Landscape Modeler Application Presented at Esri UC 2013

The Landscape Modeler application that I’ve been working on was presented during the plenary session of the 2013 Esri International User Conference. Lanscape Modeler is a JavaScript application that enables ArcGIS Online users perform weighted overlay analysis with the new landscape datasets that Esri is hosting on ArcGIS Online. The application is able to perform real-time weighted overlay at scales ranging from that of a city to the entire country by leveraging the ability of ArcGIS image services to apply raster functions on the fly.

Below is a video of the quick 2 minute run through that Suzanne Foss presented in San Diego where she demonstrates how to use the application to develop a conservation plan for an area outside of Santa Cruz:

The app will be released in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

Getting to Know the ArcGIS Online Platform

A few of the sessions at the 2013 Esri Developer Summit got me interested in learning more about how I could utilize some of the new features of ArcGIS Online to help me build web mapping applications. As a developer, my instinct is to approach each new application with a blank page in SublimeText and a cup of coffee, but I’m getting better at learning to utilize the services that are out there to help jump start new development.

Full disclosure: I’ve been working for Esri for close to a year now. I’m sharing my personal experiences in trying to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of the ArcGIS Online platform versus other online mapping platforms. I won’t pretend to be able to be completely impartial, but it is also not part of my job to advocate for the platform.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way we can get down to business. My goals are to understand:

  • How far I can get without writing a single line of code
  • The limits of the built in features of the platform like web maps and templates
  • How to start a project using those built in features (e.g. for rapid prototyping) and then transition to a custom solution to get beyond those limits

The Plan

My plan is to tackle a small application from a few different angles. After seeing the Developing custom JavaScript Applications with ArcGIS Online presentation where they running routes as sample data, I was inspired to build a map of my own trail running routes in Southern California.

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