Arcgis Online - Blog Posts

Peta Gunatanah Malaysia 2014 - 2018

Peta Gunatanah Malaysia 2014 -2018 ("Malaysia's Land Cover 2014 - 2018") web application is a platform generated for the Quality Assessment activity organized by Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) on 23rd June 2024.

The workshop aims to collect field/reference data from Malaysian's state agencies in the effort to verify the quality of the land cover classification output generated in support of CO2 release measurement from converted agricultural lands.

Participants are able access the app via conventional browsers from their mobile devices and submit drawings/sketches that they have captured within interactive data layers.

This web app aims to support direct input from source onto the task of improving the accuracy of the generated land cover maps. Vectors generated from this exercise are readily standardized with the required data scheme from quality assessment, making full use of the ArcGIS Online ecosystem full to a produce concrete output and actionable information.

Community Empowerment Strategy Dashboard 2021 | WWF-Malaysia

Tool: Operations Dashboard ArcGIS, Survey123 for ArcGIS, ArcGIS Online Technique: XLSForm programming, web application development

The northern highland communities of Lun Bawang have been collaborating with WWF-Malaysia under the Sarawak Conservation Programme (SCP) to empower sustainable economies and managing their natural biodiversity through the Community Empowerment Strategy (formerly known as Community Engagement and Education Strategy).

Since 2016, the communities have been actively mapping out their land uses and culturally important locations to delineate their areas of settlement and source of livelihood. Given the close vicinity of their communities to the licensed timber concessions, producing a definitive map is important to preserve and conserve their surrounding natural capitals.

Several outreach has been done and the community mapping effort has been shifted to implement citizen science via the Survey123 for ArcGIS mobile application which is apart of the ArcGIS ecosystem. This enables the local community to collect information despite the lack of network reception and the data can still be synchronized upon availability automatically or manually shared with the field officers.

📌 Availability: Retracted in 2021

Malaysia Forest Cover 2020 | WWF-Malaysia

Tool: ArcGIS Pro 2.9.3, Operations Dashboard ArcGIS & ArcGIS Online Technique: Data transformation and geometric calculation

WWF-Malaysia Forest Cover Baseline is a dashboard of forest cover extent status in selected land uses across Malaysia's region, methodology of analysis and resources involved in the exercise.

The WWF-Malaysia Forest Cover Baseline and Forest Cover Key Performance Index (KPI) is a task undertaken by the Conservation Geographical Information System (CGIS) Unit to amass the discrete information of forest cover extent across Malaysia's 3 main region of legislation: Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah. This exercise produces a concise dashboard report in an online platform that describes the processed information on the forest cover status as well as their prospective areas identified for conservation work.

Report can be interactively accessed at the following:

The dashboard can be accessed at Malaysia Forest Cover 2020.

📌 Availability: Retracted in 2021

Eyes on the Forest Sarawak | WWF-Malaysia

The ‘Eyes on the Forest’ Sarawak web application is developed with the joint effort of WWF-Malaysia and WWF-Japan. Emulating the successful ‘Eyes on the Forest’ Sumatra database, this web app intends to provide an undiluted information on the rich diversity of Sarawak’s unique wildlife, forests and land uses as well as increasing the transparency on the threats; deforestation, infrastructure developments and urbanization, as well as its drivers; concessions, agricultural activities and unsupervised resource harvesting.

Identifying where the threats, the drivers and the conservation targets are located will help in making a concrete point at the policy level and push for more boots on the ground to ensure that the protected areas stay protected. The baseline information provided are essential in the prompt intervention for biodiversity protection.

Data collected and consolidated from dispersed public sources and engineered for simple and direct visualization. Values are generated based on verified legislated information provided by stakeholders and state agencies to the Sarawak Conservation Programme (SCP) for WWF-Malaysia.

Developed and maintained by:

Azalea Kamellia

GIS Officer (SCP) | WWF- Malaysia

June 2018 - Present

diy geo app

Esri has been releasing more and more MOOC over the span of 2 years to accommodate its increasingly large expanse of products within the ArcGIS ecosystem. 

