Lab 2: Geospatial Web Services

Goals and Background:

In this lab services are uploaded to ArcGIS Online and the local UWEC web GIS server in a variety of ways. The services created encompass vector, tiled raster, and simple table data uploaded from ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Pro, and ArcMap. Also practiced in this lab is connecting to servers, and correctly defining the services for their specific functions.

Methods:

Part 1: Publishing Feature Hosted Services Through ArcGIS Online

After receiving the data for the lab from the instructor, some shapefile data including cities Interstates highways and counties of Wisconsin was compressed into a zip file. The resulting zip file was then uploaded to ArcGIS online, using the Add Item From my computer button in the My Content page. In the dialog, the zip file was selected for the file, with the contents specified as shapefile, the box was checked to make the file published as a hosted layer, the title was entered as wisconsin_transportation, and some specific tags were entered. After publishing, the feature layer was opened and the thumbnail was clicked to create a map with the feature layer's layers included. This map was then edited so that the Layers had simple names, the pop up windows for feature attributes didn't display unnecessary fields, the legend was configured, and the map was saved again with appropriate description, tags, and a summary. An example of a properly configured pop up window is seen in the picture below. The map can be seen in the results section.

In the next section of part 1, a feature hosted service was created purely from uploading a CSV table with XY coordinate data. This was created much like other feature layers. The file was uploaded using the dialog that comes up after clicking the Add Item, then From my computer buttons on the content page of ArcGIS Online. In the dialog was specified tags and other information for the table such as the latitude and longitude fields (X: Longitude, Y: Latitude. The data was then displayed on a map by clicking on the thumbnail in the feature layer metadata page. In the map, the popup was configured for the layer to be only "A description from one field," and the FIREDATE field was selected. 

Moving on the the next section, a feature hosted service layer was created using an ArcMap document. After opening the river and lake data that was supplied by the instructor in ArcGIS, the sign in option was chosen under the file menu, and the personal ArcGIS online account was logged into. File, Share As, then Service was then selected, publish a service was selected on the first prompt, and next was clicked. The connection chosen was My Hosted Services, and the service name was chosen to be a personalized version of  "Wisconsin_water_bodies." After clicking next, tiled mapping was unchecked, and only the query operation under the Feature Access tab was allowed. In the item description, appropriate descriptions were made. Under the sharing options, only the class was selected. Analyze was then selected so that errors could be seen. All errors were not high severity, so they were not fixed. The service was now published, and able to be seen in a map on ArcGIS Online. Symbology was configured so that lakes were on top of streams and darker than the streams, and labels and pop-ups were configured to show only necessary information.

Part 2: Publishing a tiled map service using ArcGIS Server

The local UWEC server was first connected to in ArcMap using the following options. 

An instructor supplied raster was then imported with a right click of the newly created server connection and a click on import, then Raster Datasets. The layer was then brought into the ArcMap document open, and was reclassified so that the No Data class was not displayed. The layer was also given a name. This document was then shared as a service on the server. A new connection was made in the process to the internal http URL of the GIS server, and then the service was named a personalized version of chippewa_valley_landuse. My personal folder was then chosen from the list of folders on the server. After configuring the tiling (the scale range and making sure it was taking the imagery from Bing and Google), entering description data for the service, and analyzing for errors, the service was published. Going to the local http URL on a local network connected computer, the service was now shown in the personal folder. This was opened in ArcGIS Online via a link on the page.

In the next section of part 2, the same raster service was created, but this time with ArcGIS Pro, and it will be sent to an ArcGIS Online. In ArcGIS Pro the enterprise login was used to logon, and a new project was created stored in a personal folder using the map.aptx template. A new file geodatabase was then created, stored in a personal folder, and the land use raster was imported to this geodatabase. The raster was edited so that the metadata was correct, and the classification was correct, and then share, web layer, publish web layer was selected. The parameters shown below were then selected, then the service was published after being analyzed.

Part 3: Author a map document, create a feature service & add to a web map 

A map document was created in ArcMap. Hurricane and earthquake data was then imported, and symbolized in the specific way lined out in the instructions, and shown below.

Time was then enabled via its tab in the Layer Properties window, with the time field having been selected and the Layer Time Extent being calculated with the button in the tab. The time slider was then enabled via the time slider button.  After exploring the types of ways to configure this slider after clicking on the options tab on the slider, the map document was saved.

The service was now published to the local http server using the same methods described in part 2. In the Service Editor however, different setting were chosen. In capabilities, mapping and KML were chosen, but also feature access so that others could update the service.

The service, now published and visible on the REST webpage, was available to added to a webmap. This was done in ArcGIS Online by opening a map, then adding data from web, then using the parameters in the figure below.

The map was then edited to have appropriate layer titles, pop-ups, and time slider configuration for the end user. This map was then saved to the personal content folder.

Results:

The following are maps made with the methods described above. They have all been configured to have symbolization that makes sense in the context of them map, legends that show this, and no extra information, and also pop-ups that have only necessary data. Finally there is a view of the REST internal webpage showing my locally (non-cloud) published services.

Sources:

All data was obtained from the instructor, Dr. Cyril Wilson. 

Dataset for part 1 section 1 is obtained from Mastering ArcGIS geodatabase by Maribeth Price, 2016. Data for part 1 section 3 is obtained from Wisconsin DNR, 2013. Stream dataset for part 1 section 4 is obtained from Mastering ArcGIS geodatabase by Maribeth Price, 2016 while the Lakes dataset is obtained from Wilson, Cyril unpublished data 2012. Data for part 2, section 1 (Land use data for Chippewa Valley urban area) is obtained from Wilson, Cyril unpublished data 2016. Data for part 3 is obtained from Fu, Pinde (2015) – HERE, Census at: \\EsriPress\GTKWebGIS\Chapter3\Data.gdb\Earthquakes, courtesy of USGS National Atlas. \\EsriPress\GTKWebGIS\Chapter3\Data.gdb\Hurricanes, courtesy of NOAA National Climatic Data Center.