Latest Contributions by JosephKerski

I am excited to announce a new eBook that invites educators to explore reasons to embrace Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a teaching tool, and provides guidance and practical ways of using GIS in multiple disciplines and at multiple levels of education.  15reasonsgis_animated.gif The focus of the book is to empower instructors--and their students--with spatial thinking through GIS.  The book can be used to learn about: Why and how GIS is a relevant and viable teaching tool Strategies for effective teaching with GIS How to make GIS instruction holistic, field-based, multiscale, and visionary Skills that are fostered when teaching with GIS This ebook is for instructors who are: Teaching GIS courses in universities  and technical, tribal, and community colleges.  Using GIS to teach science, social science, and other disciplines in secondary schools and higher education. 15reasonsgis.jpg It is also my hope that this eBook will be of use to educators who are seeking to gain stakeholders and partners across their campuses and in their communities.  Through the clear and compelling arguments, this document makes the case for why GIS isn't just a "nice to have" approach and toolset in education, but a "must have." --Joseph Kerski  ... View more

Mapping your photographs often is the starting point for investigating what you have gathered in the field--water quality, invasive species, historical homes, number of pedestrians or vehicles at intersections, weather, and much more.  ArcGIS (Online and Pro, plus apps such as story maps) provide many options for you to automatically make maps from photographs you have taken in the field.  Coupled with these photographs is often attribute information about tree height and species, type of litter, dissolved oxygen in water, noise level, our notes capturing our thoughts about the place, and a whole host of other information that can be displayed in popups, tables, or in other ways. One of the easiest ways to map your photos is to create a Map Tour in a story map, as described here with one of my photos shown below.  Another way is to use the Photos with Locations tool to quickly map a whole folder of photographs, as I describe here. lakedillon_map.JPG However, for the above methods, or for any other method to work, first, your photographs need to contain the location where they were taken for these maps to be created.  How can you make sure that your photographs' locations are retained so they can be mapped?  On most modern devices--phones and cameras--there is a setting that you need to make sure that your location information is included in your photographs.  This may be called "location" or "GPS" or even "map" and is sometimes under privacy settings.  For example, on an iPhone, it is found under Settings > Privacy > Location Services.  Then, scroll down in the list of applications and make sure that Camera is set to either "While Using" or "Ask Next Time".  No matter what device you use, you want to make sure that the location information is captured when you take photographs.  This is often stored in an EXIF file, which provides specific information about photographs, like the camera settings, time and date, and location where a photo was taken (usually given in a latitude-longitude format).  This file can be edited, which is beyond the scope of this essay, but usually you don't need to do so; just make sure the location is captured. Let's say you took a bunch of photos without having the location services on.  No problem.  With many tools in ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Pro, and in story maps (for example in the Map Tour I mentioned above), you can manually place each photo on the map.  In addition, before you even map your photos, there are online tools and programs that can write location information for locations you specify into the photograph's EXIF file (I have used https://www.geoimgr.com/ for many years for this purpose).   Second, during your workflows of transferring your photographs from your phone or camera to ArcGIS Online, you need to make sure that the location information on the photographs is not lost.   How can it be lost?  Depending on whether you email the photographs to yourself, upload them to a cloud drive, or post them on social media, or even cable the photographs to your computer, the location information may be stripped off.  Some of these tools embed your photograph and thus do not retain the location or any other metadata.  You'll know right away when this happens, because your photographs won't be placed on your map, or else they'll be at "Null Island" off of West Africa at 0 degrees latititude and 0 degrees longitude.  When this happens, turn it into a teachable moment:  Why is this photograph not mapped at all or in the middle of the ocean?  But to avoid this situation, you will need to troubleshoot your workflow and decide for you what is the best method to ensure the location information is retained. Can you check the photographs before you map them and thus know ahead of time?  Yes, you can click on the images and access properties > details (on a PC, the procedures might be slightly different on a Mac).  As shown below (for photograph #2 attached to this essay), the GPS latitude-longitude information is shown, roughly at 37 degrees north latitude and 108 degrees west longitude: photodetails.JPG One wonderful set of reflections and discussions that such mapping of photographs entails is "how spatially accurate is that photograph?"  Is it within 2 meters of your actual location, 10 meters, or something more, and why?   What are your accuracy requirements?  How could you improve the photo locations?  And furthermore, on what are you basing your comparisons or "true" location?  You may be using a high resolution image as your basemap.  But even imagery from aircraft, UAVs, and satellites are cast onto map projected surfaces and need to be used with care, as well, as I explain here and here. In a recent institute in which I was instructing called Indigenous Voices, the educators and I took a lot of photographs in the Four Corners area in the southwest USA during the field trip components of the institute.  I tested different methods with my own devices and workflows and want to share the results with you.  Again, you will have to determine what works best in your instructional setting, but I hope my testing is helpful. Attached to this essay are 5 versions of the same photograph that I took, for you to test them yourself if you would like.  Each began as a single photograph with the location services turned on.  I took the photograph in front of the Cortez Cultural Center (wonderful place for the inside portion of our institute!) but I used different methods to transfer the photo from my device (iPhone 11) to my computer (PC).  Photo #1 (aaa1phototest) is one I emailed to myself from my phone's photo gallery using the default email client, which in my case I set up for gmail.  