Latest Contributions by CharlieFitzpatrick

Educators often ask me about the future of GIS. A blog posted May 2018 in GEOSPATIAL WORLD begins "Geography, enriched by information systems to form the Geographic Information System or GIS, is growing exponentially. A core geospatial technology, the GIS is used virtually in every field, adding value to practically every business segment and application areas." The blog continues with some impressive numbers in terms of billions of dollars of value. For educators seeking some documentation that there is a future for students who build skills in thinking geographically and using GIS, this may be useful. ... View more

Folks have asked me where their Story Maps went, and what's up with this new StoryMaps approach. First, all your old content is still there. There is an excellent response to this "disruption" and help for those wondering how to react. Please see this StoryMap (new format) by Owen Evans. ... View more

Students in many states are finding patterns, puzzles, and projects in the world around them, and turning these into adventures in learning, as part of the ArcGIS Online Competition for US High School and Middle School Students. After doing their research, they put together a Story Map or a web app. Five who do this well in their school advance to the state level, and those in the top handful at the state level win 100 bucks. And two students (or teams) from across the US get chosen to display the best in high school (grades 9-12) and middle school (grades 4-8) at the Esri Conference in San Diego, CA.     The competition is underway again, for school year 2019-2020. Teachers can start introducing students to the technology and the opportunity. But the teachers need also to pivot and point to state leaders, urging them to sign up the state. This is a binary event: Either all students get to participate or none do, and what ensures the former is a team of education-friendly, GIS-savvy, doers who step up and make it happen. In states with few student participants, high percentages have been award winners at the state level. And at the national level, even states with few participants have had winners. It just takes curiosity, vision, gumption, and tenacity … someone who is part Sherlock Holmes, part Jane Goodall, and part Katherine Johnson.    HS and MS student winners and their teachers chat with Jack Dangermond at the Esri Conference The task for students is to research a topic of their choosing, within the bounds of their state, and present what they learn in the form of a web app or Story Map. Whether singly or as part of a team of two, this is a chance for unfettered exploration, observation, analysis, and tinkering, wrapped up in a presentation. The long-term rewards can be impressive. The short-term rewards could include sharing with 20,000 GIS users at the 2020 Esri Conference in San Diego.   Explore the opportunities, the guidance from 2019 winners and their teachers, and the whole collection of three years of award winners, at http://esriurl.com/agoschoolcomp. ... View more

