Esri Australia: Andrew, how significant was the City of Melbourne’s decision to make its spatial data freely available?
Andrew: It’s hugely significant. Melbourne now sits alongside New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and other major cities as one of the first in the world to contribute to a new World Topographical Map, and join the Community Maps Program. From a local perspective, ratepayers – as well as the broader community – can now freely access Melbourne’s spatial data as a basemap, which displays building sites, parcel boundaries, tree locations and other layers.

EA: Can you tell us a bit about the Community Maps Program? What exactly is involved?
A: The Community Maps Program is an Esri initiative that seeks to make local authoritative GIS content more accessible to the community – by developing a suite of multi-scale global basemaps that can be used in a wide variety of applications. As part of the Program, councils can contribute their own basemaps – which are then made freely available to the public through ArcGIS Online. Councils can choose to upload 23 different types of data including trees, building footprints, trails and landmarks.

EA: How do contributors benefit from the Program?
A: Essentially, it’s an easy way for councils to share maps with their stakeholders – whether that’s businesses in their region, or members of the public – as well as the global GIS community. It’s free to contribute, free to access and there are no ongoing infrastructure costs. For example, when it comes to the City of Melbourne, they now have a way to share their spatial information with the community. This has been particularly valuable during major events such as their New Year’s Eve fireworks.

Providing open access to its spatial data also means users can not only view maps, but also create their own customised maps with unprecedented levels of detail. Businesses often have maps on their website of their store locations or the areas they service – and previously, they’ve had to rely on some online base maps that haven’t been regularly updated or verified. By contributing to the Community Maps Program, Melbourne residents and businesses now have open access to an incredibly accurate and verified base map they know they can trust.

EA: Can you tell us about the Local Government Information Model? What role does it play in the Community Maps Program?
A: The Local Government Information Model is a collection of valuable resources created and maintained by Esri for local government GIS users. It is the common data model at the heart of the Community Maps Program, and is where local governments migrate their data for review, before it is imported into a community map, like the World Topographical Map.

EA: In the recently released Local Government Benchmark Study, over 70% of councils indicated they would consider making their spatial data freely available to the broader community. What are the incentives for councils in going down this path?
A: From a community perspective it gives ratepayers ongoing and reliable access to an authoritative and trustworthy resource that’s always available. It encourages information-sharing between councils and their communities. Councils can also reduce their administrative costs by having an accessible, low-cost basemap that can easily be updated.

EA: Thanks Andrew.

Dubbed ‘Big Bob’ – in honour of long-serving Sunshine Coast councilor and former mayor Bob Abbot – the 73 metre giant was found hidden in the rugged forest of Conondale National Park, using a combination of GIS and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology.

You can read more about how we made the discovery here – but basically, in addition to finding ‘Big Bob’, we were also able to generate an extremely accurate picture of what Conondale National Park actually looks like – right down to the rocks, shrubs, landslips and former forestry tracks of the bare landscape. The two videos below show a visualisation of LiDAR data from the area:

• Visualisation of Vegetation GIS Mapping using LiDAR; and,
• Vegetation Mapping using LiDAR Point Cloud Data – 3D Visualisation.

However, we wanted to be sure of the accuracy of the method – and after an off-track field trip, we were able to get cold, hard proof that it works!

Late last year, we thought we would put the GIS and LiDAR solution to the test, by conducting a ‘quality assurance’ exercise. Together with my colleagues – Dean Derby and Lee King – we took Julia and David Pennisi (who are two famous Australian tree climbing champions… known as ‘climbing arborists’), out to the tree to climb and measure it!

It was incredible to witness David climbing to within four metres of the highest branch, and then using an aluminium extension pole to hoist a tape measure to the highest branch.

Communicating via CB radio with Lee at the base of the tree, David dropped the tape measure and we were able to establish the height at 72.84 metres – just 6 centimetres different to the 72.90 metres measured by LiDAR.

It was a fun and fascinating exercise – and proved once and for all just how accurate we can be by leveraging GIS and LiDAR technologies to get a clear and detailed picture of the landscape and its features.