The location information was lost upon my receipt of the email.  Photo #2 is one that I emailed to myself from my phone's photo gallery using the Outlook mail client.  In this case, the location information was retained.  I sent photo #3 to myself not from the photo gallery but from my phone's Outlook mail client, and chose the photo as an attachment, but here, the location information was lost.   Photo #4 is one I uploaded to a cloud drive (in this case, OneDrive), and downloaded to my local device, and the location information was retained.  By the way, my photo in OneDrive was in .HEIC format.  I wanted to map it so I converted it to .JPG, and the conversion thankfully did not remove the location information.  Photo #5 is one I tweeted, but no matter if I use the Twitter URL in my ArcGIS Online maps or story maps  (which is:  https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FV8wzduUsAE1y7_?format=jpg&name=small) or if I downloaded my tweeted photo to my device, either way, the location information is not there.  Why?  In this case, it is because I have my privacy settings for Twitter set so that my precise location is not revealed.  If I wanted to turn that setting on, I could using these procedures. The same holds true for other social media--Facebook, Instagram, and so on--you have to opt in to retain the location information, and such choices are loaded with pros and cons, as I discuss in this UCGIS Body of Knowledge chapter.  Working with GIS, maps, and photographs involves software, operating systems, and devices--all of which are simultaneously and rapidly evolving.  Regard these guidelines as a set that will need to be updated as these tools--and our workflows and educational practice--move forward.  In my way of thinking, Photo #3 should have had location information retained.  Working with these tools is a reminder that we need to pivot as needs and tools change, but is part of the "be a lifelong learner" mantra that we model for our students.   ... View more

Art-o-mat® machines are retired cigarette vending machines that have been converted to vend art.  Yes, it's true!  Over 100 active machines already exist in locations throughout the USA!  What is the optimal location for an Art-o-mat® machine in central Philadelphia? This new lesson uses location analytics, specifically, ArcGIS Online, a Web-based Geographic Information System (GIS) as a tool for determining these locations.   This lesson was created for university students in a visual communications course, but could also be used in business, GIS, sociology, or geography courses and even for students with some GIS skills at the secondary level.  The rich and detailed data came from Esri's Business Analyst Web.  The lesson focuses on Philadelphia but can be repurposed for any other location.  It is yet another example of GIS breaking down traditional disciplinary boundaries--in this case, art and business!  artomat.jpg Art-o-mat® machines (courtesy https://www.artomat.org/), are a delightfully funky and creative way of helping students think spatially about site selection, behavior, demographics, and GIS.  The lesson, linked and attached to the business curriculum page, here, can be completed in 3 class periods of 50 minutes each.  The technology requirements are minimal, and include (1) A modern edition of a Web browser. (2) A robust Internet connection. (3) A subscription to ArcGIS Online.   The lesson can be run in a computer lab setting using equipment provided by the host institution or with students bringing their own devices, or using 1 computer in front of the class with a projector, or in hybrid or fully online courses.   The lesson begins by introducing students to these wonderfully creative repurposed and retro cigarette machines, and then have a class discussion focused on, “What factors are important for locating a good or service? How does the type of good or service influence the factors considered?”  I wrote this lesson after Steve Ryan, Communications professor at Temple University, introduced me to the concept and the idea.  The scenario we built for the lesson is as follows:  "Hearing about your excellent GIS skills, the Philadelphia Arts Council has hired you to recommend 2 sites in the central part of the city for an Art-o-Mat machine. To understand how GIS has been effectively used in past site selection, read this article describing how PETCO used GIS to improve its store locating decision-making process.  Next, learn how other businesses use location analytics via these case studies, here to prepare you for your investigation." After the students consider what they read in these articles about GIS and businesses, and considering their own previous knowledge, they describe 3 reasons why location is important to business.  Next, students access and sign in to Esri’s ArcGIS Online (www.arcgis.com) so that they will be able to optimally locate the machine.  Students consider the following 4 behavioral variables:  1. Ordered from Etsy website in the past 12 months. 2. Visited a museum in the past 12 months. 3. Attended an an art gallery in the past 12 months. 4. Did any painting or drawing in the past 12 months. Students open the following web map: Philadelphia Art Behavior Map Starting Point. The map will look similar to that shown in the link above and in the image below, with attendance at an art gallery symbolized in yellow-to-purple tones. I pulled the data from Esri’s Business Analyst Web and saved as a feature service. T artomat_phil.jpg Map of art gallery attendance using ArcGIS Online, central Philadelphia. After opening the map, students are asked to describe 2 characteristics of the pattern of art gallery attendance in central Philadelphia and to consider what the sources of the behvaior data are.  They open the data table and note that the above 4 variables are listed as numbers representing an index value, with 100 for the USA national average for each variable. Thus, if a block group shows a value of 200 for “went to an Map of art gallery attendance art gallery in the past 12 months”, the people living there, in aggregate, went to an art gallery at twice the rate of the national average over the past year.   The students' task is to use GIS to analyze all 4 of the variables to determine the optimal location for an Art-o-Mat.  The students were instructed, "The following tools will be most important in your analysis. However, do not feel confined to only using these. If time permits, you are encouraged to experiment with other tools!" 1) Styles: Use styles together with “Fields” to map specific variables. You can add fields to make a bivariate or multi-variate map. You can also make maps showing predominance, relationships (see example above), comparisons, dot density, and others. Under styles you can also change the color, the classification method, and the number of classes. Open the following web map that I created to see an example of a bivariate map: Philadelphia Art Behavior Map.  