now available and free "Interpolate 3D Oxygen Measurements in Monterey Bay" # ocean # GIS learning module http://p.ctx.ly/r/93g1  See also elsewhere on GeoNet - https://community.esri.com/community/gis/analysis/geostatistical-analyst/blog/2019/01/25/new-in-arcgis-pro-23-3d-interpolation-with-empirical-bayesian-kriging  ... View more

Videos now available from the 2018 # EsriOceanForum at http://p.ctx.ly/r/92qu  Experience the action, insight, and inspiration for the first time, or relive the magic (see also http://p.ctx.ly/r/92qv ) ... View more

Dear colleagues, Please enjoy this initial Wakelet of last week's 2018 Esri Ocean GIS Forum. The compilation comes mainly from Twitter and Instagram. Thanks to all who were able to attend and to many, many more for their support of our event! ... View more

We are pleased to share the lineup of oral talks, panels, posters and an inaugural workshop that will be presented December 9-14 at the 2018 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in Washington, DC. Many know of AGU as among the world’s most well-respected Earth science scholarly organizations, and its annual fall meeting dwarfs our UC by over 10,000 attendees. AGU 2018 expects 28,000 attendees from 113 countries, making it the largest Earth and space science meeting in the world.   You’ll see in the list below of scientific workshops, papers, posters, and entire sessions that Esri is leading or contributing on a wide variety of interesting and important projects. Many of these are in collaboration with our federal partners at NASA, NOAA, US Forest Service, Department of Energy, EPA, and the USGS, as well as several universities and national laboratories. This showcases how Esri not only enables great understanding of the world with our products and services, but also performs good science, and contributes well as a member of the scientific community, sharing and inspiring others as to The Science of Where. In addition, we will have a 20' x 20' theater-style exhibit booth (coordinated by Research & Sciences Industry Manager Drew Stephens‌) with messaging and demos (as organized by Dan Pisut) on multidimensional scientific data and analysis, imagery, big data geoanalytics, The Living Atlas, ArcGIS Pro, Ecological Land Units, Ecological Marine Units, GeoPlanner,  Insights, story maps, the web GIS pattern, our commitment to open/interoperable, and more. See the Esri Booth Demo Schedule and exhibit floor plan (Esri is booth 1425). Overall, we are sending ~20 Esri staff to participate at AGU.  SPECIAL AGU EVENT - AGU Narratives Marriott Marquis, Dec 10, 4:30 pm for broadcast later.  As part of the Centennial Celebration, AGU is recording “AGU Narratives” to capture stories of scientists. This is in cooperation with StoryCorps, and is meant to illuminate the stories of the sciences, celebrate the accomplishments in Earth and space science, and reveal the personal and scientific stories of science. Dawn Wright‌ will be in a conversational interview with Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute Tetherless World Constellation's Director of Data Science Operations and former Research Data Alliance Secretariat Mark Parsons as part of the Earth and Space Science Informatics block of AGU Narratives. NEW THIS YEAR: SCIENTIFIC WORKSHOPS For the first time in its history AGU is facilitating the offering of half and full-day scientific workshops. Esri took advantage of the opportunity and is involved in: Emerging Data Science and Machine Learning Opportunities in the Weather and Climate Sciences (WS34 - Workshop Outline) Convened by  Christiane Jablonowski (University of Michigan) Sudhir Shrestha (Esri) Vipin Kumar (University of Minnesota) Orhun Aydin (Esri) Amy McGovern (University of Oklahoma) Daniel Cooley (Colorado State University) Imme Ebert-Uphoff (Colorado State University) Kevin Reed (Stony Brook University)       Dawn Wright‌ (Esri) also speaking and serving on the final panel Thursday, December 13, 2018, 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Fee (Regular/Student): $150/$75 Constitution AB and B Corridor, Grand Hyatt - Estimated number of participants = 150 Especially for: Atmospheric Sciences, Earth and Space Science Informatics, Global Environmental Change, Hydrology, Natural Hazards, Nonlinear Geophysics, Ocean Sciences The disciplines of atmospheric science and data science are at a crossroads and about to experience scientific breakthroughs that are comparable to the revolution in bioinformatics over the last decade. This multidisciplinary workshop brings together atmospheric researchers, data scientists, statisticians, engineers, tech companies, program managers, educators, students, and stakeholders to discuss newly emerging data science and machine learning opportunities for the atmospheric sciences. In particular, high-impact weather and climate events will serve as the science driver to explore the novel field of physics-aware, theory-guided data science. Pre-AGU EVENT - OceanObs Research Coordination Network (RCN) Renaissance Hotel, Grand North Ballroom, Dec 9, 10:30am-6:30 pm.  The OceanObs RCN builds on the efforts to network ocean observing groups conducted over the past 5 years. This meeting seeks to advance links between observation networks and operational users to facilitate the delivery of critical information to stakeholders. We will discuss a decadal vision addressing critical policy issues that require multidisciplinary ocean observing systems, including discussion about the forthcoming Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) proposed by the IOC (https://en.unesco.org/ocean-decade), and balancing ocean observations, science, use, and conservation requirements. Dawn Wright‌ on the organizing committee. SPECIAL SIDE EVENT - Ocean Intelligence Canadian Embassy, near the US Capitol, Dec 11, 4-7 pm.  This event will showcase ocean observing in the US and Canada, with the aim of bringing the two communities on either side of the border closer together to build alliances, leverage assets, and share data openly. Canada’s Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the NOAA Administrator have been invited to deliver opening remarks. A panel will then discuss how ocean observing data are used to advance science, inform policy, and help coastal communities plan, adapt to climate change, and mitigate natural hazards. Invited panelists include Kate Moran, President and CEO of Ocean Networks Canada, Esri Chief Scientist Dawn Wright‌, and John Trowbridge, new Executive Director of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). SPECIAL AGU EVENT - AGU Sharing Science in Plain English panel Renaissance Grand Central, Dec 11, 12:30-2 pm.  The panel is a 1.5-hour discussion and Q&A intended for around 100 scientists with little to no communications experience who want to learn the basics of communicating science effectively to lay audiences, including doing media interviews, meetings with policymakers, giving public talks (at civic functions, etc.), or on social media. Allen Carroll will deliver remarks and demos on story maps as a science communication tool, with Dawn Wright‌ in the audience for discussion support.     The target audience member is a graduate student, who has spent the last 7 years studying science and has forgotten how to use more elementary terms to explain his/her research.  