Explore map data

You are an urban planner in Portland, Oregon, tasked with presenting an urban tree management plan. Trees are an important intervention in urban environments that provide shade for pedestrians, minimize water runoff during heavy rainfall, and build climate resilience against increasingly frequent heat waves. You want to explore different types of spatial data available to you to inform your decision-making process.

As you work through the steps in this tutorial, you'll learn the following skills:

• Open a map from ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World
• Explore the map using search, legend, and pop-ups
• Create a bookmark
• Access and interpret feature and imagery layers

This tutorial was last tested on August 20, 2024.

Requirements

• ArcGIS account (see options for software access)

Examine the map and legend

Note:

This tutorial was developed for an ArcGIS public account experience. An ArcGIS public account is a free, limited-functionality account designed for personal, non-commercial use. This account gives you the ability to author and publicly share basic maps and apps.

Publicly available data and maps can be found in ArcGIS Living Atlas.

1. If necessary, sign in to your ArcGIS account.

   Note:

   If you don't have an ArcGIS account, you can sign up for a public account.

2. On the top ribbon, click Content.

   

   On the content page, you can access, organize, browse, search, and work with content on the website. You can also add files from your device to create a new item in ArcGIS Online.

   In this tutorial, you will explore ArcGIS Living Atlas, which is a collection of geographic information from around the globe.

3. Click the Living Atlas tab.

   

   Most ArcGIS Living Atlas layers are free to use in maps and can be viewed by anyone.

   Note:

   Some layers are subscriber content or premium content, which require an ArcGIS organizational account and may consume credits. To learn more, see Use ArcGIS Living Atlas subscriber content in maps, scenes, and apps.

4. On the search bar, type national risk.

   

   Several results appear showing layers in the ArcGIS Living Atlas. You will explore the National Risk Index Census Tracts layer.

   Note:

   Each layer in ArcGIS may have badges associated with it.

   

   The Authoritative badge indicates that the organization that owns the item has been verified as an authoritative source. The Living Atlas badge indicates this item is included in ArcGIS Living Atlas. The Subscriber badge indicates that you must be signed in to an ArcGIS account to access this layer. When searching for data, it can be difficult to know which layers to use. These badges help you quickly find the highest quality and most trustworthy data. You can learn more at What's New with Authoritative Content.

5. Click the layer name for the National Risk Index Census Tracts layer.

   

   The item page for the National Risk Index Census Tracts layer appears.

   Each item in ArcGIS Online includes an item page that contains its metadata. Metadata on the item details page includes the title, the type, and the source, author, last modified date, thumbnail, and tags related to the item. It can also include additional information such a summary and description, how accurate and recent the item is, restrictions associated with using and sharing the item, credits, and so on. This information can help others discover and validate the usefulness of the items.

   The National Risk Index Census Tracts layer provides relative Risk Index scores and ratings based on data for Expected Annual Loss due to natural hazards, Social Vulnerability, and Community Resilience. The layer was created and is managed by the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

6. On the item page, click Open in Map Viewer.

   

   The map opens in Map Viewer with the Layers and Properties panes open.

   Note:

   ArcGIS Online offers two map viewers for viewing, using, and creating maps. For more information on the map viewers available, see the FAQ.

   

   Map Viewer includes two vertical toolbars—the Contents (dark) toolbar and the Settings (light) toolbar. Use the Contents toolbar to manage and view the map contents and work with the map. Use the Settings toolbar to access options for configuring and interacting with map layers and other map components.

   Tip:

   You can click the Expand or Collapse button at the bottom of each toolbar to expand or collapse them.

7. On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Legend.

   

8. Examine the legend.

   

   The legend shows that the map currently displays a composite of the ratings for the 18 potential climate hazards with census tracts in red representing tracts with a very high rating for climate hazard risk and dark blue tracts representing a very low rating for climate hazard risk.

   Next, you'll zoom (change the scale of the map to see more or less detail) and pan (shift the extent of the map to see different areas) to explore the map.

   You can zoom in three ways:

   • Click the Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons.
   • Use the wheel on your mouse.
   • Press the Shift key while drawing a box around the area you want to zoom to.

9. Zoom and pan to examine the map.

   Where do you notice areas of very high risk? Where do you notice areas of very low risk?

You have explored a layer from ArcGIS Living Atlas and reviewed the legend. Next you will use more tools to explore the layer.

Use bookmarks and pop-ups

Next, you will create a bookmark. Bookmarks provide shortcuts to places on a map. When you click a bookmark, the map zooms to that location.

