Latest Contributions by CharlieFitzpatrick

On the first Earth Day in 1970, I was a high school junior. I remember the day, plus images and ideas of the era: from NASA Apollo 17, Dec.7,1972the first good photo of a small blue planet in space; fossil fuels, speed limits, and "drive 55;" major cities choking with air too thick to breathe; a river on fire; planes spraying DDT over our local pond; Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring;" the word "ecology" entering daily use, along with talk of ecosystems, rain forests, and systems in general; "carrying capacity," and some unpleasant discussions about "lifeboats;" Alvin Toffler's book "Future Shock;" the phrase "spaceship Earth," and the analogy of species as rivets holding our ship together. My world in 1970 was shifting … from permanence, stasis, and my obsession about fish and fishing, toward change, evolution, time, cycles, systems of systems, patterns, relationships … toward geography. I spent the summer of 1975 on the Juneau Icefield, studying climate change. That autumn, the chart of greenhouse gases plus the accumulation of patterns and relationships drove me to become a geography teacher. In one of my college papers, I borrowed this excerpt from the Francis Thompson's poem "The Mistress of Vision": All things by immortal power, Near or far, Hiddenly, To each other link-ed are, That thou canst not stir a flower Without troubling of a star…   National Geographic MapMaker, https://esri.com/mapmakerThose immortal powers, I saw, were the patterns and relationships, the systems and feedback loops; they powered the sun, made rain forests, let people live in deserts and cities, fed epidemics and wars, and shaped discovery, invention, diffusion, and differentiation. Along the way, humans have acquired the powers of conceiving, modeling, forecasting ... and acting. Today, people of all ages can build key knowledge with basic GIS tools. On this Earth Day #55, I hope we as a species will explore these patterns and relationships, study the trajectories, and act with knowledge. Our remarkable planet is a complex system of systems, and we need to care for all things, near or far.   ... View more

Summer is approaching! Recently, we passed the March equinox, when the sun comes up for the North Pole and sets for the South Pole, and all locations on Earth receive 12 hours of daylight. I wanted to see what equinoxes and solstices looked like using National Geographic MapMaker. After tinkering a bit, I built a StoryMap Briefing about it. It's a modest activity, but fun to build, play with, and explore. While humans have been able to change much on Earth, we have not yet changed the tilt or rotation, though there is now discussion that global warming might change the speed of rotation. Explore and enjoy!    ... View more

Get ready, educators in high school and college! More and more students are building GIS familiarity and even expertise at younger and younger grades. Are you ready to help them go farther, think deeper, engage more powerfully, and be truly engaged learners? The Virginia Geospatial Semester serves a year of college level (dual enrollment) GIS instruction as a standard academic course, finishing with an independent project. Most students are 12th grade, but some students take a first year in grade 11 and do a second year of even deeper GIS projects. Across the 25+ schools in this network, enrollment in VGS for the coming school year may hit 1000. Career & Technical Education (CTE) classes across USA are providing one or more years of GIS experience (sometimes general, sometimes focused on a specific industry). CTE courses frequently steer toward industry-oriented certification, for which Esri's "GIS Fundamentals Foundation" certification is a natural target. CTE teachers and students alike are getting ready to take the test this spring. This year, in Virginia, a middle school is running a specific year-long GIS class, led by a long-time GIS-using social studies teacher. Students are building competency in understanding maps, making maps, using layers, interpreting information, generating data, sharing content, and creating presentations. A technology educator at the same middle school is embedding GIS concepts and activities within her CTE classes' work. Starting in 2000, school projects appeared on stage at Esri's User Conference. High school, middle school, and even elementary school students have demonstrated comfort with technology, working with multiple tools to understand information and solve problems. In 2023, a trio of rising 6th graders demoed National Geographic MapMaker, a new tool designed for introducing students and teachers to learning core academic content through a GIS lens. When asked how long it took to get comfortable with MapMaker, the students replied "Maybe a minute?" In the ArcGIS Online Competition for US High School & Middle School Students, participants do a custom research project, generate data, build maps, document everything, and submit the final result as an ArcGIS StoryMap. National winners tend to be in grades 11-12 (HS level) or 7-8 (MS level), but in 2023 the honorable mention for middle school went to a 4th grader. Educators who inherit GIS-savvy students are advised to build your own capacity, so you can help these young learners be ever more impactful. If you know an educator who is nervous about starting with GIS, point them to MapMaker and the Education Summit @ Esri UC 2024. ... View more