If you’re interested in LiDAR technology you might also like to check out my university thesis – ‘Application of LiDAR Technology Mapping for Vegetation Management – A Survey of south-east Queensland’s Professionals’.

Toby Clewett, Geospatial Analyst, Sunshine Coast Council.

Right now we all appreciate the value of GIS. For those of us involved in early GIS teaching and research (this scribe happens to be one of them), GIS was not always as mainstream back then as it is now. The seeds of growth were there, but it would have taken a fair bit of imagination to think this type of technology would be in use today in the form we know now. I don’t believe this transformation has happened by accident though; we require people with passion and vision to drive innovation. I believe this is exactly what has happened over the years.

One person has made a significant change in the way the spatial industry has evolved over the years. When I used PC ARC/INFO in 1990 there was great excitement when I printed a map using the ArcPLOT tool. Today, we have a true Enterprise GIS and to catch up with times, GIS in the Cloud. I am sure many would agree that Jack Dangermond and Esri should be complemented for being such a visionary in their own right and raising the profile of teaching of all things Spatial.  

As a Remote Sensing and Imagery professional I have watched how GIS technology has evolved over the years. What I am really pleased about is how Esri is framing the view that GIS is not complete without Remote Sensing and imagery being part of the picture. Esri has been instrumental in adding Remote Sensing and Imagery analysis functionality to the ArcGIS product lines, with the latest release of ArcGIS 10.1 featuring enhanced image processing capabilities. The idea is simple: to get a better understanding of the world through remote sensing and demonstrate how it can aid in geographic analysis and informed decision-making. Satellite and airborne imagery, once considered a simple backdrop for mapping, is now readily available from ArcGIS Online and a great source of valuable content for ArcGIS.

There is now even better news for the GIS community who would like to get involved with advanced Remote Sensing and Image analysis capability. ArcGIS is now a trusted and reliable bridge for those individuals and organisations wanting to have within their umbrella a suite of Geospatial technology encompassing the best of the Raster and the Vector world.

Esri has been involved in close partnership with a company called Exelis Visual Information Solutions (VIS), a company well known for its ENVI line of products. ENVI has been the software of choice for high-end imagery Analyst and Remote Sensing users and is seen as a trusted scientific, robust and reliable product. The exciting thing about this partnership is that ENVI technology is now directly available to ArcGIS users and can now be seamlessly utilised, either in the ArcGIS desktop/server or in the cloud environment. ArcGIS users will now be able to carry out their Image Analysis task in the ArcGIS environment if they chose to do so; thus eliminating any need to move back and forth between software and packages. I think this is a very neat solution for universities and research institutions that specialise in teaching both GIS and Advanced Remote Sensing. Integrating ENVI and ArcGIS would allow students and researchers to access ENVI’s advanced image analysis tools directly from ArcGIS for Desktop or Server. On the other hand, Image Analysis results obtained using ENVI can be added to ArcGIS. So this integration truly works both ways. The ENVI suite consists of ENVI, IDL, ENVI LiDAR for Desktop users and ENVI for ArcGIS Server for those wanting to deploy ENVI functionality in the Cloud. I think students could truly benefit from these integrated and powerful technologies. So why not contact Esri Australia and find out the possibility of adding this powerful set of Remote Sensing tools and significantly enhance your GIS capability for your teaching and research? I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Until next time,

Dipak P.

Dr Dipak Paudyal
Principal Consultant
Remote Sensing & Imagery, Esri Australia

This release is very interesting as it includes a mix of updates to existing features, some new data enrichment capabilities being rolled out globally in a staged approach, and also, for the first time, a couple of pieces of functionality that are in general beta mode for all organisations with an ArcGIS Online account.

Network Analysis as a service

Let’s start with Task Services. Back in December, a ready-to-use network analysis services API was added to ArcGIS Online to complement the existing geocoding services API. This was a big enabler for developers, who could now add routing, directions, closest facility, and service area analysis capabilities to their applications directly through the API. In the March release, these services are exposed in a number of ways. With an organisational account, users will now see a Directions button on the toolbar above the map in the standard Map Viewer. Clicking this exposes a UI for building a route between one or more locations with step-by-step directions and interaction with the map.

