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Getting Technical - January 2022

How do I enable others in my organization with the power of GIS? How does GIS help get COVID-19 vaccines to the homebound? How do I create my first dashboard using ArcGIS Dashboards? Get the answers to all that and more in this month’s edition of Getting Technical.

Features

Register for this webinar: Taking the Geographic Approach Deeper into Your Organization
Thursday, January 27, 2022
As a GIS professional, do your day-to-day tasks involve fulfilling requests from colleagues for simple maps and geographic products? Would you prefer to concentrate on performing spatial analysis, managing crucial geographic data and creating informative maps and apps that contribute to the decision-making processes in your organization? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then join Chris North, Director of Technology Adoption, as he discusses how you can enable others in your organization with the power of GIS.

Taking the Community Map of Canada Vector Basemap Offline (part 2: ArcGIS Enterprise)
Now that you have read part 1 of our series, it’s time to learn how to take our Community Map of Canada offline for ArcGIS Enterprise. This blog will describe how to take the Vector Tile Package (VTPK) offline in a connected and disconnected environment.

Hot Tip: Quickly change the font for your map’s legend
There are so many places you can adjust the text in your legend. Labels, descriptions, title, headings they can all have different fonts and colors. Which can be a lot of fun! Sometimes though, you just need to quickly update all the text in your layout. Learn how to make these adjustments and more tips for your map’s legend in this blog post.

FAQ: How do I create my first dashboard using ArcGIS Dashboards?
ArcGIS Dashboards enables users to convey information by presenting location-based analytics using intuitive and interactive data visualizations. A dashboard is a view of geographic information and data that allows you to monitor events, make decisions, inform others and see trends. Dashboards are designed to display multiple visualizations that work together on a single screen. Learn how to use ArcGIS Dashboards to provide a comprehensive view of your data and key insights for at-a-glance decision-making.

Geographical Thinking Podcast – Season 2 | Episode 9: Reaching Isolated Populations
To help our battle against COVID-19, hundreds of GIS applications were created and continuously updated across the country. Public health’s need for location analytics was obvious. Esri Canada jumped in and hired a team of public health experts. Meet two members of the team in this episode and how two GIS-enabled Canadian projects in this field – HIV self-testing kits and getting COVID vaccines to the homebound- have made a difference.

COVID-19 Resources

Visit the ArcGIS Solutions site to learn more about Esri’s suite of coronavirus recovery solutions.

COVID-19 Canada Resource Hub
Esri Canada’s resource hub includes bilingual maps, apps and other COVID-19 resources for the public, customers and media. The hub is constantly updated with case and vaccination data, COVID-19 open datasets, GIS training videos and other resources. Check out our COVID-19 Recovery Solutions and Coronavirus Vaccine Distribution Solutions.

Announcements

Purchase orders and volume pricing now available on the Esri Canada Store 
New features are available on the Esri Canada Store. You can now buy in bulk and get discounts on selected items, to be applied at checkout. You can also now buy products on the Esri Canada Store using a Purchase Order (PO). This gives you the option to pay by electronic funds transfer, cheque, etc., aside from a credit card. Simply plug in a valid PO number at checkout, and you’ll receive an invoice referencing your PO number. You can now take advantage of buying products on our store at any time using a PO, for automated fulfillment. Visit the Esri Canada Store to see these new options now.

ArcGIS Connectors in Power Automate

Modern GIS for the Enterprise: Redefined in 2021

Environment Layers Retiring December 2021

2021 ArcGIS Living Atlas year in review

2021 ArcGIS Online year in review

View more announcements in the ArcGIS Blog | My Esri Blog on GeoNet

Service Packs, Patches & Product Support Updates

Software Alert: ArcGIS and CVE-2021-44228 Apache Log4j 2
Esri is actively investigating the impact of the Log4j library vulnerability (CVE-2021-44228) disclosed on December 9, 2021, as some Esri products contain this common logging tool. This bulletin has been updated and contains the latest information about Esri products and will continue to be updated as new information becomes available.

ArcGIS Pro 2.8 Patch 4 (2.8.4) Announcement
Please download this patch at your earliest convenience.

ArcMap Continued Support
ArcGIS 10.8.1 is the current release of ArcMap and will continue to be supported until March 1, 2026, as established in the ArcGIS Desktop Product Life Cycle. Esri released ArcMap 10.8.2 in December 2021. This was a maintenance release only and does not include new functionality. This update does not extend the ArcGIS 10.8.x product life cycle. Esri does not have plans to release an ArcMap 10.9. The ArcMap Continued Support page, will be able to answer your questions regarding continued support of ArcMap as well as contains resources to help you transition your work moving forward into several Esri products such as ArcGIS Pro. Find out more about Migrating to ArcGIS Pro.

