Latest Contributions by BernSzukalski

Here's a Story Map Cascade I stumbled across the other day. It's about the ThamLuang Cave (Thailand) rescue, and presents an overview of how GIS was applied. The Story Map was authored by Esri Thailand, and one of the interesting features of the Story Map is that it is bilingual. ... View more

This post covers the basics of symbol rotation in ArcGIS Online web maps. Symbol rotation is easy, and is perfect for "direction focused" point features. These include cameras, travel direction, wind direction, and much more. But there are some very interesting things you can do using a combination of stacked symbols and rotation, covered in this post: Stacking symbols allows you to create gauges, that rotate with your data whether it be static or live. This post covers everything above, with a sprinkle of Arcade thrown in. Arcade is used to calculate the offsets needed to rotate the needle on top of non-circular, or non-half-circular gauges. Using these techniques, you can come up with all sort of creative applications of stacked symbols and rotation. ... View more

A colleague sent me this interesting article about underground mapping using drones. Check out the images in the article. https://newatlas.com/hovermap-emesent-drones-tunnels-mines/57093/#p544783  If anyone has any data from something like this, the 3D team would love to have at it! ... View more

A recent addition to the Teach with GIS lessons is Thailand's Cave Rescue Miracle. It's among many exercises that teachers can use to create engaging and innovative materials for their students.You'll plenty more at the Teach with GIS Curriculum Builder site. This particular lesson is of special interest to those interested in caves. On June 23, 2018 twelve boys between 11 and 17 years of age and their coach entered the Tham Luang cave to explore. The team was trapped in the cave by continuous rainfall. They were found and rescued by an international team that involved 100 divers and many countries. They were found on July 2 and were finally all rescued on July 11, 2018. The lesson also covers various ways to show large numbers of features, in this case the caves in Thailand. The image below shows multiple layers using smart mapping capabilities. Counts and Amounts Size and Counts and Amounts Color are combined to visualize cave density in various provinces. This lessons will build skills in the following areas: Select by attribute Create bookmarks Configure pop-ups Search for data Filter ... View more

With an anticipated Friday landfall, Hurricane Florence is bearing down on the mid-Atlantic United States with potential to cause "massive damage" in both coastal and inland areas. North Carolina Governor Ray Cooper said the storm is a "monster" and will be "like nothing you've ever seen." Over a million people are subject to mandatory evacuation orders. This Hurricanes and Tropical Cyclones Overview Story Map is published by the Esri Disaster Response Team. The underlying map is authored using ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World content that includes the World Imagery Basemap, Sea Surface Temperature, NOAA Hurricanes, NOAA Short Term Warnings, as well as Accuweather weather radar. The Story Map Series (tabbed layout) embeds a variety of other apps, including those built using Web AppBuilder such as the Hurricane and Cyclone App. Other maps include the Hurricane Florence Error Cone: Projected Impact authored using the Impact Summary configurable app template: And the Hurricane Florence Tracker built using the Minimalist configurable app template: For more hurricane maps, apps, and layers visit: Disaster Response Program Hurricanes Hurricane Public Apps Gallery 2018 Hurricane Maps & Layers For more infomration and to request assistance, visit the Esri Disaster Response Program website. ... View more

This year has been among the worst in U.S. wildfire history. This application, by John Von Holle and Jeff Dulin of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), shows the current status of wildfires using continuously updated data. The app is built using Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS, and leverages basemaps, active fire locations and perimeters, MODIS hotspots, and drought data from the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, along with other data sources. See the tweet: ... View more

This app was brought to my attention the other day by warren roberts‌. It's an app by Redding GIS about the Carr Fire, which has devastated the area and destroyed over a thousand homes, tragically claiming at least 7 victims (check the web for the latest). Open the app, built using Web AppBuilder, and click on one of the pushpins: Click the link to view the Aerial 360 View, provided by Esri business partner Hangar 360. The 360s are as fascinating as they are sobering, documenting the devastation of the fire. For more information see the Inciweb and Cal Fire websites for the Carr Fire. For disaster response assistance see the Esri Disaster Response Program website. ... View more

To verify and test a few things, I came up with a 3D visualization of Hidden River Cave, located in the town of Horse Cave, Kentucky. Click the Slides to view the cave from various perspectives, or use your mouse to explore the cave interactively. How it was authored The cave survey data is courtesy of the Cave Research Foundation, with thanks to Dave West, CRF Eastern Operations manager. The cave survey data was entered, managed, and exported as a multipatch shapefile using Compass, one of the more ubiquitous cave survey editing, management, and visualization programs, used widely in the U.S. and also in other parts of the world. Authored by Larry Fish, the software is downloadable from the Compass Cave Survey Software website. The multipatch uses the LRUDs - the Left, Right, Up, Down measurements recorded by cave surveyors at each survey station to create a generalized 3D model of the cave. Compass uses these values to construct a 3D model of the cave, which can be exported to a 3D multipatch shapefile. Once exported, the multipatch was added to a scene document in ArcGIS Pro. Using Pro, a scene layer was published to ArcGIS Online, and used to author a web scene using the Scene Viewer.  Slides (captured specific views of the cave) were saved using the Scene Viewer. The scene was then shared in the application linked above - the Scene Styler, a configurable app used to present web scenes to a broader audience. ... View more