Generating a route and directions

Applications that already leverage this capability include the Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS, and the recently released ArcGIS Viewer for Flex V3.2.  It can also be seen in the new Find Nearby capability in Esri Maps for Office 2.0 that was made available this week. Users can now select features on a map they have created in Excel, and then use the network analysis services to, for example, locate nearby features in another layer within a 10 minute drive time area.

For me, this new capability is less about the way it looks/acts in these user interfaces, and more about the fact that I now have this new option to consume these types of services in applications that I build myself.

New layer types

Still on the Map Viewer, the list of layer types you can add to a web map has been extended to include OGC WMTS, GeoRSS feeds and generic tile layers. The latter is a set of web-accessible tiles that reside on a server as files rather than presenting as a service. For more information on this, take a look at this post in the Esri blog.

Also related to layers in web maps, support for ArcGIS Server 10.1’s dynamic layers has been added, which means you can now modify the symbology on a map service, not just a feature service as was previously the case. Obviously the map service needs to be coming out of a 10.1 server.

More content types

This release adds support for a range of non-spatial content types to be added to an ArcGIS Online organisation. It includes the following file types: DOC, DOCX, JPG, JPEG, PDF, PNG, PPT, PPTX, TIF, TIFF, VSD, XLS, and XLSX, as well as a very useful URL item type. The latter opens up using the ArcGIS Online catalogue as a means of curating references to anything that can be reached through a URL.

Geo-enrichment of spreadsheets

This is a somewhat nascent, but very interesting element of the release. With Esri Maps for Office V2.0, users can now enrich their spreadsheets with demographic and lifestyle data. So for example, if your spreadsheet has rows including cities, and associated data from your enterprise, you could use the ArcGIS platform to add columns of data for say, population count, in different age brackets, income information or a range of other variables.

If you extend the thinking around this, Esri Maps for Office is just one way of consuming this kind of capability. Like the Network analysis and Geocoding task services mentioned earlier, imagine a developer being able to build this geo-enrichment in to their application.

Geo-enriching a spreadsheet with income data

The screenshot above gives you an indication of how it could work using some simple data for US states. The layer with my existing columns has been added to the map, and then a new column for the stats relating to income between $15,000 and $25,000 is added to the sheet, via Enrich Layer.

This access to demographics and lifestyle data also manifests itself through the information popup that is displayed when you click on a feature on a map in Esri Maps for Office. You can now access Infographics that provide summary data for different categories such as Age, Income, Household size etc, for the feature you’re looking at. In the example below, I clicked on Nebraska and then the Infographic link that appeared in the popup. Households by Income was one of several available Infographics.

Viewing Infographics for a feature

Right now, this feature has significant data for the US, Canada and some countries in Western Europe. Watch this space for broader coverage, including Australia.

Applications to go

As well as Esri Maps for Office 2.0, Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS and the ArcGIS Collector apps, the March release enhances some existing ArcGIS Online web application templates while adding a new one. To recap, these templates are designed so that if you have built a web map, you can rapidly wrap it in a configurable web app that can also be hosted inside ArcGIS Online. Alternatively, you can download the source of the app, make it your own and then host it from your own infrastructure.

The Swipe and Editing templates have been updated to make them easier to use (particularly on mobile devices), while the new addition is an app called the Parcel Viewer template. As the name suggests the app provides a means for citizens to access information about land parcels, although it’s actually a lot more useful than that. As a configurable app, you can use it as vehicle for interacting with any feature layers you publish to your web maps.

Repurposing the Parcel Viewer template

The example above shows the Parcel Viewer in use as a Hydrant Finder. Check out this blog post on how to configure the Parcel Viewer for many different purposes.

On the subject of applications, another move towards ArcGIS as a platform, is a facility now in place for developers to register an application with ArcGIS Online and obtain a unique AppID . Early days for this, but the vision for AppID is that it will be the foundation for authentication, distributing apps, accessing billable services, and getting usage reports. If you are a developer, make sure you take a look at the new ArcGIS for Developers site, which is dedicated to maximising your experience as a developer interacting with ArcGIS.