Esri challenges US high school and middle school students to create and share projects about something in their home states, striving to be among the best in the school, state, and nation. Esri's 2020 ArcGIS US School Competition is open to high school ("HS," gr.9-12) and middle school ("MS," gr.4-8) students in the US who can analyze, interpret, and present data via an ArcGIS web app or story map. Esri offers to all states (and districts, territories, and DoDEA) the chance to participate, with grants to states supporting ten equal prizes of $100, for the five best HS and five best MS projects in the state. Schools can submit up to five projects to the state, and states submit to Esri up to ten awardees (up to 5 HS, up to 5 MS), with one project each at HS and MS tagged for a final level of competition. From across the nation, one HS project and one MS project will each earn a trip to the 2020 Esri Education Conference in San Diego, CA. State Leadership Teams: Esri seeks state leadership teams to conduct each state's competition (limit of one team per state, covering all 4th-12th graders in the state). The team may consist of geo-savvy adults from schools, higher ed, informal ed, government, business, and non-profit realms; different types of expertise are important. 2019 HS+MS Competition Winners at 2019 Esri Conference L-R: HS teacher Russell Columbus and HS winner Donovan Vitale, from Monroe, MI, and MS winner Abby Ziehl and MS teacher Laurie Bohn, from Bloomington, MN Click the pic to see their 8-min video interview from the Map Gallery at the Conference See the projects of all 2019 winners, honorable mentions, and state awardees 2019-20 Contest Details Elements below: I. Eligibility II. Entries III. Awards IV. State Registration, Mentoring, and Judging V. Design/Judging Criteria VI. Personally Identifiable Information (PII) VII. State Leadership Teams I. Eligibility Entrants must be pre-collegiate students, registered in grades 4-12 at the time of project submission, from public schools or non-public schools including home schools, who have not yet received a high school diploma or equivalent Entrants must reside and be in school in the United States, including districts or territories, or attending a Department of Defense Education Association school: 50 states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and DODEA sites. (Thus, "state" in this document means one of these 57 units.) Students can work singly or in a team of two, but can participate in only one entry. Teams with one student in middle school (gr.4-8) and one in high school (gr.9-12) must be considered as high school. Entrants may work on the challenge through school, via a club, or independently, but entries must be submitted to the state from a recognized school or home school, their primary school of record in case of engaging in activities at more that one school. Any school or home school program can submit to the state a maximum of five (5) entries total, counting the sum of middle school and high school entries. II. Entries Entry forms (student/s to school, school to state, state to Esri) will be made available to state leads in fall 2019. Entries must be from an ArcGIS Online Organization account (not a "public account"). Any K12 school (public, non-public, or homeschool) or formal youth club can request for free an ArcGIS School/Club Bundle (includes an ArcGIS Organization account). Entries must be in the form of a StoryMap ("new" template), or a Story Map (any of the "classic" templates), or an ArcGIS web app (via template or builder). Entries must focus on content within the state borders. States may choose to refine the focus further, but the geographic scope of the project must be within the state. The project may reference data outside the state "for context," but may not extend the focus of the study beyond the state borders. For example, broader patterns of environmental characteristics or demographic movements may be referenced for context, but the focus must be on phenomena within the state. Schools must announce their own internal deadlines, in time to complete judging and provide information to the state by its deadline. States must announce their in-state deadlines, but can be no later than 5pm Pacific Time on Wed May 13, 2020. States must submit data to Esri no later than 5pm Pacific Time on Wed May 20, 2020. III. Awards Esri will announce its awards decision by 5pm Pacific Time on Mon June 1, 2020 Esri will provide a travel grant to one HS team and one MS team, each team consisting of the student(s) and at least one parent/guardian (could be teacher/rep). Awardee teams must agree to attend the Esri Education Summit ("EdUC"), arriving by 10amPT Sat July 11, and staying through at least 4pmPT Tue July 14, 2020. Awardees will be responsible for handling any tax implications, be personally identified including name and photograph, and post a graphic in the Esri User Conference ("UC") Map Gallery on Mon. Awardees will be recognized at EdUC and UC Map Gallery on Mon, and may have additional attention. Because only the top 1HS+1MS nominees from a state will be considered for the national competition, states must ensure that, if selected, their top nominees are willing and able to accept the award and attend. IV. State Registration, Mentoring, and Judging States may determine but must announce in advance if they will require any form of "pre-registration" by schools as potential participants, and any cutoff date. Any such exclusive operation must be clearly announced and applied equitably. States are encouraged to establish an "Early Mentoring" option. In this scenario, states set an "Early Mentoring" deadline, recommended as no later than Fri March 20, 2020. Entries submitted to the state leadership group by the state deadline would go to state judges for review and comment (but not scoring), so students might benefit from learned guidance. States would be responsible for constructing and implementing their own submission/comment/return process, ensuring adequate opportunity for judges to review and respond, and students to consider and revise. Any such process should require "transparency," to foster good instruction and prevent inappropriate communication; only a student's parent/guardian/teacher/leader should be communicating with the student; all other communication should be between adults. In considering this model, states are encouraged to seek early commitments from many judges. States using an "Early Mentoring" process may determine but must announce clearly in advance if entries must have gone through the formal "Early Mentoring" process to be accepted for final state judging, and must apply the policy equitably. V. Design/Judging Criteria Account: Entries must be from an ArcGIS Online Organization account, not a "public account." This can be an Org operated by, e.g., the student's school or club, the district, the state GIS Education Team, or similar group. Login: Entries must be visible without requiring a login. Entries engaging "premium data" (login required, such as Living Atlas) must set