For the last few days I've had a first-hand view of the smoke from the Ferguson Fire blowing over the Sierra Nevada, from the west side on the outskirts of Yosemite Valley (currently closed due to the fire) to the town of Mammoth Lakes on the east side where I currently am. Even the crows were complaining about the smoke. I could only imagine what firefighters had to endure on the front lines of the fire, we should never forget what they do and their sacrifices. There are many maps that have been created for this fire, and the numerous other fires that now dominate California. But for this Map of the Day installment I chose this one: It's a Story Map, specifically a Story Map Series using the Side Accordion layout, that serves as a "binder" for other apps and information. Using this Story Map you can discover which apps are useful and frequently used for wildfire response, and which Living Atlas layers can be leveraged to provide authoritative content. It's a great library of useful apps and content created by the Esri Disaster Response Team. See their ArcGIS  portal for more information and additional maps and apps. ... View more

On June 23, 2018, 12 members of a junior soccer team and their coach became trapped inside a flooded cave in Thailand's Chiang Rai province. They'd ventured in after practice, in part to celebrate one team member's birthday. Sudden and heavy rainfall forced the group deeper into the flooding cave to seek high ground, which they found at a location known as Pattaya Beach. After going missing, the team's bicycles and other belongings were found at the entrance, and the ensuing rescue brought in some of the world's best divers and rescue personnel to the cave. On July 2, the team was discovered alive at Pattaya Beach, however the logistics of evacuating the team seemed overwhelming. Tragically, one highly experienced diver lost his life returning from a support dive delivering oxygen tanks to staging areas for the rescue. According to Wikipedia: The  rescue efforts included a total of over 10,000 people – including more than 100 divers, many rescue workers, representatives from about 100 government agencies, 900 police officers, and 2,000 soldiers – 10 police helicopters, seven police ambulances, more than 700 air canisters (of which more than 500 were in the cave at any one time and another 200 were in the queue to be refilled), and the removal of more than 1 billion liters of water (the equivalent of 400 Olympic-size swimming pools). On July 8, four of the boys were rescued using scores of support divers and rescue personnel, and all twelve were out by July 12. See the Wikipedia article for all the details. Cave maps According to Wikipedia A team of French cavers made the first survey of Tham Luang's main cave in 1986 and 1987. Further surveys were done in 2014 and 2015 by the British cavers Vern Unsworth, Martin Ellis, Phil Collett, and Rob Harper. Maps from these surveys helped guide the dive and rescue efforts. Shown below is one of the annotated maps prepared by Esri Thailand from the archived cave survey data and published maps that was used for logistics planning. GIS Maps  Esri Thailand supported the efforts using GIS to create maps and perform analysis. Some of their work included: Creating a 3D representation of the cave (generated using archived survey data from British cavers). Developing 3D models to measure the depth to the cave from the surface terrain, identify low-slope areas for possible equipment deployment, and to examine the potential for surface drilling to enter the cave. Generating operational maps for rescue logistics. Generating reliable and accurate topographic data, such as DEMs, contours, and orthophotos. Using ArcGIS Hydro tools to determine candidate locations for surface water diversion away from the cave. A Web AppBuilder 3D app used to display a scene showing the generalized cave outline draped on the surface. The entrance is to the lower left in this image. A generalized 3D model of the cave was created, shown here in the Scene Viewer beneath a partially transparent surface, to evaluate potential drilling sites and visualize the cave in relation to surface topography. Another scene showing cross sections across the mountain range with elevations, and the cave (in black) beneath the surface. Above is a map showing the cave with elevations, catchment areas, and rain intensity during one of the storm episodes. Maps were used to show the results of resistivity surveys which were performed in various areas to pinpoint where cave passages were located underground. The survey was completed by the Royal Irrigation Department ground team, and interpreted by Department of Mineral Resources experts. The diagram above shows the survey results in combination with the cave lineplot and topographic maps. The resistivity model shows water-filled passages in dark blue, coinciding with modeled cave passages at 460-480 meters elevation. All data courtesy Esri Thailand. ... View more

After a period of hibernation, the sun has risen, and warmed and awakened us from our caves. Welcome to the newly updated ArcGIS Cave and Karst user group at the Esri Community. This will be a place to connect and share ideas, best practices, and examples of using and applying GIS, with the unique needs and requirements of this community in mind.   You'll have the opportunity to:   Connect, share, and collaborate. Get updates on news and products. Join discussions and ask questions. Share your examples and work with others. Contribute to a knowledge base of tips, best practices, and workflows.     Click “Follow” in the top right corner and select “inbox” in the drop down menu. This will insure you get new updates in your GeoNet inbox and Outlook email.     GeoNet Community Quick tips:   If you do have a GeoNet account and are not logged in yet, you’ll need to click "login" first to join the group and contribute to conversations.    If you don’t have a GeoNet account, click “login” and then follow the steps to create your GeoNet account. Once your account is created, follow Steps 1-3 above.   For any additional questions, general tips and guidelines, please visit the GeoNet Help group, or contact the Cave and Karst group owners:   Bern Szukalski: bszukalski@esri.com Bob Booth: bbooth@esri.com   Thanks for joining and we look forward to seeing you here. Feel free to add a comment to say hello.   If you have additional questions about software, grant opportunities, or anything else, let one of us know. And please let others you think might be interested know about this space. ... View more

This Story Map Series (tabbed layout) was authored and published by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division. View the Story Map From the Story Map: White-nose, also called WNS, was documented in Georgia in 2013. The state Department of Natural Resources has been working since to track and slow the advance of the disease and gauge its impact. Here is an overview of that work during winter 2016-2017. See the season report for full details. Visit the Story Maps website for more information about Story Map Series, and other Story Map apps. ... View more

As I make my way around the user group conference circuit, I still find that many GIS managers and practitioners seem a little confused about Web GIS and it's advantages. Earlier this evening I stumbled once again onto this amazing resource which explains the concepts and advantages of Web GIS exceptionally well, IMHO. I am thinking this should be required reading for GIS managers and practitioners alike. The ArcGIS Book. onlinewebmapping‌ ... View more