A taste of things to come

For the first time in an ArcGIS Online release, beta functionality has been made available to all users with organisational account for review. The first of these is integration between ArcGIS Online and Enterprise authentication. This is based on federating in an enterprise identity provider using SAML. This highly requested capability will, in its final release, provide the capability to leverage authentication that has already occurred inside the enterprise, and pass that on to ArcGIS Online. In the beta release any user with an enterprise login will be able to sign in to your organisation once federation has been setup. A future update will allow you to restrict membership to those enterprise users who have been explicitly invited. More information on this beta functionality can be found here. Also, make sure you check out this short video explaining how the authentication works.

The second significant beta component is all about spatial analysis. Organisational account users now have access to a set of analysis tools that are being released in beta in the ArcGIS.com map viewer. The screen shot below shows the range of tools that form this capability, only some of which are enabled today in the beta (Create Buffers, Overlay Layers, Find Hot Spots and Aggregate Points).

Spatial Analysis in the Map Viewer

The screenshot above illustrates one of these tools in action: a point layer in a web map is being used as the basis for a Create Buffers operation. These tools let you perform analysis against layers hosted in Online, as well as other layers you have access to, and create new hosted layers and tables.

I keep coming back to this theme, but it’s important. While the focus here might be on the user interface that is exposed for Spatial Analysis in the map viewer, behind the scenes, this is another example of a platform service (think geocoding, network analysis and geo-enrichment) with a rich API that developers can use to incorporate spatial analytics into their applications.

So all in all, a very significant release of ArcGIS Online for many reasons, and what I believe is a strong demonstration of where Esri is headed with ArcGIS as a platform.

Josh V

Esri Australia’s Simon Hill and Esri Inc’s John Day

We looked at what it takes to create unity of action within and across agencies and gave some practical examples of what is being done globally. One of the topics we focused on was amphibious operations and the need to look at a new paradigm to meet the needs of commanders. Production of Littoral Planning Charts and Beach Landing Graphics is part of that new paradigm – bringing together topographic and hydrographic data in a timely and efficient manner.

A key take-home message from a forum with Senior Executives including Director DIGO, the Chief of Joint Operations and the Special Operations Commander Australia was “Get started today on creating the new tomorrow. Start small, innovate and continuously review.” While large projects exist to bring some capabilities to the enterprise, Defence can ill afford to wait the often lengthy timeframes until procurement is complete, as the pace of ICT evolution means they will be left behind. Success lies in also making the most of what’s available today.

Simon H

Manager Business Development – Defence and Intelligence Esri Australia

Directions 2013 wrapped up this month with our highest attendance to date. While attending the Melbourne leg of Esri Australia’s nine stop tour, I found myself curious about what brings people back to Directions every year. To my surprise, the attendees I spoke to came from a diverse range of industries, yet their responses were similar: “an opportunity to connect…to connect with GIS professionals from other industries…and…connect with the latest technology at Esri Australia”.

During Melbourne Directions, we heard about how a little bit of python can go a long way to improving your cartographic performance, according to Nathaniel at Urbis. Georgina shared how Water Technology were employing GIS to improve the real time modelling of urban and rural flood management. Esri Australia consultant Simon Jackson discussed the history of Dekho, and what’s in store for the applications future, and we learnt about the seamless integration of ArcGIS with ENVI to improve the performance of imagery based analysis. Beyond the plenary and Geobyte sessions, I found time to connect with Directions attendees who use Esri software on a daily basis. Here are some of the unique and innovative ways our clients are using GIS in their respective fields:

Early in the day I met Peter who now works as a private consultant near Albury. After attending Ozri 2012 in Sydney last year, Peter was inspired to attend Directions in Melbourne – seeing it as an opportunity to connect with the latest innovations with the Esri software. Richmond shared some of his 20 years of experience using Esri software when he was working at the Department of Agriculture in the Philippines. He now works as a Senior GIS Analyst at advertising network Sensis, processing more than 9 million Australian address locations using the powerful Esri software.

