Latest Contributions by CharlieFitzpatrick

T3G friends: Every so often, I am extremely thirsty for any and all info about your activities, situation, and experiences with GIS. This is one of those times. PLEASE, let me know as soon as you can but for sure by Wed Jan 10 whatever you can share about: What/ who/ how many/ how often you are teaching with GIS Educators whom you have helped learn about and/or use GIS (Yes, of course, please also post formal event info at https://community.esri.com/thread/166143) Special notes or stories of interest from your situation (anything goes here: custom info about you, your institution, your students, etc) I need to share such info internally very soon, and am regularly asked for examples from outside. As much as you can share will be hugely appreciated, and the more the better! Thank you all for your efforts, and here’s to even better success for all of us in 2018. (You can reply below (so everyone can see) or email [email protected].) ... View more

Dec 4-10, 2017, is Computer Science Education Week. Fans of GIS will find options in the two-page document “GIS for Coders”http://esri.box.com/gisforcoders (or ‪http://k12.maps.arcgis.com => “06.Apps & Programming”). Quick to lengthy experiences at three levels await.   In “Part 1: Explore Maps, Users, and Missions,” students can check out a bank of videos, map books, and Story Maps. Seeing and hearing the process and end product of GIS users, students can grasp how users solve problems with software. Whether responding to disasters or providing the resources that support everyday life, GIS users rely on core software and specialty apps to gather, manage, and interpret data. In “Part 2: Explore Apps,” students can dive into banks of apps that permit free form exploration. With no specific “right answer,” users can move from simple to complex creations, and discover volumes of patterns and relationships, global to local, without worry of “breaking anything.” (Stuck? Just refresh the browser or choose another app!)   In “Part 3: Explore Software Development,” learners can see the bank of tools available for building, from configuring templates, thru building apps via drag and drop, to simple development and customization, to full-scale coding. For these choices, learners need to be able to log in and store content, ideally via an ArcGIS Online Organization for greatest options.   The 21st century is awash in ever more data — digital raw materials with attributes and properties that can be queried, integrated, and used in countless ways. People who understand the nature and power of these digital bits, who know how to combine and manipulate them, can better control their own lives, and use these powers to make life better for all. Explore!http://esri.box.com/gisforcoders ... View more

On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico, pummeling the island's people, human infrastructure, and natural environment. In following weeks, companies gathered aerial imagery which multiple organizations used to understand the damage and help plan and coordinate the rescue and recovery efforts. On Oct.11, using post hurricane Maria imagery facilitated generously by Vexcel, Esri made public a crowdsourcing tool for marking damage to buildings. Through a simple swipe tool, users could see "before and after" imagery, then indicate with green/orange/red dots their interpretation of the damage. A publicly accessible video showed the entire process. Participants needed to join an ArcGIS Online group via an Organization-based login. Esri communicated directly with some educators and, on Oct.11, posted a public blog, inviting participation. An update blog followed a week later. Over the next month, users generated almost 70,000 entries. Recent developments in technology have made public action easier, but "crowdsourcing" and "citizen science" have been around for a long time. Starting in 1900, the Audubon Christmas Bird Count has relied on community members recording observations according to a protocol. Today, both government and civic communities rely on -- and debate -- the merits of data generated by people who may or may not have the desired qualifications. Quality control and assurance are essential if the data are to be believed. The data generated in the Maria project was impressive in quantity, but there were many entries about which people raised objections. Their number and distribution mean the entire data set would need manual confirmation and editing before being useful to the response community, which is too costly in human resources to do. Education is an act of faith. Communities want young people to learn important background knowledge, skills, and values. Learners seek joy, which can come from extrinsic influences (e.g. earning praise, receiving a prize) or intrinsic influences (e.g. acquiring new knowledge, resolving confusion, developing a skill, making choices, influencing how someone feels, etc). Educators strive to optimize scores of competing forces (time, investments already in place versus those needed, expectations, mandates, learner engagement, individuals and groups, etc). Balancing these in the dynamic world of today means constant tradeoffs.   Esri had several goals in launching this project. We hoped learners, educators, and the public would see better how geographic data, tools, skills, and knowledge can generate benefit. We hoped participants would get joy, on multiple levels -- learning, participating, contributing. In an ideal result, the data would prove valuable for response teams. And we expected to learn, as we always do, from the experiences, ideas, and concerns of users.   Everyone learns by doing. Our lives are filled with imperfect attempts, at tasks large and small. But such "failures" yield important lessons, so we adjust and try again. Learning from "a missed swing" helps us all do better. So we hope you can help us one more time, below, by commenting below on this project (sign in to comment). If you chose not to participate, please tell us why. If you chose to participate, please tell us what the experience was like, what you learned, and what we should keep in mind for "next time." And if you're willing to share comments only in private, please send email "cfitzpatrick{at}esri.com." Thank you! ... View more

