Latest Contributions by BrianBaldwin

Over the weekend – I saw this crazy headline that went something along the lines of ‘Workers Smash Hole Through Great Wall of China’ – let’s just say I was a bit skeptical. I’m also sure that anyone’s mental image of what transpired looked similar to mine. Credit: Brian Baldwin  I don’t know the truth behind what happened, but I do know that the ‘click bait’ headlines for this story were incredibly deceptive… but also offered a great ‘teachable moment’… where we could easily insert some geospatial tools. Oh… and here’s what the hole really looked like: Credit: Youyu County Public Security Bureau If I wanted students to go and explore this issue on their own… they could… but the results might be a bit mixed. When you search across ArcGIS Online for layers, we all know what can turn up. There are also a lot of great datasets in the Living Atlas… but which ones are the most relevant? Do they have the right symbology for the task at hand? You have probably already seen the National Geographic MapMaker application, but what if you want to create a guided experience with your own maps, layers, and data?  This is where the Atlas template in Instant Apps comes in. In my case, some of the things that I was curious about exploring was ‘where’ the hole was. How long is the Great Wall? What is the relationship of the Great Wall to the physical geography or Northern China? What is the relationship of the Great Wall to China’s historical growth? There are so many different questions that one could start to explore, and the Atlas give you the ability to cue any of these up. While not perfect by any means (there is a lot I will probably update/edit), here is my Great Wall of China Atlas. (Please note... some of these layers are from the Living Atlas, so you will need to sign in to load the maps. I'll work on updating this to make it easier to access.) I just put an update into the application - so there is a lot more that you can explore. I even went a little crazy and cleaned up an amazing dataset (source KMZ) of the Great Wall that was built by Tom Hammond at Lehigh University. The following video shows you how to set up your own Atlas using data from the Living Atlas, ArcGIS Online, or your own data. It’s a really nice way to build a guided mapping and data exploration lesson. Setting up your own Atlas The steps are outlined in the video, but the process is pretty simple: Create a group in ArcGIS Online Add content to the group. This can be in the form of maps or layers. Content can be sourced from the Living Atlas or ArcGIS Online, or your own data. Go to My Content, Create App, Instant Apps, then choose Atlas. Now – you just need to point the application at your new group. Tips & Tricks You can share your Atlas app with Everyone – so that students can use it without logging in to ArcGIS Online. The caveat with this – is that you need to ensure that all of the maps and layers will be accessible as well. If your map has subscriber or premium content, then users will get a ‘sign-in’ prompt. If you enrich content or layers from the Living Atlas... they become yours! So - if you want census tracts with population, or boundaries, etc. - you can start with the Living Atlas, use the analysis tools, and then have your own layer to share (with your own symbology). There is a lot of great data in ArcGIS Online… but the thumbnail, symbology, descriptions, etc. might leave a lot to be desired. To create a really captivating application, you need to go the extra length and create your own layers and maps. ... View more

At the Education Summit this year, @MichaelGould and I hosted a session titled ‘Demystifying Digital Twins’. The goal of the session was to discuss what digital twins are from a geospatial perspective, hear what the interests from the community have been, and to discuss the availability of resources for teaching about digital twins.   Some of the hottest topics of conversation at the session were: “What the heck is a digital twin?”, “What makes it different from a model?”, “Does it include real-time data?”, “Is it just a buzzword?” For some great articles that start to dive into this discussion/definition – please see: ASU – A Specialist Meeting on Digital Twins Workshop – Final Report: https://sgsup.asu.edu/node/9358 Geospatial Digital Twins Offer Unmatched Clarity for Complex Systems: https://www.esri.com/about/newsroom/blog/geospatial-digital-twin-enhances-understanding/ Digital Twins at Scale: https://www.forbes.com/sites/esri/2023/03/13/digital-twins-at-scale/ From the ASU meeting listed above, the participants found little disagreement with the following definition: A digital twin