Students are shown how to create a relationship map with the types of variables and classification shown below. artomat_2var.JPG (2) Filter: Use the filter tool to build expressions that allow you to clearly see only those block groups above a certain value for certain variables.  (3) Charts: Creating charts might enable you to rank the neighborhoods and analyze them by attributes. Students then analyzed each proposed location in detail using a satellite image basemap for additional considerations, such as "Is there a plaza or sidewalk where the machine could be located?  What side of such sidewalks or plazas would be best?" artomat_sat.JPG Finally, the students are asked to use ArcGIS Online to create a route for a person visiting their 2 proposed Art-o-Mat locations, and then consider: How long would it take, on foot, for a person to visit both locations? Students are then asked to add the "Popular Demographics" census data for additional information that might influence their final decision. This could include median age, median income, or other demographic variables. After choosing, mapping, and classifying 2 additional variables, consider how the spatial pattern of these 2 additional variables influenced their final site selection location recommendations.  They are cautioned to remember that more data is not always better. Students are asked to consider how the spatial pattern of these 2 additional variables may not have influenced their final site selection. When the analysis is complete, students are asked to give a live or recorded 5-minute presentation for their peers, instructor, and/or others.  To support this presentation, students are asked to use a story map and are provided with instructions on how to make a story map (an example is provided here) that includes the web map of their analysis results.  Love these ideas and want to devote more time to teaching this lesson?  One extension to the lesson is to create a 3D scene of the data.  Another extension invites students to use Business Analyst Web to map the locations of art galleries, libraries, museums, concert halls, and additional relevant locations:  Consider how the proximity of these locations might influence where you might locate the art machines. Create 5-10-15 minute drive time or walk time buffers around these locations to further guide you in your analysis. After mapping these locations and their drive and walk times, consider how the spatial pattern of these drive-and-walk times influenced or did not influence your final site selection location recommendations. According to their instructor, this activity encouraged students to think spatially and critically, to solve a real-world problem, and to consider how the GIS, or location analytics, could be of great utility to them in their future at the university and beyond, after graduation. I look forward to your reactions and thoughts!  ... View more

A concept that is central to the teaching of GIS, geography, environmental science, and other disciplines is scale.  One effective way to teach about scale is to use a subject that most people have at least some grasp of--world countries.  This amazing new 3D web mapping application allows instructors and students to quickly and effectively compare the sizes of world countries.  It thus can serve as an effective way to teach and learn about scale and related concepts.   See my video for additional exploration and information.  To use the application, all you need is a web browser and internet connection. No sign-in is required.  Click on a country, and then use the controller bars that appear to move that country to another location on the Earth.  In the example below, I am overlaying India on top of the continental USA, and I see that India's size makes it "extend" partway into Canada and Mexico.  I challenge you to use this tool also to foster knowledge about the shape and size of countries that your students may be completely unfamiliar with.  india_vs_usa.JPG I encourage you also to use this application to tilt the Earth so that north is not at the top, to provide an extra challenge.  Compare this 3D application to 2D maps in ArcGIS Online and discuss the differences with your students.   This application provides an easy way to teach about the age-old issue with size and shape distortions for land masses using the Web Mercator projection.   So, go ahead and use the application to place Greenland atop Brazil:  Unlike the perception resulting from maps in unprojected spaces or in Web Mercator, in reality, Brazil really is much larger than Greenland! greenland_vs_brazil.JPG  I have long been an advocate for teaching about scale.  Scale is important to studying changes over space and over time. Scale is fundamental to teaching about the interaction between the biosphere, anthroposphere, lithosphere, cryosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere.  The scale of your study and the scale and resoluton of the data you are using impacts all the analysis you do in a GIS.  To teach about these concepts, you could use these 15 videos in my "scale matters" playlist.  Or, you could use the USGS basemaps in ArcGIS Online, examining the difference between the 1:250,000-scale, the 1:100,000-scale, and the 1:24,000-scale maps that are in that set of basemaps.  What features are shown at each scale, and how are they rendered in terms of their symbology?  Or, you could compare 15m Landsat imagery with 1m satellite imagery with 15cm UAV Drone imagery.  Or, you could compare selected demographic variables by county vs zip code vs census tract vs block groups, discussing the areal extent of each polygon and the patterns that may be evident at certain scales but not at others.  The 3D web mapping application described in this essay provides one more way to teach about this important concept.     You can also do something similar on Mars, using the tool and the questions I pose here.  Place France on Olympus Mars, or place Texas on the crater where the Perseverance landed in 2021.  You can also place buildings and landforms on physical features on Mars, such as the Grand Canyon on top of the Valles Marineris.  Not only are these Earth and Mars web mapping applications important teaching tools, but they are also fascinating and fun. In fact, if your students don't say "cool!" while using these tools, I would be very surprised. This application was developed by my colleague Arno Fiva, to whom I am grateful.  Arno is focused on creating 3D web apps using the ArcGIS API for JavaScript.  Arno has a very interesting job--encourage your students to learn JavaScript and Python and other GIS-related development tools as well, so that they can be inspired to pursue similar career paths!  Follow Arno's work on Twitter, here. ... View more