At lunch I met Iain, the GIS Lead at Acciona Energy, who shares a passion for wind turbines and shed light on how GIS is integral to the scoping, siting and community engagement of wind farm projects using the ArcGIS platform. With natural disasters occurring throughout Australia recently it was fitting to be introduced to Bikram, a GIS Data Specialist at the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA) here in Victoria. I learnt about how Esri Australia supports ESTA to improve the efficiency of emergency services response and update responders with location based intelligence in real time to save lives.

After Directions 2013, attendees were invited to attend a cocktail function where I was introduced to Jon, a Park Ranger with the Phillip Island Nature Park. Jon spoke of the importance of GIS in managing the Little Penguins on Phillip Island, in light of their tourism and conservation value to Victoria, and how this understanding was now being applied to other species such as the Hooded plover, an internationally recognized threatened species.

Directions 2013 was a great opportunity to connect and share the achievements of GIS professionals and industries across many organizations. The success of these industries and organizations will continue to depend on GIS professionals sharing and connecting our ideas to develop innovative long-term solutions. I look forward to hearing your success stories at Ozri 2013.

Seth G

Graduate Consultant

GIS trends are closely linked with those in IT. Big Data, cloud computing, 3D, and mobile technologies are powerful trends that influence the application of GIS technology.

Managing and visualising big unstructured datasets can improve analysis and understanding of patterns and trends. If you are a desktop user, analysis and visualisation are core skill sets. For you – training may focus on learning a new part of the technology, like Buisness Analyst, which can help you derive quality information from large datasets, and enhance your organisation’s decision-making process.

For desktop users the advance of cloud computing may also mean learning new workflows. The latest release of ArcGIS is very much about collaborating and sharing analyses by publishing to cloud-based services. If this is something that interests you, we offer several courses that focus on sharing GIS content on the web.

If you are a developer, mobile apps can improve the reach of your business. Building web applications can help you communicate analyses, ideas, marketing, and research to a wider audience. Mobile solutions also go beyond the smartphone and tablet – think of real time data collection in the field, or crowdsourcing information for city planning or disaster response. Understanding Esri’s mobile technology can help you and your organisation make the most of advances  in mobility.

For city planners, local government, or any GIS professional active in the urban design and planning area, 3D  city models are becoming integral foundations for building and planning cities around the globe.

City Engine, 3D Analyst, and 3D Analyst for Server are applications designed to develop 3D content. With technologies that let you visualise alternative planning scenarios and share design proposals and analyses via web applications, it won’t be long before 3D planning design can also be viewed using augmented reality applications.

Whatever line of professional development you or your business choose to pursue, Esri Australia’s training team can help you tailor a training plan to support your organisation’s growth.

Keera P.

Esri Australia: Hi Kath, thanks for taking some time out of your schedule to chat to us. Can you tell us what’s been happening in the training world and what we can expect in the new financial year?

Kath: At the moment we’re focussing on expanding the course options we have available. GIS is such a wide field and we know a one-size-fits-all approach to training doesn’t really work. Different GIS professionals have different needs, so we’re investing a lot of time in helping clients understand what’s right for them and developing training courses that help meet their needs.

What’s got us really excited at the moment is customised training, where we tailor an existing training course to meet a client’s exact requirements. This is proving to be a popular choice for users that need to brush up on a skills set for a particular project they’re working on.

Not only can we provide training materials amalgamating different course chapters together, we can also build specific training materials for an organisation.  We have an experienced training team who can help users with their specific needs, and work out the best option for them.

EA: Why would a user take up a customised training option? What’s in it for them?

KS: Because all our clients have different needs, a standard approach sometimes isn’t the best option. With customised training, clients know they’ll get training that’s relevant and helps them meet their operational requirements.  It’s all about flexibility for users and making sure they get the skills they need. The courses can also include a workshop component, allowing the trainer to spend time working on specific workflows not covered in the training materials.

What about the Learning and Services Credits Program? How can this help organisations plan their training?  