However, any Fall Meeting registrant may attend (and have attended) this panel. The panel will be moderated by science writer Yudhijit Bhattacharjee. Panel session and accompanying lunch sponsored by AGU's Sharing Science Program. AGU PRESENTATIONS and SESSIONS with Esri Co-Authors (where U = Union, B = Biogeosciences, G = Geodesy, GH = GeoHealth, H = Hydrology, IN = Earth and Space Science Informatics, NH = Natural Hazards, PA = Public Affairs, T = Tectonophysics; bolded are entire sessions) U22A-02 Marie Tharp: Discoverer of the Rift Valley of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Inventor of Marine Cartography (Invited and this will be live-streamed and recorded by AGU On-Demand) Profiled in an #AGU18 Blog  |   See the accompanying Wakelet Twitter compilation B41L-2897 Use Cases of Ecological Marine Units for Improved Regional Ocean Observation Data Integration within the Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON) (Highlighted) B43E-07 A Hierarchical, Synoptic, and Dynamic Seascape Framework for Observing and Understanding Pelagic Biodiversity (Invited) G33B-2673 Transforming between WGS84 Realizations and other Reference Frames (Withdrawn) GH24A-08 Environmental Health Integration (Canceled) GH43C-1474 On the Way to the Gyre: Modeling Impacts of Moving Plastic Debris in Marine Life IN34B-04 Scalable Data Analytics and Visualization with Cloud Optimized Web Services (Invited) IN42A-04 Open Data In; Standard and Reliable Data Out (Invited) IN51D-0615 Hi-Resolution Local Ecological Marine Units IN52A Spatial Data Infrastructure and GIS for Earth and Space Sciences: Analyzing, Visualizing, and Sharing Spatiotemporal, Cloud-Optimized Earth Science Data I IN52A-06 Bayesian Deep Learning for Extreme Weather Event Forecasting in a Changing Climate IN53D Spatial Data Infrastructure and GIS for Earth and Space Sciences: Analyzing, Visualizing, and Sharing Spatiotemporal, Cloud-Optimized Earth Science Data Posters IN53D-0635 Virtual Multidimensional Data Cube - A Generic Data Model for Working with Scientific Data in GIS IN53D-0637 Cloud Image Processing and Service Oriented Architecture for Computationally Intensiveness Raster Analysis and Sharing NH34A-07 Modeling Disaster Impact and Characterizing Community Resilience: the impact of natural hazards in urban environments PA11B Communicating Science in the Social Media Age I eLightning PA11B-04 Sharing Your Scientific Research: Inform, Engage and Inspire Others with Your Story PA22B-09 Crowdsourcing Apps Promise for the Emergency Management Community: Improve Response and Recovery Efforts T31E Geospatial Artificial Intelligence: Machine Learning in Earth Sciences Posters T31E-0360 Using Spatially Constrained Unsupervised Machine Learning to Objectively Derive Climate Zones of the Contiguous United States (Invited) SELECTED AGU PRESENTATIONS by OUR USERS  (where ED = Education, EP = Earth and Planetary Surface Processes, G = Geodesy, H = Hydrology, IN = Earth and Space Science Informatics, NH = Natural Hazards, OS = Ocean Sciences; bolded are entire sessions) ED52A-07 Utilizing NASA Earth Observations and Community Science to Detect and Map the Displacement of Cladophora along the Milwaukee County Shoreline (ArcGIS Collector, Story Maps) EP13A-08 Influence of dykeland engineering and management strategies on the intertidal ecomorphodynamics of a fetch-limited, temperate, hypertidal estuary (ArcGIS for Desktop) G51C-0486 Seasonal Change Detection of Riverscape Terrain and Vegetation using Drone Laser Scanning (ArcGIS Desktop)  H51X-1668 Development of a Decision Support System for Environmental Compliance in Virginia’s Nutrient Credit Exchange (ArcGIS Online, WebApp Builder, Survey 123) H23H-1998 EFFECT OF STREAM CHANNEL ANISOTROPY ON THE SPATIAL INTERPOLATION OF STREAMBED CHARACTERIZATION DATA (ArcGIS for Desktop, Geostatistical Analyst ) H23J-1988 Basin assessment scenario intervention tool: Integrated groundwater surface water modeling and management for the Indus Basin (ArcGIS for Desktop) IN51B-0572 On Demand Analytics Products from GOES 16/17: Rapid Visualization and Analysis (ArcGIS Pro) IN53D-0636 VIIRS Nighttime Lights Image Services (Esri REST API, ArcGIS API for Javascript) IN53D-0638 Serving NASA GES DISC Multi-spatiotemporal Earth Science Data to the GIS community (Esri REST API, ArcGIS Online) IN53D-0640 Utilizing the NASA Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) Geospatial Platform for Data Analysis (ArcGIS Image Services, WebApp Builder, ArcGIS API for Javascript) NH41C-1005 Caribbean and Adjacent Regions Tsunami Sources and Models (CATSAM) Map Viewer (ArcGIS API for Javascript, ArcGIS Enterprise) OS24B-02 Morphologic changes in hydrothermal vent sites in the Lau Basin and their implications for the resiliency of vent fields in Back-Arc Basins (ArcGIS for Desktop) OS33D-1918 An Analysis of Bathymetric Sounding Density to Inform Ocean Mapping Strategies (ArcGIS Enterprise) View and search the entire 2018 AGU Fall Meeting Program at this link.  ... 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Last update: December 16, 2021 Spatial analysis has always been a hallmark of GIS, the “numerical recipes” which set GIS apart from other forms of computerized visualization and information management. With GIS we can pose questions and derive results using a wide array of analytical tools to help us understand and compare places, determine how places are related, find the best locations and paths, detect and quantify patterns, and even to make spatial predictions. "The greatest potential for change and success occurs when we all understand and speak the same language—-the language of spatial analysis." -- Chris Cappelli What better way to speak that language than via a story map, in either "modern" ArcGIS StoryMap or "classic" mode? As people continue to explore and share their world using this medium, some are venturing beyond the simple map tour mode of points linked to photographs, toward “stories” that examine, explore, and showcase the results of a spatial analysis. We’ll likely see more of these analytical stories as the story map medium is introduced into more GIS courses, particularly at the university level. As you explore the story of spatial analysis, please KEEP SCROLLING DOWN for a small catalog of analytical story maps. Be sure to visit again as I will try to add to this page throughout the year! Hot!  This story map is about ArcGIS Hub, a new technology currently in worldwide adoption, for creating and publishing open data in an easy and accessible way. See this gallery of Science Hubs, many of which include story maps.  Scientists as Storytellers, from Esri's Charmel Menzel of our National Government Sciences Team, as presented at the 2018 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting.  Esri's Applied Analysis and National Government Sciences Teams' Scientists Communicating with Story Maps Gallery. A story map with both ANALYTICS and suggested societal SOLUTIONS: Take Action: Tools to Understand and Prepare for Extreme Heat. Esri's Lauren Scott Griffin's "Analyzing Traffic Accidents in Space and Time" uses the classic Story Map Cascade to analyze automobile crash data in Brevard County, Florida using ArcGIS Pro. The study addresses important questions such as where are traffic accidents increasing (including as specific hot spots within a road network), and when are the most dangerous times to be driving. You can also download the data, follow the complete ArcGIS Pro workflows, and access additional resources on ArcGIS .  Esri's Lauren Bennett’s “Drought Impact Assessment” uses the classic Story Map Series - Side Accordion Layout to guide the viewer through four stages of an analysis, culminating in a map of statistically significant decreases in soil moisture over a 35-year period, as part of longer term monitoring effort. See the demo of the story map at the 2014 Federal GIS conference (minute 2:14). In addition, this video at minute 6:28 is an example of using Python to schedule a task that can grab data from the United States Drought Monitor and recreate it as a live service that might be inserted into a story map.   The USDA Forest Service’s Restoration Story Map Atlas uses the same format to show the results of analyses for the Pacific Northwest ranging from identifying the percentage of a watershed that could be effectively treated through active forest thinning, prescribed fire, or use of wildfire, to the results of a bivariate rendering of burn probability by conditional flame length.  The Center for Research in Water Resources at the University of Texas at Austin uses the classic Map Journal app to tell the story of flood risk in and around Huarez City, Peru as based upon hydrodynamic modeling results. See the related blog post about this research.  Other great analytical examples include: New! This draft of the USDA Forest Service's Minnesota 2018: Forest Features technical report is full of analytics on the state's forest area, type distribution, age, volume and species composition, and much more. New! Trace the Source of Ocean Trash was presented by a University of Redlands graduate student at the 2021 Esri Ocean, Weather, and Climate GIS Forum as a Lightning Talk. Empirical Bayesian Kriging (EBK) Regression Prediction Tool Assessment for Climate by researchers at NCAR. This story map summarizes the workflow to format PRISM 20-year climatological data for analysis in the ArcGIS EBK regression tool, and for comparison to the original PRISM data. DTN Precipitation Analytics and Product Demo, a hydrologic modeling calibration and validation case study of the May 18-19, 2020 Michigan floods and dam failures by meteorologists at DTN.  