Enrich Public-Facing Maps and Apps

ArcGIS Online subscribers have access to a number of content layers, such as demographics, imagery, elevation, landscape, and historical maps. In some cases, such as demographics, these map layers consume ArcGIS Online credits and would be considered premium content services. In most cases, however, these layers are available at no additional cost to your ArcGIS subscription.

Premium content, such as live traffic feeds, can make local maps more valuable by helping people avoid traffic congestion and construction projects.

These content layers can be used in the maps and apps accessed by named users in an organization and can also be included in public-facing maps and apps.

ArcGIS Online subscribers can also use the content layers in maps and apps that they create and share with external users, such as customers, partners, or the public, who access them anonymously.

Some premium content, such as demographic layers, do use ArcGIS Online credits but provide additional information.

For example, subscribers can take advantage of a dynamic image layer from the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) or Landsat 8 imagery when working with other agencies or partners that need periodic access to this information but are not ArcGIS users. During a natural disaster, users may want to support response activities by including a reliable and scalable map layer that shows a live feed of the incident alongside other geographic information they are publishing such as open shelters or evacuation routes.

There are tools and workflows available through ArcGIS Online for creating maps and apps that use an organization's accounts to access content layers on behalf of its users. Learn more atgoto.arcgisonline.com/premium/share.

Source: ESRI

Esri and Leica Geosystems Supercharge Mobile Data Collection with ZenoCollector

Rugged Precision Handheld, Powered by Collector for ArcGIS, Includes an ArcGIS Online Subscription

Esri Collector for ArcGIS, a configurable mobile app for collecting and editing data in the field, has combined with the Zeno 20, Leica Geosystems’ ultra-rugged Android-based professional-grade handheld, in a new solution called ZenoCollector. ZenoCollector uses Collector for ArcGIS as its main user interface and comes bundled with an ArcGIS Online organizational subscription for one year.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here:http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150721006101/en/

“Esri and Leica Geosystems recognize that enterprises may have particular field data collection challenges that smartphones can’t ideally meet,” said Esri president Jack Dangermond. “We’re excited to combine Collector for ArcGIS with Leica Geosystems’ industry-standard surveying units to create a more rugged and accurate solution for the more exacting needs of organizations.”

ArcGIS Online connects ZenoCollector to the ArcGIS platform, automatically synching field changes to enterprise information and giving everyone access to the latest data gathered in the field. Collector for ArcGIS also supports offline data collection. Any updates will be synchronized with the map once the user is reconnected.

“We’re excited to raise mobile data collection solutions to the next level of precision and interoperability through rigorous connectivity between our survey-grade Leica Zeno series and Esri’s GIS solutions,” said Hexagon Geosystems President Juergen Dold. “This industry collaboration between Leica Geosystems and Esri is another joint commitment to make it easier for professionals around the world to capture, manage, and share their data, regardless if they’re in the office or the field, without sacrificing precision or interoperability.”

Although Collector for ArcGIS is most often used on smartphones, field crews may need higher precision that only a dedicated survey device can deliver. ZenoCollector contains a professional-grade Global Navigation Satellite System receiver that provides significantly higher position accuracies than GPS receivers on smart phones and other handheld GIS devices on the market. Leica’s Zeno series devices are also fully waterproof, even with the latch open, perfectly suiting the requirements of organizations operating in wet environments that would stress the tolerances of consumer-grade mobile devices.

Visit esri.com/zenocollector to learn more about the ZenoCollector solution.

About Esri
Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS technology, Esri software is used in more than 350,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of Web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.

About Leica Geosystems
Revolutionizing the world of measurement and survey for nearly 200 years, Leica Geosystems creates complete solutions for professionals across the planet. Known for premium products and innovative solution development, professionals in a diverse mix of industries, such as aerospace and defence, safety and security, construction, and manufacturing, trust Leica Geosystems for all their geospatial needs. With precise and accurate instruments, sophisticated software, and dependable services, Leica Geosystems delivers value every day to those shaping the future of our world.

Leica Geosystems is a brand within Hexagon Geosystems, the complete reality-capture solutions provider. With a sharp focus on information technologies that capture, measure, and visualize data, Hexagon Geosystems’ high-quality products and solutions create real digital worlds.

Leica Geosystems is part of Hexagon (Nasdaq Stockholm: HEXA B; hexagon.com), a leading global provider of information technologies that drives quality and productivity improvements across geospatial and industrial enterprise applications.

Copyright © 2015 Esri. All rights reserved. Esri, the Esri globe logo, esri.com and @Esri are trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of Esri in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products or services mentioned herein may be trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of their respective mark owners.