In his activities with young people, Nick Okafor, the founder of trubel&co, models the nature and power of GIS. In understanding his story, these truths stand out. Our world has innumerable layers, everywhere across space and time. Not everyone sees, acknowledges, understands, or considers all layers. Mapping data makes more visible even that which is hidden, which gives it more power. Exploring and integrating data geographically illuminates the patterns within layers and the relationships between them. One can understand better the nature, quality, value, and power of data by generating data, ideally about something that affects one personally. Once someone learns to see and think in layers, it is hard to stop. The intersection of layers can compound impacts though feedback cycles. Grasping the interplay of layers can help one conceive alternatives; how things are is not how they must be. Young people have a keen sense of justice and power, and generating maps that show injustice builds power. In profound ways, GIS propels experiential learning, critical thinking, problem-solving, project-based learning, and a STEM-based modus operandi, useful personally in any number of careers, and helpful for communities. For centuries, maps have meant knowledge … and power. Young people can grasp this truth and harness the power of maps with just a few basic GIS tools. See how this remarkable educator is building vision within communities. ... View more

The Education Summit @ Esri UC 2024 (or "EdUC") will take place in San Diego, California, Saturday July 13 - Tuesday July 16. It is open to educators at all levels, formal or informal, from grade school to grad school, "K-grey." Saturday and Sunday is education focused, at the Marriott. On Monday and Tuesday we join the full community of GIS users at the San Diego Convention Center for the first two days of the big User Conference. And the cost? Higher ed license users may have registrations attached to the license, so connect with your license admin, and clarify your days of attendance. ArcGIS School Bundle users (adults only) can attend Sat-Tue for $0 registration, a phenomenal opportunity! Pro tip #1: Share a room, and reserve lodging and transportation as soon as possible, as competition is strong. EdUC is arguably the best four-day event educators can attend to upgrade their capacity to use GIS in instruction. There are hundreds of GIS-using educators, including many from beyond USA, and there may be 20,000 other GIS users, spanning every industry you can think of. Past attendees have commented that this is the happiest, most sharing-focused large group they have ever been a part of. At almost any moment, you can spin around, spot someone you don't know, say hello, and in three minutes learn something new and useful. For educators, the four days can be as exhausting as the first four days of the school year, but filled with the uncommon joy of meeting old friends and new peers, making new allies from some chance discussion, and smiling until you hurt, as you record new ideas and add photos to your collection. Pro tip #2: Bring MANY business cards, spare batteries and cables for your phone, and good walking shoes. Plan NOW to attend the Education Summit @ Esri UC 2024!   ... View more

Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics … for decades, US residents have heard a persistent call for STEM education. (Sometimes, people add Arts, making "STEAM.") Backgrounds in STEM can help young people build up toward a vast array of careers, and GIS can be both a powerful toolset and modus operandi in most of these arenas. One need only look at Esri's Industries webpage for confirmation. STEM education and GIS had a prominent position at Esri's 2024 Federal GIS Conference, when Tonya Wilkerson, Deputy Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency ("NGA") stepped to the mic as the final keynote speaker. "We happen to have many [scientists] at NGA, where our motto is 'Know the world, show the way, from seabed to space.'" NGA is working to boost the "STEM talent pipeline, starting in kindergarten, all the way to those starting second careers…" Key within this is advancing "our geoint knowledge and tradecraft." Besides NGA's prominent role in coping with "bad actors," NGA also is key to humanitarian efforts and disaster response, and understanding all the forces affecting national security. GIS is essential. GIS provides opportunities in data collection, management, analysis, visualization, integration, interpretation, presentation, and policy making. Throughout, people are questioning, designing, modeling, building, inventing, creating, discovering, and sharing. Building these skills -- these habits of mind -- opens limitless opportunity for learners of any age to play a powerful role in "creating the world we want to see" (the theme of the conference). The 21 conference videos, including that of Tonya Wilkerson, are all online. Teachers and students alike can see what GIS users are doing, how advances in software and processes are used in industries from agriculture to big data and generative AI. The 4-minute opening video asks and shows how people are working together to create the world we want to see, and GIS is fundamental to all of it.   ... View more