Deprecation Reminder for Explorer, Collector and Tracker
ArcGIS Field Maps was launched in October 2020 and replaces the functionality of ArcGIS Collector, ArcGIS Explorer and ArcGIS Tracker on the iOS and Android mobile platforms. These products (Collector, Explorer, Tracker) are currently available to download and are fully supported; however, they were retired in December 2021. Migration resources, including a migration guide, can be found in this blog.

View more security patches

Web Watch – Blogs, Podcasts and Useful Resources

Map of the Month: Aviqtuuq
January 2022’s Map of the Month is Aviqtuuq, by the Spence Bay Hunters and Trappers. It represents the Aviqtuuq Inuit Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA), a project guided by Inuit values that seeks to create a conservation economy in Aviqtuuq based out of Taloyoak, Nunavut. This success story is about protecting Aviqtuuq’s interconnected ecosystems while re-establishing food sovereignty for Inuit in the region.

Screenshot of a map of Aviqtuuq

Community Map of Canada – Style of the Month: Morning Coffee & Tea
The style of the month is a 'Morning Coffee & Tea' style made for the Community Map of Canada for the month of January 2022.

Screenshot of the Community Map of Canada style of the month with coffee bean markers over Halifax, NS.

Geographical Thinking Podcast – Season 2 | Episode 8: Geographical Thinking Caps: List It or Lose It
We’re making some lists and checking them twice. We’re gonna find out who wins geo-glory! The funcast podcast returns with the ultimate game of knowledge and strategy. Play along with Esri Canada’s Lakshmy Vasanthamohan and Mark Nguyen as they itemize geographical lists – one location at a time. It’s harder and funnier than you think. They better not pout and better not cry if they’re wrong!

ArcGIS GeoBIM Connects Projects in Context
Despite the narrowing of the gap between GIS and building information modeling (BIM) over the last few years, architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms and their clients are still battling with disparate data on multiple platforms. They struggle to provide a single authoritative view of project data to communicate project information easily and securely. A new product, ArcGIS GeoBIM, delivers an innovative, easy-to-use web-based experience for project teams to explore and collaborate on BIM projects and issues using data from multiple systems in a geospatial context.

View more articles in ArcUser | ArcNews | ArcWatch

Training

Field Data Collection and Management Using ArcGIS
Learn how ArcGIS supports a complete field data management workflow — from the office to the field, in the field and back to the office. 

The field apps introduce in this course are Field Maps, Survey123, Quick Capture, Workforce and Dashboard.

View training solutions

Esri Canada Seminars & Webinars

Energy Series: Automation Tips and Industry Data Update
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
The Geological Atlas of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin is a publication that is invaluable to geologists and others who are interested in exploring and developing the mineral resources in Western Canada. In this webinar, we’ll review the plans to update the Atlas of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin and explore other data resources available from the Living Atlas. You will also hear subject matter experts present best practices to consider in your project delivery process and learn how to improve workflows and be more productive with geospatial technology for the energy sector. 

Take the Community Map of Canada with You Wherever You Go (in English)
Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Offline maps extend your applications’ use in remote areas or when you do not have access to the internet. The Community Map of Canada is your go-to basemap with data coming directly from authoritative sources. BAM!!! These two ideas have now collided, allowing you the ability to take the Community Map of Canada offline. In this webinar, find out how you can set up the Community Map of Canada for offline use in ArcGIS Online, and see some examples of how to use the basemaps in your field apps.

Take the Community Map of Canada with You Wherever You Go (in French)
Tuesday, February 15, 2022
Offline maps extend your applications’ use in remote areas or when you do not have access to the internet. The Community Map of Canada is your go-to basemap, with data coming directly from authoritative sources. BAM!!! These two ideas have now collided (in a good way) allowing you the ability to take the Community Map of Canada offline. In this webinar, find out how you can set up the Community Map of Canada for offline use in ArcGIS Online, and see some examples of how to use the basemaps in your field apps. You will also get to hear from Community Map of Canada contributor Port of Montréal on how they are utilizing the offline basemap for their needs.

View recorded seminars | View recorded webinars

This post was translated to French and can be viewed here.

About the Author

George Kouroupis is the Director of Technology and Solutions for Esri Canada. His efforts are focused on advising customers and business partners on the latest ArcGIS trends and technologies. With over 35 years’ experience in software development, project management and product management, George takes a holistic and pragmatic approach to addressing customer’s technical and business problems.

Profile Photo of George Kouroupis