Esri App Builders

This is helpful: Which App Builder Do I Choose?

• You have a web map & want to share it in a cool way: use Instant Apps.
• You want to tell a story & offer context for a general audience: use StoryMaps.
• You have real-time / continously updated data & want to share it with a specific audience: use Dashboards.
• You want the kitchen sink: use Experience Builder.

Basically use Instant Apps or StoryMaps if you want a general audience to interact with maps and use Dashboards or Experience Builder if you want a more specialized audience to interact with data as charts and tables.

Open Pedagogy in GIS Education

Have a read: The next layer: Towards open pedagogy in geospatial education (Abernathy 2023). A few comments:

1. There's nothing inherently 'bad' about commerical GIS products (= Esri products) and there's nothing inherently 'better' about open-source GIS products - it's all in the way that you use them for teaching & learning.
2. GIS teaching & learning does not all of the sudden become 'active' or 'inquiry-based' or 'diverse' or 'participatory' when you use QGIS & an open-source book.
3. The vast majority of employees that hire my students use Esri products.
4. The biggest challanges for open-source GIS products: 1) there is no pratical solution for a Web GIS and 2) for GIS apps.
5. I will continue to use the Esri GIS products.

This Map Does Not Exist!

Or, rather: the world being mapped in this map does not 'exist', other than in the 'imagination' of AI - have a look: This Map Does Not Exist. This is a crowd-sourced attempt to 'guide' AI...the 'meta' version of OSM if you will. Read more about it over on MapsMania.

Donut Cities

That was a new term to me - here are some resources:

• The Donut Effect: How the Pandemic Hollowed Out America’s Biggest Cities
• Downtowns are in decline, leading to the rise of ‘donut cities’
• How to Revitalise Cities: Doughnuts in Urban Development

Less Glaciers = More Ecosystems?

Or, at least different one? Shrink the glaciers and now you have ecosystems on, under, and around the glacier that will need to adapt. Or, be newly-established.

Interesting stuff! Have a read of The great melt will shape unprotected ecosystems (Nature, 17 August 2023) to learn more. The image below shows the Pedersen Glacier (Alaska) in 1917 and in 2005.

There Will Be No “Climate Havens”

There Will Be No “Climate Havens” is a great read & I mostly-agree...except for one thing: the recent flooding in Vermont has shown us that even the 'safest' place in the country (Lamoille County, VT) can be impacted by extreme weather events. Sure, but:

• This type of flooding is something that does happen normally across New England - that's nothing new. What's different now is a) that these extremes get broadcasted in vivid colors across social media in real-time and b) that these extremes are getting more and more extreme due to global warming.
• Lamoille County, overall, is very white & wealthy and thus has the resources to fix the damages and now to adapt to reduce their vulerability. That's why it still is a 'climate haven'.

XR, VR, AR in scientific research

Good article here: Why scientists are delving into the virtual world. But, it is clear tha XR, VR, AR, etc. are not really used (yet) for actual scientific research, but other ancillary functions such as:

• Virtual meetings.
• Training students.
• Educational outreach.
• Controlling your lab machines / robots remotely.

Here's a good quote: "VR offers a repeatable, standardized clinical training method that is not reliant on the quality of the trainer." Or, being able to access an actual simulation lab or medical dummy.

Now all you need is a set of VR goggles & a super-fast Internet connection!

Python in Excel

Nerd alert: Python in Excel!

Marine Geospatial Ecology Tools (MGET)

The Marine Geospatial Ecology Tools (MGET) (by Duke University) is a free, open-source geoprocessing toolbox that can help you solve a wide variety of marine research, conservation, and spatial planning problems.

There you have it - somehow it connects ArcGIS & R via Python.

Photogrammar

Photogrammar (by Yale University) is classic DH: mapping 170,000 photographs taken between 1935 and 1944.

Gamifying Spatial Thinking

Two cool 'geogames' from the RIT: Project Lily Pad and Project EOC - more here: https://www.rit.edu/gccis/geoinfosciencecenter/nsf-reu-outreach.

The Liquid Syllabus

Something to consider: create your course syllabus not as a 'static' PDF, but rather as a dynamic website that displays well on all types of screens.

• Tutorial (using Canva)
• Examples
• Paper
• Video

ArcGIS StoryMaps Briefings

Not sure this is really all that different from just using a plain-old Sidecar, but here are ArcGIS StoryMaos Briefings:

• Examples
• Video
• Tutorial

Brilliant!

 

The Kids Guide to The Truth About Climate Change

The Kids Guide to The Truth About Climate Change by the 'noted' climate expert Mike Hukabee...I wonder what's in it. Plus he has all kinds of other 'The Kids Guide' that you can get delivered to your door steps once a month!

Map Channels v9

Map Channels v9 seems like a nice & quick tool for making personalized Google Maps - worth a try perhaps!

The USA is all white!

Well, at least when you ask the AI Machine: I Asked AI What Europeans Think Americans From Every Single State Look Like, And The Results Are Just Plain Mean.

The Appalachian Trail

Nice scrolly map by the Washington Post: Why the famed Appalachian Trail keeps getting longer - and harder.

Personally I have never understood the obsession with the AT: very little views, tons of rocks & roots & bugs & snakes.

John Snow's Map: Animated