The DUNEX pilot experiment off North Carolina's coast looks at the evolution of sandy shorelines battered by storms.  (1) How do bends form in peat-land streams?; (2) How to take public perceptions into account?; and (3) How do side channels develop? is a series of analytical story maps featured in the open-access journal article Arevalo et al. (2020), Storylines for practice: A visual storytelling approach to strengthen the science-practice interface, Sustainability Science, doi: 10.1007/s11625-020-00793-y. Data Science and Analytics. Mapped. is a fascinating journey into the "spatialization" of concepts, presenting the first comprehensive knowledge reference system, basemap, and exploration platform for terms and concepts in the spatial data science domain. What are the concepts that you should be learning and implementing to become a specialist in data spatial data science? Analytical story maps by undergraduates in the winter 2019 course at University of Southern California (USC), SSCI 381: Statistics for Spatial Sciences, taught by Esri's Orhun Aydin: Save Lives on the LA Nighttime Streets Mapping LA's Lowest Health Risk Surf Spots Comparing Geocache Locations with Demographic Parameters Crime in San Diego, CA: What Makes it Tick? Green Space & Income: Is There a Correlation? What are the Main Effects of Traffic in Los Angeles? Land Use Mapping in Queensland, presents an overview of how the Queensland Australia Government maps and monitors land use, including by way of machine learning algorithms to automate image analysis, classification and mapping of land use features from satellite imagery. Ocean Color: Chlorophyll-a in our Oceans, presents a detailed workflow, including videos, that is the centerpiece of Esri's current partnership with the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) BluePlanet initiative in support of SDG 14.1.1’s eutrophication methodology for summarizing chlorophyll-a over time in 4 pilot areas worldwide. Great Barrier Reef Catchment Loads Monitoring Program: 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 tell the story of this ongoing large-scale monitoring program that tracks and analyzes long-term trends in water quality entering the Great Barrier Reef lagoon from adjacent catchments along the east coast of Queensland, Australia. The monitoring data are used to validate catchment water quality models toward Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan targets. Geological & GIS Mission for ThamLuang Cave, presents an overview of how GIS was applied by Esri Thailand for the Thailand Cave Rescue of the youth soccer team, including details of discrepancy analysis, hydrologic analysis (ArcHydro), and aspect analysis. It is an amazing story! Serengeti Squeeze, based on a wildlife conservation study published in Science about how increased human activity around the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, one of Africa's most iconic ecosystems, is "squeezing" the wildlife in its core," damaging habitat, and disrupting the migration routes of wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle. Hold Tight Little Lizards!, based on a study published in Nature about how hurricanes may be agents of natural selection for a species of small brown lizard endemic to the Turks and Caicos islands in the Caribbean.  How to make effective analytical use of The Climate Explorer within the US Climate Resilience Toolkit (map future climate projections and gain better understanding of the Fourth National Climate Assessment or NCA4, in the process).  Story maps as scientific project/research portfolios: researcher Alexandra Rao and student Amanda Huber! A crowd-sourced story map that asks Higher Education Research Active Collaborations 2018 of Esri Canada. A crowd-sourced story map that asks What Questions Have You Answered by Mapping and Spatial Analysis in GIS?, by Esri Canada. Water Wells Site Selection in East Africa using GIS, by Claudia Cáceres & Sarah Osailan of Claremont Graduate University. Deep Learning for Detection, Identification, and Mapping of Cassava Diseases, a Microsoft AI4E Azure Grant project by Kimani Mbugua, PhD student at Claremont Graduate University. Enabling Apps for Green Infrastructure Planning by Esri's Ryan Perkl, describes the main components of green infrastructure networks and the planning process, gives an overview of Esri's Green Infrastructure Initiative, and reviews the data, analytical models, and apps needed to be successful in determining what to preserve and where, and which areas need restoration or reconnection. A related story map provides Solutions for 3D Basemap and Development Review for urban and regional planning. See also the 3D Scene Layer Group in ArcGIS . The Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Restoration Assessment of the USGS and the New College of Florida (Justin Saarinen). The Emerging Hot Spots of Forest Loss of the World Resources Institute's Global Forest Watch is based in part on their journal article in Environmental Research Letters. University of Oxford’s Global Poverty Map Journal explaining the Multidimensional Poverty Index. Endangered Reefs, Threatened People, showing the results of GIS vulnerability analyses at varying scales. As part of MarineCadastre.gov, NOAA and BOEM have produced Exploring Ocean Wind Energy (which includes a link to download the data used in the analysis), Evaluating Shipwreck Density by Lease Block, and Exploring Vessel Traffic in Jacksonville, Florida. Wildfires in Oregon is a nice mix of science and policy. Updated! Mapping the Stories of Californians... was created by students at Stanford University in the course BIO 128: Geographic Impacts of Climate Change: Mapping the Stories. It is based on interviews, surveys, and five climate change impacts targeted by a global Scientific Consensus Statement. See their new version for the entire US Sea Level Rise Inundation for the State of Delaware (see related blog post), and a story map employing a similar analysis for Dorchester County, Maryland. Feeding the World: Can Global Crop Production Meet Future Demands? Ocean Acidification, with calculations of future scenarios of ocean aragonite saturation, “swiping” between 1885 and 2095. Spatial analysis steps in siting a new distributed solar generation facility by Environmental Resources Management (ERM) "We Baby Turin" or "Wellbeing for the Baby Turin," drawing inspiration from the Save the Children's Atlas of Children at Risk, includes spatial analyses of proximities to children's services in Turin (Torino), Italy (available in both Italian and English). A series of spatial analytical results for "connecting clients, services, and locations" by the Data Analysis for the Gilchrist Center. Point and route density analyses of retail sales data are featured in Ontario Mills - Brand Alliances. Modern version of Florence Nightingale's coxcombs (mapping of multivariate data), showing the mortality of British Soldiers in the Crimean War. See related blog post. Results of spatiotemporal analyses of invasions of non-native aquatic mussels in the US and variations in wildlife strikes on civilian aircraft in the US. Updated! Results of Storm Surge Inundation (SLOSH Maximum of Maximums) Modeling. The second to the last panel of this Harbor Seal Survey Map and Methods story map uses a Shiny app to allow the user to interactively model Oregon harbor seal population dynamics with a simple numerical model. The informative Motion of Tectonic Plates story map includes relative and absolute plate motion vectors, seismic strain graphs, and measurements of coseismic horizontal crustal displacement. Modeling Flash Flood Events in Ungaged Semi-Arid Basins using the KINematic runoff and EROsion Real-Time Distributed Model (KINEROS2) How To Use Land Cover Data as a Water Quality Indicator The mission and analytical stories of UNC-Asheville's National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center (NEMAC) Esri's Witold Fraczek and Lenny Kneller explain and analyze the poles of inaccessibility and their locations in Antarctica, Eurasia, North America, South America, Africa, Australia, and the Arctic Ocean. See also the related blog post. Updated! Predicting Cetacean Density with Geospatial Models explains the process behind collecting marine mammal survey data and the methodology used to create habitat density distribution models. How has the Columbia Glacier (in Alaska) Changed?, which includes an interactive application that calculates the volume of water that has melted from that glacier between 2009 and 2013.     