The Power of Apps

This chapter shows where apps come from and how you can start to create your own. It explores some of the innovative ways that apps are being used to do real work with ArcGIS. You’ll discover ArcGIS apps for the work you do, no matter what the task or the device. Need to collect data in the field? There’s an app. Need to share your data with the public? There’s an app for that, too. Whether you’re managing a mobile workforce, creating a geolocation start-up, or looking for innovative ways to share your information in a useful and meaningful way, apps are your pathway to achieving that.

In today’s world, GIS people think of GIS as the way to create, monitor, and manage their “digital twins,” meaning the computerized version of their everyday world. Using GIS as a geospatial framework for tracking and monitoring your work makes a lot of sense. Digital twins use data from sensors installed on various assets and resources to continuously monitor their status, working condition, and location. Geography provides a universal way to organize and manage operations using these map locations and sensor feeds from the field.

Most organizations stay on top of their operations by monitoring, tracking, and reporting real-time data feeds. For example, many commercial companies track their sales and their competition; epidemiologists track disease; first responders monitor and manage events and incidents; wildlife scientists track animals; farmers sense the state of their crops; and meteorologists monitor and forecast the weather. Meanwhile, all kinds of organizations track and manage their mobile workforces.

During the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, I was part of a team sent by Esri to assist our customers among the several different emergency response agencies that were operating at the scene. The situation was somewhat intense, and we were in meetings where a lot of information was flying around—not all of it accurate or timely. Dozens of teams were in the field—to monitor the developing situation, collect data, and conduct environmental surveys. The data collection effort was still largely paper-based, and coordination among all the teams was difficult.

The problem wasn’t a lack of maps or GIS. These agencies were already among our most sophisticated users. The problem was in appropriately sharing and keeping each other updated as new information flowed into the operations center. I witnessed how the teams gathering data out on the water and along the shoreline were struggling early on to collect their information and make it accessible so that it could be acted upon.

Within a week, thanks to a lot of hard work by scores of technologists, emergency response professionals, and staff from British Petroleum, many of the pieces were falling into place, and we saw GIS beginning to be used for mobile data collection and communication. These teams began to share maps, data, videos, and photos, enabling responders to better coordinate with emergency command centers and ensure high levels of situational awareness. As tragic as the event was, I did see how much more effective these teams were by using mobile GIS.

In 2009, the US Geological Survey (USGS) began the release of a new generation of topographic maps (US Topo) in electronic form and, in 2011, complemented them with the release of high-resolution scans of historical topographic maps of the United States dating back to 1882. The topographic map remains an indispensable tool for everyday use in government, science, industry, land management planning, and recreation.

Historical maps are snapshots of the nation’s physical and cultural features at a particular time. Maps of a particular area can show how the area looked before development and provide a detailed understanding of change over time. Historical maps are often useful to scientists, historians, environmentalists, genealogists, citizens, and others researching a particular geographic location or area. The USGS, with help from Esri, has created an app that lets you view this extensive collection of topographic maps in one central location. The USGS Historical Topographic Map Explorer makes it easier to dig into and enjoy this library of more than 178,000 historical maps in a web app that organizes the maps by space, time, and map scale.

Using the USGS Historical Topographic Map Explorer is easy—just follow the numbered steps at the left of the interface pane. The choices you make will update the adjacent map view.

The City of San Diego, like all big cities, relies on fire hydrants to help put out fires, keeping people and property safe. To ensure that the hydrants work when they are needed, the San Diego Fire Department regularly inspects them, but until recently keeping track of this work has been tedious, paper-based activity.

In this exercise, you’ll help improve the system of inspections using GIS technology. Acting as a few different members of the City of San Diego and the San Diego Fire Department, you’ll create and manage hydrant inspection assignments as well as completing that work in the field. Your goal is to make sure the fire hydrants around the convention center are all inspected before the end of summer.