the display to permit access without needing a login. See helpful note. Originality: Entries must be "original work by students," conceived, created, and completed entirely by the student(s) submitting the entry. Class projects turned into an entry by one student, and teacher-directed projects, are not acceptable. Projects may use data generated by outside persons or institutions, within guidelines of "fair use." (Students are encouraged to use appropriate professionally generated GIS data, but these must be documented, and the integration, treatment, and presentation must be original.) Visual Supports: Because this is meant to be a "map-centric" exploration, analysis, and presentation of a geographic phenomenon, "non-map visuals" (images and videos) are limited to total up to 60 seconds of video, and total up to two images not created by the project author (e.g. 1 historic portrait photo plus 1 historic landscape photo), and total up to five images created by the project author (replication of project maps as smaller/thumbnail images, and items visible as popups within interactive maps, do not count against these limits). Short URL: Entries must provide to the school/state/Esri two links in "short URL" format (e.g. "http;//arcg.is/1A2b3xyz"), where one link goes to the primary display page (the app or storymap), and one link goes to the item details page (the metadata page for the app or storymap). (A link to the item details page will require a login if the Org does not permit anonymous access and the link uses the the form "<my_org>.maps.arcgis.com/etc;" to work around this, change the link to the form "www.arcgis.com/etc" before creating a short URL. Ad hoc short URLs can be generated at http://bitly.com.) Scoring: The state can vary this, and even use different systems for HS and MS, but must apply the same system to all entries in a single grade band, and the system must be clarified for the entrants at the start. The national competition will use this system, and recommends it or something similar: "We look for a clear focus/topic/question/story, good and appropriate data, effective analysis, good cartography, effective presentation, and complete documentation." Project Tips: Look at previous national winners and honorable mention projects. This is a "map competition." Entries should be analytical in nature, map-centric rather than photo-centric or relying on too much text. Use of videos or static images generated by anyone other than the team members must be carefully documented, and such media should be used sparingly; outside content generally detracts in national judging. The project must emphasize student work; professionally generated GIS data generally does not detract from national scores this way. A good way to judge project balance quickly is to identify the amount of time a viewer would spend consuming the entire project; map-based time and attention should be at least two thirds. Good projects gently help even a viewer unfamiliar with the region know quickly the location of the project focus. Requiring a viewer to zoom out several times to determine the region of focus detracts from the viewing experience. (Pretend the viewer is from a different part of the country, or a different country.) Maps should invite interactive exploration by the viewer, not be static ("images"). The presentation should hold the attention of the viewer from start to finish. Maps should demonstrate "the science of where" -- the importance of location, patterns, and relationships between layers. There is an art to map design; too much data may feel cluttered, but showing viewers only one layer at a time may limit the viewers' easy grasp of relationships. Care should be taken to make "popups" useful, limited to just the relevant information. They should add important information, and be formatted to make the most critical information be easily consumed. These popups can include formatted text, key links, images, data presented in charts, and so forth. VI. Personally Identifiable Information (PII) Schools should consider issues around exposing PII. See http://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools for strategies for minimizing PII. Teachers and club leaders should help students minimize exposure of their own PII and that of others, including in map, image, and text. States must help potential entrants understand the level of PII required. Entries submitted to Esri for the top national prize (i.e. 1-HS and 1-MS) must agree in advance to expose student names, school names, and school city/state (homeschool students would be identified to closest city/town name). Esri will not seek, collect, or accept student names for any entrants other than the national prize entrants (1-HS and 1-MS per state). These and only these will have names exposed by Esri. VII. State Leadership Teams Team leaders can apply using a form downloadable below. (There should be only one entry per state. Communicate with your in-state colleagues; collaboration is key.) State application deadline is Dec.13, 2019. States submitting a complete application by Nov.1, 2019, will get an email promotion from Esri to our connections in the state advertising the state's participation. The state leadership team is the key to student participation in a state. All students in grades 4-12 are eligible to participate if a state has submitted an application to and been recognized by Esri. If there is not a formal state leadership team, no students from the state may submit entries. State leadership teams can include anyone who is willing to help develop the state rules and apply things fairly for all students in the state. Team members can be teachers, education leaders, college instructors, GIS practitioners, nonprofit or for-profit groups, or any adults interested in students across the state being able to participate. The tasks that must be handled by the leadership team are these: Decide state customizations: particular themes, dates, and participation policies. Submit appropriate paperwork to Esri, including the address of the state website and active email to which state participants may submit questions. The paperwork defines whom Esri will deal with on rules, participation, and grant funds. Post the necessary information, including state customizations, to a publicly accessible website. This can be quite elaborate (see MN 2019 example), but can also be just a single page of text, as long as it provides all the relevant info. Let schools, clubs, educators, and students across the state know about the competition, website, and email. Recruit and organize judges, and coordinate any "early mentoring option" communication. Post the state's official versions of Esri's template entry forms. Ensure the entries from school to state carry complete information. Submit to Esri proper information about participation and awardees from the state. Receive funds and distribute prizes QUESTIONS? Email Charlie Fitzpatrick, Esri K12 Education Manager, [email protected]. Shortcut to this page = http://esriurl.com/agoschoolcompinfo ... View more