the glacier volume web app itself decoupled from the story map Terrain Tools Tour (by Esri's Ken Field et al.) This Internet of Things (IoT) story map highlights various analytical uses cases for different industries or user communities. It will continue to be updated with additional demos and use cases. Bittersweet Chocolate: The Climate Change Impacts on Cocoa Production in Ghana includes some spatial modeling results, while also pointing the viewer to a few peer-reviewed scientific studies for further in-depth information. How Certain are Land Use Change Projections? is an overview of the PhD thesis of Judith Verstegen of the University of Utrecht, Netherlands. Evaluating the Mysteries of Seismicity in Oklahoma includes an analysis of the cumulative spatial influence of factors related to seismicity in the state, as well as several earthquake magnitude hotspot analyses. Town of Chebeague Island Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment is a story map version of a report of the same name by the Greater Portland (Maine) Council of Governments. Analyze vector-borne disease with the ArcGIS Predictive Analysis Tools includes the analytic use case of predicting Aedes habitat and suitable locations for vector borne disease, along with a peer-reviewed journal article by Esri solution engineer, Dr. David Attaway et al. on risk analysis for dengue suitability in Africa. Connecticut's Changing Landscape uses live image services in a rigorous study of land cover change within that state rom 1985-2010. EPA's Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT) Climate Scenarios Projection Map provides easy-to-access scenario-based climate change projections for a variety of different scenarios across the US. The Bureau of Reclamation's Climate Change and Water details and visualizes projected changes in temperature, precipitation, and snowpack across the eight major Reclamation river basins illustrated in it's SECURE Water Act Report to Congress. It also allows for direct downloads of the data directly from the story map. The Chesapeake Bay Program and Region 3 of the EPA present Cleaner Air, Cleaner Bay to describe benefits from Clean Air Act regulations that decrease NOx emissions through implementation of the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL). Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge Effects on Energy Assets assesses the potential sea level rise and storm surge risks to energy assets in the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) of specific cities in the United States. Evolution of the 2010-2015 Texas Drought highlights research of the NOAA Climate Program Office's Modeling, Analysis, Predictions, and Projections program to better monitor, understand, and predict drought. See also Esri's Drought Tracker. 2013 Colorado Flood Recovery: Three Years of Progress illustrates various analytics and resulting advances made in recovery efforts since that major event. The Rise of the Andes in Ignimbrite Super Eruptions explores the Neogene geologic history of the Andes mountains, links geochemical and spatial patterns of ignimbrite super-eruptions to uplift and the crustal evolution, and highlights the potential of GIS to analyze and share scientific data (references). Useful workflows for drone point cloud classification to help you unlock the insights in your drone imagery. When Rising Seas Hit Home is a national analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists that identifies WHEN hundreds of US coastal communities will face chronic inundation and possible retreat as sea levels rise. Users can explore these communities and discover not only the consequences of rising seas, but viable solutions. The StormSense Project highlights some of the methodology behind forecasting flooding from storm surge, rains, and tides. Winners of the  2016 Global Content Challenge were required to use spatial analysis and submit entries as a classic Story Map Journal: LAND First place: Sara Lubkin, N. Virginia Community College, USA, What Can Beetles Tell Us About Past Climates? Second place: Karl Chastko, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, Food, Water and 7 Billion People: Improving Water Efficiency in Agriculture Third place: Kayla Wong, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, Soil Carbon Sequestration Potential Based on Soil Properties Honorable Mention: Danielle Derrick, Carleton University, Canada, A Race for Survival: The Future of Tiger Conservation OCEAN First place: Alicea Zelesny, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, Antarctica - The Southerly Extreme Second place:Julia Portmann, Washington College, Maryland, USA, Attack of the Blobs Third place: Kevin Yang, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, Climate Change in Earth's Polar Regions Honorable Mention: Maggi Klug, University of Alabama-Huntsville, USA, Devastating Effects of Climate Change on Coastal Florida POPULATION First place: Claudia Caceres, Claremont Graduate University, California, USA, Analyzing the Relationship between Climate Change and Food Insecurity in Developing Countries Second place: Michael Kirchin, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, The American People Third place: Spencer Elford, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, Concrete Jungle: Urban Expansion and the Rise of the Megacity Honorable Mention: Kathryn Kulbicki, George Mason University, Virginia, USA, Child Welfare in the News: August 1 to October 31, 2016 Honorable Mention: Christopher Koido-Bunt, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, Volcanic Hazard Risk in East and South East Asia   Analysis in the field, or stories of data collected in the field as inputs for spatial analysis, are also very important: Weather, climate, and space weather field and lab work at NOAA Boulder 2016 Post-Hurricane-Matthew data acquisition via dual-aircraft operations of the US Army Corps of Engineers Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise Wave and Shoreline Analysis courtesy of the Coastal Data Information Program, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, southern California Tufts University Campus Biodiversity Assessment showcases results from "an initial inventory of the wildlife and species present, with emphasis on identifying potentially rare or threatened birds, amphibians, reptile and mammal species in addition to their suitable habitats. This allowed for researchers, campus administrators, and community members to interactively visualize the locations of these species, and understand best practices for sustaining wildlife and suitable habitats throughout the Grafton Campus." Updated! Oregon State University’s HJ Andrews Experimental Forest Dashboard shows real-time data from 125 different environmental sensors, as well as real-time web-cams. Related blog post. Field studies of the 2013 Current Creek Fire in Lake Clark National Park, Alaska. Understanding the impacts of the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake by the USGS. Scientific projects and field sites of the NOAA Biogeography Program. Field studies of the Geology of the Black Hills by the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Study areas of spatial analysis exercises featured in the Esri Press book, The GIS Guide to Public Domain Data by Joseph Kerski and Jill Clark. Post-Hurricane-Sandy resilience and recovery field sites of the US Fish & Wildlife Service Can't resist including this story map journal that uses ArcGIS  3D web scenes instead of web maps: Mountains of Fire, Touring the World's Deadliest and Most Active Volcanoes A Geologist in Grand Canyon A related post: Simple Real-Time Dashboards Built with Story Maps Alaska Revealed: High Resolution Elevation Data. A nice complement to the Columbia Glacier story map mentioned above. Mactaquac Aquatic Ecosystem Study (MAES) (Canada). See just about all the field aspects of this "multi-year assessment of the structure and function of the Saint John River ecosystem, followed by a manipulation of flow, sediment load, and thermal regime with consequential effects on the ecosystem, and then a multi-year period to monitor the recovery to a new river state." ... View more