View source version on businesswire.com:http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150721006101/en/


Contact:

Esri
Matt DeMeritt,
909-793-2853, extension 1-2930
Email Contact
or
Leica Geosystems AG
Monica Miller-Rodgers
Heinrich-Wild-Strasse
CH-9435 Heerbrugg
Tel: +41 71 727 3534
Fax: +41 71 727 5534
Email Contact

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Take your terrain mapping to new heights

by Kenneth Field, Senior Cartographic Product Engineer





Standard techniques for representing terrain, like a hillshade, are adequate for many applications, but you may want to represent terrain under different lighting conditions, or perhaps use more artistic techniques. In these cases you might need to go a little further than creating a simple hillshade. For this reason (and because we like making tools that extend what we can do!) we’ve built a new toolbox, called Terrain Tools, that helps you take your terrain mapping to new heights.

Cartographic research often develops techniques, models and tools that supplement or extend what you find in software out-of-the-box. They are often difficult to find, hidden in journal articles or cumbersome to implement. We’ve brought together some of these ideas and workflows in the Terrain Tools toolbox that provides capabilities for creating alternative terrain representations in ArcGIS (ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro). Terrain Tools are designed to extend your out-of-the-box toolkit for representing terrain in GIS by encouraging you to be more creative; how to think more critically about design choices; and how to go beyond the defaults.

You can download a zip file from ArcGIS Online that contains the toolbox, sample data, documentation and also an ArcMap Map Document and ArcGIS Pro Project. The Map Document and Pro Project also include results layers so you can see how the tools work before you use them on your own data. It’s important to note that the sample results show the results of running the tools using the default output. They are a starting point and many of the tools give you the flexibility to modify parameters and customize your own output. The documentation is in workshop format that includes discussion of each tool and instructions for use. Because the tools are written in Python they can be viewed, modified and used as a starting point for further development.

Here’s a brief look at some of the output you’ll get from running Terrain Tools.

Terrain Tools incorporates a few previously available tools which were available as models (built originally using ModelBuilder). They have been rewritten and optimized as Python scripts which improves stability and speed of processing. Additionally, a range of new tools have been either written (from the original published algorithms) or optimized as Python scripts from code samples.

One of the highlights of Terrain Tools is the new Cluster Hillshade which provides you with the ability to make spectacularly detailed and artistic hillshades with your own data. This is just about as close as you can get with an automated process to classic hand-drawn hillshading – and all from just a Digital Elevation Model input and a click of a mouse.

The Tanaka method for creating Illuminated Contours and Filled Contours are also included, here depicted one on top of the other:

Thematic maps haven’t been ignored. It’s perfectly possible to run the tools for any input raster (e.g. a statistical surface rather than a DEM) but there’s also a specific 3D Choropleth tool, useful for adding depth to a choropleth, encoding a second piece of information or as a way to see variation within a single class interval:

There’s plenty more tools to explore and, of course, the scripts are entirely open to being customised further. Here’s the full list of what’s included in the Terrain Tools sample:

Multi-Directional Oblique Weighted (MDOW) hillshade
Produces a hillshade that emphasizes oblique illumination on all surfaces by using more than one illumination azimuth


Swiss Hillshade
Builds and then combines several hillshades to give a resulting yellow-blue Swiss hillshade effect


Cluster Hillshades
A suite of three tools that uses k-means clustering to create a seamless change of local lighting conditions throughout the generation of a hillshade to produce stunning results

Sky Models
Builds multiple hillshades with varying azimuth, zenith and intensity of light source and combines them in a weighted output to create hillshades under different lighting conditions with some dramatic effects

Historic Dots
Creates and symbolizes contours using an historic dotted line symbol and modifies the overall appearance by removing contours for low slope angles

Filled Contours
Creates and symbolizes nested polygons such that the boundary lines demarcate areas of equal elevation value

Illuminated Contours
An analytical version of the Tanaka method of symbolizing contours that includes colouring and varying the thickness of illuminated and non-illuminated contour lines

Hachures
Creates an output that illustrates three-dimensional topography on a two dimensional map using hachures that symbolize slope and aspect

Shadow lines
An artistic drawing method in which lines of variable thickness and orientation approximate tonal variations associated with shading and shadowing

Chromastereoscopic tinting
A technique that encodes depth values by colour and which, when viewed through glasses that contain minute prisms, gives a holographic 3D view of the data. Glasses not included!

3D Choropleth
Breathes life into the choropleth mapping technique by building multiple hillshades that emphasize differences across the statistical surface

We’re indebted to the assistance of a number of key researchers who’ve assisted in the development of these tools. You’ll find references and links to their original work in the documentation and the tool help.

Get the tools here via ArcGIS Online.

We hope you enjoy using these tools whether you’re looking for a more advanced hillshade or something a little more artistic. Use them as a starting point for inspiration and share your efforts!

This entry was posted in Analysis & Geoprocessing, ArcGIS Pro, Cartographic Design, Mapping, Web and tagged @kennethfield, Analysis & Geoprocessing, Cartographic Design,cartography, Mapping, terrain. Bookmark the permalink.