Admins for ArcGIS Online Orgs in schools and clubs should change all users from "Creator" to "GIS Professional Advanced." This is an easy process if you are comfortable with Python scripting. If you are not comfortable doing scripting, it is a little more tedious process but still easy to do. First, see this blog entry from Geri Miller (my colleague helping higher ed folks). Then, see the attached PDF showing the process done manually in a school Org with 880 members. This is especially important for sites using a "single sign-on" process. ALL NEW usernames in a school Org should be set as "GIS Professional Advanced." (See "ArcGISOnlineOrgsForK12Schools".) Why make this change? The ArcGIS School Bundle includes ArcGIS Pro, and the "GIS Professional Advanced" automatically includes permission to have a license for Pro. The ArcGIS School Bundle has been redefined as having only GIS Professional Advanced user types, so Admins may see that there are, for instance, "-14 Creators in place, 0 available," meaning 14 users with Creator user type need to be converted to GIS Professional Advanced. Completing this will be critical for the next renewal and redefinition in July 2020. ... View more

Two excellent apps were released in summer 2019: ArcGIS QuickCapture and the Attachment Viewer web app template. Educators can use these powerfully! To test both, I decided to record notables on my morning walk.     Electric scooters have sprouted like fairy rings in my neighborhood. QuickCapture lets me capture the location (click#1) and a photo (click#2) and confirm the data (click#3), which auto-sends while I move poorly parked ("strewn") scooters out of the path of others. I created a point feature service with 8 elements to choose from, essentially converting an 8-item pulldown into 8 big buttons, which I laid out in two columns ("pain" or "joy") for each of four items (scooters, bikes, other human things, and natural things). With a little exploring and experimentation, I was able to configure the buttons and ensure each permitted a photo.     QuickCapture lets you tweak your "project" setup after creation, so I tested and adjusted things a couple of times, optimizing for data sufficient to play with behind the scenes, but not display on the map. Because I wanted to share the results focusing on the photos (with the map simply as context until I get enough data), I used the new Attachment Viewer web app template. This meant creating a view of my feature service (to protect the source data; create item 3 from item 1, below), building and configuring a map (item 4), and sharing it by creating and configuring a web app from a template (item 5). Ta-da!     The Attachment Viewer will work with any feature service used for data collection, so think Survey123 and Collector as well. The rather minimalist display gives enough space for map, context, and image. This will be ideal for educators and students after a data gathering experience! (See my neighborhood scooters!)     The GIS toolkit for educators keeps getting better and better. Take some time to try these apps. I have updated a document about Survey123 and Collector to include QuickCapture as well.   My morning walk has a new appeal for me, and even the irritation of hazardously placed or strewn objects now has a slight silvery lining for me. ... View more

