Latest Contributions by JosephKerski

There are lots of August 2017 Solar Eclipse maps online, but I wanted to draw your attention to 2 of them in particular that I think would be valuable before, during, and after the eclipse for viewing and for those of you who are instructors, teaching purposes.   At the Esri User Conference last week in San Diego, a giant 30 foot long eclipse map was on display.  A web version of this in ArcGIS Online from the author is available here:   https://tse2017.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=d4cf0c22a2df4b6683acc4cd621aca7a   On the map, you can turn layers off and on, zoom and pan, get information about cities and the path, and more.   Another map is in a blog from our colleagues at GeoLounge: https://www.geolounge.com/map-lets-find-best-cloud-free-location-view-2017-solar-eclipse-united-states/   Scroll about 1/3 of the way down the page.   This map has the added layer of historic cloud cover for 21 August.     Some public libraries are distributing eclipse-safe glasses.  Be safe and enjoy!   Joseph Kerski   ... View more

I created a mobile field data collection set of activities recently for the Esri EdUC, and wanted to share it with the wider community.  The activities include two main approaches:  (1)  ArcGIS Pro and the Collector for ArcGIS app, and (2) the Survey123 tools and app.  Both are useful for educational purposes and far beyond--in natural resources, transportation, public safety, and in many more fields.  The ArcGIS Pro and Collector section starts with adding data to an editable feature service that I set up, publishing a spreadsheet and making it editable in ArcGIS Online, using ArcGIS Pro to create a feature class with domains, publishing it to ArcGIS Online, and adding data to it in the field using the Collector app.  The Survey123 section starts with adding data to an editable feature service that I created with Survey123. The next activity involves creating a Survey123 using the Connect method involving Excel, followed by another survey along the same theme (campus infrastructure and vegetation) using the Survey123 web tools.  The activity ends with using Survey123 to collect data in the field.   The activity is here.   The Flickr album containing the sample images for the tree mapping exercise is here. The Tree Collection sample CSV is here. The example map for adding data to using Collector is here. The example Marriott campus map for adding data to using Collector is here. *  The example Survey123 campus vegetation map is here and the form is here.  * The resulting Survey123 Marriott campus vegetation map from the Connect Excel method from the activity is here. *  The resulting Survey123 Marriott campus vegetation map from the web form method from the activity is here. *  Note that the items marked with * are shared only with those who attended the workshop at the EdUC, but you can use the activity to create your own forms and maps using the procedures provided.  Part of the activity described here, where ArcGIS Pro is used to create a geodatabase and a web map into which field data can be collected.  ... View more

Teaching about economics and business location both have a long tradition in geography.  Planning the optimal site for a business or service in a community, examining the demographics and behavior of a certain target market, studying supply chain management to build a specific product such as a mobile phone or a piece of furniture, examining median income by neighborhood, state, or country, are all inherently geographic problems and tasks.  They all involve considerations of location, scale, and patterns over space and time. These geographic tasks can be understood and solved through the use of today’s web-based maps, data, and tools.  In the hands of geography educators and students, these maps, data, and tools can engage learners in central issues of economics and business using the geographic perspective in tandem with a problem-based approach.  Web GIS such as ArcGIS Online provides the ability to examine the above issues from local to global scale, using any device, using only a web browser and an internet connection.  Exploring these topics with web mapping tools builds content knowledge, skills, and the geographic perspective; it also fosters numeric competencies and computer fluency.     In conjunction with an article I wrote for The Geography Teacher journal focused on practical resources and approaches to teach economics and business themes in geography, I created a story map of different types of businesses in selected places around the world, shown below.  I invite you and your students to add your own photographs and descriptive text to this map that describe a business in your own community, and place it in its correct location on the map.     Businesses Around the World Crowdsource Story Map.  The image at the top of this blog is a business in downtown Hays, Kansas, which I took while working at Fort Hays State University last year, and it also appears in the story map.   Describe how the types and appearance of businesses are similar and are different in selected countries of your choice. Describe the spatial patterns that are shown on the story map at the local, city, regional, and global level.  Ask students to write a one page paper comparing five types of businesses and where they are located in each community.  Include the three most important factors that the owners most likely considered to locate each type of business.  Then, ask students to create a table where they classify 10 types of businesses shown on the map by their function.  This classification could be by product or service offered, and could include such categories as food, vehicles, building materials, home products, clothing, financial services, sports equipment, and so on.   To extend this activity, create your own story map of businesses (using the Story Maps tools and your ArcGIS Online account) in your own community on a specific business type of your choosing; for example, check cashing facilities or coffee shops.   There are many other things you could do with GIS, such as mapping specific business types in your community.  See the results of a project where I did this two different business in a metropolitan area (in Oklahoma City) using ArcGIS Online.  What differences and similarities do you notice between the two very different types of businesses, and why?   ... View more