Opportunities abound for use of GIS by students in schools and clubs, and for their leaders. Education about these does too. Herewith a cornucopia of links to key items: GeoInquiries provide a feast of intro GIS activities in key classroom content areas, requiring no login, download, or install, at http://www.esri.com/geoinquiries Getting Started with GIS for Educators is a one-page step-by-step pathway that helps teachers or club leaders begin, at http://esri.box.com/gettingstartedforeducators ArcGIS Schools & Clubs Bundle is available to any K12 school or formal youth club, for instruction, for free, at http://www.esri.com/industries/education/software-bundle GeoMentors can help schools or clubs use GIS. Anyone who wants to be or to find a GeoMentor can get started at Map#4 of http://esriurl.com/usk12gis GIS Day is November 15, 2017, though any day can be used as "GIS Day." See tons of events and resources at http://www.gisday.com Computer Science Week is December 4-10, 2017, and GIS can play a role (this week and all year long). See http://esri.box.com/gisforcoders 2018 Esri School Teacher Video Challenge gives a monthly prize to one educator who submits a 60-second video about how they use ArcGIS Online, http://esriurl.com/teacherVideoChallenge 2018 ArcGIS Online Competition for HS+MS (17 states participating as of this writing), with state deadlines in advance of Esri's final deadline in May 2018, http://esriurl.com/agoschoolcomp 2018 Esri Education GIS Conference is accepting presentation proposals through December 1, 2017, at http://www.esri.com/events/educ No lack of opportunity for students or educators! ... View more

In the last month, I've received queries about Snap2Map. This was an app for iOS and Android that allowed an Org member with publisher privileges to create a simple MapTour Story Map with just a smartphone or tablet. It was a fun app to use, but did not mesh well with the expanding Story Map technology. Then under the recent iOS11, it just wouldn't run. So Snap2Map will be withdrawn from the app stores. I have already deleted it from my iPhone and iPad. Esri developers are working on helping users engage their photos into Story Maps, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, think about using a simple Survey123 web form to help students collect some data along with adding a pic. There's real power there! ... View more