What a wonder it is, having true teachers among us. Many who love a subject or activity can spend endless time on it for their own joy. But a true teacher is never happier than introducing something and watching a learner catch the fire. With a steady stream of incoming learners, of all different makeups, true teachers seem tireless. We are blessed to have any in our personal lives, and even just one can make incomparable difference, to learners of any age, setting in motion ripples that go far beyond the horizon. Jim Hanson is a true teacher. He "retired" more than 20 years ago, yet there he is, still teaching students and teachers, still organizing activities, still illuminating paths and setting signposts for others. See the full profile for this true teacher who, with a few good questions and a small table of data, coaxed early computers into unveiling patterns and relationships, changing forever how many of us taught, and thus how countless others thought about the world. https://www.esri.com/en-us/lg/industry/education/stories/deconstructing-k-12-education   ... View more

The life of an educator is hard, and it is understandable why some might adopt complex technologies slowly. And yet, day after day, I hear from teachers wanting to use GIS, especially if it helps them do their job more powerfully, more swiftly, perhaps even joyfully, with minimal additional effort. Some want only a little boost, some want eventually to do significant work, and some want to tackle major work immediately. Esri hosts a teacher professional development group called Teachers Teaching Teachers GIS (or "T3G"). T3G holds a monthly webinar. For January 2024, we covered "Teaching Social Studies with ArcGIS Online," focusing on getting started, encouraging those "expecting to jump off the boat first" instead to pause and build critical background, using pre-existing content. Good choices and a ramped and scaffolded approach await, with plateaus where people can pause, explore, practice, and evaluate. The webinar video is publicly available online, as is a starting resource doc (Getting Started with GIS for Educators). Teachers of social studies have banks of pre-existing content with which to begin, no login required. National Geographic MapMaker is an easy way to start using interactive maps, for teachers and students alike. GeoInquiries are pre-built activities plus maps, covering standard academic content, with quick lessons that teachers can use as is or modify. The subsequent pathway leads to signing in and opens more doors to analysis, projects, and beyond. But the hardest steps in building up to run a mile are the first intentional step out the door, and then the first steps forward. The links above can help educators you know. National Geographic MapMaker ... View more

It’s 2024, and the year of a US presidential election. This will be the 17th such election in my memory, starting with 1960. I remember close elections before, but none for which pundits rationally explained how easily the US House, US Senate, and US President could all be controlled by one party, all by another party, or some mix. How is this so? Perhaps a map can help. Here is a map of the "current state of affairs." (The detailed US 118th Congressional Districts layer may not yet include some recent developments; as of this writing, two special elections are pending.) You can explore data in multiple ways, and this map includes various representations of political power. One map layer includes charts attached to it, so selection in the chart shows in the map. Looking at the different layers, you can see numbers in different ways. Of course, individual numbers are not the whole story in politics; various other factors (personality, longevity of service, span of current term, assignments, local context, and so on) matter tremendously, and the mix matters hugely (see blog). But one can see "narrow margin" in multiple ways here. So what? In 1858, Abraham Lincoln (borrowing a biblical idea) noted that "a house divided against itself cannot stand." This year's election features fervent supporters across a political spectrum; this may not be a perfect bell curve. Looking at the map layers and charts may help teachers show how data can be represented in different ways, and help students understand why politics seem particularly fractious and why presenters interested in swaying opinions might use some displays rather than others. Candidates, constituents, supporters, voters, citizens, and residents are not identical sets within vox populi. Teachers, and especially teachers of social studies, have a tremendous opportunity -- I would say duty -- to help students this year cope with torrents of inputs, consider carefully, and make rational decisions. As John McHale noted (see blog), "the future of the future is in the present."   ... View more

