Creating and Publishing a Simple web map using ArcGIS online

Steps
- We will download our data from a GPS receiver as Tracks
- Import the Tracks as GPX file into ArcGIS Online.
- Design the Web map.
- Share the web Map.
-Embed the web map in a web page.

Procedure

1. Connect the GPS receiver via USB port. Launch DNR GPS and make sure it connects to the GPS. Go to GPS > Download All. We will be working with the Tracks downloaded from the GPS receiver( red box). Go to File>Save To>File and save the Tracks as field work.gpx.


2. Launch ArcGIS Online and sign in. In the home page, click on MAP (red boxed).


3. When the map page opens, Go to Add > Add Layer from File.


4. This dialog box will come. Click browse to navigate to where the gpx file is. Then when the file is uploaded, click IMPORT LAYER.


5. The file field work.gpx is imported in as three polygons almost on top of each other. Notice the Change Style window is opened immediately so the Symbol Style can be edited.


6. Here we choose the single symbol using the ident as the attribute to show. Our tracks are T1, T15 and T3 as in the GPS where the data was downloaded from.


7. The pop up window that displays information on the feature can be re-configured. Click on the button to the right of the feature > Configure Pop –up


8. The fields that contain info we don’t require the audience to see can be unchecked. Once unchecked in this Configure Attributes window, it won’t appear on the pop window display.


9.In this window, we will also add an image to the pop-up window display. Since we grouped all our polygons into a single symbol, all the pop windows will share the same pix. Click on Add>Image.


10. A configure image dialog box allows us to fill the details. Note that the image must be hosted online and the url of the image should be supplied as below.


11. Click on the feature and the pop up window should reflect the saved changes.


12. The next thing is to save the map. Click on Save on the main menu. The Save Map window will pop out. Fill in the details and click SAVE MAP.


13. Next we publish the web map we just created. Click on Share on the main menu. The Share dialog window opens up. Check everyone (public) in red box and a link to the map will appear in the window (green box). Click on the EMBED IN WEBSITE


14. The Embed in Website window will come up. The HTML code will appear in the open window (red box). Right click on it and Copy.


15. Insert the HTML code into the source code of the web page. See the HTML code in blue highlight.


16.Launch the web page and the web map will come up. See the url of the web page in the browser (red boxed). The web map is dynamic and interactive.

An Introductory overview of ArcGIS online

  We believe mapping and web maps are synonymous with the future of spatial data collection, processing and especially dissemination. In line with the mission of the authors of the blog site, tips, exercises and tutorials on creating and sharing web maps will enable the mapping enthusiasts to share data more efficiently.

Disclaimer- We are in no way marketing or promoting esri products. We are non-proprietary and work with softwares based our knowledge about them!!!

ArcGIS Online is an online web map and application platform run by ESRI. It offers many features from basic editing to more complex things like creating web map applications online. It is a cloud storage based system and runs on subscription. ArcGIS online is plugged into ArcMap Desktop so the user can seamlessly transfer data from the Desktop to Online resources as a map package or feature service.

This post will start with the basic question- How do I get to have ArcGIS online so I can practice some of these tips?

Having a ESRI Global Account.
Sign in or register at the ESRI site for a Global Account. The ESRI Global Account automatically entitles the user to a free ArcGIS Online account. This account however is a basic account and lacks some of the features of the Enterprise account.
Apply for a Trial Enterprise Account.
Register for this account as an administrator at the ESRI site. This account comes with the full complement of features in ArcGIS Online but 60 day free trial with limitation to 200 credits.
Subscribe for ArcGIS Online
Just as an addition, ArcGIS Online is not a freeware and it is annual subscription based. Depending on the need of the Organization, there are different subscription sizes to choose from.

Another question is ‘What makes ArcGIS Online so different from ArcMap Desktop’ – In my opinion, three main things
- It is cloud based and ready to share within a network or public.
- The interface and map elements and controls are more in tune with modern cartographic software like CartoDB.
- It comes  with different types of base maps.


Register for your ESRI Global account and you automatically can sign into ArcGIS Online with a Basic Account and practice along with us.

Disclaimer- We are in no way marketing or promoting esri products. We are non-proprietary and work with softwares based our knowlegde about them!!!

The ArcGIS online environment is a lot different from ArcMap and this post will try and familiarize you with the different relevant pages and buttons.