Education traditionally has been organized by domains.  Languages, math, science, history, geography.  In some ways, as the 19th Century came to a close, it made sense to organize in this way, to make sure that in schools and in universities that we were teaching all of what we as a society considered “core essentials” or “subject domains”.  But as the 21st Century enters its middle years, the boundaries around these neat little boxes have become too much like brick walls that cannot be scaled.  Today, only a few themes have expanded across these subject domains.  For an additional way of learning this content, see this video.  Joseph Kerski and Josef Strobl, authors. Dr Joseph Kerski and Dr Josef Strobl, authors. Why should we care about this?  In personal life and society, decisions and actions always come 'in context'.  Whether in government, nonprofit organizations, private industry, or academia, context for decisions comes from a variety of domains.  Learning for modern life and building practical and professional competences requires the integration of knowledge across multiple subject domains.   There is a societal need for students entering the workforce to have the capability to think across, through, and between domains. JosephKerski_0-1651914387928.jpeg We therefore strongly recommend that the education community needs to move away from learning that is separated into domains towards learning across dimensions.  Dimensions include considering different angles, perspectives, and characteristics of any particular topic or issue. Learning across dimensions helps connect students and the subjects they study with “real life” – to personal and societal decision and action spaces; that is, putting topics into personal and societal contexts.  For example, consider water quality and quantity:  Students need to understand its physical properties:  Where it comes from, its properties and chemistry, how it has shaped the landscape, how it is tied to natural hazards, agriculture, and settlement, but also its social properties and connections:  Why is it such a precious resource?  Why is it a UN SDG?  Why and how does it affects human health?  How is it tied to climate and political stability or instability?  Why is water a global resource and issue and how does it impact my local community and me personally? JosephKerski_1-1651914388036.png We recommend that when teaching across dimensions that space (and time) are common threads that unite domains which should be considered dimensions of a theme, but not separate fields.  As we hope to have demonstrated with the water example just mentioned, space and time are fundamental to inter-connecting the relevant phenomena and issues, and are key to solving 21st Century problems.  The geographic perspective is tied to spatio-temporal analysis:  Whatever happens, happens somewhere.  Or, helping learners understand:  What’s where, why is it there, and why should we care? JosephKerski_2-1651914388065.png The context for solving problems—including biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, urban sprawl, transportation, public safety, is anchored in space and place.  From our earliest days as children, humans are spatial beings, tied to spaces but who receive meaning from and give meaning to their local environment—their “place.”  Spatial awareness and thinking thus need to be taught (1) rigorously and (2) often across all subject domains to facilitate 'connecting by location', to put subjects into relevant and applicable contexts.  Dimensional thinking is holistic, including consideration of the interconnected nature of the biosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere, cryosphere, and anthroposphere.  Dimensional thinking also considers cycles, such as the carbon cycle and the hydrologic cycle.  Anchored in systems thinking, it fosters critical thinking and problem solving. JosephKerski_3-1651914388070.jpeg In short: context is the environment for decisions and actions. There is no environment ‘around’ a place without an explicit position, however. Space and place have a natural home in geography.  Geography is also a subject domain, and it sometimes has the same unfortunate tendency to create its own little boxes just like other domains. But rather than advocating for “this subject” or “that subject” to be taught—we recommend that the geographic perspective provides a framework to contextualize all other subject domains—to support the re-focusing from domains towards dimensions. Spatial thinking is not only a learning outcome from any geo-related subject domain, but a competence that is critically important to leverage domain knowledge. And, to manage decisions and actions in all aspects of life, both in schools and universities, and beyond, when students enter the workforce.  Spatial thinking therefore needs to be developed across disciplines to put their views in context. How to do so?  In business, spatial thinking can be effectively taught in mapping supply and value chains, sourcing, target marketing, and logistics.  In mathematics, spatial thinking can be effectively taught by creating expressions that result in bi-variate maps, or measuring distances, areas, or volumes on 2D and 3D maps.  In data and computer science, spatial thinking can be taught by using Jupyter Notebooks and engaging with APIs in a geographic platform.  And these are only a few examples—hundreds more exist. Today, digital transformation and online geotechnology platforms allow information integration and access using the spatial context from the local to global scales.  For example, interactive maps and satellite imagery are used with spatial and statistical tools to solve problems with cloud based Geographic Information Systems (GIS).  These tools immerse students in a wide variety of data types, problems, issues, and scales. JosephKerski_4-1651914388094.png Only when moving from compartmentalized to contextualized mindsets we will be able to understand and address complex 21st Century problems that increasingly affect our everyday lives:  Climate, natural resources, sustainability and resiliency, inequalities resulting in gradients resulting in migration and conflicts, deforestation, energy, water, and much more.   Thus, we argue to move from domains to dimensions, from compartments to context, from isolation (of views) to integration. As an educator, what can you do to get started on this journey to spatialize all teaching and learning along different dimensions?  One way is to explore and begin teaching with the interactive and increasingly real-time maps and layers using the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World.  Explore real-time data such as earthquakes, wildfire, or weather.  Compare satellite imagery along coasts, glaciers, or farmland today versus a few years or a few decades ago and examine the change over time.  Ask yourself:  What is changing?  Why is it changing?  How should it change in the future?  JosephKerski_5-1651914388171.png Collect data in the field in your own community about an issue you care about with Survey123 or iNaturalist or another tool, map it in ArcGIS Online, and analyze it.   