"All our K-5 students are doing at least one GIS activity per year." That's according to Eric Cromwell, coordinator of elementary science for Baltimore County Public Schools in Maryland. "Most are doing multiple activities using GIS in their annual curriculum. Some are just to orient kids to where things are. Kindergarten has three activities (like weather, and getting them ready for doing some examining of their environment in the spring and where will creatures find food, water, and space)." He rattled off different activities across the grades. Listening to him describe activities makes you want to spend the day in school, learning.     "But Fifth Grade is great. Every fifth grader participates in our outdoor ed program, coming out to one of our parks for a one-day experience. We provide a 20-minute orientation on collecting data using a tablet with the Collector app, then get them out collecting data in the field for about 2.5 hours. We have all 8500 of them, about 150 per day, rain or shine, thru mid-December, and starting up again in late March, and split them up across four of our county parks and one state park. They gather data relating to biodiversity, and with this many kids gathering this much data, we have some pretty big data, which is all theirs, and they compare the biodiversity of their schoolyard with that of the parks."   Those devices? "We use Collector," he explained, "so we can have a basemap and go offline. We've got 60 inexpensive Android tablets (well, a few have suffered glitches technically or, uhh, been impacted by gravity, but these were really inexpensive in bulk). They're all pre-configured, the students arrive, do their work, and then we bring them back to the office, synch the data and images (removing any with identifiable kids), and get 'em ready for the next day."   Do the kids like it? And, even more, do they learn anything? "I hear a lot of 'Wow, I never realized this was out here!' And we have different parent chaperones all the time, some of whom really know a lot, so they're sharing what they know, and learning from the kids about the process, so there's all this great intergenerational instruction."     But what about content? "NGSS [Next Generation Science Standards] is all about data … creating it, using it, discovering and understanding patterns in the data. Our kids are all collecting data, so it means something to them. They get to see their items in relation to everyone else's. And when we analyze it across the whole year, during the fourth quarter, they are mesmerized! When I saw what we could do with the Web AppBuilder, I was ecstatic! We've set it up so people can explore it without login (http://arcg.is/2yWhTH3)." So, I explored Cromwell Valley Park ("No relation," he added), zooming in to see the park (date selection is sensitive to map scale), then choosing Oct.26. Items popped up, and I clicked to examine what had been collected, and the supporting images. Then I shifted to Oct.25, and used the food web role filter. "We wanted the app to work fast, even with a lot of data behind it, so we've forced people to choose. All the students love this," he continued. "We just keep growing with it. We've been building this over the years, biodiversity, earth science, data collection and analysis … they learn a ton with GIS. And, yes, they're using some in other areas too, like social studies, with GeoInquiries, and they have a lot of interest in adding more to their curriculum…"   So, for learning about The Science Of Where, truly, it's elementary, in Baltimore County. ... View more

Some teachers know, a month ahead of time, exactly what their class will cover, and even how it will work, minute-by-minute. Not Jason Smolinski, at Fairfax (VA) High School. His five sections of 12th grade GIS sometimes don't even get the same content from one period to the next. "I no longer provide written instructions ... Instead, we do a brief reading at the start of class. I then demo a new concept/tool/etc, have them work through a practice with me, and then give them an assignment for the second half of the class period. Since I no longer write instructions, I am free to change topics or examples, even at the last minute..." As part of the Virginia Geospatial Semester, Smolinski teaches GIS to high school seniors, in a project-based style. The school uses a block schedule, so he gets 150 students for 90 minutes each, every other day. The scheduling and instructional style allow students to dive deeply into projects, and expand their exploration. But Smolinski still holds them accountable for learning: "Every few days, I encourage them to recall the last few lessons and write down the instructions or tips they need. I'll then allow them to use it on a formative assignment. When a summative assignment comes at the end of the quarter, they will not have access to these notes, as they should be familiar enough with the processes." Inventing a strategy du jour might cause angst for some. Smolinski does have experience to draw on; he was a GIS analyst for several years, and so has a deep grasp of maps, data, analysis, and the mission of GIS users -- to understand complex situations more completely, in order to make good decisions, in constantly new situations. But, he adds, anyone could teach like this. Taking advantage of events that change by day or even by hour, he engages students with relevant, timely examples. "We do a lot of analysis. Find all schools within 10 miles of a nuclear power plant in this state. Analyze the landcover in hexagons. And, so far, we've done everything this year with ArcGIS Online, which lets us be more creative, share, use templates and the Web AppBuilder. From a data view, it's just much easier and more interesting to work with Online. We used ArcMap [for some projects] last year but we'll use ArcGIS Pro this year, so we can connect more powerfully with Online in the deep dives." So, what do the students think after dancing around with new ideas, new tools, new data constantly, and only a vague idea of what might happen tomorrow? "Many of the kids said they didn't know computers all that well, but learned to think differently, and amazed themselves with what they could do. They don't get a lot of opportunity to think about a technology skill set, but GIS, with this project-based class, and the way we work, shows them 'Look what I can do that other kids can't!' This helps students grow in ways they can’t anticipate." VGS mentor Kathryn Keranen says “Jason and some others are just so comfortable with technology, it’s seamless. He shows something on-screen, puts up three bullet points to guide them, and they go to work. They may be doing things a little bit their own way because of what they’ve learned before, but they are trying new things constantly, and come up with new ideas. They walk out knowing how to use the software to handle questions that don’t come with instructions.” ... View more

