So far in our exploration of software as a service (SaaS) providers, we have focused largely on map design and construction. We’ve also seen how datasets can be uploaded and stored on the cloud. In this lesson, we’ll move forward and look at how GIS tools and algorithms can be invoked in a SaaS environment.
You got a taste of GIS as a service back when you used CARTO to aggregate farm dropoff points to neighborhoods. This required an algorithm to run determining the neighborhood where each point was located. The neighborhoods layer was then updated with a field showing the count of all points inside. If this were run locally, it would require you to install GIS or other spatial data processing software. Offloading this operation to the cloud requires you to solely focus on the input and output data.
Many other GIS operations are possible in the cloud; all that’s needed are some known input/output formats and some server logic that can then process the data. A popular input/output format is vector features. You’ve seen how there are lots of known formats for that, such as GeoJSON, CSV, KML, etc. Once the server receives these, it can perform operations such as buffering, intersection, routing, drive time analysis, etc., and send back the result in the form of more vectors, an image, or perhaps even textual reports. These analyses might incorporate sophisticated datasets from the cloud provider, such as road networks, address databases, or demographic information. Cloud providers can charge a metered fee, deducting money or credits for each operation performed, or they can charge flat monthly fees for different tiers of capabilities.
Although Esri is not the only company that offers GIS operations as a cloud service, it is clearly an area where they specialize. Esri ArcGIS Desktop software has hundreds of tools running all kinds of GIS operations. The challenge for Esri (and other cloud service providers) is to expose these kinds of tools online through an interface that’s intuitive to people who may have never used any GIS before. These users may know exactly what they want to accomplish, but would not be familiar with GIS terms like clip, union, buffer, etc. Companies offering GIS as a service must clearly define these terms or simplify them. Pause and spend a few minutes looking over the Perform analysis [1] page to see how Esri uses a combination of graphical icons and simplified terms to explain the spatial analysis capabilities in ArcGIS Online.
In this lesson, you'll use GIS services on ArcGIS Online to derive service areas, join demographic variables to those, and export data for further analysis outside the cloud. These are just a few of the many possible operations offered by ArcGIS Online, but they should give you a taste of how to invoke the analysis and manage Esri service credits.
At the successful completion of this lesson, you should be able to:
Let’s get some practice with ArcGIS Online GIS analysis services. Imagine you’re working for a sushi delivery company that has made its way to fame via an app accessed from people’s smartphones. Customers use the app to order fresh-made sushi to be delivered to their home. Your company makes the sushi in small “stores” (similar to pizza delivery outlets) and delivers it from those locations.
Unfortunately, business isn’t doing too well, and the company has been forced to cut its number of stores. You are tasked with determining one of the four stores to shut down in the Yakima metro area. You’ve just learned about some geographic analysis that you could perform online to help you with your decision. You already know that you want to consider the area your delivery cars can reasonably reach from each store. You also want to find out about the customer base of each store, including how many people live near each store, how much they tend to spend on restaurants, and how many own smartphones.
The only data you have at this point is a spreadsheet containing the locations of your stores and the amount you pay in rent each month for the commercial space. Let’s start by getting that data into ArcGIS Online.
First download the data for this lesson [2]. Then do the following:
The first thing you want to do is find out what area is served by each store. The company has learned that customers demand their sushi within 20 minutes of ordering it. Twelve minutes are typically required to make the food, and eight minutes are allotted for delivery. Let’s find out the areas that lie within an eight-minute drive of each store.
The service area polygons we calculated were interesting and somewhat useful, but the raw area of the polygon alone is not enough to help us get a feel for the underlying population served. Parts of the city are much more densely populated than others. Also, people in some neighborhoods tend to eat out more than others. Some neighborhoods might also have a higher density of smartphone usage where people would be inclined to order using your app. We’ll explore these variables in the next section of the lesson.
In this part of the walkthrough, we’ll try to learn a bit more about the customer base that lives within each 8-minute service area polygon we derived. We’ll accomplish this using what Esri calls “Data Enrichment”, in other words, joining and summarizing attributes from extensive demographic databases.
Since your boss only speaks Excel, it might be nice to get your stores spreadsheet back with all these enriching variables added. This can be accomplished via a simple table join from the enriched service areas back onto the delivery points.
For this week's assignment, please create a single document containing all of the following:
1. Unfortunately, there is no button on any GIS, cloud-based or otherwise, that says “Give me the answer”. All the same, you were able to use ArcGIS Online services to learn quite a bit more about the potential customers of your stores. Given what you learned, make a decision about which store should be cut that would minimize the overall financial impact on the franchise.
Write a justification for your manager of about 500 words detailing your decision. This should contain evidence using the enriched variables you derived and any maps you want to make with ArcGIS Online. Discuss the impact and usefulness (or lack thereof) of each variable. If you’re at a loss about what else to include in your report, try adding a map of what the service areas would look like with your selected store cut out.
There is no “right” answer to this question (although there may be questionable or unsupported answers). I am mainly looking for evidence that you’ve thought about the data and the analysis performed in the walkthroughs, and that you can use the output to address a spatial problem.
As you perform any additional analysis and make your maps, keep an eye on your credit usage. You want to leave enough ArcGIS Online credits in your account for your final project (if you are going to use ArcGIS Online in that project).
2. In this lesson, you observed how Esri has tried to put a very user-friendly face on some complex analysis tools in order to make them approachable to people without formal GIS training. What is gained and/or lost under this approach? Are there dangers that the tools might be misused if they are overly "dumbed down", or is the simplification of the tools helpful for everyone?
Study at least two (2) of the ArcGIS Online analysis operations and find their corresponding tools in ArcToolbox. Paste screenshots of both in your report here, and provide some commentary on (1) how the user interfaces have been changed for an ArcGIS Online audience, and (2) how their user interfaces are helped or hindered through this simplification.
The final week of this course will be dedicated to a term project that each of you will complete to integrate and apply your understanding of Cloud and Server GIS in the context of an application scenario you choose. You will select ONE project option from the list below and submit an abstract in week 8 describing your project idea. To a large degree, you will have the freedom to shape the specifics of your term project around a cloud GIS project that interests you. I hope that this allows you to either focus on a topic related to your day-to-day work or choose an area that sparks your curiosity.
Here are the options you have for your term project. You should choose ONE of these options:
OPTION 1: Set up an ArcGIS Server-based website using your own data, using EC2 as a hosting service.
OPTION 2: Solve a GIS problem using multiple cloud machines.
OPTION 3: Use ArcGIS Online, Carto, or Mapbox technology to solve geographic data handling problems.
OPTION 4: Design a cloud-based infrastructure that complements an existing GIS. Since this option will deliver a design rather than an example of a working system, the written component will need to be much larger than under the other options.
OPTION 5: Develop your own topic using Cloud GIS. You will need to receive approval from your instructor.
The term project includes the following deliverables:
Please use the Term Project Rubric [4]as a guide for implementing your project. It describes all the pieces that need to be present in order to earn an A, such as discussions of cost and security considerations.
By the end of week 8, you need to submit an abstract (summary) of your project idea. Submit this to the corresponding drop box on Canvas in the form of a document of 200 - 300 words. The instructor will review immediately and post any concerns or needed modifications.
Links
[1] http://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-online/analyze/perform-analysis.htm
[2] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog865/sites/www.e-education.psu.edu.geog865/files/data/arcgis_online_gis_lesson_data.zip
[3] http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcgisonline/credits
[4] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog865/sites/www.e-education.psu.edu.geog865/files/data/Geog%20865%20Term%20Project%20Rubric.docx