Create a story map or a dashboard about a topic or issue and share your results with others.  Even more importantly than the use of lessons, data, and tools, connect with your colleagues across disciplinary boundaries, build curricula, syllabi, and programs, and share with others your challenges and successes.  We are here to listen to you and to aid you in your journey.   All of this won’t happen overnight, but the societal challenges we face are too important to ignore.   The need is there.  Let’s get to work! ● We look forward to your comments below.   --Josef and Joseph   ... 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The advent of 3D analytics, the integration of interior and exterior space mapping, real time and big data analytics, enterprise and web GIS, and artificial intelligence and machine learning are 5 trends that are rapidly transforming the landscape of GIS.  How can you successfully navigate through these trends, learning about them and weaving them into your own career journey?  This essay presents the trends and strategies on how you can do just that.  gis_animated_gif_a22.gif 1.  3D Analysis.  For many years, GIS offered the possibility of visualizing one's data in 3D, or at least, attempt to do this in 2 1/2 dimensions.  But it makes more sense, given the 3D world we live in, to be able to do 3D analysis, and not just visualizations.  With the advent and expansion of tools such as the 3D tools in ArcGIS Pro, you can analyze our 3D world.  And don't limit yourself to analyzing the terrain in 3D, but consider modeling other data in 3D, such as population, water quality, biodiversity, crime, and more.  Don't just do it because you can, do 3D analysis if it adds value to your understanding.  And also consider that analyzing data over time adds the ability to do 4D analysis.   2.  Integrate BIM, CAD, and GIS.   Another exciting trend in GIS has been the joining of this community with the Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Computer Aided Drafting and Design (CAD) community.  For years, these two communities were mapping interior spaces (BIM and CAD) and exterior spaces (GIS), side-by-side, acknowledging each others' importance but not being able to well-integrate each others' work.  With the advent of tools such as City Engine, ArcGIS Urban, and ArcGIS Indoors, you can create databases and workflows that incorporate interior and exterior maps, plans, and proposals.  Why does this matter?  Consider constructing a resiliency plan for a community or for a university campus in the event of an issue of a natural hazard, health, or other emergency.  For that resiliency plan to work, that plan needs to include the built environment (including all the emergency shelters, infrastructure (water, electricity, fiber optic, and so on), exits, and so on), and the exterior spaces.   3.  Enterprise and Web GIS.   The advent of GIS as a web based platform has changed nearly everything about GIS:  In the past with desktop-only GIS, we never had enough computer memory or storage space, data was difficult to obtain and to use, and the user community was small and specialized.  Web GIS has increased our ability to share methods, communicate research results, access and serve data, create our own data, and involve the community to plan its own future.  In so doing, GIS has rapidly evolved from a system of records to a system of engagement.  The increased engagement is within the GIS community itself as well as with outside stakeholders, including the general public.  By enterprise GIS I am referring to the expansion of skilled GIS staff in an organization from a few specialists not too many years ago to today's wider diversity of and greater number of staff who know how to use GIS.  Not all will be experts in GIS, but GIS will be one of their tools on their daily or weekly toolbelt that they use.  This has big implications--because our 21st Century world's complex problems are multi-disciplinary, the widening of people knowldgeable about GIS will enable us to better understand our complex world and make smarter decisions in that world.   4.  Real-time and big data and analytics.   One result of Web GIS is the ability of GIS to ingest real-time data feeds from the IoT, including stream gauges, wildfire perimeters, traffic, health bulletins, and the 7.5-billion strong citizen science community of humans.  Many of these data feeds are truly "big data" - such as electricity demands on a large power grid, and the system of locks, pumps, and dams in the Netherlands, for example.  Coupled with this is the increased valuing of data as a societal benefit, the advent of data as a service, and the advent of open data portals including ArcGIS Hubs. The Internet of Things (IoT) feeds and sensors are increasingly tied to real-world coordinates, and thus are able to be mapped and analyzed.  This is enabling what Esri CEO Jack Dangermond refers to as GIS becoming the "nervous system of the planet", helping us to monitor its health, and also correct trends that need correcting.  5.  Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.  Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) make sense out of noisy and messy data, helping people find patterns that they may not know existed.   AI and ML helps, for example, people find natural clusters based on spatial distribution and attribute similarities, classify a large amount of remotely sensed data, and bringing together data from different sources, formats, and scales to train powerful spatial prediction models.  Remember that GIS is not just to understand the world as it is, but to predict the future, and to build a better, more resilient, more sustainable world.  Hence, AI and ML have enormous implications for the day-to-day work that GIS professionals will do, where the focus will be on managing and understanding data, rather than gathering and processing data.  It will also mean that ethical decisions will need to be made regarding how and why data will be used and applied. Learning about these 5 trends.  As a Young GIS professional, you're probably already keenly aware that your time is limited.  Each of the above trends is wide-reaching, and deep immersion into any of them will require time and effort.  Part of being successful in GIS is taking some deep dives into aspects that are of particular interest to you and developing expertise there.  But I encourage you to keep the above trends at least in fairly close range, becoming familiar with how they are changing GIS and learning more about them.  How can you do this?  A key way of learning more is something you are already doing--your involvement in YPN.  I salute you for your engagement here.  Connecting and regular interaction with the community will bring lifelong professional and even personal benefits.   Another thing will be for you to take the attitude of a lifelong learner and regularly take courses including those from universities and technical colleges, at Esri, and elsewhere, lessons such as from Esri Press books, the Learn library, and Esri training, regular webinars, and Esri and other videos.  You don't have time to take every course or lesson, so regularly consider your goals and choose carefully.  You can also learn about these 5 trends by digging into each topic.  In 3D analysis tools for example, see some product pages such as these for ArcGIS Urban.  In AI and ML for example, begin with this story map and follow it with the spatial analysis and data science pages.  The ethical implications of these trends can be understood by examining real issues and scenarios, beginning here.  Examine job trends from time to time from the World Economic Forum.  Finally, regularly evaluate your skill gaps against the Geospatial Technology Competency Model. Which of the above 5 trends seem most interesting to you?  In addition, there are surely about other trends that I am leaving off of this list of 5:  Which come to your mind that are important to you?  I look forward to your comments below. ... View more

