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News Roundup – June 2020

How are charitable organizations mobilizing GIS to support communities during COVID-19? How can businesses use location intelligence to get more out of their marketing strategies in a time of rapidly changing customer behavior? What are some of the benefits of using ArcGIS Hub and ArcGIS Enterprise Sites to encourage adoption and collaboration? Learn more in June 2020’s News Roundup.

Feature Stories

App of the Month: United Way Centraide’s COVID-19 Radar
For United Way Centraide, the COVID-19 pandemic means getting services like food assistance to people in need. Doing this effectively means knowing where the greatest need is located—which means leveraging location intelligence. Learn more about United Way Centraide’s nationwide effort to pinpoint the areas of greatest need and invest funds more efficiently through this case study focused on Greater Montréal.

Climate change, positive feedback loops, and what is an atmospheric river?
Climate events, wildfires, and atmospheric rivers—river-like systems in the sky that can transport massive amounts of tropical or subtropical moisture in the form of water vapour—are increasing every year. Governments need emergency plans to help them respond. Learn more about how GIS tools like Esri’s new Emergency Management Operations Solution can support key emergency management workflows.

How location intelligence can focus your marketing during COVID-19
COVID-19 has created unprecedented challenges for businesses to adapt to, including changed customer expectations and behaviours. In this blog post, Allen Williams, a management consultant for Esri Canada, discusses several examples of how adding location intelligence to your marketing strategy can help you make your marketing messages more relevant and build trust with your customers.

How to create an information dashboard for visualizing useful data
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, many elements of human life have become counted, measured, and tracked. Data collected like this can be brought into ArcGIS Online and turned into user-friendly dashboards containing intuitive and interactive data visualizations. In this blog post, Gordon Plunkett, SDI director for Esri Canada, shows just how easy it can be to make a dashboard of your own.

Supporting public works staff and work activities during the COVID-19 pandemic
Because of COVID-19, your organization may be experiencing a reduced workforce or be facing challenges with accessing or collecting field data. In this blog post, Bill Grant, public works industry manager for Esri Canada, discusses how public works agencies can navigate this changed landscape using GIS tools.

Introducing the Emergency Management Operations Solution
What does emergency management look like when every potential disaster—an earthquake, for example—is compounded with COVID-19? David Hamilton, public safety industry manager for Esri Canada, discusses the new Emergency Management Operations Solution and how it can be used to maintain situational awareness during, manage responses to and help communities recover from complex emergent situations.

“ArcGIS Pro 2.5 Functionality Every GIS Professional Should Know” Webinar Q&A
During Esri Canada’s recent free webinar ArcGIS Pro 2.5 Functionality Every GIS Professional Should Know, we were excited to get more questions than we could answer live. In this blog post, we’ve answered your questions about some of the new productivity enhancements and new ways of working with 3D data that ArcGIS Pro 2.5 offers.

NG9-1-1: The dates have changed but the urgency remains
Due to recent global events, the CRTC has revised the key dates for the NG9-1-1 roll-out, but this is no time to slow down. NG9-1-1 must still be fully functional by the March 30, 2024 decommissioning date. Learn about how the City of Guelph learned that—even with the change in dates—they still very much have their work cut out for them, and how Esri Canada helped them along the way.

Regulatory agencies and location intelligence in times of crisis
Regulatory agencies across Canada are using location intelligence as a weapon in their crisis response arsenals. In this article, Esri Canada management consultant Kelsey Davis walks through three examples of regulatory agencies currently using geospatial tools to support their response efforts, helping them better inform the public and enhance public safety.

Encourage adoption and collaboration with websites driven by dynamic location data
ArcGIS Hub and ArcGIS Enterprise Sites are solutions that can give you way more than just web pages. Any organization with a need to improve understanding of a specific topic among internal staff, across departments, in collaboration with trusted partners or with the public could benefit from deploying either one. With these solutions, it’s possible to connect teams privately to a common mission or goal. It’s also possible to inform the public. Review the main benefits of these two types of websites driven by dynamic location data, their users and the resources that can help you learn more about deploying your own.

Esri News

Esri Donates Free Software to GEO BON Grant Recipients
May 29, 2020

Esri Publishes Second Edition of GIS Analysis Guide
May 28, 2020

Esri Press Publishes Children’s Book about GIS
May 20, 2020

Esri Publishes Smarter Government Workbook by Martin O’Malley
May 20, 2020

Esri Provides Free Mapping Software for Women in GIS
May 18, 2020

Esri and IDB Offer Solution to Combat COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean
May 18, 2020

Esri Provides Free COVID-19 Resources to Nonprofits
May 7, 2020

Esri Offers Free Access to GIS Training for Furloughed Professionals Affected by Coronavirus
May 7, 2020

Resources

ArcNews: Esri Technology Gets Faster, Easier and More Robust
The latest release of ArcGIS technology, which includes ArcGIS Pro 2.5 and ArcGIS Enterprise 10.8, offers powerful new features in mapping, visualization, analytics, and more. Read more to learn about ArcGIS Pro 2.5’s updated colour management settings and integrated Python notebooks; ArcGIS Image Analyst’s more comprehensive support for image analysis; and updates to ArcGIS Enterprise Sites, among many other new features to improve your experience using Esri technology.

WhereNext: Questioning a Cashless Future
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, a patchwork of policies for and against cashless businesses had retail executives caught between the past and the future, with some turning to location data to plan their expansion strategies. With demand for contactless commerce growing, the debate takes on new urgency.

Esri & The Science of Where Podcast: Climate Change: Finding Solutions through Technology, Science and Our Humanity
With climate change and COVID-19 coinciding as global threats, science and technology are playing vital roles in addressing large-scale systemic challenges. Hear meteorologist and climate expert Dr. Marshall Shepherd advocate a rational approach to climate change that appeals to our humanity.

Video: Esri: 1 Question, 2 Minutes – How can businesses adapt to where we are in the recovery process?
John Lenahan, Esri’s Commercial Services lead, introduces the ways in which GIS can help businesses make safe, smart, and data-driven decisions about operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

About the Author

Dani Pacey is a Marketing Specialist for Esri Canada. She digitized her first map at the tender age of 10 and has been fascinated by the relationships between people and places ever since. An avid technical communicator with degrees in Science & Technology Studies from York University and History of Science & Technology from the University of King's College, Dani has always blended science, social science and the humanities and loves bringing them all together to tell great stories about human life.

Profile Photo of Dani Pacey