is a virtual representation of the real world, including physical objects, processes, relationships, and behaviors (Esri) As was also the case at the ASU workshop, a big part of the discussion at the Education Summit was simply that a digital twin could be a lot of different things. A digital twin for Syracuse NY will differ a great deal from one for Singapore. The question for us was: For any city or location… what is the technology that students can learn about that supports the vision for building a digital twin? The goal of this post is not to dive into the definition of a digital twin – but to help those that are interested in teaching about digital twins – understand where they can get started. Not to replicate work that has already been done – here is a great summary of the technology that can be used to support various aspects of a digital twin: Esri Digital Twin Technology and Resources: https://www.esri.com/content/dam/esrisites/en-us/media/brochures/digital-twin-technology-resource.pdf The aim of the following resources is to provide a list of lessons, training, and labs. All of this content is broken down into a digital twin framework and linked to in the appropriate ‘bucket’. Data Capture: the creation of an accurate geospatial model or foundation Integration: combining information from multiple data sources and sensor networks Real time & Visualization: presenting information visually Analysis & prediction: using traditional statistics, spatial statistics, and GeoAI to interrogate the data Sharing & collaboration: building applications and tools to operationalize the resulting information Data Capture Extract 3D buildings from Lidar: https://learn.arcgis.com/en/projects/extract-3d-buildings-from-lidar-data/ This lesson starts with lidar and building footprints (both data sets are pretty easy to come by for most locales) Construct realistic buildings with multipatch editing: https://learn.arcgis.com/en/projects/construct-realistic-buildings-with-multipatch-editing/ This lesson walks through a process of building multi-patch/3D buildings. This is a more manual workflow – but provides some good tips/tricks if students want to ‘skin’ buildings Reality mapping with ArcGIS: https://www.esri.com/training/catalog/5ee00f8fefb9bc0b7003ae36/reality-mapping-using-arcgis/ Includes getting started lessons for SiteScan and Drone2Map Integration Create a data pipeline: https://doc.arcgis.com/en/data-pipelines/latest/get-started/create-a-pipeline.htm Data Pipelines is a new functionality that just landed in ArcGIS Online (spring 2023). It provides a great way to teach about static or real-time data ingestion ArcGIS Arcade Fundamentals: https://www.esri.com/training/catalog/60353c60303e2a7692f9da01/arcgis-arcade-fundamentals/ Arcade provides a really nice way to ‘merge/join’ data from multiple datasets Real time & Visualization Living Atlas: https://livingatlas.arcgis.com/en/browse/ I like this because it provides a pretty ‘low bar’ for getting started with some basic real-time feeds. Students can easily search for data of interest and add it into a map/etc. Advanced formatting: https://learn.arcgis.com/en/projects/get-started-with-advanced-formatting-in-arcgis-dashboards/ This is a good one as well – a bit more involved – but shows some of the power of real-time alerting and also combines power outage data (very relevant) Analysis & prediction Climate proof a neighborhood: https://learn.arcgis.com/en/projects/climate-proof-a-neighborhood-with-arcgis-urban/ This has a nice lesson that takes you through getting a model setup in ArcGIS Urban. This could hopefully show students what the data needs are for building a local dataset. Performing Sales Data Analysis with ArcGIS Insights Online: https://www.esri.com/training/catalog/6448298a821bdb2fe8bc3385/performing-sales-data-analysis-with-arcgis-insights-online/ This lesson could have also been added to the ‘sharing’ section – but the emphasis on explorational data analysis is what encouraged me to include it here. Sharing & collaboration Make a dashboard to monitor wildfires: https://learn.arcgis.com/en/projects/make-a-dashboard-to-monitor-wildfires/ This lesson is only 20 min. long – and I think it’s a great one. It could easily be expanded upon with other data feeds, etc. Share decision-ready data: https://learn.arcgis.com/en/projects/share-decision-ready-data/ This lessons explores the use of ArcGIS Hub to share data and work with a local community Conclusion I am sure I missed a lot. If there are additional lessons or resources that you are using to teach about digital twins, please let us know! Please provide additional resources in the comments below. ... View more