A new story map presents why and how to teach and learn about water and its changes over space and time using GIS tools, methods, and data.  Feel free to use the contents in their entirety or choose which components are most relevant to your own course and program objectives. I created this content for a webinar I gave on Earth Day, but of course these topics are important throughout the year. Water quality and quantity is also a fundamental part to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.  Water is the perfect theme to bring together physical geography, cultural geography, environmental science, earth science, biology, law, economics, mathematics, history, civil engineering, and many other disciplines. Water concepts and processes can (and should, I would argue) be taught at all levels from primary school to university level and beyond. The content, presented as a story map, https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/0a7d99f01b814ea19ec06c79ae71c178, begins with 4 reasons why now is the perfect time to be teaching with interactive maps and data services generated from modern web-based GIS:   1.  Geo-awareness is at an all-time high, 2.  The skills you are teaching using interactive web maps are in high demand in the workplace, 3.  A large component of the Big Data world is mappable data, and 4.  ArcGIS provides a platform for teaching and learning.    I followed the 4 reasons with 11 concrete ways to teach water concepts and processes with interactive mapping tools and data:  The indicators of Planet Earth, the Living Atlas water balance app, the Wayback Imagery, water related data (terrain, aspect, watersheds, dams), real time data (weather, stream gauges), ocean chemistry and currents, field data collection (storm drains and more), spatial analysis tools (create watersheds, trace downstream), societal considerations (ethics, copyright, location privacy), lessons, and community. water_earthday.JPG I welcome your comments!           ... View more

Consider the 3 parts of a GIS: The "G" is the map. It could be 2D or 3D, or even 4D including a temporal component. It can contain different basemaps and 1 or many layers. The "I" is the Information, or table or spreadsheet, or a combination of related tables in a geodatabase, behind the map. The tabular data linked to mapped features, along with the topological relationships about where features are in spatial relation to each other, are what gives GIS its power. A GIS is not just graphics floating around in cyberspace: It has intelligence that allows you to make wise decisions based upon it. The "S" systems part links the "G" and the "I" together--the map always works with the table, and vice versa. Consider the example in this story map. This story map can be used to help educators teach the fundamentals of GIS.  Understanding tabular data, as my colleagues and I have written about many times over the past two decades, and as you instructors well know, is fundamental to understanding GIS and making effective use of it.  An instructor could use the above story map tied to a spreadsheet as follows in their discussion with students: "Students, choose a place that is meaningful to you. Enter a latitude, longitude, title, your ranking of the scenery of that place from 1 to 10, a description, and a photo URL for it (if you want to include a photo). You are entering data into the "I" part of GIS. Wait a few minutes and that newly entered point with the attributes will appear on the ArcGIS Online web map below the spreadsheet.  Is your point where you thought it would be?  If so, good.  If not, why does it not appear at all, or where you thought it should be?  Does the image appear or is the image link broken?" The instructor and student can then interact with the map and see if and how the newly entered point appears with its attributes.  If the point is entered in error (such as not including a negative sign for western hemisphere longitudes), or if numbers to the right of the decimal are rounded or ignored, or if a N or W is included in the latitude longitude coordinates, those examples can be helpful instructional moments.   In support of teaching this topic, see my video, here.   spreadsheet_mapping.JPG I learned how to do this using my wonderful colleague Tom Baker's instructions, here.  One Google Sheets related item that seems to have changed in 2025 is that you cannot embed the sheet in the story map; you have to provide a link which opens in a new tab.  I have done this in the above story map.   I look forward to hearing your reactions, and also what techniques you use to teach the fundamentals of GIS.   ... View more

https://caee.org/civicrm/event/info?id=429&reset=1 Join Geographer Joseph Kerski as we explore how to teach about water—river systems, water quality, river flow, lakes, and oceans, using interactive maps and layers on the web generated from modern Geographic Information Systems (GIS ) tools.    Sponsored by:  The Colorado Association for Environmental Education.  These web maps and applications run in a browser, are accessible from any device, are easy to use, and yet enable students to think spatially and critically about our dynamic planet, and offer connections to key 21st Century Issues of our time.   I look forward to seeing you there.  Teaching and Learning about Water over space and time using Interactive Web Maps Thursday, April 21st 1PM Mountain Time.  Free!  3899.jpg 39-108.jpg real_time_weather_map_ending_point.png ... View more

