Latest Contributions by CharlieFitzpatrick

2020 is the year of online conferences! Esri 2020 User Conference:  Mon July 13 through Wed July 15, 2020 Esri 2020 Education Summit: Thu Aug 6 and Fri Aug 7, 2020. Though separated by weeks, the Education Summit ("EdUC") will be a key complement to the User Conference ("UC"); coming just before most US K12 schools open, the EdUC will bridge the excitement of the UC with the realities of teaching in a pandemic.   The UC is open to all, for free, with registration required. For those who were unlikely ever to see the live in-person UC in San Diego, this will be the next best thing. Imagine being at plenary sessions, and hours of the tech sessions most important for you, all from the comfort of home … or at a watch party of colleagues! With a likely audience of many more thousands than usual packed into fewer days, think of this as a chance to see and hear tightly focused content, rather than racing between room and hoping to talk one-to-one with Esri staff in an extended fashion.   Even non-customers can register and attend the plenary sessions, split across Mon-Tue-Wed July 13-15. Persons with an "Esri-access-enabled login to an ArcGIS Online account" (e.g. an ArcGIS Online login "with Esri access enabled" in the Org of a standard School Software Bundle) can use that and the institution's Esri Customer Number to register as educator or student. K12 students using properly configured account info should be able to attend the UC without needing to share any personally identifiable information, with access to hundreds of hours of content. ((Update: See also Fun with GIS 272, with important UC strategies.))   Time for education-focused content and interacting with friends, colleagues, and specialists comes at the Education Summit. The EdUC will feature different blocks for K12 and Higher Ed, so people can attend just their preferred segment or see everything for everyone. The exact schedule is still being tweaked but should provide time both for focus on how to use the free ArcGIS School Bundle and for networking. ((Update: See Fun with GIS 273.)) In this time of unprecedented stress, upheaval, awakening, commitment, and change, taking advantage of tools and perspectives that help us each discover, illuminate, analyze, document, and share is paramount. Coming together and learning to make fullest use of these extraordinary platforms for exploration, integration, and problem-solving is our best way to reach toward common ground.   Check out the Esri 2020 User Conference and Esri 2020 Education Summit! ... View more

