Here we are at the close of another week. For those who have fared well this week, we salute you. For those who have a struggle that more than one cup of coffee could not fix, we want to remind you that it is Friday and that the weekend can fix almost anything. Before you clock out though, we wanted to round up the #DailyBrainCandiii posts from this week and share them with you once again. Here goes!
When you need to make a quick and simple map on the fly is your go-to Esri’s ArcMap? What if you could create it with the help of Google? Well, according to this article, you can. Google Sheets, the Google web-based equivalent of Microsoft Excel, allows you to turn data into a publishable web map. The drawbacks are that this map can only contain two pieces of information – such as geographic location and data – and the result is not nearly as customizable as what would otherwise be achieved in a platform that caters specifically toward mapping. However, the ease of use does make it a suitable substitute for those who do not necessarily have access to the more robust and expensive software out there.
As technology grows and advances, so too do the trends in which we find ourselves. One of the greatest aspects of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology is that this field experiences constant movement and is never stagnant. This article details a few of the trends currently found in this field, as told by the president of Esri.
What comes to mind when you think of archaeology? Is your vision of a fedora-d gentleman racing through tombs or a group of dust-clad scientists carefully sweeping away soil from a roped off site? Do maps and drones ever factor into your vision of this field?
All industries have introduced Geographic Information System (GIS) technology and applications into their workflows at their own pace, with archaeology slowly making use of the map tricks of the trade.
This article is an example of ways drones and ArcGIS’s Drone2Map feature have helped one archaeological site take a step forward in GIS and a leap forward into learning more about the civilization buried beneath it.
Virtual reality (VR) has been all the rage lately. What with VR headsets becoming a common marketplace item and Pokemon Go realizing its own phenomenon, it is no surprise that this technology has the potential to be continually enhanced and applied on different platforms over the coming years. This article talks about this possibility as it is applied to redesigning and imagining infrastructural changes, using a combination of virtual reality and augmented reality to more efficiently plan for modification to our nation’s infrastructure.
We all know science is important, especially in the field of GIS. This article briefly details Esri’s endeavors as it relates to science – like The Science of Where, its new branding. The bulk of this article, however, provides links to resources within the scientific community, such as organizations, solutions that align with their core objectives, and partner collaborations. It is a wealth of information about various organizations and solutions out there that you may one day need, whether that need be to acquire data or make a connection for a project. Either way, it is there for the taking.
This week’s choice for our favorite map of the week goes to this silly and imaginative caricature of Ireland. This map is part of a 12-map series originally created by a 15-year-old English girl named Lilian Lancaster. In 1868, she reportedly drew the series of caricature maps of the world to entertain her younger brother who was sick in bed. These maps vividly captured the state of affairs in Europe at the time and were published under the pseudonym “Aleph” with the help of William Harvey in an Atlas called “Geographical Fun.” When compiling the publications, Harvey took it upon himself to compose short (not so poetic) poems for each map. The poem for Ireland reads, “And what shall typify the Emerald Isle? / A Peasant, happy in her baby’s smile? / No fortune her’s – though rich in native grace, - / Herrings, potatoes, and a joyous face.” With 11 more maps in this series to go, stay tuned as we share them throughout this year – all with the poems that make you glad you never explored that dream of being a writer.
Anything Else?
In addition to the above posts, we also shared a couple posts on our blog we think you should check out.
For our #MarcoMonday post, we shared our approach to prepping Map Documents and Layer Files for better conversion from ArcMap formatting to ArcGIS Pro Map Projects. Yes, Map Projects. Learn more about this approach and the ways that Integrated Marco Desktop and Integrated Marco Pro can help you to avoid having to create those maps you have labored tirelessly over from scratch within an ArcGIS Pro environment.
In this week's #MeetTheProduct post, we introduced Integrated Rigger. Formerly known as the Utilities Asset Inspection Toolkit, this solution aides the Utilities industry in updating, managing, and analyzing asset data both in the office and on the go.
#DailyBrainCandiii and #WeekliiiRoundUp are inspired by brain candiii, a division of Integrated Informatics that develops Geographic Information System (GIS) training for Energy and Natural Resources professionals.