Say hello to ArcGIS.com

Owned by Tom Hammond
Last updated: Jun 27, 2018
6 min read

What is it? 

  • Simple answer: It's an online, browser-based GIS. Created by Esri.
    • What's a GIS?
      • 'Geographic Information System' – basically, software that lets maps and spreadsheets do things together. 
      • Most other GIS works client-side (that is, software installed on your computer); ArcGIS.com is the first example of a powerful online GIS – nothing to install, you just log in.
    • What's Esri?
      • Esri is a company, the world's leading provider of GIS tools. The term started as an initialism (Environmental Science Research Initiative) but is now just a term.
      • Esri is a logical place for teachers to look when integrating GIS (and geospatial tools in general) to their classroom. Among other things, they provide free access to ArcGIS.com for K-12 schools. From that same source: "Every public, private, home school, and youth-serving club is eligible." 


Where is it?


How does it work?

  • First, log into the Building 21 institutional server
  • Now, let's look at the first page and identify main features

    • At the top: There are seven tabs: Home - Gallery - Map - Scene - Groups - Content - Organization. These tabs are (almost) always visible when working in ArcGIS.com. (They are hidden, but still accessible, once you're working in a map.)
      • The Organization tab is active right now, meaning that info on the rest of the page is about the institutional (organizational) account for Building 21
    • On the main stage: The Building 21 organizational page has three tabs. The overview tab is active, showing a dashboard of information about the account. 
    • In the top right, you can see your account and a search box. These are always available, and often useful.

  • Now let's fire up some maps!
    • Click on your Content tab (top row) 
    • The content tab shows things that you have created. It's like the list of files in Google Docs. If you haven't created anything yet, the list will be empty. Mine is full of stuff (see above) – there's maps, there's layers, there's services, there's applications. All can be sorted and searched in various ways – eventually, you'll need to use these.
    • Get started with map creation: Click on 'Create' (mid-left) and select 'Map')
    • Give your map a name (I used 'B21 summer 2018 PD day 1') and at least one tag. (Tags are used to search and/or organize materials; don't worry too much about them at this point.) I used 'B21' as my tag.
    • Now you're in your map – the default is a topographic map centered on the United States.
    • Note that you can change the basemap, depending on your needs. I'm selecting a Dark Gray Canvas. (This is great for showing light-colored, detailed data. A Light Gray Canvas works well for dark-colored data.) 
    • Note that you can (of course) browse the map – zoom in, zoom out, pan left/right/up/down, or even use the search box  (top right) to jump to a location or a feature. Geography Nerd Opportunity for Fun (GNOfF): Type in your last name and see if there are any towns or streets or parks that share your name. (Favorite example thus far: Popejoy, Iowa! Popejoy Ditch, Indiana! Popejoy Hall in Albuquerque, New Mexico!)
    • From this point, you can add layers of data on top of the basemap, using either data that you create (by drawing on the map, labeling the map, or uploading your own spreadsheet) or data that you borrow from someone else (through the Add button, mid-left). Adding data takes a few steps, so I'm going to skip ahead by giving you a map that you can use while we keep exploring features. Open up the Tree Planting Classroom Map - All Blocks from our 2017-18 grant work. (Hint: I recommend opening the link in a new tab.)
    • Note that we start out on the map's Legend (highlighted blue text, mid-left). This shows the symbols for any currently active layer. This map has (essentially) two active layers: one yellow & orange layer showing trees on Building 21's property and one green/brown/blue layer showing trees elsewhere in Allentown. 
    • I spend most of my time on the Content tab (see below – highlighted blue text, mid-left). This lets me see ALL the layers, not just the active ones. 
    • From here, you can do LOTS of things
      • Turn layers on and off. Note that the layers stack in the order you see them – the 'Allentown Percent Canopy Cover' sits on top of 'Allentown Property Crime', so you can't view the latter if the former is turned on. 
        • Note that some layers have sub-components. If you click on the arrow to the left of the basemap (unhelpfully called 'Imagery with Labels'), you'll see that the basemap has two layers: the map ('World Image') and the labels ('World Boundaries and Places'). The '2016 USA Population Density' layer has many sub-components: layers for countries (largest unit) on down to Block Group (smallest unit)
      • Re-organize layers – if needed, you can drag layers up and down in the list, with some restrictions. 
      • Control layers – try clicking on the text for 'Building 21 Property Trees'. This will open a set of controls immediately underneath that layer title

        • With these controls, you can again do many things
          • Show/hide the legend for that layer's active data display
          • Show/hide the data table for the layer
          • Change what data is displayed or the way it's displayed. For example: Change the icons to a different color scheme or size, or change the information shown by the icons. 
          • Filter the data. Try filtering for 'Common name' is 'American linden'
          • And more! See the screenshot below to see additional options. I'm adjusting the transparency (which is useful for polygon layers, such as 'Allentown Percent Canopy Cover')

      • A few challenges for you to try
        • Figure out which layers were created by members of this project and which layers we borrowed from elsewhere (e.g., Allentown city government)
        • The 'Allentown City Trees' layer is really hard to see. You can fix this by either
          • Changing the way the icons render on the map
          • Changing the basemap under the icons. Right now they're displayed against 'Aerial 2017' – can you find a different underlying layer to make them stand out more clearly?
        • The '2016 USA Population Density' layer behaves very differently than the others. Turn on the layer and experiment with zooming in and out. What changes? Why does it change? 
        • Add new data to the map. See what happens when you're just adding from smaller pools ('My Content' or 'My Organization') versus larger pools ('ArcGIS Online'). If you're feeling really ambitious, see what happens when you add a 'Map Notes' layer!
        • Very important: Save a version your map using SAVE AS. (Some of us have editor rights to this map – if we hit 'Save', it changes the map for everyone!) Check to make sure you succeeded by going back to your Content list (accessible via drop-down on the top left) 


Now you tell me

  • What is ArcGIS.com
  • Where is it?
  • How does it work?Â