[[Updated Aug 3&9, 2020. See bottom.]] In 2014, Esri made ArcGIS Online Organizations available to U.S. schools at no cost. In July 2017, the ArcGIS School Bundle was born, made available worldwide in 2018. In July 2020 the ArcGIS School Bundle gets renewed, for all who either started it or used it since January 1 of 2018. This will happen without users needing to do anything. This new license will be active to July 31 of 2025, still at no cost. There will be two different versions of the Bundle, and two different sizes. Both the version and the size will be arranged in the renewal without users needing to do anything. The "standard" version will work great for most users, while a special "careers" version will include extra software useful for those steering toward GIS careers. All bundles will have at least 2000 logins, and larger situations will receive a jumbo size. Existing ArcGIS Online Organization contents and logins will be retained with the refresh. This is a dynamic environment; components get incremental updates several times each year. Next generation beta versions are already available for Map Viewer and Dashboard, and the new Experience Builder expands on the powers of Web AppBuilder. The hugely popular ArcGIS StoryMaps template continues to add capacities, as do Survey123, Collector, QuickCapture, and Explorer. Latest features are always available from the "What's New" page. Access to all these "essential apps" and "field apps" will continue built into all logins in the refreshed School Bundle. (Any activities involving publishing will still need a user role with publishing privileges). The School Bundle already includes a "premium app," Community Analyst, and the refresh will add its web-sibling, Business Analyst. Both are powerful research tools, and Business Analyst also has a mobile app. Access to either requires the Organization administrator to assign licenses, which can be done singly, in bulk, and as a default for new logins. All those tools in the "standard" ArcGIS School Bundle can be used on any connected computer or tablet, and some even on a smartphone. The "careers" version Bundle will add a set of advanced applications: ArcGIS Pro Advanced plus Extensions and Drone2Map for robust Windows (only) computers, online tools GeoPlanner and Insights, and Urban Suite (which pairs online tool Urban with CityEngine for robust Windows and MacOS computers). (ArcMap is not included in this refreshed Bundle; for more info, contact [email protected].) The refresh makes this an ideal time to explore implementing single sign-on. This streamlines access (even in remote learning), reduces login troubles, and can prevent sharing of personally identifiable information ("PII"). It is also time to encourage users to manage their content, by delete-protecting what must be preserved, sharing only what is needed (and only where necessary), and deleting expired or test contents. Administrators can use the built-in tools and third-party tools to explore the Organization's contents and to delete expired users, contents, and groups (see guidance). Get ready for an exciting year, with tools that can be used at school, at home, and beyond, at any time, on any connected computer, tablet, or smartphone. [[KEY UPDATES Aug 3 and Aug 9 2020]] On July 31 2020, all ArcGIS School Bundles reached an expiration/renewal point. In late July, eligible old model Bundles were renewed with the August 2020 version. In the new ArcGIS Schools Bundle, usertypes play a key role, especially the GIS Professional Advanced ("GIS_Pro_Adv").  As noted above, new School Bundles are of two designs:  "Standard" (includes ArcGIS Online core products + Business Analyst and Community Analyst). Standard bundles have only Creator usertype logins.   "Advanced" (= all of Standard, plus ArcGIS Pro and several other desktop and online tools). Advanced have both Creator and GIS_Pro_Adv usertype logins.   Bundles that have been renewed may show alerts for licenses issued beyond the number available, resulting in "negative licenses." ArcMap is no longer part of the ArcGIS School Bundle. ArcGIS Pro licenses were previously "independent licenses" that could be assigned but are now "built into" the GIS_Pro_Adv usertype logins available in the Org; new or renewed School Bundles have no "independent licenses" of ArcGIS Pro to be assigned. CityEngine licenses were previously independent licenses to be assigned but are now part of "Urban Suite." To resolve these license alerts, revoke the previous licenses. After revoking expired licenses, new licenses can be configured.   Creator usertype can do everything GIS_Pro_Adv usertype can do except run ArcGIS Pro. To run ArcGIS Pro, the usertype must be GIS_Pro_Adv. Admins can adjust usertype easily. Any user expecting to use ArcGIS Pro must have the usertype set to GIS_Pro_Adv. Setting that usertype automatically provides access to ArcGIS Pro  After setting usertype to GIS_Pro_Adv, extensions for ArcGIS Pro can be assigned, all at once.  Admins should consider carefully their new user defaults, knowing that only GIS_Pro_Adv usertype can run ArcGIS Pro.  This "Change usertypes" video (3 minutes, silent, .mp4) is helpful. As the video indicates, it may be prudent to review the default settings for "New User."  License admins should log in and check the account. If you have issues, email [email protected].  ... View more

The 2020 ArcGIS Online Competition for US High Schools and Middle Schools was gearing up for the final quarter when March arrived. Just one of the 35 participating states had completed their work; the rest expected final pushes by students even into early May. Coronavirus brought serious roadblocks as students lost connectivity, devices, guidance, inspiration, and even the chance for fieldwork. Still, more than 500 in 29 states persevered, submitting storymaps about their research projects. See 2020 results There were new guidelines in place for 2020, increasing attention to maps and analysis, limiting use of imagery and video. Coupled with the spring shakeup, most students had a harder time this year. The overall stats camouflage the difficulties, because the 527 entries is the most ever. But one single school provided over 40% of all the entries, meaning most of the other 76 schools with entries had some tough sledding. We therefore decided not to focus attention on a tiny handful of prize winners, but rather to highlight what viewers, teachers, and students should look at in these projects, and especially to see how some students did a particularly good job with this element or that. Go to 2020 results When I was teaching geography to 8th graders, over my chalkboard was a sign: "Geography = 3 Questions: What's where? Why is it there? So what?" This is the crux of the competition: to identify and research a chosen phenomenon in a specific region, discover and illuminate the patterns, and lay out the impact, using GIS. By far the hardest part of the competition is formulating and answering the three questions. This, and the technology involved in meeting the challenge, is what draws some people. At Sauk Rapids-Rice High School in Minnesota, this is why they do the project as part of 9th grade Geography class. All 320 students spent three weeks in late winter diving deep into the process of geographic inquiry. Students from three of the four teachers had just finished projects when lockdowns struck, and some chose to keep tinkering. They came up with a question, wrestled with data to analyze it, and prepared storymaps, addressing a bunch of state educational standards [see 8.3] along the way. "This makes people think. It's high-level thinking, geographic content, soft skills, and some kids even already want to do it when they're older," said teachers Brianne Wegter, Melissa Gebhardt, and Andrew Weber. These teachers followed a great plan: rely on exposures to intro materials in middle school and early in 9th grade, then launch into the project for a good chunk of time, well into the year. Their results speak volumes. Explore all the results. See how some students met and even exceeded the expectations. Enjoy the way students see the world, and investigate and answer their own questions. And plan for the 2021 Competition. ... View more