Updated: January 14, 2019 THIS PAGE IS NOW AN ARCHIVE AND WILL NO LONGER BE UPDATED.  LATEST UPDATES, AS OF SEPTEMBER 10, 2019, ARE NOW AT www.esri.com/sciences Jump to: Major Initiatives | Collaborative Projects | Staying Connected | Deepsea Dawn UC Science Symposium Hot! | R - ArcGIS Integration Hot! | ArcGIS Python API Hot! | Geo AI & Machine Learning Hot! | DID YOU KNOW? Science at Esri continues to evolve on many exciting fronts, as we focus on supporting both basic and applied science, while also recognizing that there are many major themes of compelling interest to society that will drive scientific research for the next several decades. Thus we view science as helping us to understand not only how the Earth works, but also how the Earth looks (e.g., by way of geodesign), and how we look at the Earth (i.e., by way of Earth observation in varying forms and the accompanying data science issues of analysis, modeling, developing and documenting useful datasets for science, interoperating between these datasets and between various approaches). These are, in fact, examples of The Science of Where TM . There are many major themes of compelling interest to society that will drive scientific research, at least for the next two decades. And thus we view science as helping us to understand not only how the Earth works, but how the Earth should look, and how we should look at the Earth. In addition to supporting the science community, we seek to do good science at Esri ourselves, as it underpins much of what we do as an organization. This is helping us to evolve ArcGIS into a comprehensive geospatial platform for science; a platform that supports research project management and collaboration, spatial analysis, visualization, open data, and communication of science, all at multiple scales (i.e., from individual researcher to lab workgroup, to multi-department, multi-university, university-to-agency collaboration, to citizen engagement). There are many natural science domains in which GIS is being used effectively to understand how the Earth works. At Esri, these are the sciences that we are particularly strong in. Along these lines, Esri is fairly well known to research labs, universities, and other places where great science is done as a vendor of GIS technology. However, Esri continues to work toward contributing as a MEMBER of the scientific community as well. We define the "science community" as scientists within universities, research institutes, government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and similar. As such, Esri maintains objective scientific representation on various scientific boards and councils, including several of the committees within these bodies that accomplish important tasks over the long-term. Examples include: the National Academy of Sciences Geographic Sciences Committee New!  the US Geospatial Intelligence Foundation Board of Directors  New!  the GEBCO Technical Subcommittee on Ocean Mapping New!  the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Board on Global Strategies New!  Directors Council of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography  the Science Advisory Council of Conservation International the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment External Advisory Board the Scientific and Technical Advisory Board of 52 North Commissions and Working Groups of the International Cartographic Association the National Geographic Society Board of Trustees the National Water Forecasting Program Advisory Board ISO TC/211 (International Standards Organisation Technical Committee) liaison to the United Nations Statistics Division the UN Expert Group on the Integration of Statistical and Geospatial Information the Maritime Alliance Board of Directors the NatureServe Strategic Advisors Council the National Geospatial Advisory Committee the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) various committees and the Board of Directors of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) the Vespucci Initiative for the Advancement of Geographic Information in Science the Consortium for Ocean Leadership US National Committee for the International Cartographic Association (ICA) Liaison Team of the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded EarthCube Initiative. See this blog post. Board of COMPASS Science Communication, Inc. (past) the World Ocean Council the International Hydrographic Organization and various Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure committee throughout Europe and South America the National Academy of Sciences Ocean Studies Board (past) the inaugural board of the Citizen Science Association (past) the National Science Teachers Association editorial review panel for Science Teacher magazine (and as an example of the many journal and magazine editorial boards that Esri staff serve on) the NOAA Science Advisory Board (past) the Department of Commerce Data Advisory Council (CDAC) the Census Scientific Advisory Committee (CSAC) and more .... Esri also serves on various advisory boards or collaborative research teams for specific scientific projects, such as: GEO/GEOSS: See this blog post for more information. The NSF-funded Research Coordination Network (RCN) on Ocean Observations Various interest and working groups of The Research Data Alliance (RDA) the Industrial Associates Program of the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping (CCOM) Joint Hydrographic Center (JHC) Various engagements of our National Government Sciences and Civilian Teams the Obama White House Climate Data Initiative and Partnership for Resilience and Preparedness (PREP) + related resources Back to top Our Major Initiatives and Projects Open Source, Open Data, Standards, and Interoperability: Leveraging open source code and solutions with Esri technology is something that the scientific community is very much interested in. However, many in the science community are still surprised to hear that Esri produces free, open-source products such as Geoportal Server (which continues to be a popular and valuable contribution) or maintains a significant presence on GitHub. There is also the ArcGIS Editor for Open StreetMap. Further, did you know that as a company, we are currently leveraging and contributing to over 200 open-source projects, while delivering over 350 open-source projects of our own? Esri software provides direct read, import, and export for over 300 formats, including over 200 image formats and sensors. Esri supports over 100 geospatial standards (including those from ISO TC 211 and OGC), and provides open access to scores of APIs and SDKs. In any platform strategy, being open, interoperable, and standards-compliant actually makes very good business sense. See also these excellent summaries and blog posts: VIDEO: Esri President Jack Dangermond & Standards Product Mgr/Open Strategist Satish Sankaran in a spirited discussion about and overview of standards, interoperability, #opendata, Python APIs, open software libraries, and Esri's participation going forward. Hot! Integration with R with related post, project announcement, and related video. Hot! Integration with the Python Spatial Analysis Library (PySAL) for geospatial analytical computation See also this comprehensive video on integrating open source statistical packages with ArcGIS. In addition, see Python: Working with Scientific Data. Open.Esri.Com (including Resources) ArcGIS Open Data and Hub from our Esri Washington DC Development Center Integration of ArcGIS with the SciPy Stack New Python Raster Functions, a curated set of lightweight but powerful tools for on-the-fly image processing and raster analysis