Dr. Peter Arthur, Senior Instructor from University of British Columbia – Okanagan, describes Metacognitive Knowledge as anything one knows about thinking, especially one's own. Dr Arthur further breaks this down into 3 types of knowledge: Declarative knowledge - Knowledge about one's self as a learner and what can influence one's performance. Procedural knowledge - Skills, heuristics, and strategies. Knowledge about how to do things. Conditional knowledge - Knowledge about when and in what conditions certain knowledge is useful. Dr Arthur goes further by defining Metacognitive Regulation as the process of managing one's own learning; including planning, monitoring, and evaluating.   empowered.jpg As educators, we deal with 4 things that are simultaneously and rapidly changing:   GIS technology and methods, educational institutions, student expectations, and societal issues.  In such a dynamic environment, being thoughtful about our instructional practice is critical to ensuring that our offerings are relevant and innovative, and critical to ensuring that students are learning and growing in meaningful ways.  Connecting metacognitive knowledge to GIS instruction can help guide instructors in planning activities, courses, and programs, including assessing student work and building in plenty of self-reflection and engagement.   Consider the following (and also in video form, here).  graphic_pbl.jpeg1.  Helping students understand their declarative knowledge – self-reflection about how they learn – can help them particpate in courses in ways that fit into their style of learning.  Such declarative knowledge awareness can help them to gain skills most effectively.  You can direct a wide variety of tools available nowadays toward students for them to determine what style of learner they are:  You can even use Survey123 to assess students' learning styles with your own survey. 2.  Being purposeful about procedural knowledge can help faculty structure lessons, readings, courses, and programs to be as effective as possible when they teach with GIS.  GIS is a system, and thus is inherently complex, containing the ability to collect, map, analyze, and communicate geo-information.  GIS is also complex because using it, we are teaching about the real world, which is dynamic across time and space.  Our world is a system of interconnected systems; it is a set of spheres (biosphere, anthrosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, and others), and a set of cycles (carbon cycle, hydrologic cycle, and others).  Procedural knowledge helps us thoughtfully consider how to teach with GIS.  Procedural knowledge keenly matters as instructional components are designed.  Nowadays, there is no shortage of tools, data sets, problems, and approaches that can be used in GIS instruction.  As instructors, we cannot and should not use all of these tools and data sets.  That said, what should be chosen, and what should be left out?  How can our courses be structured and taught in face-to-face, hybrid, and online settings?  How should these courses be taught so that students can connect what they learn to their other courses and other life experiences, and so that they can become change agents in the workplace? 3.  Conditional knowledge matters in course and program design, too:  When and in what conditions is certain knowledge useful?   Consider the following:  Should students need to know about map projections?  About field data collection?  About symbology and classification?  About spatial analysis?  About communicating with dashboards and infographics?   And if so, to what extent, and in what contexts? The answers to these questions can and should vary as modern students come from a wider variety of backgrounds and as GIS is taught in a wider array of disciplines.  I would argue that understanding and working with map projections, for example, should be different for a student in GIScience versus a student in business.  The student in GIScience should have a firm grasp on how map projections fits into, horizontal and vertical datums, measurement accuracy, map perceptions, and to the greater geodetic issues.  The student in business does not have time or need to know all of this--they really want to focus on making maps and analyzing demographics, consumer preferences, supply chain, and business locations, for example.  But I contend that even those business students should understand something about map projections and why they matter:   I would frame it in an activity such as "routing your ships through the Arctic Ocean"--and how the measurements in the routes and supply chains vary as the map projection varies.  Thus, the approach is different and the amount of time spent with each group of students varies.   4.  Metacognitive regulation is also helpful as faculty consider their own learning in GIS.  What do you, as a faculty member, need to know about GIS to teach it as a course in a GIS program?  What do you need to know to teach it in biology, urban planning, business, data science, or in other diciplines?  Faculty are usually learning alongside their students; this lifelong learning attitude and opportunity is what drew many into education in the first place.   Most GIS instructors I know are keenly aware that they cannot be the "sage on the stage" and know everything about GIS before they can teach it.  In fact, they are aware that if they wait until they are a GIS expert, they will never actually get to the point of 100% expertise and confidence.  I have been using GIS since 1985, and I am still learning.  Metacognitive regulation also helps faculty evaluate their own learning.  And resources such as the Geospatial Technology Competency Model can help faculty and students identify gaps in their skills and knowledge, and then take steps to fill those gaps. 5.  How can faculty evaluate their students' skills and content knowledge?  How should they evaluate their students?   As educational research makes painfully clear, it is often difficult to assess and quantify what students are gaining, especially when they are using any sort of inquiry-driven instructional tool such as GIS. Assessing skills gained with GIS is more difficult than assessing a worksheet of filled-in-answers or a standardized test.   GIS is a valuable instructional tool in part because it is teaching students more than just "the right answers".   You are teaching GIS because you truly believe and have witnessed, at all levels and in all disciplines, that students are gaining skills in critical thinking, problem solving, and spatio-temporal thinking.   They are gaining skills in communication and working with data.  They also gain content knowledge--in population change, how ecoregions work, weather and climate, river systems, crime or health patterns, or any other topic that the GIS analysis is applied to.  They apply the geographic perspective and examine change over space and time.   These sets of skills and knowledge are increasingly assessed with story maps, in class and online oral presentations, videos, and other means that become a part of the students' professional porfolios that they bring with them into the workplace upon graduation.  graphic_content_knowl.jpeg I look forward to your comments! ... 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Discover why today is the ideal time to be a geography student and a geography instructor with these two story maps loaded with interactive maps and other exploratory tools!  Student edition:  Why today is the ideal time to be a geography student: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/accdeca700664195b4db58a316b258d2 Reasons include:  Fascinating tools, career pathways, ways to get into the field and collect data, and more, but I don't want to give them all away - check out the above story map to find out more! Instructor edition:  Why today is the ideal time to be a geography instructor: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/9c6522b0f8c7483fb3bc7db4ce262fa6 Reasons include:  Compelling tools, maps, and data for you to engage students in meaningful investigations about real-world issues, ways to use modern GIS tools to teach solid content in physical and cultural geography, and more, but again, I don't want to give them all away - check out the above story map to discover more, and use the story map to teach with!   On a related note, I offer these 6 ways to increase geoliteracy.   JosephKerski_0-1648838525136.png   ... View more

