Free ESRI Licenses for URISA GIS Corps Volunteers

This was a piece of good news I came across today, ESRI has announced it will be providing free personal licenses of their software to individuals who wish to support volunteer opportunities.

https://www.directionsmag.com/pressrelease/7082

Individuals who already volunteer through the URISA GIS Corps need only to fill out a "GIS Service Pledge" form indicating which organization they plan on supporting and the type of volunteer work being provided.  There is a four week verification process prior to the software being issued to each user.

http://www.giscorps.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=210&Itemid=60

As much as I encourage and enjoy using open source software in my volunteer efforts with the GIS Corps, I also think this pledge by ESRI will be extremely helpful in making volunteer efforts more accessible to people who may be more hesitant to step out of the ESRI bubble.  In my experience with volunteer projects through the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, one of the biggest hurdles has been learning a new piece of software prior to supporting the volunteer work (ex: QGIS, Java OpenStreetMap Editor).  While these are both excellent pieces of software which I enjoy using, I think in some instances the learning curve for these open source tools can be a bit too high for the casual GIS user.

Anyways, this should be a good initiative put forth by ESRI!  I signed up today, so I'll provide an update on the process if/when my request is approved!

*UPDATE*

My application was approved and I will be receiving a download notification from ESRI for ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS for Desktop.  I am pleasantly surprised at how quick and easy this process was, and I can't wait to start contributing to the GISCorps in a big way!

Unnecessary Concern of the Day: Snapping Beyond a 1:1 Scale

An ongoing head-scratcher for me has been why my points/lines/polygons look "off" in ArcMap when zoomed in beyond a 1:1 scale. Today, I found the answer to my question! A question, it turns out, that I didn't need to worry about in the first place.

The explanation I found for this issue is summed up as follows:
"Viewing linework at a viewing scale of less than 1:1 will show apparent offsets that are not real - i.e. they are not really what is going on. The polygons could be totally coincident, but below 1:1 look off. So some visually-seen disconcerting gaps/overlaps are actually not issues."

Here's ESRI Supports explanation:
"As per our phone interaction, a map scale past 1:1 is a known limitation of our software because at a scale of 1:1, the screen display is equal to the actual distance of objects on the earth's surface (i.e. an inch on your screen is equal to an inch on the ground). When you go past that scale, it may appear that features are overlapping (when in reality) what you are seeing is the actual software resolution tolerance pushed past it's maximum threshold. In essence, the entire screen is only one point (at a map scale of 1:0), which is why your work flow is producing inaccurate results."

Original Thread Here: https://community.esri.com/thread/180322

In other words, don't be fooled by the illusion beyond a 1:1 scale! Everything is Fine.....probably. Maybe set up a few topology rules to ease your worries for good?

Using Microsoft Access to Track Tasks

Earlier this year I experienced an increase in workload, as I took on a more central roll in developing GIS solutions and project support within my company.

To deal with the increasing number of requests for GIS support I was receiving, I wanted to set up a GIS Task Tracker database/spreadsheet that I could use to easily input and track requests.  In addition, I would have a number of other GIS staff assisting with the project, so I felt task management would need to take center stage if the project was going to continue running smoothly.

I began with a template in Excel, but it quickly became clear that this approach wouldn't work....our spreadsheet became riddled with errors and many staff were forgetting to enter tasks.  I decided to scrap my original Excel document and use an Access database, in part because of a number of benefits I saw:

     1.  Access could be easily linked to our Outlook accounts.
     2.  Tasks could be directly e-mailed to GIS staff through this Outlook connection.
     3.  A task form could be utilized, for easily entering accurate task information.
     4.  GIS staff could quickly and easily communicate with project staff with regard to time frames and workload issues.
     5.  Attachments could be added to each individual request.
     6.  Finally, Excel is ultimately a tool for small scale data analysis.  It became clear that Access was the right tool for this complex data management/storage task.....perfect for this exercise.

In my research, I was fortunate to find an (almost) perfect template developed by Microsoft here:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Use-the-Task-Management-Access-Database-template-50376839-8cc6-4d29-ac1b-b9fce69605f8


The original template wouldn't need much editing on my end, just a few extra fields and changes to the primary form used for adding new tasks:

View of the task tracker in Access

Adding tasks in the table view was simplified with the creation of an entry form:

View of the Entry Form

With the Task Tracker in place, my workload became much more manageable and allowed me to generate queries and reports detailing the influx of recent requests.  I would highly recommend this database template for anyone looking to manage GIS requests within a medium or even large GIS work group.

Exporting Maps to PDF with Python

Recently, I had the need for a python script that would export a series of maps to PDF.

I wanted to set up a task using Python and Task Scheduler, that would access a workspace location and export every .mxd at that location to PDF at a specific time during the evening.

I began with a script I found here:  http://support.esri.com/en/technical-article/000012420

I ended up with a slightly modified script, as shown below:

_________________________________________________________
#Import modules here
import arcpy, os

print ('Hello, finding workspace now...')

#Set workspace location here
arcpy.env.workspace = ws = r"C:\Test"

print ('Finding .mxd files now...')

#Create list of .mxd files within the workspace.
mxd_list = arcpy.ListFiles("*.mxd")

print ('Exporting to PDF now...')

for mxd in mxd_list:
   
    current_mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(os.path.join(ws, mxd))
    pdf_name = mxd[:-4] + ".pdf"
    arcpy.mapping.ExportToPDF(current_mxd, pdf_name)

print ('Complete, thank you for using Map Exporter!')
__________________________________________________________


Next, I needed to set the script to run at a specific time. 

To accomplish this, I started by opening Task Scheduler from the Windows Start Menu.

Next, I ran through the following steps:

1. Create a Basic Task
2. Start Daily
3. Run time 10 p.m., recurring daily
4. Action = Start a program
5. Select location of script


Now, I have a nice, tidy, fairly simple map exporter that will run every night at 10 p.m. 

Additional information on utilizing the Task Scheduler is here:    https://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2013/07/30/scheduling-a-scrip/

Using ModelBuilder to Streamline Editing in ArcMap

Recently I was tasked with creating section lines (from township dimensions and attributes contained in legal descriptions) for several counties in Minnesota.

Existing data was deemed insufficient for our project's purposes, so the lines would need to be manually created, on a case by case basis, in order to accurately plot data.

Maintaining the integrity of the section line feature class was very important, and would dictate the accuracy of other steps in the process.  Thus, creating section lines that were both accurate and topologically sound became my primary concern.  Creating sections without overshoots, dangles, or extraneous points was the primary goal here, and I wanted to ensure I streamlined the process to remove human error during the editing process.  The section lines themselves didn't need to be perfect, but we needed to be consistent in our approach.

The first step in the process involved close examination of aerial imagery, and unfortunately could not be modeled.  The mapper would need to carefully draw a centerline along a road, fence, or other visible use-line in order to establish the boundary of each section.  Next, the Copy Parallel tool was utilized to offset each line by 1320 feet.  The result of this manual operation is a grid, as depicted in the image below.

Image 1 - Section lines before running custom tool

As you can see, the grid contains a number of errors including line overshoots, dangles, and extraneous vertices.

The tool below, is aimed at correcting these issues without manual edits.



Image 2 - "Finalize Section Lines" tool developed in ModelBuilder



Image 3 - "Finalize Section Lines" tool

The end result of the model, should look something like the image below.  Nice, clean lines, with 2 vertices per edge.

Image 4 - End Result