KS: The lead-up to a new financial year is always a crazy time for larger organisations with budgets under scrutiny. Our Learning and Services Credits Program is ideal because it offers real flexibility. Clients can purchase training credits in the current financial year to use in the next financial year. There’s also flexibility in how they spend those credits – whether they prefer one of our GIS training courses, or dedicated time with our staff – the choice is up to them.

How have people responded to one-on-one training?

KS: Again, clients like the option because it gives them flexibility. With our Client Exclusive Training option, we provide training for up to 10 employees from an organisation at either their premises or one of our own training facilities. By focussing the course exclusively on the needs of one organisation, students receive quality time. Ultimately, this means a more cost-effective and targeted training option.

EA: Thanks Kath.

Geography as a Platform

Directions 2013 gave us the opportunity to see the power and customisation of platforms such as ArcGIS Online, Esri Maps for Office and Dekho. These tools allow every user, especially non-GIS professionals, a streamlined front-of-house experience enhancing their current information analysis and data sharing capabilities, anytime, anywhere.

Every component can play a key role in your everyday life …

City Engine presenter, Kellie, inspired us to take our 2D maps even further by generating high- quality 3D urban content. This specialisation enables conceptual design and modelling scenario analysis to be generated for on the fly ‘what ifs’ allowing decision-makers to easily view informed options.

We saw how easy it is to tell your own customised story fast and in your own style. Customising GIS products like ArcGIS Online allows organisations to display maps with more impact. Sharing this information with others is a powerful tool which is becoming increasingly necessary.

Craig from Queensland Land Use Mapping Program reflected on the evolution of cumbersome field data capturing devices, and presented the GIS solutions of today that make working in the field safe, easy and reliable. We were impressed with his demonstration showing the ease of editing in the field with a pen and tablet.

We learned about leveraging social media conversations, by capitalising on our existing mobile network design to allow meaningful data capture. We also heard about the traditional image data sourcing coming-of-age that provides high-resolution imagery, delivered in only 4-6 hours.

The Arcbar allowed attendees to address individual scenarios that GIS Professionals see on a daily basis while producing their brilliant final products.

Our take home message from Directions 2013 - GIS technology is poised to be utilised by everyone, everyday. While peak loads can be high, organisations can be happy and confident that the service is scalable and robust to support fast and reliable information. We need to have confidence in the integration of future advancements in GIS. Our experience at Directions 2013 was a great way to learn more about these advancements within the GIS industry and we are already looking forward to Ozri 2013!

Dagmar P. and Pia K.

Christchurch: On the 4^th of September 2010 a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck my hometown of Christchurch. The ground moved beneath my feet and the power of Mother Nature was felt by all. Our family home on the banks of the Avon River was warped and twisted as giant fissures split the road and buckled the bridges. Electricity was out in Christchurch for a number of hours and mobile reception was patchy at best. Friends and family turned to social media to connect and convey calls for help. In the aftermath these “posts” and “tweets” were used by response services including the infamous Student Volunteer Army who used the data through an online mapping tool to deploy student volunteers to shovel silt and the like. This demonstrated the power of GIS in telling the story of the land.

Samoa: My Master of Science thesis examined the scientific and cultural understandings of biomass resource assessments for a renewable energy system in Samoa. Using ArcGIS I was able to illustrate how other ways of knowing and mapping the world have an important part to play in modern renewable energy systems in the Pacific, beyond the traditional use of technical methods. Through this we see the power of GIS in discovering the unknown story of the land.

In February 2013 I joined the Esri Australia team in Melbourne as a Graduate Consultant as part of the new Graduate Program. The 18 month program provides a diverse range of work streams that provide an insight into the many different ways Esri Australia support clients to develop innovative solutions to complex issues. I am currently working within the Professional Services team and this involves problem-solving client issues, researching solutions and continually learning through training courses and self-assigned learning modules. What really excites me about my role is the opportunity to learn from and be mentored by industry leaders who are experts in their respective fields. I am looking forward sharing my journey with you over the next 18 months.

Seth Gorrie

Graduate Consultant