Coronavirus has bludgeoned social patterns. Among the victims are youth clubs and camps, scrambling to give pre-teens and young-teens a new experience, parents a break from 24x7 oversight, and young adults a key transition step into responsible adulthood. How do we foster exploration, interaction, service, and creative expression? What tools are available? The Esri K12 team offers a free "GIS Club Kit" to any US-based group, formal or informal, needing short-term logins to ArcGIS Online for youth instruction. Kits consist of logins for adults, logins for youth, and a secure, private group inside the K12 ArcGIS Online Org. Users can create and save content, and choose to share within the group. All have access to Map Viewer including analysis functions, plus Scene Viewer, configurable web apps, Survey123, Collector, QuickCapture, StoryMaps, Dashboard, Community Analyst, and Business Analyst … more than enough to keep one enjoyably occupied, attentively learning, and creatively building for the future. For instruction, there is unlimited access to K12 Org public content, Mapping Hour videos, educator GeoProjects, activities and paths from TeachGIS and Learn ArcGIS, web courses and videos on Esri Training, and GeoNet, plus the ever-expanding galaxy of authored StoryMaps (both classic and current). Want kids to make friends and a 2D/3D comparison app? Do a virtual transect of the community? Analyze the local watershed? Construct a dashboard tracking fitness activities? Craft surveys and design apps? Go spelunking in the StoryMaps archive? Explore the world? Need logins with which to do it? Sign up at go.esri.com/gisclubkit. ... View more