Home page


Sign in and the Home page will open. Two pages are of most relevance to the Basic Account Holder-
red boxed – MAP
green boxed- MY CONTENT

MAP page


This page is the studio where all the web map design and implementation is done. We will take a look at all the elements in the red box on the menu bar.

Add – As indicated from the dropdown list, files are imported into the Map by using this button.

Basemap- Click here and the different types of base maps will be available such as Imagery, Streetmap etc

Save – Click and two options will open- Save and Save As. This will open a Save Map dialog box to fill. Saves the Map and its layers to the MY CONTENT page.

Share- This button allows the User to publish the web map through creating a Share lInk, Embed Map in Web Page or Make a Web Application.

Print- Print the map for presentation.

The Green box is a Search Location bar that allows the User to find geocoded addresses on the Base map.

MY CONTENTS page


Red box- This the default folder created during the registration of the account. The User can add more folders by using the NEW option just above the default folder.

Blue boxed- Add Item – Click on this button and three options will appear - From Computer, From Web and From Esri. This will add items such as GPX files, KML Files and Zipped Shapefiles as files into the folders in the MY CONTENT page. Create- This button will give three options on the dropdown list of the Basic account- Map, Application and File. This allows the User to create maps, applications and scenes from the files in the folders of the MY CONTENT page.

Green box- Share- the User can use this button to change the status of the file- to change from Not Shared to Everyone. Delete- to delete a file in the Folder. Move- move a file between folders. Change Owner- to edit the owner permissions on the map or layer or file.

Note the layer highlighted in brown is a Feature Layer and this service map is not available for a Basic Account.
Guess you have registered for ArcGIS online and are practicing along.

Using Symbology in ArcMap 10.2

Using Symbology feature in ArcMap 10.2 helps the User to better convey the map information to the audience. Symbols define the way points, polygons and polylines are displayed on the map to express information in qualitative or quantitative form .

In this presentation, we will be showing how the Symbology feature in ArcMap 10.2 used to express information about the theme- Population.

We will use a shapefile of Nigeria with attribute table containing data on the 2006 Census data such as the Total population per State, Male and Female population per State to carry out the demonstration. We will look at three ways of symbolizing the data.

- Qualitative- deals with non-quantitative criteria like the regional divisions of the country.For this, we will use the values in the Region Field to group the states into different regions.
- Quantitative- deals with actual quantities estimated in figures. For this, we will be using census_Tot field .
-Qualitative and Quantitative- here the two parameters can be combined to symbolize information on a map.

Shapefile Nigeria


Attribute Table of the Shapefile Population Data. We will working with Fields= Census>Tot (Total Human population in the State), census_Mal (Population of Males in the State) and census_Fem.(Population of females in the State)


Right Click on Layer> Properties. A Layer Properties dialog box will open.


Click on the Symbology Tab and the default shown on the Left hand panel is Single Symbol.


Qualitative display
We want to display the map showing different regions in the Country. Remember on the Attribute table each State is under a region with a regionId
We change the Single Symbol to Categories (red box), Our Value Field is Region (brown box). Then simply click Add All Values and the different regions are loaded in from the Value field (green boxes). Click Apply to view the result.


The map display has divided the country into different regions by grouping the states. In the red boxes, the values in the Field-Region are displayed on the Table of Contents under the layer. Symbology is based on categories with unique values.


Quantitative Display
Next, we want to work with the census_Tot field which is numerical or quantitative. We want to use the symbol feature to group states by population size.
Click on Quantities> Graduated colors(red box), Fill in value field as census_Tot and the figures will appear depending on the Classification into Classes (red box to the right). Once Classes are selected, the census_Tot data will be classified along a quantile color ramp.


The population data is now classified according to the census_Tot field (red boxes) showing the population sizes of the States from Low-medium-High using graduated colors.


In this illustration, we switch to using Graduated Symbols to visualize the population sizes of the States.(see red boxes)


Under the Quantities, the User can visualize the data as Charts. The Chart below represents the ratio of male to female in each state.


Combination of Qualitative and Quantitative – Multiple Attributes
Symbology features allows the User to combine qualitative symbols with quantitative symbols using the Multiple attributes option. In the demonstration below, there is a combination of attributes from the regions field (States according to regional division) and the census_Mal (Population of males per State) . Polygons grouping the States into their respective regions and the point symbol represent the relative sizes of the male population in the States. The red boxes indicate the important classification and Symbology system applied.


Start practicing folks and let us have your feedback and comments.