Teaching about economics and business location has a long tradition in geography.  Planning the optimal site for a business or service in a community, examining the demographics and behavior of a certain target market, studying supply chain management to build a specific product such as a mobile phone or a piece of furniture, examining median income by neighborhood, state, or country, are all inherently geographic problems and tasks.  They all involve considerations of location, scale, and patterns over space and time. These geographic tasks can be understood and solved through the use of today’s web-based maps, data, and tools.  In the hands of geography educators and students, these maps, data, and tools can engage learners in central issues of economics and business using the geographic perspective in tandem with a problem-based approach.  Web GIS such as ArcGIS Online provides the ability to examine the above issues from local to global scale, using any device, using only a web browser and an internet connection.  Exploring these topics with web mapping tools builds content knowledge, skills, and the geographic perspective; it also fosters numeric competencies and computer fluency.   In conjunction with an article I wrote for The Geography Teacher journal focused on practical resources and approaches to teach economics and business themes in geography, I created a story map of different types of businesses in selected places around the world, shown below.  I invite you and your students to add your own photographs and descriptive text to this map that describe a business in your own community, and place it in its correct location on the map.   Businesses Around the World Crowdsource Story Map.  The image at the top of this blog is a business in downtown Hays, Kansas, which I took while working at Fort Hays State University last year, and it also appears in the story map. Describe how the types and appearance of businesses are similar and are different in selected countries of your choice. Describe the spatial patterns that are shown on the story map at the local, city, regional, and global level.  Ask students to write a one page paper comparing five types of businesses and where they are located in each community.  Include the three most important factors that the owners most likely considered to locate each type of business.  Then, ask students to create a table where they classify 10 types of businesses shown on the map by their function.  This classification could be by product or service offered, and could include such categories as food, vehicles, building materials, home products, clothing, financial services, sports equipment, and so on.   To extend this activity, create your own story map of businesses (using the Story Maps tools and your ArcGIS Online account) in your own community on a specific business type of your choosing; for example, check cashing facilities or coffee shops. There are many other things you could do with GIS, such as mapping specific business types in your community.  See the results of a project where I did this two different business in a metropolitan area (Oklahoma City) using ArcGIS Online.  What differences and similarities do you notice between the two very different types of businesses, and why?   ... View more

Hi Everyone: My goal in making a story map right now is to play the AUDIO from some of my YouTube videos.  The code below works just fine - it links to a javascript file and the YouTube API accomplishes what I am seeking – Here is a sample page of how that works here: pixelright.com/joseph.htm  and below is the code that makes it work.   That’s all good and it works great!  … outside the story map.  But IN the story map, it looks like the graphic below ... it is not hyperlinked.  I feel I'm so close and just need to remove some of the DIV code but ... not sure what to change and I've tried it many times with many versions of the code below.  Thank you for any assistance!   CODE: <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <title>jjk</title> <style type="text/css"> <!-- body { margin: 0; padding: 0; } #wrapper { margin: 100px auto; text-align: center; } #youtube-audio img { width: 50px; } body { background-color: #fff; } --> </style></head> <body> <div id="wrapper"> <div>This is audio playing from the YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTT3hPVoCoY</div> <div align="center"> <div data-video="yTT3hPVoCoY" data-autoplay="0" data-loop="1" allowfullscreen="false" height="250" width="400" id="youtube-audio"> </div> <script src="https://www.youtube.com/iframe_api"></script> <script src="https://cdn.rawgit.com/labnol/files/master/yt.js"></script> </div> </div> </body> </html> ... View more