GPX files, in GPS Exchange Format, are text files in XML format containing geographic information such as waypoints, tracks, and routes, as real-world coordinates.   Mapping the output from these files in ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online is straightforward using the methods described in this essay.  In a text editor, a GPX file looks like this, below.  You can see the latitude, longitude, elevation, date and time, and other information at the time I collected this particular information (when I was teaching on the campus of Oklahoma State University). <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <gpx version="1.1" creator="Runkeeper - http://www.runkeeper.com" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1 http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1/gpx.xsd" xmlns:gpxtpx="http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/TrackPointExtension/v1"> <trk> <name><![CDATA[Walking 2/16/17 3:53 pm]]></name> <time>2017-02-16T15:53:36Z</time> <trkseg> <trkpt lat="36.119991000" lon="-97.069730000"><ele>280.0</ele><time>2017-02-16T15:53:36Z</time></trkpt> <trkpt lat="36.120041000" lon="-97.069666000"><ele>280.0</ele><time>2017-02-16T15:53:44Z</time></trkpt> <trkpt lat="36.120077000" lon="-97.069520000"><ele>280.0</ele><time>2017-02-16T15:53:46Z</time></trkpt> <trkpt lat="36.120056000" lon="-97.069406000"><ele>280.0</ele><time>2017-02-16T15:53:49Z</time></trkpt> <trkpt lat="36.120141000" lon="-97.069311000"><ele>280.0</ele><time>2017-02-16T15:53:51Z</time></trkpt> <trkpt lat="36.120208000" lon="-97.069230000"><ele>280.0</ele><time>2017-02-16T15:53:53Z</time></trkpt> Sample GPX file.  The actual GPX file contains hundreds more GPS points as latitude-longitude values, each coordinate pair occupying one line in the data file. Fifteen years ago, GPX files were one of the few types of files that were mappable.  I used them extensively in the many geocaching courses that I created in city parks, riparian zones, field lab sites, and elsewhere for years to foster spatial thinking.  Much has changed over that time:  Educators and students now have a myriad of types of files and objects in those files to map--points, lines, polygons, grids, images, and more.  Why bother with GPX files today?  First, comparing raw GPX files to mapped GPX files is a simple, clear way to explain why mapping adds value.  Second, these files are still sometimes the only output from GPS receivers, GPS phone apps, fitness apps, or other mapping tools.   As such, they are sometimes the only way you can map that data that you have collected from your fieldwork with students, from your geocaching course, or from your hike or cycle ride.   Third, GPX files are still wonderfully easy-to-use sets of information to quickly map where you have been, and when symbolized and classified, and overlaid with other data, can help us ask the "whys of where" questions about patterns, relationships, and trends in those locations. To use GPX files in ArcGIS Online:  Go to Classic viewer > Add GPX from a file > save layer > Publish as a hosted feature layer and share it with public as well. See the image below featuring one of my Redlands walks on a work trip.  (2) You could also use the online tool in the following link to convert GPX to SHP and > then in your Content zone in ArcGIS Online > add content from the resulting zipped SHP file.  See image below.  Here is the GPX to SHP tool:  https://mygeodata.cloud/converter/gpx-to-shp   The free version currently only lets you convert 2 files per day.   At some point in the future, you will also be able to add GPX files into the new map viewer in ArcGIS Online, as well.  For ArcGIS Pro:  Use the GPX to Features tool > do your symbology, classification, and analysis in ArcGIS Pro.  When done, you could publish your resulting layer to ArcGIS Online and share it.   You can also bring the output from your GPX mapping from ArcGIS Online into Pro for advanced analysis.  You can also convert from shapefile to GPX, if you'd like, and then you could load that GPX file into an app or into a GPS receiver to follow it. When done with either the ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Pro methods, you could create a web mapping application such as an Instant App or a story map from the data.   You could even create a 3D scene as I did in the example below.  You could also use the results as part of an ArcGIS Dashboard! JosephKerski_2-1648500353372.png I use the above map, which you can interact with in ArcGIS Online, here, in courses and workshops where we discuss accuracy and precision.  Students compare the elevation and the x-y position of my recorded tracks from a GPS unit to a GPS app on my smartphone. Both methods of recording my track were derived from GPX files. I also used GPX files in my points in Salzburg Austria map and in my underwater spatial accuracy test in Hamburg, Germany. JosephKerski_0-1648500268804.jpeg Mapping the output from a GPX file of one of my walks in Redlands, California.   Admittedly boring but simple and effective way of teaching spatial thinking.  On a very simple level, you could compare the GPX file as I showed above to the map of the GPX file, discussing how much more information you can gain from mapping things.  You could symbolize on velocity, time, or if you had collected attributes along those lines or points, water quality, weather, traffic volume, litter, or anything else.   JosephKerski_3-1648500973278.png Notice the improvement in spatial accuracy for the above GPX tracks collected using the same smartphone app over the span of 4 years, as I describe here. JosephKerski_4-1648501378553.png A 3D scene in ArcGIS Online showing the results of my experiment, with elevations in meters above sea level shown as labels (but remember that some of them are underwater) and symbolized as cylinders.   Feel free to open and interact with this 3D scene! I look forward to your comments to these methods described and also hear about how you use and map GPX files.  ... View more