5 fun ArcGIS activities to try now!

January 5, 2024

Angela Alexander

ArcGIS is a tool for learning and understanding our world, but it can also be a fun and engaging platform for K-12 students and teachers to use in the classroom. Check out 5 fun ArcGIS activities that you can try today!

Whether you are teaching geography, technology, or science, integrate these activities into your units on current issues, mapping, data, climate change and natural disasters. The first four activities are part of an ArcGIS Blog series called “Map in a minute,” and the last one showcases a very cool app that everyone should explore.

1. Map in a minute:
Create a rotating globe using ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Living Atlas
Using Scene Viewer in ArcGIS Online and Living Atlas data, learn how you can create a cool rotating globe like the ones in K-12 classrooms!

2. Map in a minute:
Map sea temperature and coral bleaching using ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Living Atlas
ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World includes authoritative content that helps you learn more about current sea temperature and coral bleaching. Follow the steps to make your own sea surface temperature and coral bleaching map in a minute.

Screenshot showing the Vibrant Globe Scene.

Esri’s Bern Szukalski is a corporate technology evangelist and advocate who shares great ways to use ArcGIS including his series called Map in a Minute. This Vibrant Globe is created in Scene Viewer in ArcGIS Online.

3. Map in a minute:
Map a hurricane using ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Living Atlas
ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World includes authoritative live feeds and other content that helps you learn more about active hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons. Besides making your own map in under a minute using ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Living Atlas content, you can use other applications that use the same live feeds to visualize and learn more about hurricanes.

4. Map in a minute:
Map smoke from Canadian wildfires using ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Living Atlas
ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World includes authoritative content that helps you learn more about current and predicted smoke conditions and current air quality resulting from the Canadian fires. Follow the steps to make your own Canadian smoke, fire, and air quality map in a minute.

5. Way Back App

This app has a new and improved look and feel. Wayback imagery included in this app is a digital archive of the World Imagery basemap, enabling users to access different versions of World Imagery captured over the years. Try it out by exploring an area of the world of your choice.

Screenshot showing the Way Back App.