What is the purpose for the pole in this picture? Notice that others exist across the street, and indeed, stretch on for blocks in this neighborhood. Yet in your neighborhood, none may exist. What else do you notice in the picture? What kind of houses do people live in, and what might the inhabitants be like? What does the vegetation imply about this area’s ecoregion? When were the houses constructed, and how has the area changed over time? The term “neighborhood” implies being near residents who are considered “neighbors.” How large of an area do you consider to be your neighborhood? Does the area that we define as our neighborhoods change as we grow older? Do you believe that a neighborhood’s size depends on our primary mode of transportation? What influence does rural or urban have on neighborhood size? What natural or human-made features influence what you consider to be your neighborhood boundaries? How could you use GIS to examine your neighborhood? Begin by examining topographic maps and satellite imagery using ArcGIS Online (http://www.arcgis.com). Add demographic data to your map and examine variables such as age, income, and ethnicity, as shown below. Examine lifestyle measures online (http://www.esri.com/data/esri_data/tapestry.html). Compare your neighborhood to others nearby or far away. GIS offers a rich toolkit for neighborhood analysis, and your investigation could continue through the examination of spatial statistics in ArcGIS Desktop. That pole? It is a plow stake, placed there every autumn so that in this area, which lacks sidewalks or curbs, snowplow drivers will know where the edge of the pavement is. Knowing this, and considering your earlier observations, where do you think this photograph was taken? I will post a comment to this blog entry after I have given you time to guess. Consider asking your students what makes their own neighborhoods unique, and use GIS to investigate the fascinating stories that their replies will lead to. - Joseph Kerski, Esri Education Manager ... View more

Today’s GPS and GIS technologies allow us to quickly collect data in the field, and then quickly map the data in a GIS environment to analyze spatial patterns that the field data reveals. However, just as the ease of digital photography has allowed us to get into and out of the field rapidly, it is often advantageous for us as educators and students to slow down! Numerous teachable moments arise even before data is mapped. Consider the following points that I collected during a recent GIS-GPS workshop for educators in Colorado Springs: point, lat, long 1, 38.98701, -104.76221 2, 38.98700, -104.76198 3, 38.98701, -104.76176 4, 38.98703, -104.76154 5, 38.98702, -104.76127 6, 38.98702, -104.76103 7, 38.98701, -104.76068 8, 38.98719, -104.76059 9, 38.98739, -104.76059 10, 38.98761, -104.76064 11, 38.98764, -104.76084 12, 38.98763, -104.76103 13, 38.98765, -104.76124 14, 38.98768, -104.76149 Observing how the latitude remained relatively constant while the longitude decreased for the first 7 points, how the latitude increased but the longitude remained relatively constant from points 7 through 10, and how the latitude remained constant and the longitude increased for points 10 through 14. From these points, can students visualize that I must have first walked due east, then due north, and then due west? If not, help them visualize this by starting with paper, pencil, and the Cartesian Coordinate System, and then entering and mapping selected points using the Esri EdCommunity latitude-longitude finder, ArcGIS Explorer Online, or ArcGIS Explorer Desktop. In addition, can they visualize based on the coordinates that the area traversed is not that large? Once the students can start to visualize their world as x and y coordinates, then map the data, as I did in ArcGIS Explorer. Did the coordinates map where they had predicted they would be? I am continually amazed at how accurate even recreational-grade GPS positions can be. Using the measure tool in ArcGIS Explorer, I discovered that the trees I was mapping were between 1 and 5 meters off from their location as indicated by the Bing satellite image. Try this technique with your students and let the GIS education community know what you discover! - Joseph Kerski, Esri Education Manager ... View more

Like using any technology, using GIS in education involves change. Do you sometimes feel that you are not keeping up well with hardware and software changes that inevitably are a part of our world? Two things have helped me in my GIS career to cope with change. First, one of the things that makes the GIS community special is the open way that everyone shares their knowledge. Even before we had online knowledge bases and Twitter posts, the community was active via telephone, in conferences, and through scholarship, sharing what they knew with others. Realizing that each of us cannot be an expert at everything, but knowing that the community is there to help takes much of the pressure off. Second, with each new version of ArcGIS, the tools are becoming more powerful, and easier to understand, to find, and to use. Yes, it does mean that all of us need to be flexible, but that keeps us moving forward, becoming lifelong learners. Think of the alternative to moving forward in computer software and hardware. Moving backwards would be worse than the movie “Groundhog Day,” where every day was February 2. Each year, the software would become less powerful and so would my computer. I would lose the cloud. To find data, we would soon be back when all of the web pages were yellow text on a black background. We would then lose the web entirely and rely on gopher, ftp, Lynx, and Archie. Then we would be dependent on telephone calls, spanning floppies with zipping utilities, and 9-track magnetic tapes. At home I would eventually be back on my first PC, an IBM PS/2, using minicomputers and then mainframes at work, restricted to low-resolution imagery and then only vectors. Eventually, I would be sharpening my scribing needle again and unclogging my Rapidograph pen – not a task I would relish. Image courtesy of USGS. If time ran in reverse, I suppose it would have a few advantages. I would find those sunglasses I lost. But I would be back to the horrible sink I replaced in the bathroom. But much more importantly, GIS would not be as effective in education and society as it is today. - Joseph Kerski, Esri Education Manager ... View more