[This article has been updated May 2020. See bottom.] Hans Bodenhamer is an unusual teacher. He doesn't use a cell phone, doesn't spend a ton of time on computers, and engages an "old school" approach to teaching: do projects. And his favorite location for study is distant, dark, dirty, and damp … underground, in caves. If this sounds familiar, you might have seen Esri's 2010 User Conference speakers from the Cave Club of Bigfork High School in Montana.   Bodenhamer used to be a traditional high school science teacher: four sections of biology, one of physics, one of geology. A field trip once included a cave, which led to forming a club, then making maps for local agencies, then doing presentations, then learning about GIS, and then the feedback cycles went organically into overdrive. Students saw GIS in class, did projects, joined cave club, fed passions for the natural world, and wanted to protect it. Local agencies lost employees, needed help, and service projects led to internships and jobs for young people with skills. A local college seeking a pipeline of students collaborated on a dual enrollment class. Cave club regulars earned scholarships, jobs, and experience; alums shared stories, expertise, and inspiration; and public attention grew.   It's not rocket science: engage students in activities that interest them. Seeing a small, confined, unique, and exceedingly fragile natural world, students want to protect it, which requires defining it. "Projects have helped kids feel engaged. It's probably true that Cave Club and GIS have gone hand in hand. Traditionally, we'd use a fiberglass tape, compass, clinometer, and clipboards. Now we use laser instruments to get distance, direction, and angles … but we still use paper. Then we recreate it back at school. And we use a similar approach above ground, like our projects out on lakes. Kids build a sense of a mission, and these local groups have discovered and latched onto that there's a small army of young people who can contribute locally and even wider. Once you get 'em hooked, they will drag you along…"   Along with four sections of 9th grade science (blend of environmental science, ecology, and geology), Bodenhamer now teaches two sections of "Projects in GIS" to students in grades 10-12, many for multiple years. "And because I had some middle school classes for a while, I've taught some kids as many as six years in a row. Students can earn one semester credit at the local college. Most students taking the high school class take the community college credit."   "Cave Club and GIS have directly benefited students in getting great opportunities right out of school. Several received big scholarships. Students in cave club often graduate with over 200 hours of volunteer services and immediately applicable resource management skills (GIS being a big one). Some have received part-time jobs directly out of high school; two years in a row the National Park Service has hired interns directly out of our cave club and the year before a student was given a recreation specialist job with the Forest Service because of her involvement. A couple students have been hired for coveted wildlife technician jobs after high school and while in college as a result of connections they make in Cave Club. Many students who take a GIS class after high school say how easy the college GIS class is. Some end up tutoring other college students. They use specialized skills in our high school class, but just having lots of experience working with GIS makes it easy for them to learn new skills quickly."   There are many good teachers making a tremendous difference to kids, the community, and the planet, with GIS. Their situations vary widely. But they recognize that young people want to be valuable, want to be respected, and want a world worth living in. GIS can help everyone make it happen. UPDATE May 2020: Once again (as in 2010), Bigfork HS students in the Cave Club have earned the US EPA's US President's Environmental Youth Award, https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/bigfork-high-school-students-mont-recognized-presidents-environmental-youth-award ... View more

Just as athletes specialize, so do many teachers. On the other end of that continuum is Dominique Evans-Bye, a teacher at Clark Magnet High School in La Crescenta, CA. She is the instructional equivalent of a decathlete. Her social media stream hints at this, as a medley of GIS, marine science, space science, biology, chemistry, design, conservation, education, and exploration. Not purely science or technology or engineering or math, or even just STEM, Evans-Bye integrates everything. Her current course load is 6 classes in block schedule, with AP environmental science, biology, environmental GIS, and GIS & Remote Sensing, the last two as part of a CTE (career technical education) pathway, across grades 10-12, with some intros coming in grade 9. In each, she challenges her students to look outward, conduct research, engage in projects, and participate in competitions -- activities which also call for attention to social studies and communication, plus a bank of critical "soft skills." Students tackle leadership training from SkillsUSA interspersed with GIS activities (on Esri Academy and Learn ArcGIS) that build content background in their subject and beyond as well as essential tech skills. Opportunities to showcase these in presentations and competitions span the school year.   "Although SkillsUSA doesn’t have any GIS technical skill competitions (yet?) my students have had a lot of fun and success with the Career Pathway Showcase. This competition involves a group of three students presenting a community service project in their subject area. Students can advance in local, state and national competitions. Judging by my student’s scores in the Nationals for the past two years, GIS has had quite an impact on the SkillsUSA community. Our first year competing, we made it to Nationals and won Silver. This year I had beginning GIS students win gold medals at the National SkillsUSA Championships by using a GIS story map to show the impact of marine debris on albatross." GIS is the perfect technology for integrators, and the best educators help students understand the world in a holistic fashion, building the skills and expertise to help make good decisions and solve problems. Far from generating one dimensional specialists, CTE teachers today whose students build GIS expertise tied to real world projects and competitive experiences help them prepare for tremendous opportunities ahead as problem solvers in a vast array of industries. ... View more

