Latest Contributions by GeriMiller

Educators, We want to let you know of changes to the Learn ArcGIS membership. The length of software access will change from 60 days to 21 days starting April 27th and the name will change to the Education Trial. Please note: These changes WILL NOT affect the majority of the GIS Education Community who already have access to ArcGIS via an institution agreement (site license), departmental license or a school bundle. These changes WILL affect a small portion of the community who have leveraged the 60-day membership to provide software for coursework.  The Education Trial is not designed for use in formal coursework or research. These changes WILL NOT affect access to the lessons and resources provided by the Learn ArcGIS team.  As always, the wonderful Learn ArcGIS lesson/resources are freely available to everyone for any length of time for both self-directed learning and for use in coursework. The Education Trial membership provides temporary access for self-directed learners who are new to Esri technology to experiment, try a new workflow, or test an interesting tool. The Learn ArcGIS 21-day Education Trial account is:    For life-long learners and educators who are working independently and are new to ArcGIS. For those over 18. For non-commercial, educational use only. A ‘sandbox’ environment from which all content will be deleted at the end of the 21-day trial period. A temporary account that cannot be converted into a permanent organizational account. If you need help obtaining longer-term access to ArcGIS suitable for coursework or have other questions, please reach out to highered@esri.com or your local Esri office (global distributor). ... View more

Colleagues, You have likely noticed by now that the ArcGIS Online release was moved to April 13th. If not, this note serves as an FYI. You, your students/faculty/staff, will see a red banner message when logged in ArcGIS Online. If anyone asks: “How will this affect my class work?”: Of course, as with any release, please advise students/faculty/staff to plan accordingly, as access may be limited during the update. In addition, there are updates coming up to various apps, but one major update will be the New Map Viewer coming out of beta. Upon login (after the release), users will be given the option to choose which viewer to work with, but the Map Viewer Classic (which we have been using for quite some time now), will still be the default viewer for a while, providing ample opportunity to adjust to the New Map Viewer. You will see more information as we get closer to the release, but we wanted to give a heads up, in case you have not seen the message above. ... View more

This blog compiles recent resources, webinars, user presentations and stories on the topic of Smart Campuses (Administration/Operations focus). Special thanks to all our university colleagues who have contributed their work and experiences in the below events and resources (stories shared by Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, University of Washington, University of Arizona, Harvard University, University of Maryland, Cornell University, Clemson University, The Ohio State University, University of Oregon, Montclair State University, among others).  Smart Campus Operations Resources page Contains foundational resources, case studies and examples   Fall 2020 Webinar series - recordings/collateral are available on demand Getting Started: Building Your Spatial Foundation Bringing GIS Indoors: Space Planning and Optimization Building a Mobile Workforce: Getting Decision Support into the Field Optimizing Utilities: Digitally Transforming Network Management Spring 2021 Webinar series - Spatially Enable Facilities Management for Your Campus, supplemental Story Map From CAD to GIS: The value of spatially enabling utility and facility information (March 18th). Configuring Solutions: Building information and decision-making tools (April 8th) Smart Campus Operations: Integrating GIS with facility, work, and space management systems (April 29th) GeoNet Administration place Area to engage and collaborate with community ... View more

You may have seen announcements about Esri’s new ArcGIS Platform launch. We wanted to provide some guidance on what this product is, how it could be accessed, and how it could be applicable to Educators. What is ArcGIS Platform? ArcGIS Platform is a location analytics Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering for developers who would like to incorporate location-based services (basemaps, geocoding, routing, visualization, etc.) in apps, products and business systems they build. It is a way for developers to leverage standalone services in a frictionless and easy to use way. It provides access to location-based services in your API of choice, including open source mapping libraries such as Leaflet, Open Layers, and GL JS, as well as Esri’s web and native APIs. ArcGIS Platform has a consumption-based business model, meaning costs are related directly to services consumed.  ArcGIS Online has a subscription-based model, meaning access is provided for a specific time period; ArcGIS Online also provides additional capabilities and end-user applications to create, share, edit, and analyze maps and data. ArcGIS Platform is primarily meant for developers who do not currently have Esri technology; it is an alternative to accessing location-based services through an ArcGIS Online subscription. How can the ArcGIS Platform be accessed by Educators? ArcGIS Platform is accessed via ArcGIS Developer Subscription. All the ArcGIS Platform location-based services  and developer experiences can be leveraged by using ArcGIS Online. For those of you with Institution Agreements, you also already have access to the Enterprise edition of ArcGIS Developer Subscription. Bottom Line: Whether you are a researcher wishing to incorporate location-based services in your work, whether you are faculty teaching programming concepts (please continue to enhance development skills in Python, Web APIs and SDKs!), or whether you are a student working on class projects to develop applications incorporating location-based services, you already have access to the services and capabilities of ArcGIS Platform via the Education Institution Agreement (former Site License). Therefore, please continue to leverage ArcGIS Online and the ArcGIS Developer Subscription available with your Education agreements. ArcGIS Platform is simply a different way for customers new to Esri technology to acquire and pay for the consumption of those location-based services. If your institution does not already have ArcGIS, please reach out to us to help with the best option for your needs – highered@esri.com Feel free to post any questions here. ... View more