The new year inspires us to take stock, course correct, and/or recommit. These are useful steps anytime, but the new year draws attention to the opportunity. Talking with friends old and new, I often remark "This situation has many layers, just like a GIS, which helps me be more realistic. I may want to focus on a single element or layer, but thinking about layers makes me consider the other patterns and relationships in the mix." GIS helps me see, grasp, and communicate the importance of trajectory, balance, and choice. For good health, we need food, exercise, and rest. Our diet needs a mix of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Our lives integrate decisions based on an array of factors, spanning multiple realms and scales. Whether looking at global or local issues, we may be tempted by the simplicity of a single element, but we are likely to be disappointed that way. We need to consider all the relevant layers, choose their weight, explore alternatives that set a positive trajectory, and step forward. We all have much on which to work ... climate, biodiversity, population, food, energy, water, safety, community, economy, education, and more. We need to consider all the layers, trajectories, and choices ... and engage. ... View more

The new year approaches, and you’re surely ready for a rest. But if you have a little time, consider these tasks you can do to make your K12 school or district ArcGIS Online Organization better. The Org is the heart of your license, and all tasks relate to it, so it needs some TLC to run well. [1.] Update the Org’s named leaders (we see these often badly out of date) [1.1] Primary Maintenance Contact = person(s) whom Esri Customer Service has on file as the key contact for the entire license = THE named main person(s) at https://my.esri.com (=”MyEsri”). There can be more than one person named. If there are issues, contact Esri Customer Service (888-377-4575, option 5). [1.2] ArcGIS Online Org “Administrative Contacts” aka “Primary Admins” = person(s) who are key points of contact for automated email notifications about Org operations. There should be at least two, who are still actively involved in Org management, designated in the Org Settings. See https://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools, p.18, and https://esriurl.com/funwithgis329. If there are issues here, like “We have no admins at all!”, contact schools@esri.com and describe the issue/s. [1.3] ArcGIS Online Org admins who are not “Primary Admins” = persons with full admin power but not designated as the full “Administrative Contacts”. Think of these as “equal to Primary admins but with less responsibility”. Again, see https://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools, p.18, and https://esriurl.com/funwithgis329.   [2] Boost your Org’s security (a stitch in time saves way more than 9 here!) [2.1] Security Policies are set by the admin in “Organization > Settings > Security.” Recommendations include 2.2-2.6 below but also #3: [2.2] Turn off the first three options in Access: Allow Anonymous access, Allow members of other Orgs to sign in with their Org credentials, and Members can edit their profile and who can see it. [2.3] Turn off at least the first and last in Sharing and Search: Members who are not admins can make things public, and Show social media links on items and groups. [2.4] Think consciously about your sign-in policies and best practices. [2.5] Logins are best set via single sign-on (SSO), so see https://esriurl.com/k12sso. Also, turn off the permission to log into the Org via a social login. [2.6] Consider the remaining policies and whether your situation needs to engage these. The Access notice and Information banner may be useful for reminding members of key protocols, like not sharing anyone’s personally identifiable information (PII).   [3] Update your Org’s roles and privileges (default User and Publisher are not good for K12) [3.1] Schoolwork often involves collaboration, which is best accomplished by a user assigning over an item to another person – giving by the user, receiving by the recipient. These are special privileges not found in User or Publisher roles, so you need to customize roles to support this. See https://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools, pp.12-13 for examples and guidance. [3.2] Consider carefully the advantage of giving specific privileges to teachers, such as seeing all items, moving someone’s item, or making items public. [3.3] Establish a Showcase role and login. See https://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools, p.23. This is the safest way to share content the school/district wants to make public for an extended time. [3.4] Make your life easy by crafting well-designed settings for “New member default” which are needed for both SSO and username/password situations. See https://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools, p.22.   [4] Set credit limits [4.1] This can be done with new member defaults or on an ad hoc basis by role or individual. Protect against the accidental or purposeful squandering of credits by setting limits. See https://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools, p.27.   [5] Organize content [5.1] Groups and Hubs are both valuable for organizing and presenting good content. Schools should have Groups for teachers, subjects, and all manner of subsets. Schools and districts should have Hubs for presenting content of value. [5.2] Admins should be setting and acting on policies for retention of users and content. This helps everyone optimize their experience by minimizing clutter.   These are all good steps to take anytime. Get a start on the new year when you have a little time to read, think, explore, test, and optimize. Help everyone have a better experience tomorrow. ... View more