Oct 18 - It has been only a week since we launched the Hurricane Maria Mapping Project and your response has been … amazing!  Altogether, over 22,000 building damage interpretations have been contributed since October 11, and the numbers keep growing! In this week, more than 160 teams and individuals have joined. Interpreting damage through the aerial imagery has been a great learning exercise for all. Here are some interesting scenarios people have run into. (Info below is from the project team.) ((1)) This is a classic ORANGE example (Damage Observed), since the structural damage is obvious. Note how the strong wind literally scrapped out part of the roof. Note that, in this case, we have not marked the building in RED (Completely Destroyed). The difference between Damage Observed and Completely Destroyed is always a bit subjective. It is best to reserve Completely Destroyed for cases where the structure is virtually gone. ((2)) Here is another ORANGE example. The roof has been heavily affected as well, but you can tell the main structure is still standing as proven by the shadow of the building. The trees around the house have been badly hit, but typically that would not count for us as damage, unless it is obvious that the trees have hit the building. In this particular case, it is also interesting to see how the pier has been ripped off. The pier damage has been flagged as ORANGE, although some would argue it should have been RED (Completely Destroyed). The most important thing here is to flag the damage! ((3)) This one is really tricky. First, you can see that the color of the roof is completely different. Before the hurricane it was red, and now it is white? What is going on? Well, a lot could have happened between the time the pre-Maria and post-Maria images were taken. In fact, major transformations in the house could have been undertaken, explaining why the roof is completely different. Now, looking the post-hurricane image, you can tell that the texture of the roof is pretty consistent. It looks like a perfectly fine flat roof, so there are no obvious signs of destruction. Also the fact that there is not a lot of debris around indicates that all these red tiles from the pre-Maria image were probably taken away before the hurricane hit. But wait! There is a small suspicious blue rectangle in there. What could that be? If you have spent enough hours looking at this imagery, you may have seen blue tarps on roofs. This is a good indication of damage (more on this later). However, in this case, we play conservative and leave the building alone; this blue thing could be some sort of roof structure on top of a door to the backyard, some sort of a patio covering may be? Just too difficult to interpret, so we move on and look for more obvious damage somewhere else. ((4)) In this screenshot, I am highlighting a plain mistake. Note all buildings are flagged in GREEN, indicating no damage. Indeed, the imagery shows no damage, but please note the imagery is pre-Maria! For this particular area of the island there is no post-Maria imagery. Always use the swipe tool to compare the before and after: if it looks the same… then there may be no recent imagery at all! I left the green dots for the screenshot, but I deleted them right after.  Note that for some areas of the island we do not have imagery after the hurricane. These could include highly forested portions of the island, military areas, or portions of the island constantly covered by clouds or islands (like Culebra or Vieques for which we are still waiting for imagery). ((5)) Look at the animation above. What do you think? Is this worthy of RED (Completely Destroyed)? I would personally have categorized this as ORANGE. Particularly the building in the center of the image is a good candidate to leave unflagged. It is certain that vegetation above was severely affected, but there is no obvious evidence of damage to the building itself. It is sometimes just hard to tell from the air. ((6)) Flagging buildings in GREEN indicating that no damage is observed is good practice. Here we have a good example. It is quite difficult, if not impossible, to see all damage in buildings from the air. Someone will need to inspect buildings while onsite, because glass in windows may have broken, or tiles in walls may have been ripped off, but in this case, with the data we have, it is safe to flag thsee buildings in GREEN.  There is very minor effect in the vegetation, at least compared with other areas. Note that some Palm Trees are still standing, there is no debris around the house and even the pool looks usable. Another good sign of no damage are the new solar panels installed on the buildings: still apparently intact! There is only north of the pool a small corner of the building where some beams seem to be exposed, but given how well everything seems to be, we would not flag it as damaged: our eyes could be lying here. ((7)) If you are a baseball fan, the above will not look pretty. ORANGE or RED, is your call. To some of you the assessment may be conservative, but let’s do not split hairs on this one. Well done highlighting damage! ((8)) A good example of thorough interpretation. Every building where an interpretation can be made is flagged, leaving only those buildings where a clear assessment cannot be made. Being thorough and at the same time not adding guesses makes the best interpretation. ((9)) Looking for more? You can use the basemap gallery to temporarily switch to the Streets basemap. This will highlight urbanized areas more clearly so you can focus on areas where no assessments have been made.   You may be wondering about the blue tarps… Did you run into any? I am sure you did! So what about you adding a comment to this blog post with images showing blue tarps? In fact, I encourage you to post comments about situations you have encountered where you need help, or those where you think it is worth sharing!   As we get more damage assessments mapped and we also get better at it, folks in Puerto Rico are getting ready for field validation.  We are working with local groups to help contrast the interpreted damage with onsite information. In the meantime, let’s keep up the good work and above everything else, let’s keep learning by doing! [[Note (Nov.13): Please see blog of Nov.13 adding important context and results.]] ... View more