In 2020, we launched the 1-year Learn ArcGIS Student Program, designed to provide access to ArcGIS, along with self-paced learning resources, to higher education Students who do not currently have access through their institution. We are continuing the program in 2021 and wanted to provide clarity on who this program is designed for. If you are Student: If your institution already has educational licensing, you should seek access to ArcGIS via your institution. Please check the following app, which lists colleges and universities in the US which already have institution-wide licenses. For some, there is publicly available URL/information on how to access. If not, please check with your advisor/department. Often, access is facilitated by Library, Geography or other departments/centers. If you are learning independently of your instructor, outside of a formal course, and do not have access via your institution, then this program is for you! For further details, please check this FAQ. Then sign up to access over 450 self-faced lessons and resources!! If you are Administrator/Faculty/Staff: If you are teaching a formal course/degree program, or having students work on research projects, access should be provided by the institution versus this student program. Therefore, for those of you who already have institutional licenses, please continue to provide access as you normally would. Many of you are implementing these best practices for enabling access to ArcGIS for all students, faculty and staff via your institution’s license. Please continue to follow these best practices; this program should not change any existing workflows.  If you do not have institution-wide access or license, please let us know if we can help – highered@esri.com.        ... View more

Esri Innovation Program conducted a Web meeting on the following subject.  Below is a recording with associated resources.  Topic:  Story Maps in Higher Education   December 2, 2020: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM PST (2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EST) Recording is here, Passcode: *LVxztw3  Presenters:   Charlotte Smith, UC Berkeley   Kate Carlson, University of Minnesota   Peter Knoop, University of Michigan Allen Carrol, Esri Story Maps team Description:     Join us for a discussion of Story Maps in Education. We will focus on common uses and innovative approaches, as well as discuss current/future needs of the Education Community. The presenters will focus on various topics, such as 1) Story Maps in the classroom/teaching, 2) Offboarding students, 3) Automation with Story Maps/handling of assignment submissions. 4) Collaboration in building and sharing resources, 5) Future updates/direction for Story Map product development, among others.  ... View more

Colleagues:   As the academic year begins in many countries, we want to provide updated recommendations for installing ArcGIS on student and employee-owned devices.  This is particularly important now that many students are learning remotely using their own devices.   The Esri Education Program offerings allow deployment of any product on student-owned devices; these offerings include the Education Institution Agreement, Academic Department License, and ArcGIS for Student Use.   We now recommend that institutions provide access to students and employees following these best practices for sharing ArcGIS executables and license files.   To meet increasing demand for online learning and to provide the flexibility expected of cloud computing, we updated our offerings in 2017 to permit any software licensed to a college or university to be deployed (installed and used) on student-owned devices and in hosted environments as well as on institution-owned and employee-owned devices.   The previous method of ordering separate 1-year Student Licenses (EVA codes) is now redundant and obsolete.  Thus, we will retire the pages www.esri.com/slpromo and www.esri.com/EducationEdition at the end of the year. They will not be updated for ArcGIS Desktop 10.8/ArcGIS Pro 2.6.   Last, please refer to the following resource on How to Manage ArcGIS with your updated Institution Agreement (previously known as Site License). ... View more

The Esri Development Center (EDC) program, soon will be renamed Esri Innovation Program (EIP), confers special status and benefits upon a select few leading universities that challenge their students to create innovative applications and projects with ArcGIS technology.  Every year, universities that are a part of this program select one student to be their Student of the Year recipient - for innovative use of ArcGIS technology in learning or research.  Simply sharing the wonderful work that some of these students have done, via this Story Map.  Congratulations to them, and the faculty/instructors who mentored these students.  ... View more