in ArcGIS. Available from Esri's open-source community on GitHub. A host of APIs and runtime SDKs for developers, many from our Esri Portland (Oregon) Development Center Our new ArcGIS Python API which lets you engage with data, analytics, and visualization through a clean Python API. See also this Chennai Floods analysis sample and video intro about using the API with The Jupyter Notebook. Some "classics:" Open Source, Closed Source: Moving to the Middle GIS Panel Discussion at SciPy 2013 Esri has a new initiative in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. We now have "GeoAI" resources and demos on GitHub (must be signed in), and a series of articles on Medium about workable, innovative machine learning implementations in ArcGIS. See also The Science of Where Seagrasses Grow: ArcGIS and Machine Learning. Esri has also entered a new partnership with Microsoft in the realm of Artificial Intelligence that includes Esri technology now incorporated within Microsoft's Data Science Virtual Machine (i.e., ArcGIS Pro and the R-ArcGIS Bridge). Researchers can now apply for cloud computing grants under this initiative. This is part of Microsoft's exciting new AI for Earth Initiative which may become "a game-changer for our planet." Tools and workflow packages such as Scientific Data Workflows, and Dimension Explorer, and 3D Fences and Curtains. See more at ArcGIS Code Sharing. Fostering compelling cartography, design, and research as part of the amazing world of cartographic science (including Adventures in Mapping, Maps We Love and the definitive text Map Use: Reading, Analysis, Interpretation. See also the related Cartography MOOC (Massive Open  Course). Release of the First Ecological Land Units (ELUs) Map of the World. GEO/GEOSS commissioned the USGS to create a new map of global terrestrial ecosystems for a host ecosystem research and management applications, including assessments of climate change impacts to ecosystems, economic and non-economic valuation of ecosystem services, and conservation planning. Under the leadership of Dr. Roger Sayre of the USGS, in collaboration with Esri and several agencies and organizations, global terrestrial ecosystems are now characterized in an ecophysiographic stratification comprised of nearly 4000 terrestrial ELUs, at a base resolution of 250 m. Datasets from the study are shared in a series of web services as part of the Living Atlas of the World, thereby representing the most current, accurate, comprehensive, and finest-resolution available globally for each of the four inputs: bioclimate, landform, lithology, and land cover.­ This project was officially released at the 2014 ACES Conference (A Community on Ecosystem Services) in December. See the related blog post, technical report, story map, web app, and an ArcGIS  content white paper. To complement the Ecological Land Units, we have also built the first ever, robust, standardized, data-derived map of global marine ecosystems, the Ecological Marine Units (EMUs). The project was commissioned as an official task for the second decade (2016-2025) of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), as part of the GEO Global Ecosystems (GECO) initiative. An initial advisory group includes scientists from the USGS, University of Auckland, GRID-Arendal, the Marine Conservation Institute, NatureServe, NOAA, and Duke University. The environmental stratification approach will involve creating an empty, volumetric column-based mesh as a global, spatial reference standard and analytical framework, populating the spatial framework with relevant marine physical environment data including water column variables and seafloor geomorphological features, and clustering the abiotic data into ecologically meaningful, 3D regions represented as volumetric polygons. The EMUs will subsequently be analyzed against species distribution data to assess strength of relationship between distinct abiotic environments and species biogeography. Initial results were presented at the Global Marine Protected Areas Summit and the Esri Ocean GIS Forum, both in November. See video 1 and video 2, as well as this 2017 News feature in the journal Nature. Ecological Coastal Units (ECUs) are now in production! Stay tuned! A Global Population Map. For many years, Esri has been compiling a human geography database of demographics and statistics about all countries in the world, and mapping these datasets using an innovative methodology. See info on Esri's new World Population Estimate, a probability surface that estimates the location and count of people worldwide, freely available to researchers. Spatial Analysis including Spatial Statistics: Several collections of tools in ArcGIS Pro and ArcMap include scores of new functions for space-time pattern analysis and mining (including space-time cube visualization and analysis of changes in temporal trends at a location), raster segmentation and processing, working with 3D and LAS (LiDAR) datasets, pairwise feature processing, suitability modeling, cost distance analysis, data review, and workflow management. For the latest from our Spatial Statistics team, see the comprehensive Spatial Statistics Resources Site, frequently updated. Imagery: ArcGIS provides a comprehensive platform for working with imagery and making your imagery useful, including advanced image management and processing, and robust analysis tools. As example see how the NASA Langley Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) is improving the accessibility and use of Earth science data with this platform (esriurl.com/nasa and webinar video). And for over 9000 universities across the world this imagery platform and a wealth of imagery data are already freely available under their campus site licenses. See esrirul.com/imagery and some pretty amazing explorations of Landsat at esriurl.com/secrets. The new Imagery Workflows site shares a variety of tools and best practices for managing, analyzing, and using imagery and related rasters. See the related Earth Imagery MOOC (Massive Open  Course). Big Data: Researchers today need to deal with an avalanche of data—from environmental sensor networks (both on land and at sea), social media feeds, LiDAR, and outputs from global- and regional-scale atmospheric circulation and general climate models and simulations. Because of this, “big data” has emerged as a major research theme for the academic community. In 2013, Esri developers released the GIS Tools for Hadoop Project on GitHub. The project contains an open source framework and API that enables big data developers to author custom spatial applications for Hadoop. The GIS Tools project also enables the ArcGIS platform to leverage big data on Hadoop using tools that combine custom Hadoop applications with the ArcGIS Geoprocessing environment. The project supports processing of simple vector data (points, lines, polygons) and basic analysis operations, e.g. relationship analysis on that data, running in a Hadoop distributed processing environment. See also this overview. Basemaps: Many in the scientific community are interested in and participate in our Community Maps Program. This is in the spirit of crowdsourcing of authoritative content from the community, that Esri then hosts free in the cloud and for which contributors retain ownership and are acknowledged. In terms of GIS analysis directly within the web browser, the geo-analytics web services that Esri offers for hydrologic science are the most advanced thus far. Story Maps: Story maps allow scientists to make their data and analyses more accessible to their colleagues as well as to policy-makers and citizens (example). Think of the power of telling a 30-second elevator speech about your research to a funder or policy-maker as a story map! Templates and tutorials are available at storymaps.arcgis.com. Related resources: An Ocean of Story Maps | Speaking the “Language” of Spatial Analysis via Story Maps | ArcGIS and Citizen Science. Great science books from Esri Press (with more to come): Imagery and GIS: Best Practices for Extracting Information from Imagery shows how imagery can be integrated successfully into GIS maps and scientific analysis. Mapping and Modeling Weather and Climate with GIS features leading climatologists, meteorologists, and other experts