The lunchroom of Washington High School (St.Paul, MN) buzzed on Saturday with 175 teachers drawn together by a common vision. This annual "GEOFEST" of the Minnesota Alliance for Geographic Education included veteran teachers from before the dawn of MAGE in 1987 to a few dozen pre-service teachers. Thirty-plus-year vets to energetic young stars guided the swarm through an array of strategies for geographic thinking, by students of all ages, ethnicities, socioeconomies, physical environments, and levels of technology access. From pointedly to subtly, everyone modeled asking questions, acquiring data, exploring it, analyzing it, and acting on it. This is what binds geography educators -- a way of seeing conditions, from global to local, that finds, acknowledges, catalogues, and integrates consideration of the many layers of our world. A number of sessions embedded GIS, from intro on up, as a way of teaching content to a strategy for building students' futures.  But the MAGE event was not the only event of the month for GIS-using educators. Ten days before, Minnesota's GIS/LIS professionals gathered in northern Minnesota and, as part of it, subsidizing for the third time an Educator Day, free to teachers. Over 75 educators came from across the state, for a full day of learning from peers about teaching with GIS, on whatever devices their schools had. "Teachers teaching teachers" helped launch and power MAGE for decades, and drives the GIS Educators Day. Comparing situations, sharing what works, engaging colleagues in doing geography, practicing thinking, analyzing data, seeking and seeing the patterns and relationships ... these generate opportunities for students, community, and common good. Educators from grade school to grad school and teacher school see the power of GIS through the eyes of peers and the creations of students constructing their own knowledge, scaffolding skills, investigating a project of their own design, on up to crafting entries to Esri's competition for high school and middle school students. Geo-savvy educators learn from each other, hungrily. The staggering breadth of tools and topics, evolving instructional landscape, and classroom conditions mean these educators must seek and share, tirelessly. Even employers in school systems seek workers with skills in finding, analyzing, and presenting ever more complex data in ever more powerful ways, learners who make good decisions. Educators who engage The Science Of Where in their own insatiable learning are building the critical thinkers and problem solvers we need. ... View more