I was talking with a T3G alum the other day, and this alum needed to learn an important, powerful, very fast trick. It got us thinking -- it may be time for a T3G GIS Club! A place where people can go in "un-conference" style, to take advantage of our shared expertise, maybe an hour a month, maybe an hour a week for those with burning questions or awesome answers. Maybe it's on an irregular schedule, during the day, or on a weekend, when someone wants to solve a puzzle ... their own, or someone else's. But, hey, this should be YOUR club ... what are YOUR ideas? REPLY DOWN BELOW! P.S. After the first three entries, I need to add "Please DESCRIBE YOUR IDEAS AND DESIRES, since I offered only unicorns, unlimited wifi, and cosmic mind-reading, for which 'Sure' isn't enough. Realistically, what do you seek, and what are you willing to make happen?" ... View more

The ArcGIS Online Assistant is a somewhat bare-bones tool that allows a user to copy (i.e. duplicate) content from username1 in one ArcGIS Online instance (cloud or portal) to username2 in a second ArcGIS Online instance (cloud or portal). It doesn't have an onboard help file so here are the directions that I follow to do a specific project every week (going cloud to cloud). Go to https://ago-assistant.esri.com Choose the location of the SOURCE username1 (cloud or portal) and click the "log in" Enter the username and password of the SOURCE account. The contents will show in the left half of the window. In the center of the green top bar, click the pull-down for "I want to", then choose "copy content", then indicate the TARGET is "Another account" Choose the location of the TARGET username2 (cloud or portal) Enter the username and password of the TARGET account. The contents of the second account should appear on the right half of the screen. Folders are shown in blue. In the RIGHT half, navigate into the TARGET folder. In the LEFT half, navigate into the source folder. Copyable items (layers, maps, apps) have a cyan background; white background items are not copyable (dashboards, CSVs, forms, etc). One at a time, click a blue item in the left (SOURCE) column and drag it into the dashed box atop the desired folder in the right (TARGET) column, and release. When the app asks for "Copy Type: SIMPLE or FULL?" choose FULL, which copies the content instead of just creating a pointer. There will be a little cycling graphic atop the item in the right column while the copying is underway. Repeat Step 9 for each copyable item (cyan backgrounds). ... View more

The ArcGIS School Bundle has grown! It now includes Insights for ArcGIS and Esri CityEngine, in license numbers matching the size of the Bundle in place. No special request is needed, these are now just built into existing and new ArcGIS School Bundles. And, like the previous elements, these are available to K12 schools and youth clubs at no cost for instructional use.   The heart of the Bundle remains the ArcGIS Online Organization account, with its many built-in powers, "sidecar" apps, and connections to the entire ArcGIS platform, all accessible via internet connection. The second key online component has been ArcGIS Community Analyst, a powerful research and analysis tool with couple-of-clicks access to an immense wealth of demographic data (and more) all ready for mapping and analysis. The addition of Insights for ArcGIS enables intense exploration of data, in search of trends, patterns, correlations, and relationships, in a "card-based" operation, again all within a web browser.   On the Windows-based desktop side, ArcGIS Pro Advanced users continue building powerful skills in core 2D and 3D environments, enhancing those with powerful extensions, now including Image Analyst. The Bundle still includes the latest version of ArcMap, but desktop users in schools are largely graduating to the newer, more powerful, more connected ArcGIS Pro. The "new kid" in the School Bundle is Esri CityEngine, a powerful rules-based construction environment for creating large, interactive, immersive urban environments, long of particular interest to educators working with students anxious to work in the modeling and gaming realm.   Like most elements of the Bundle beyond the basic Map Viewer and Scene Viewer in ArcGIS Online, access to these new tools is established by explicit provisioning, typically according to the user's "type" and "role." These can also be managed individually, but handling more than a few in a manual and one-off fashion is inefficient and can be time consuming.   As with all products in the ArcGIS family, a host of resources are available for learning to work with them. See the product pages, the documentation, the Learn site, Esri Academy, and GeoNet for various forms of guidance. ... View more

Hello new T3Gers! Welcome to a great group! Please reply to this note (just hit "Reply" at the bottom) and give a quick HOWDY! intro of yourself! And, alums, feel free to add a WELCOME! note to our new colleagues! ... View more