But of all the MOOCs that I've participated in, 'Do-It-Yourself Geo App MOOC' must be the most underrated ones produced by Esri Training. The functionalities highlighted within the MOOC took the anthem right off their recent Esri UC 2020 that went virtual. The curriculum includes:

The creation of hosted feature layer (without utilizing any GIS software medium like ArcMap or ArcGIS Pro).

The basics of the ArcGIS Online platform ecosystem:

hosted feature layer >  web map > web app 

Basically, to view a hosted feature layer, you will need to drag it onto a 'Map' and save it as a web map.

Conventionally, web map suffices for the visualization and analytical work for the likes of any geospatialist who are familiar with Web GIS. 

But this time, Esri is highlighting a brand new web map product called 'Map Viewer Beta'. Why beta? Cause it is still in beta version but so sleeky cool that they just had to let every have a shot at using it. Truth be told, Map Viewer Beta did not disappoint.

Even so, Map Viewer Beta still has some functionalities that have yet to be implemented. 

Using web map to visualize data, configure pop-up, execute simple analysis and extending it to Map Viewer Beta interface 

Utilizing Survey123 for crowdsourcing data; the first level of citizen science and creating a webmap out of it.

Creating native apps using AppStudio for ArcGIS; no coding required. 

Some tidbits on accessing the ArcGIS API for JavaScript

I love how cool it is that this MOOC actually shows you step-by-step on how to use the new Map Viewer Beta and explain the hierarchy of formats for the published content in the ArcGIS Online platform

I have established my understanding of ArcGIS Online ecosystem 3 years back but I do find it awkward that such powerful information is not actually summarized in a way that is comprehensible for users that have every intention of delving into Web GIS. And Web GIS is the future with all the parallel servers that could handle the processing/analysis of large amount of data. ArcGIS Online is a simplified platform that provides interfaces for the fresh-eyed new geospatial professionals. 

It is quite well-know for the fact that there has been some criticism as to the domination of Esri within the GIS tools/resources within the geospatial science industry, but I believe it is something we could take as a pinch of salt. Not everything in Esri's massive line of commercial products are superior to other platforms but it is a starting point for any new geospatialists who wants to explore technologies there are not familiar with. 

All in all, this MOOC is heaven-sent. For me, I have been playing with the web apps and web maps for close to 4 years and I can attest to the fact that it covers all the basics. For the developer's bit, maybe not so much as going through it in a distinct step-by-step but it does stoke the curiosity as to how it works. The question is, how do we make it work. Now that's a mystery I am eager to solve. 

I'm going to put this on my ever-expanding to-do list and think JavaScript for another few more months of testing out this ArcGIS API for JavaScript implementation. Tell me if you wanna know how this actually works and I'll share what I find out when I do.

For those who had missed out on this cohort, fear not. This MOOC runs twice a year and the next cohort is going to be from Feb 17 to March 17 2021. The registration is already open, so don’t hold back and click the link below:

Do-It-Yourself Geo Apps

Do register for a public account before signing up or just click 'Register' at the MOOC's page and it's open the open to either sign in or 'Create a public account'. It was a blast and I'm sure, if you've never used any of the feature I've mentioned above, you'll be as wide-eyed as I was 3 years ago. :D

Till then, stay spatially mappy comrades!

P/S: If you complete all the assignments and quizzes, you'll get a certificate of completion from Esri. Which is pretty rad!

Story Map for Noobs: Cascade | WWF Network

Story Map is a web application template product that has been popularized in ArcGIS Online for a user-friendly and comprehensive narrative of maps. The ‘Cascade’ template has become the seamless interface of choice due to it’s ribbon transitions and availability of content streaming from external sources. 

Please refer to the following link for resources used in this webinar:

Story Map for Noobs: Cascade web application

📌 Availability: Retracted in 2021