During this time of reflection and thanks, who is the largest group you thank? There is a special group, of whom we've all had many, and perhaps more than we might first consider: teachers. The fortunate among us recognize many on our personal list: parents, elders, siblings, special friends, life partners; classroom teachers, club leaders, coaches, mentors, supervisors, colleagues; people who, thru few if any interactions with us, changed our lives -- Samaritans who, knowingly or not, by word or deed, by intervention or even just modeling, spared someone from trauma, lent a hand, or even just illuminated a particular path; those whose works, lives, and stories have given inspiration; and on and on it goes. It is indeed fitting and proper that we pause, give thanks to the formal and informal educators, current and past, who shaped our world … and, ideally, pay it forward, with interest, and intent. ... View more

Before joining Esri, I spent 15 years teaching social studies in grades 7-12. My department head was a brilliant woman, deeply knowledgeable about history, political science, economics, sociology, and culture. But her superpower was in getting students to converse. It is no easy task to get recalcitrant juniors and seniors to both speak and listen about matters that inflame. Privately, she was a “progressive,” but in class, all persons were expected to share views about all manner of subjects, openly, fairly, and rationally, even if passionately. Equally important, everyone needed to listen and be prepared to summarize fairly the thoughts expressed by others. She did this while remaining “intensely calm.” Listening to the news of today makes me long for one more chance to watch my mentor lead a discussion. I have pondered how she might open class. Famously, she often began with an innocent exploration of an event or a situation, and would then steer toward the fundamental lesson. Today, I thought about how I might do the same thing using National Geographic MapMaker.   I began with the US Ethnicity map, modeled so well by a rising 6th grader during opening day of Esri UC2023, using scale to demonstrate how so many people live in a multi-cultural world. I then thought about adding another layer on top – light pollution – and using the transparency tool on that layer to accentuate the populated places. Helping students use data to explore the world and understand more profoundly what they see, hear, and experience is a strategy tailor-made for social studies teachers. MapMaker offers an easy way to investigate the world. My mentor would have loved using it to launch a discussion.     ... View more

As a college undergrad in the early 1970s, my coursework centered on geography, anthropology, and futures studies. My final class involved a 3-week workshop in which futurist John McHale presented a small aphorism he had written: The future of the past is in the future. The future of the present is in the past. The future of the future is in the present. He said to interpret “The future” beginning each phrase to mean “the outlook.” In other words, the outlook of the past would be determined by how people in years ahead assessed it, while the outlook of today comes from what people did in the past, and the outlook of tomorrow depends on what we do today.   In 1969, McHale published a dense 300+ page book called “The Future of the Future,” looking at society and technology. It is sobering to look back on this. But what I remember most from that time was the simple translation he gave us, and his underscoring of choice and action. Studying systems — feedback systems, ecosystems, climate, air traffic, demography, and so on — I saw accelerating change. For instance, world population was at 3 billion when I started first grade and hit 4 billion while I was in grad school studying climate change; now, less than 50 years later, we’ve passed 8 billion. Atmospheric CO2 has been on a relentless march upward since the Industrial Revolution. We face today great and accelerating stresses because of choices made in the past. Today, we craft tomorrow — the future of the future is in the present. We are running out of time to reach some goals. But there are options.   Geography is about patterns and relationships. Understanding a situation is necessary for making good decisions and solving problems. Even complex puzzles can be solved, given the will to accept facts, to seek multiple perspectives, to grasp the interplay between relevant systems, to choose wisely, and to act. Choosing not to change is a choice, as is aiming for a low goal, or choosing a high goal, or deciding to pretend. We all choose and act, constantly. Helping learners today understand the dangers of our world — traffic, disease, tempests, and beyond — is important. Helping learners understand the future, and how we shape it, is essential. We need collectively to make better choices, and act in support of them. Promoting geography education may be the easiest powerful thing we can do.   ... View more