I recently wrote about using GIS technologies to analyze one recent event—the toxic liquid spill in Hungary. I used ArcGIS Online (http://www.arcgis.com) to find a map that I could use to analyze the spatial and temporal aspects of the spill, in this case, with ArcGIS Explorer (http://www.esri.com/arcgisexplorer). Have you considered using something like this as part of a GeoNews segment, where you start all or some of your classes by analyzing one current event from a spatial perspective? Have you considered using GIS as a tool to enable you to do this? Lest you think that such an activity requires a great deal of set-up time, let me assure you that today’s combination of Web GIS and multimedia make this very easy to do. My example from Hungary is only one of hundreds of events that are routinely tied to Web GIS resources annually. And if you cannot find a Web GIS already made, it takes only minutes to create one of your own. Furthermore, the presentation capabilities that are embedded in ArcGIS Explorer and ArcGIS Explorer Online allow you to create interactive slides that help you tell the story. My colleagues and I modelled the GeoNews concept at this year’s T3G institute for educators in Redlands. Each day of the institute, two of us taught a 15-minute segment about events that were unfolding around the world at the time. You can watch examples of this in action via the movie on the T3G site. After you have modelled GeoNews, assign your students the task of creating and teaching their own short segments. Emphasize critical thinking about these issues and the examination of these issues using the spatial perspective. Students may begin to realize that everything has a spatial component and that, yes, geography matters now more than ever in our interconnected world. Some educators I know already make heavy use of current events in their everyday teaching. How can you make use of the GeoNews concept to put a spatial context to these current events? -Joseph Kerski, Esri Education Manager ... View more

A reservoir at an alumina factory in Hungary burst in early October 2010, causing a toxic torrent of water to flow through three villages and creeks. People and fish died; livelihoods were destroyed. Yet from a spatial perspective, we all know that the problem did not end with those three villages and creeks. The water had to flow somewhere. But where? A quick search on ArcGIS Online (http://www.arcgis.com) uncovered a pertinent layer. I opened this layer and found a series of news articles, photographs, and videos linked to the locations where they were recorded on the ground. Analyzing the spill in a GIS environment allowed me to make sense of the scale, landforms, population, and watersheds affected by the disaster. Suddenly, I had a spatial context and perspective that reading disconnected news stories did not provide. ArcGIS Explorer allows you to navigate the landscape in a 3-D environment, changing the base map in order to examine nearby towns, lakes, and ultimately, how the spill reached the Danube, one of the most important rivers in Europe. Like paper maps have allowed us to do for centuries, a GIS helped me to understand, and to tell a story to others. And like most geographic phenomena, I can examine this in other disciplines—for example, in biology to understand the importance of pH, in economics to analyze the importance of alumina, and in mathematics to calculate the distance and time of sediment transport. As explained in GIM International, hyperspectral and Lidar imagery was collected and used in a GIS and remote sensing environment to model scenarios and to detect future damage to dams. This article points to the critical role that geotechnologies have in every disaster that occurs nowadays to help policymakers and residents in the decisions they have to make. Another thing to turn into a teachable moment is an observation that struck me in searching for news about the disaster. Almost every news story was published in the first week of the disaster, with almost nothing since then. Recognizing that news is a business and that to sell it, it has to be current, I was sad to consider that this event held the world’s attention for only a brief time, yet the local residents are still dealing with the effects on a daily basis and may continue to do so for years. What are the temporal and geographic aspects to human-environment interactions? How can you make use of ArcGIS Online to analyze current events? -Joseph Kerski, Esri Education Manager ... View more