Reality Mapping vs Digital Twins

This Esri article sounds like a lot of marketing word salad, but the animated GIF is cool!

True Orthos vs Trad Orthos & ArcGIS Reality

First, what is ArcGIS Reality?

I'm not entirely sure, here's what Esri says: ArcGIS Reality is a suite of photogrammetry software products designed to enable reality capture workflows for sites, cities, and countries.

One main feature seems to be the abilaity to create & use so-capped True Orthophotos as opposed to Traditional Orthophotos.

• True Orthophotos vs. Traditional Orthophotos: Why do pixels matter in the age of AI?
• The Different Types of Ortho Images Created in ArcGIS

The animated GIF below demonsrates the main difference between true orthos & trad orthos. 

ArcGIS Story Maps

A compliation of useful resources related to Esri / ArcGIS Story Maps / ArcGIS Online

The Big Picture

• How to create an accessible story structure in ArcGIS StoryMaps
• Narrative structures for stronger storytelling
• Create more engaging impact reports with ArcGIS StoryMaps

Formats

• Introducing Frames | Mobile-first, short-form storytelling for ArcGIS StoryMaps
• Introducing ArcGIS StoryMaps Frames: Mobile-First Storytelling for Modern Audiences

Mapping / Legends

• Legends for storytelling part 1: Optimizing the basics
• Legends for storytelling part 2: Creative approaches

Analysis

• Getting More from ModelBuilder Online: Tips and Tricks

State of the Global Climate 2025

The State of the Global Climate 2025 by the WMO is out and confirms once again what we have already known for decades. This one comes with a cool ArcGIS Dashboard of the 2025 Extreme Events, a great tool for presenting such data.

The highlights: The last 11 years (i.e. 2015 - 2025) have been the hottest on record with 2024 being the hottest & 2025 the 2nd hottest.

The Dance of the Continents

Dance of the continents is a very nice Esri Story Map showing the interplay of plate tectonics and evolution over the last 600 million years. I especially like the first section where you can step backwards in time to see the (current) continents come together first as Pangea and then again as Rodinia.

I Got a Drone!

Fun series from John Nelson!

1. I Got a Drone, part 1: Unboxing & Goals

Future Climate Projections & The Living Atlas

Good information here: New Authoritative Climate Projections for the United States. Here are the data sets directly:

• Original gridded data
• Data summarized by geograhy

Two Different Story Maps

Here are two recent examples of story maps:

1. The Internet Infrastructure Map is maybe not a 'classic' story map as such, but does tell the story of the expansion of undersea cables & more that represents the infrastructure of the Internet.
2. Battles of the American Revolutionary War (by Esri) is a class Esri Story Map = a nice way to curate a lot of information across space & time. But...ultimately...not very compelling.

WMO 2024 State of the Global Climate Report

Here is the 2024 State of the Global Climate Report from the World Meteorological Organization.:

• State of the Global Climate 2024
• State of the Climate 2024 (Esri Story Map)
• Extreme Events 2024 (Web Map)

NetCDF in ArcGIS Pro

I always wanted to try this: Explore a NetCDF file

Esri Story Maps: Categorized Map Tours

This could be a useful template for Esri Story Maps: categorized map tours. Here's an example: https://arcg.is/0b8vi42. The process sounds a little 'campy' & seems to require to have/create a feature service first?

Here's how to create a map tour from actual ArcGIS Data: Create a data-driven map tour

How To Digitize Fast!

Brilliant video tutorial on how to digitize complex geographic features (e.g. glacier margins) fast & precise:

GLOBAL GLACIER CASUALTY LIST

The GLOBAL GLACIER CASUALTY LIST is nicely-done Esri Story Map - good luck keeping it updated!

SAR 'Images' in ArcGIS Pro

Good stuff here in-case you need to process SAR imagery in ArcGIS Pro: Getting to Know the SAR Analysis Toolset.

The Global Wind Atlas

Here are three new data layers & Esri Story Map (complete with a Suitabiliy Analysis) about wind around the world: https://arcg.is/uG9yC1

QC Your Story Maps!

Yep, details matter & Story Maps are no exception here. Here are twelve important steps to take before going 'live' with your Story Map: Details matter: Elevate your story with these finishing touches

GeoAI by Esri

Of course Esri had to get into the AI game: GeoAI = AI + geospatial science. Here is a good articel to introduce the concepts & workflow: From Pixels to Insights: Automating Aircraft Detections with GeoAI. 

Landsat Explorer & Sentinel-1 Explorer.

Landsat Explorer has been aroud & Esri just released a nice tutorial for it: Learn to explore Landsat imagery using Landsat Explorer.

Also available: The Sentinel-1 Explorer.

Image Maps in Esri Story Maps

Image maps embedded in websites were cool back in the mid-1990s and since then there have been a few different apps and tool to turn an image into a 'map'. Now, Esri added that capability to Story Maps!

• What's new in ArcGIS StoryMaps (August 2024)
• Map-based images & ArcGIS StoryMaps: a treasure trove of possibilities

Jack's Book

The Power of Where: A Geographic Approach to the World's Greatest Challenges by Jack Dangermond sounds like a great read & could possibly be used as modern geography 'textbook' for a modern geography class. But $59.99 seems like an odd price: too much to make it accessible and too little to make decent money.