Facing uncertainty, would we know to grab opportunity? When she was in eighth grade, Roxana Ayala had no idea that her choice of high school would lead her to the White House before high school graduation, and a job in Washington DC after college. The hour-each-way between her home in Watts and her school in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles helped her perceive and appreciate nuances between communities. Her teachers at the Math, Science, and Technology Magnet Academy of Roosevelt High School offered challenges, expectations, and encouragement that helped develop skills and attitudes that opened up more opportunities. And, time after time, Ayala stepped up.   She was in the first cohort of MSTMA students introduced to GIS as part of their 11th grade research project. Two teachers led 90 students into deep research on the community, with GIS illuminating patterns and relationships. In just a few weeks, on just a few computers, they presented work impressive enough to earn a place on stage at the 2013 Esri Conference. Ayala was the lead-off speaker. Click image to watch the presentation at Esri 2013 User Conference; start at 7:00   A year later, Esri President Jack Dangermond decided to join President Obama's ConnectED Initiative and give software to any school in the US that asked. Esri needed two accomplished students to represent the dream. Ayala and a student from Arlington, VA, prepared for uncertainty, stood on the risers under the blazing lights behind the President, and shook hands with him at the close. "I can still describe it like it was yesterday, it's an experience that's impossible to forget," she mused.     What do you do with dreams, skills, and passions for trees, justice, equity, and action, but no blazed trail? Go to college and be on the lookout for opportunity. Ayala headed to University of California Irvine and focused on conservation, working with the US Forest Service, state parks, and private institutions on restoration projects across the country. But, nearing her diploma and finding herself cleaning and labeling old plants to digitize a collection, it wasn't enough. She sought more, the chance to be interdisciplinary, to boost equity, to make an impact for people. A conversation led her to investigate a fellowship, which led to a job, in Washington DC.     The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy sought someone to help them conduct research and outreach on energy efficient policies and programs that target historically marginalized populations, which include but are not limited to low income communities and communities of color. "There's an analysis of 'energy burden' among 25 metro cities in the US underway. A household needing to spend more than 6% of their household income on energy costs are experiencing high energy burdens, and generally low-income and communities of color often experience higher energy burden than any other households," Ayala noted during our interview, from her apartment, right as Coronavirus-related shutdowns had swept across the country. "Now, with the pandemic, and so many people out of work, fortunately, many utilities have placed moratoriums on disconnections, but a big concern once it ends is that many households may experience significant challenges to pay off their bills which may ultimately put them at risk of service disconnections."   Did she feel prepared for this job? Ayala chuckled. "I was used to being out in the field for hours a day. I'm picking up the policy part on the job, learning the acronyms and policies. It's been almost a year and I feel like I'm just scratching the surface. There's a lot of learning, a lot of reading. But, off work, I find myself critically thinking of these issues as they relate to energy. I don't get to do GIS as part of my work right now, but it's definitely there in how I look at things."   So, what about high school -- did using GIS and doing the research project prepare you for this? "Absolutely. Doing complex, meaningful research at a young age, building perspectives, looking at data, integrating disciplines, doing presentations, it all empowered me, made college feel easier. And GIS … having a skill that employers are looking for … employers are impressed when I say I've been using GIS since high school. Having these opportunities definitely affected my trajectory, helped me get where I am right now. I love the work I do … I'll keep doing things related to environmental justice, specifically work that seeks to create equitable, low-carbon cities … making a difference … just like my teachers, Ms.Ramirez and Ms.Im, who planted the seeds for radical change and are still wonderful mentors."   From Watts to Washington is a substantial journey. Would that every student could have teachers so willing to help students get started in the right direction. ... View more

Friends, we don't all get to share what's happening in our situations as much as we used to, and this social distancing is a historic event. Please share a little here (or in the StoryMap attached to Fun with GIS 264) about your situation at school. Are you and students able to do GIS-based instruction? Do you find any silver linings in the current configuration? Is there any clarity about what will happen for current students, or for next fall? Please share anything of note. ... View more

Facing disaster, the best odds for effective response lie with the generalist. Adaptability is crucial. Prior knowledge is useful, but especially about problem solving. At least as important are willingness to attempt, to fail without discouragement, tenacity in action, and an insatiable appetite for learning. These traits combine flexibly and repurpose quickly and easily, giving the best chance for success under the widest array of unpredictable conditions. We have been pitched thru a one-way door into a bad-dream house of glass and mirrors, with collective vision of an exit clear, but proper path unlabeled, and people pointing in many directions. Parents are thrust into teaching at home; teachers are forced to abandon historic patterns; youngsters are isolated; and those less fortunate grow even more so. No direction is ideal. Never before have so many understood intestinally the meaning of "unprecedented." In these conditions, what is the role of education? As always, it is to provide both roots and wings: an understanding of what is in place and how it came to be, and the ability to reach out and venture beyond. Of course, the parameters vary by age, experience, and situation, but a third grader can appreciate danger without being immobilized just as a high school senior approaching graduation can grasp the vagaries of "the future." Each may be best served by focusing on what can help them adapt to uncertainty: ability to ask questions, gather information, explore situations from multiple perspectives, analyze data and integrate diverse elements, and act. This is what GIS practitioners do. A quick look at Esri's Industries page proves that these tools and skills have universal relevance. Some skills are built in seconds just through exploration; the more elaborate take hours of thoughtful study and practice. But the more skills, tools, data sets, perspectives, examples, and experiences one assembles, the more capable one becomes. This is why I have witnessed employers fidget with excitement when seeing high schoolers' projects, and college recruiters' eyes light up when hearing middle schoolers share their experiences, and civic leaders' jaws drop upon grasping what elementary students have discovered. We cannot choose the winds and currents that greet us; we can only choose how we cope with them. To support learners most effectively, we need to help them construct a framework for understanding conditions, tools with which to explore and experiment, skills for thinking critically and solving problems, perspectives that honor diversity, and an insatiable thirst for learning. This is GIS -- a toolbelt, a mindset, a knowledge base, and a vision. It's never too soon -- or too late -- to begin learning. If you are a parent or teacher, feeling adrift, just discovering the indelible blazes of this trail, and pondering whether and where to begin, check out the Mapping Hour videos. Build a path for your learners. ... View more