1. At the bottom of the map, click the Search tool.

   

   A search bar appears at the top of the map.

2. On the search bar, type Portland, OR and press Enter.

   

   The map zooms to the city of Portland.

3. Close the Search result pop-up.

   You have used the search tool to zoom to the city of Portland. You can now better see the national risk index values across the census tracts in the city.

   

4. On the Contents toolbar, click Bookmarks.

   

   The Bookmarks pane appears.

5. In the Bookmarks pane, click Add bookmark.

   

6. For Title, type Portland and click Add.

   You now have a bookmark of this map extent, which shows the city of Portland in Oregon.

   You can zoom the map's initial extent by clicking Default map view.

7. Click the Default map view button.

   

   The map extent zooms to show the contiguous United States.

8. On the Bookmarks pane, click the Portland bookmark.

   The map extent zooms in back to Portland, Oregon.

   Next, you will explore the layer's pop-up.

9. Zoom in and click a census tract with a Very High rating.

   

   A pop-up appears, providing more information about each census tract, including its population. The informational elements that are tied to each location are called attributes.

   

   The pop-up contains detailed information about the tract, including the tract's population, climate hazard risk index and ratings data, and a breakdown of each individual hazard that contributed to the risk and rating scores.

10. Close the pop-up.

    You have explored a polygon feature layer that showed climate hazard risk ratings for each census tract in the United States. Next, you will explore an imagery layer and learn another way to open ArcGIS Living Atlas layers.

Explore an imagery layer

Next, you will explore another kind of layer. So far, you have explored a feature polygon layer that showed data within census tracts. An imagery layer is a based on raster data. Raster data is a grid of cells commonly used to store imagery and other information captured by remote sensing devices.

First, you'll hide the National Risk Index Census Tracts layer before you add the imagery layer.

1. On the Contents toolbar, click Layers.
2. In the Layers pane, for the National Risk Index Census Tracts layer, click Hide layer.

   

   With the National Risk Index Census Tracts layer hidden, it will be easier to view the imagery layer you will now add.

3. In the Layers pane, click Add.

   The Add layer pane appears.

4. In the Add layer pane, click My Contents and choose Living Atlas.

   

5. In the Add layer pane, on the search bar, type heat severity and press Enter. For Heat Severity - USA 2023, click the Add button.

   Tip:

   Updated layers are regularly released. Choose the most recently available Heat Severity - USA layer available.

   

   The imagery layer is added, and the Properties pane appears.

   Tip:

   It may take a few minutes for the layer to load. If necessary, zoom in closer to the center of Portland.

   

   The basemap layer beneath the Heat Severity - USA 2023 layer is not visible in the areas where there is data for heat severity. You will adjust the layer's blending properties so the Heat Severity - USA 2023 layer is more transparent.

   Note:

   To learn more, view Use blend modes.

6. In the Properties pane, under Appearance, for Blending, under Contrast, choose Hard Light.

   

   The basemap is now visible beneath the Heat Severity - USA 2023 layer.

   

   Next, you will explore the Heat Severity - USA 2023 layer's item page to better understand what is included in this layer.

7. On the Properties pane, expand Information. Click the Heat Severity - USA 2023 item page link.

   

   The item page for the Heat Severity - USA 2023 layer appears in a new browser tab.

   The purpose of this layer is to show where certain areas of cities are hotter than the average temperature for that same city as a whole. Severity is measured on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being a relatively mild heat area (slightly above the mean for the city) in white or transparent, and 5 being a severe heat area (significantly above the mean for the city) in red.

In this tutorial, you have learned two ways to access ArcGIS Living Atlas layers and explored the item pages, legend, and pop-ups for a feature and imagery layer. You used the search tool, created a bookmark, and set a blending mode.

Note:

For additional capabilities, including private sharing, publishing data, performing analysis, and more, make ArcGIS Online part of your GIS toolset by purchasing an ArcGIS organizational subscription. Subscriptions can include a variety of user types which makes it easy to match you and your team members with the necessary tools for your work. If you have an ArcGIS public account, you can convert your public account to an organizational account.

Acknowledgements

• National Risk Index Census Tracts is managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) using data from various stakeholders and partners in academia; local, state, and federal government; and private industry.
• Heat Severity - USA 2023 by The Trust for Public Land.
• World Topographic Map sources: Esri, HERE, Garmin, FAO, NOAA, USGS, OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GIS User Community
• © 2024 Adobe Stock. All rights reserved.