sharing approaches to advance atmospheric and ocean science through GIS. Ocean Solutions, Earth Solutions, 2nd edition, is an externally peer-reviewed research monograph based on papers presented at the inaugural Esri Ocean GIS Forum. It is about use-inspired science and realistic solutions for mapping, monitoring and protecting the ocean, hence the entire Earth. It is the first Esri Press book to employ Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) for citation of both the book and its supplementary datasets (further reading on citations). GIS Research Methods: Incorporating Spatial Perspectives shows researchers how to incorporate spatial thinking and GIS technology into research design and analysis. It should also be incredibly useful in the classroom. Map Use, now in it's 8th edition, is a comprehensive, foundational textbook designed for undergraduate and graduate coursework, and newly updated with chapters on web mapping and web map design. Cartography. is a lavishly illustrated reference guide that skillfully navigates the intersection between science and art. Citizen science taking more center stage, including Esri participation at the inaugural Citizen Science Association Conference, a range of apps to support citizen science projects, and exciting implementations, including at the White House Science Fair. Apps include Collector for ArcGIS, Survey123, Crowdsource Reporter for Citizen Science, Water Quality Status, My Hazard, and for your own customized apps from scratch, Web App Builder for ArcGIS. The Story Map Crowdsource Builder for citizen science was released in 2015. See also this great overview of the latest Citizen Science Resources from Esri and partners, as well as the Federal Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Toolkit. Various science-themed contests including prior: Global Disaster Resilience App Challenge Winners + Data Viz App Challenge Winners + Global Content Challenge Winners The Ocean: In 2012 Esri launched an Ocean GIS initiative across the entire Esri organization to enhance our capabilities to support GIS in both coastal and open ocean applications. As mentioned before in Esri Insider, Esri is particularly focused on a greater engagement with the ocean science community, as complex ocean science questions and data are increasingly used to inform the responsible use and governance of the oceans, as well as effective management and conservation. To support a better overall understanding of our oceans, Esri aims to improve and expand its products, tools, services, partnerships, and connections with the broader ocean community. We continue to evolve in this area via the annual Esri Ocean GIS Forum, held in November at our headquarters in Redlands, CA. We are also providing a wide range of ocean content through the Living Atlas of the World. Across the entire Esri organization we have an Ocean GIS initiative that was built on a comprehensive strategic plan. We're also working with a growing list of terrific partners. A new site license (also known as the science kit) for standalone research organizations in the US. Many are still unaware of our Visiting Faculty/Sabbatical Program. If considering an extensive time in residence at Esri headquarters, please see these guidelines. Video of Esri's Research & Development (R&D) Centers Around the World Back to top Collaborations with Partners in the Academic, Government, and NGO Sectors Updated! Continuing collaborations with NOAA, including support of their enterprise GIS operations within the National Weather Service, and within that the National Ice Center (NIC). The NIC's Satellite Image Processing and Analysis System is one of the assets ensuring safe navigation in polar regions for ships operating near, through, and beneath sea ice, guided by ArcGIS sea-ice and iceberg maps. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) within the Department of Energy (DOE): Esri has entered into a semi-exclusive agreement with ORNL to distribute their LandSCAN and LandCAST data settlement mapping population data. LandSCAN is an authoritative, high-resolution (1-km), global dataset of population distribution. LandCAST is an empirically-informed spatial distribution of projected population of the contiguous U.S. for 2050 compiled on a 1-km grid. ORNL is also experimenting with the latest Esri platform capabilities for advancing their global and regional population density analyses. There is interest in Esri's new "accelerated processing" capabilities for applying ORNL's current algorithms for image extraction (e.g., buildings), as executed within ORNL's LandScan application, and in Esri's new orthorectification capabilities, and real-time collection of big data feeds. US Census and Housing and Urban Development (HUD): Collaboration efforts include modernization of enumeration, route optimization, change detection, and dissemination processes at Census, and development of the Community Assessment Reporting Tool (CART) at HUD to map and spatially explore investments by city, state, county, metropolitan area, or congressional district. Census is also testing raster analytics functions with remote sensing data in support of international surveys and the potential generation of supplemental, non-official products to assist with the 2020 Census. 52 North: Various projects focused on interoperable processing of sensor data and advancement of spatial data infrastructures via publish/subscribe interaction patterns. For example, Sharing Geoprocessing Tools via the Web (via OGC WPS). Clark Labs of Clark University has worked with us for many years on modeling of Landsat data for population and land footprint growth, as well as as landscape vulnerability. Their agent-based growth simulation modeling and land cover data are a critical ingredient in our evolving Green Infrastructure project. The Esri Green Infrastructure app compares changes between aggregated 2011 National Land Cover Database land cover categories with similarly aggregated land cover categories from The Clark Labs 2050 Conterminous US Land Cover Prediction. It also provides a few summary statistics about possible changes in developed, forest and agricultural land cover. Look for the soon to be released Clark Labs American Land Change Explorer application, which provides exhaustive analysis and summaries of potential transitions from each of the NLCD categories to each of the projected 2050 categories. University College London: Various small citizen science and urban risk/resilience projects, including story maps (example 1, example 2) with the Extreme Citizen Science (ExCiteS) lab of Professor Muki Haklay. NASA: various experiments, prototypes and with climate, ocean, and hydrologic multidimensional datasets particularly with the NASA Earth Science Technology Office. Additional collaborations are ongoing with the NASA Disaster Assistance Program. The GIS Program of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is working with us on developing a series of web services to provision climate data (e.g., netCDF) within the Living Atlas of the World to drive some amazing new apps, particularly in support of the NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM). They have also worked with us on the development of a new LearnGIS module around the use of climate and weather data in GIS, and various other activities to further develop and strengthen the Weather, Climate and Atmospheric GIS Community. Esri is also pleased to be working with Columbia University's Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) as part of their POPGRID Open Data Collective. POPGRID is a consortium of population and settlement modelers from both the public and private sector that are working on integrated approaches to human settlement, infrastructure, and population mapping, including in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). University of Wollongong, Australia: Esri's Statistical Design Teams will be consulting with Distinguished Professor Noel Cressie and his research group on a range of development projects in areas including geostatistics, space-time pattern mining, R statistical software integration, and statistical clustering algorithms to optimize Esri ecophysiographic, ecological marine, and world population layers. MIT: Esri's Chief Scientist teamed with the Esri Story Maps and Strategic Marketing Teams in a collaboration with Dr. Amy Glasmeier, Professor of Economic Geography and Regional Planning. The aim was to explore how to better "spatialize" her famous Living Wage Calculator, which analyzes the minimum level of income required for individuals and families to pay for basic living expenses. The result was the Living Wage Story Map in 2015 (now updated in 2018 to The Ever Changing Minimum Wage), which received hundreds of thousands of web hits upon its launch, and was featured in dozens of media outlets such as The Atlantic and Huffington Post, The Washington Post, and Politico. Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP): Esri is working with SCCWRP on a variety of collaborative projects including the development of a desktop tool for the assessment of hydromodification via geomorphic landscape analysis. This assessment is focused on changes to stream runoff and sediment supply as a result of land use modifications. Also in the works are the design and development of decision-support tools for adaptation of coastal wetlands to sea level rise, and 3D visualizations for environmental decision support within estuaries. UCSB's Space and Time Knowledge Organization (STKO) Lab: Esri and the STKO Lab of Professor Krzysztof Janowicz and his students are pursuing joint research projects of mutual benefit and interest in the areas of Linked Data, semantic search, data-mining-based metadata enrichment, and geo-ontology. This includes experimenting with the ArcGIS ingestion of ontologies and Linked Data for data queries and the associated issues of user experience (UX), semantic search, automatic interpretation, web analytics, and more. The University of Bamberg in Germany partnered with Esri on a project focusing on GeoGames and Playful Design, as a medium for education in spatial thinking, for problem-solving in spatial design. The Bamberg team has studied and developed location-based games for different educational scenarios (e.g. river ecology, cultural heritage), and continues to develop prototypes of games and design tools based on ArcGIS technology. See the project info. at www.geogames-team.org. Indicator-based Interactive Decision Support and Information Exchange Platform for Smart Cities Planning (INDICATE): Our Zurich R&D Center partnered with IES (a leader in architecture, engineering, and construction or AEC simulation tools), Dublin Trinity College (providing numerical simulations), DHP Consulting (spatial planning experts), and D‘Appolonia (a large Italian AEC and connsulting firm) on this project. The goal is to create an interactive, instant Design-Validate-Feedback loop for urban planning, taking into account energy performance, livability. The project will also share best practices and their impacts using a neutral indicator framework to enable other to assess the effect of measures on their context. SAFECITI: The Esri Zurich R&D Center partnered with Next Limit (3D Rendering), Golaem (Crowd Simulation), and the Spanish National Police in creating a virtual-reality training and simulation environment for organisations with security mandates using procedural content and crowd simulation. The aim is to develop a simulation platform that will help analysts predict crowd behavior under certain threats in order to help the police develop better safety plans. Open Water Data Initiative: Esri is partnering with U-Texas-Austin, Kisters, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), the US Geological Survey (USGS), the Consortium of Universities for Advancement of Hydrologic Science (CUASHI), and others in this project seeking to bring together water information for the whole Earth, at all spatial scales (global, regional, local), linking both geospatial and temporal information, and linking data with modeling. KIC-T: The Esri Zurich R&D Center is partnering with ETH Zurich, IBM Research, and Birmingham City University on using real-time data and simulation for urban planning for climate-change resilient cities. This involves extending the Esri GeoEvent Processor to provide streams of 3D events to the ArcGIS Web3D platform, and in researching and implementing new visualization methods for these real-time streams. Adaptive Composite Map Projections: In 2015 Esri completed a collaboration with Professor Bernard Jenny and his lab while at Oregon State University on integrating into the ArcGIS platform a composite adaptive map projection, which seamlessly morphs map space as the user changes map scale or the geographic region displayed (Jenny is now at Monash University in Australia). The composite projection adapts the map’s geometry to scale, to the map’s height-to-width ratio, and the central latitude of the displayed area by replacing projections and adjusting their parameters. The result is a scale-aware, adaptive projection, free of the constraint of having to deal with multiple zones or multiple sets of graticules, and ultimately free of the pitfalls of WEB MERCATOR! and many more. Back to top Staying Connected There are several ways to keep abreast of science developments at Esri: Get involved in our GeoNet community. This is a different kind of resource center where YOU can provide content as the user and have an opportunity to interact directly with Esri staff or other users, including technical "how-to" questions. This gives us at Esri an opportunity not only to listen TO you, but to ask YOU questions as well. See also this helpful video on Getting Started in a GeoNet community. Connect with our Government Teams which support NOAA, NASA, DOE, USGS, US Park Service, Census, EPA, USFW, USDA, etc., as well as natural resource agencies within state and local government agencies. See the Government Earth Sciences industry web site and brochure. Follow several of the Esri Open  communities. These contains blog, Twitter streams, discussion forums, videos, case studies, maps, apps, data, and documentation, all of which contain significant content for the science community. Many of these resources are pre-selected to help users in a particular domain complete their work, without having to search through large volumes of content to find what best applies to that domain. Bookmark the Applied Analysis site to view various modes of analysis from exploration to decision-making as demonstrated by example, where workflows and processes are shown, results are interpreted, data and models can be downloaded. Bookmark the ArcGIS Pro web site, which has significant content for the science community, particularly with regard to geoprocessing and spatial analysis across many science domains. If you enjoy Twitter, follow Esri Chief Scientist Dawn Wright via @deepseadawn, where she makes science and ocean-related postings daily, as well as the @gisandscience Twitter account. Follow the GIS and Science blog of Matt Artz, to see the fascinating array of journal articles, books, and scholarly events where GIS technology is being used to advance scientific understanding. Attend the Esri International User Conference, where there are always high-quality paper sessions and map galleries focused on a wide array of scientific themes (including the annual GIScience Research or Frontiers in GIScience sessions and the new Science Symposium). In addition, there are Special Interest Group (SIG) meetings, and science-related demo theaters (e.g., demo theaters by the wizards in our Applications Prototype Lab are always a treat for scientists). Attend upcoming Esri specialist meetings with science themes (e.g., the Geodesign Summit, the Health and Human Services GIS Conference, the Ocean GIS Forum, the FedGIS Conference, etc.). Consider also the Esri Developer Summit. Information on all Esri events is available at esri.com/events. Esri staffers also do great science themselves, and you are welcome to visit our Zotero library showcasing our publications. This diagram shows the various aspects of our comprehensive program to support the science community, showing the interlinkages between and among universities, government agencies, and various consultancies, nonprofits, for profits, and other organizations focused on science. Contact the Chief Scientist, Dawn Wright, dwright-at-esri.com, for more information. Back to top ... View more