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5 Reasons you should explore The Living Atlas in ArcGIS Online

Are you looking for interesting content to include in your teaching this fall? Find out why you should give The Living Atlas a try this school year. This collection of global data covering history, geography and science themes will help jazz up your course units and engage your students.

Using your ArcGIS Online account, you can explore The Living Atlas, a collection of global data that includes maps and apps from GIS users, Esri and partners around the world, which you can use in your teaching this fall. Here are 5 reasons you should give The Living Atlas a try:

  1. Easily access this collection of data, including imagery and basemaps that cover a broad array of themes, from the Map Viewer.

With just a few clicks of your mouse, you can access this dynamic data collection via the Map Viewer in ArcGIS Online.

  1. Create your own maps and apps using data available in this collection.

This Aboriginal Settlements 1823 web app was created using the Historical 1811 map from The Living Atlas collection and the Aboriginal Peoples and European Settlement in Canada, 1630-1823 data from Esri Canada Education.

  1. Learn something new by exploring data in this collection.

Discover the sea surface temperature of the oceans. Sea surface temperature is a key climate and weather measurement used for weather prediction, ocean forecasts, tropical cyclone forecasts and in coastal applications such as fisheries, pollution monitoring and tourism. El Niño and La Niña are two examples of climate events which are forecast through the use of sea surface temperature maps.

  1. Analyze data from this collection by accessing the perform analysis tools available in ArcGIS Online.

Discover which major cities in Canada were within 100 kilometres of an earthquake that occurred in 2012. The Major Cities data is from The Living Atlas collection, and the earthquakes data is from the Natural Events in Canada data.

  1. Access premium content, such as current demographic data at the enumeration area (EA) level, to obtain more detailed information about neighbourhoods in Canada.

Looking for recent demographic data that is available at the EA level?  Access The Living Atlas collection in the Map Viewer.

Ready to give The Living Atlas a try? Log into ArcGIS Online  or sign up for an account today. 

If you have created maps and apps for teaching using ArcGIS Online, share them with us, and we might highlight your content in a future blog post. Send your ArcGIS Online content to k12@esri.ca.  

About the Author

Angela Alexander is a K-12 Education Specialist in the Esri Canada Education and Research group. She has over 15 years of experience working with educators across Canada. Angela focuses on producing geographic information system (GIS) and curriculum-specific resources, and conducting and creating custom workshops for educators. She manages the GIS Ambassador Program and is the Technical Chair for the annual Skills Ontario GIS competition. Angela also writes monthly posts for the Esri Canada Education and Research blog, highlighting K-12 educators and partners, new ArcGIS resources and GIS-related events.

Profile Photo of Angela Alexander