Crave a ramped intro to teaching with the online elements of the ArcGIS School Bundle? Check out the "Mapping Hour" video series (https://esriurl.com/mappinghour). Hours 01-05: Fundamentals of ArcGIS Online Map Viewer and Scene Viewer Hours 06-10: Data, publishing, Living Atlas, analysis, web apps Hours 11-15: Field data collection apps, dashboards, Community Analyst & Business Analyst Hours 16-20: Story Maps, projects, and other highlights ... View more

Struggling to engage students who are stuck at home? Esri offers mapping and analysis tools free to schools for instruction. "But, I'm a 'suddenly-teaching-parent,' while my kids' teachers are trying to learn to teach online! We need something relevant, and interesting, and fast!"   "Mapping Hour" is a collection of 20 informal one-hour instructional videos about ArcGIS Online for parents and teachers, with chunks that scaffold concepts and skills. They cover desires from the basic "I need a map my class can see" to the lofty "How do I help my child use these final weeks of high school to do something powerful?" Videos posted starting Monday April 6, with access remaining open to all, for free.   Watch Trailer Charlie Fitzpatrick, Tom Baker, Kylie Donia, and Joseph Kerski, all from Esri's Education Industry team, present to parents and teachers a suite of software tools, academic content, and instructional strategies that help students from grade school to grad school learn to spot patterns, illuminate relationships, and build captivating presentations. A steady climb through ArcGIS Online, Survey123, Dashboard, Business Analyst, and StoryMaps, using resources from the Training, Learn ArcGIS, and Schools teams, will show viewers what is possible and equip them to engage young minds eager for opportunity.   Notes: Mapping Hour videos roll out starting Monday April 6, at esriurl.com/mappinghour. ((Update: All 20 videos are in place as of Saturday April 25.)) The first three hours engage ArcGIS Online without requiring a login. Remaining activities require an ArcGIS Organization login to replicate. Any user can use your own Org login ("Publisher" or equivalent), teachers can request software for your school (be sure to check your school's status on the map first), and parents or teachers without access can request a temporary Org login (Publisher level) from Esri Schools program (must be 18 or over). ... View more

(Note: The ArcGIS for Schools Bundle has been updated since this blog was posted. The current extension carries K12 instruction users to July 2027 but please see the request page for the most up to date information.) In a world turned upside down, here is some stability. The ArcGIS School Bundle will be renewed through July 2025, at no cost to users. All School Bundle licenses showing any online or desktop use in the last couple of years will be automatically renewed. Existing ArcGIS Online subscription users and their content will be maintained. Users do not need to do anything to make this renewal happen.     Across USA and around the world, primary and secondary schools and formal youth clubs can acquire and use the software for instructional purposes for free. Thousands of US schools started using GIS after Esri made it available for free in 2014. Thousands more schools around the world joined when Esri launched its global program in 2018, supporting activities like that seen on stage at Esri UC2019. And today, with distance learning and "school at home" mandated by the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands more are engaging with free resources, discovering what is possible.     It's a challenging time around the world. The ability to grasp changing conditions, spot patterns, illuminate relationships, and identify alternative strategies for moving forward is essential for our survival. All students will be able to engage the ArcGIS School Bundle to support this for free for instructional use, for at least the next five years, anywhere, on any device with internet access (computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone), whether issued by a school or owned by the family. ... View more

Panelists: Sarah Hurd, Jefferson County Public Schools (Colorado) Ashley Melville, Cobb County Public Schools (Georgia) Chris Bunin, Albemarle High School (Virginia) Harris Payne, Nebraska Department of Education View the webinar recording. ... View more