Performing Selection by Location in ArcMap 10.2

Selection by Location is the process of querying the spatial component of the database. This selecrion process usually asks information that have to do with the spatial relationship an object has with other objects around it.

For example, in a GIS, a road normally passes over the land use and a building can be within a cluster of trees. These spatial relationships are defined by the topology.

Today in this powerpoint presentation, we intend to demonstrate the following-

- how to carry out a Spatial query using ArcMap;
- A demonstration of the application of the Selection by Location to helping a Utility Company solves a Tariff dispute.

Feel free to send your comment and feedback


 

Uploading Feature layers from ArcMap 10.2 to store as waypoints, routes and tracks in a GPS receiver

Task
To upload feature layers in Arcmap 10.2 and store them as waypoints, routes and tracks in a GPS receiver.

Things to note

- Arcmap 10.2 just like google earth, only recognizes two types of GPX files- Waypoint and Tracks.
- ArcMap 10.2 has a GPS extension but this comes with a serial com port connection.
-DNR GPS plugin seems to have some technical issues in ArcMap 10.2 but works great with Arcmap 9.

Thanks for viewing, head for the comments sections or feedback page and share your thoughts.

Querying the attribute tables of feature layers using ArcMap 10.2

Overview                                           Video presentation link
Querying or filtering attribute data in a GIS is technically one of the important parts of using a GIS. Fields contain several kinds of values that are linked to a spatial object. In order to get specific information from these data fields, a selection or query is applied.

Task
Our task in this post is to show you how to Select by Attributes using ArcMap 10.2. By this we mean how to query your attribute tables for particular information on them. We have a point layer consisting of some buildings represented as points. We want to query the attribute table to know which buildings are in a bad repair state and are blue in colour.

Procedure

1. Right Click on the layer > open attribute table.

2. Observe the attribute table contains data of the results of a building state of repair survey. We want to know which point satisfies a selection criteria on this table. Criteria - The Repair_ State is bad and Building_col is blue

3. On the main menu, Click Selection>Select by Attributes.

4. The Select by Attributes dialog box will come up. In this box, we will select the field where the unique values we are querying for lies. We make a common sql statement to execute the query. In green box are the fields we are querying and the unique values are ‘bad’ and ‘blue’(see red box)


5. Right Click on the layer>open attribute table. The point(s) that have the attributes that meet the criteria of the selection will be highlighted on the attribute table.(highlighted in blue)


Video presentation link
Hope you are already getting some practice. Feel free to send your comments.

Querying the attribute table of a feature layer in QGIS

Overview of the task

In our earlier post we showed you how to join attribute data tables in a GIS using ArcMap 10.2.
For today’s exercise, we will be working with attribute data in QGIS and making a Selection by Attributes. Our data comprises a spatial layer of different point features digitized on a paper map of Ibadan municipality. These point features comprise of schools, churches and hospitals. A building repair survey was done in the area by the local authorities and we have section of that in a csv table – Building Repair Survey.

Task

• Join the attribute data to the spatial layer. (In QGIS, we had to invent a runaround way by exporting the shape file out as csv, populating it in excel and returning back as a csv/shape file to QGIS).
• Select on the map which point features where building color is blue.

Procedure

1. Digitize the point features (places shape file) on the raster image. Right click on the layer and Save as

2. A Save vector dialog box will pop up. Change Format to CSV and save in your working folder under places.csv. Make sure you uncheck Add saved file to map.



Snippet of the Building Repair survey csv table. We are bringing in details to the places.csv file.In excel,  copy out the attribute column and rows from the building repair survey table and paste into the places.csv sheet.


3. When you paste the places.csv will look like this. The pasted contents are to the right beginning from column C.

4. We will now return the places.csv table back to QGIS. Click on Create a layer from Delimited Text file and the dialog box will come up. Browse to where the places.csv file is and load it into QGIS.

5.       Put the proper coordinate reference system


6. You now have two identical spatial layers. Change the name of the new layer to placescsv so you don’t mix up the two. Remove the first layer –places.


7. To carry out the Selection by Attributes, we will need to build a query. Click on the Layer on the main menu, scroll down and select Query.


8. Our selection is “Building_col” = ‘blue’'. Double click on the field to be queried (Building_col), choose an operator (=) and take the value (blue) you are querying for. The message box gives the result.


9. Right Click on the layer- placescsv and open attribute table to view the rows selected from the Query.


Hope you enjoyed the post. Feel free to start practicing and send your comments.