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Trimble Unity Software for Water Utilities Adds Support for Advanced Asset Maintenance, BYOD GNSS Receivers and Esri ArcGIS Online

(PRNewswire) — Trimble (NASDAQ:TRMB) introduced today the latest version of its smart water mapping and work management cloud software—Trimble® Unity™ version 2.0. The version adds new capabilities to support complex water, wastewater and stormwater industry asset maintenance planning and work execution workflows, support for Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) GNSS mapping receivers for smart devices and cloud-based single sign-on integration with Esri ArcGIS Online.



Trimble Unity version 2.0 features advanced asset maintenance capabilities that allow utility customers to quickly search and group various types of utility assets, including meters, pipelines, valves and hydrants, into prioritized collections of work that can be easily assigned to crews for completion. The new features enable utilities to reduce the time and cost associated with water asset repair and installation work.

Version 2.0 adds support for the latest Trimble and Spectra Precision® BYOD GNSS mapping receivers to provide customers with new options for mapping and locating utility assets and keeping their GIS up-to-date and accurate using iOS, Android or Windows® mobile handhelds, smart phones and tablets. Utility mobile workers can now connect their mobile devices via Bluetooth® technology to the Trimble R1 GNSS receiver, a BYOD GNSS receiver with sub-meter accuracy, or the Spectra Precision MobileMapper® 300 receiver that supports up to centimeter-level accuracy.

In addition, Trimble Unity version 2.0 leverages the Esri ArcGIS platform across the product. It provides support for Esri Web map technology and adds single sign-on functionality that enables licensed Esri ArcGIS Online customers to use their Esri login credentials to sign-in and use the full capabilities of their Trimble Unity version 2.0 software.

"Water utility workers in the field have a wide variety of products they use on a daily basis, so we've designed Trimble Unity version 2.0 to be compatible with a broad range of devices—including Trimble handhelds and iOS, Android and Windows smartphones and tablets. The new version allows customers to use their mobile device of choice with a robust software solution for asset maintenance workflows that supports high-accuracy mapping and location. The addition of the Esri ArcGIS Web map and single sign-on integration also enables customers using Esri GIS to leverage their GIS investment and easily deploy Trimble Unity throughout their organization," said Rami Naber, product manager for Trimble Water.

Trimble Unity Software

Trimble Unity offers a unified cloud-based and mobile collaboration platform for smart water mapping and work management. The software is designed to automate a variety of industry workflows through individual "apps" offered within the software suite, enabling utilities to deploy smart meters, assess the condition of assets, repair leaks and reduce non-revenue water (NRW), and locate and map critical infrastructure using Trimble high-accuracy GNSS mapping technologies. The software can also assist utilities in reducing spills and environmental damage, extending the life of aging assets and enabling improve worker safety and productivity. For additional information visit: www.TrimbleUnity.com.

Trimble R1 GNSS Receiver

The Trimble R1 GNSS receiver is a rugged, pocket-sized GNSS receiver that provides sub-meter precision to users of any Bluetooth connected mobile device, including iOS, Android and Windows mobile smartphones, tablets, or more traditional integrated data collection tools such as a Trimble handheld computer. The R1 GNSS receiver supports multiple GNSS constellations, including GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS and BeiDou, to provide a truly global solution. The R1 GNSS receiver includes the ability to utilize Satellite Based Augmentation Services (SBAS), Trimble ViewPoint™ RTX or, Virtual Reference Station (VRS) correction sources to suit the location and business requirements. For additional information visit: www.TrimbleWater.com/r1.html.

Spectra Precision MobileMapper 300

The Spectra Precision MobileMapper 300 GNSS receiver is controlled with a wide variety of Android smartphones, tablets or notebook computers and allows users to collect high-accuracy location information, which is significantly more accurate than the device's internal GPS. The MobileMapper 300 is available in three levels of precision, so users can determine the best value for their project requirement. A full-precision model is available that uses Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) or Virtual Reference Station (VRS) technology to achieve centimeter positioning in 3D. This is a powerful solution for mapping gravity-networks such as storm and wastewater systems. For additional information visit: www.TrimbleWater.com/mm300.html.

Availability

Trimble Unity version 2.0 is available now from Trimble's Water Division and its authorized distribution partners. The Trimble R1 GNSS receiver and Spectra Precision MobileMapper 300 are available now.

About Trimble's Water Division

Trimble's Water Division specializes in field and office solutions for GIS mapping and work management, field data collection, design and inspection, and network management for water, wastewater and stormwater utilities, manufacturers and service providers around the world. Trimble's solutions integrate advanced positioning, sensors and mapping technologies with software and hardware to automate utility mapping, design, construction and field operations, enabling increased productivity, enhanced regulatory compliance and improved customer service and response.

For more information about Trimble's Water solutions, visit: www.TrimbleWater.com.

About Trimble

Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring positioning or location—including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user in the field and to ensure communication between the field and the office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.

For more information, visit: www.trimble.com.

GTRMB

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