GIS Newsletter - March 2024
MicroCenter Gulf
Geographic Information Systems - Esri Bahrain. Engineering & Surveying. IT Business Solutions. #microcentergulf
1. Integration of Statistical and Geospatial Data
(Applying an ArcGIS Enterprise data workflow)
Global Statistical Geospatial Framework ( GSGF)
The Global Statistical Geospatial Framework (GSGF) plays a crucial role in harmonizing statistical and geospatial information on a global scale. By providing a structured framework that enables the integration of data from both statistical and geospatial communities, the GSGF facilitates a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of various phenomena across different regions.
This framework serves as a unifying platform that allows for the seamless integration and analysis of diverse datasets, bridging the gap between statistical data and geospatial information. Through the GSGF, policymakers and organizations can leverage a wide range of data sources to gain deeper insights into complex spatial patterns, trends. Through the application of its five Principles and supporting key elements, permits the production of harmonized and standardized geospatially enabled statistical data.
UN GGIM EG ISGI laid out 5 fundamental principles.
Statistical Process Model (GSBPM)
The Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM) serves as a foundational framework for statistical organizations, offering a standardized structure and common language to streamline the production of official statistics. By providing a clear set of business processes, the GSBPM facilitates collaboration and sharing of methods among statistical entities, ultimately aiding in the modernization and optimization of statistical production processes. Its harmonized terminology enhances efficiency and effectiveness across the statistical landscape.
In fact, the role of GIS in official statistics continues to expand. In the past, statistical agencies in the past would think about the use of base maps in the planning of our work – or thematic maps for dissemination. The challenge we all have in front of us now - with the Integration of Statistical and Geospatial is to understand and implement new methods utilizing GIS and spatial thinking.
Pre-Enumeration: In the planning stage, organizations often use Esri’s ArcGIS technology to develop a geodatabase, to define census geographies, to define administrative hierarchies, delineate enumeration areas, and conduct geographic data conversion.
Statistical organizations typically need a large geodatabase that can be edited and used simultaneously by many users. They need a system that supports version control and has the ability to leverage the organizations enterprise relational databases. E.g. Will have 10,000 of users perhaps -
They also need a system that is capable of raster to vector conversion, digitization, map editing, geo-referencing, geocoding, and imagery use Feature extraction/? change detection can play a role in creation of base data and EAs. Or identification of rooftops – where there are new settlements.
The ArcGIS system offers all of this functionality allowing the pre-enumeration planning team to create a single geo-database that can be leveraged throughout the organization.
Enumeration: In the enumeration stage, the focus is on the accurate and efficient collection of data. However, project management, worker safety, asset management, and quality control are also critically important.
Equipping enumerators with mobile field mapping and data collection capabilities will allow them to accurately capture, edit, and display information. Equipping supervisors, regional managers, and executives with the right tools is equally important, particularly in project management.
Administrative Census data, Integrating Administrative data Sources (for post-enumeration activities).
Many government agencies collect, maintain, and store various types of ADS that are generated in the normal course of their operations. These can potentially be used both in the pre-enumeration as well as post-enumeration phases of a census.
The integration of (GIS) in post-enumeration activities provides a powerful tool for analysing data in a spatial context. By leveraging GIS technology, organizations can tabulate data efficiently, calculate indexes, averages, and disaggregate data based on various demographics such as gender and age.
Why do we build these systems? To integrate geography and statistics… to bring understanding to government policies- to improve society, environment, economy.
By leveraging real-time engines such as ArcGIS Geoanalytics, ArcGIS Velocity, GeoEvent Server can handle the real data needs of the Statistics department. Another approach could involve utilizing ETL/data interoperability tools to seamlessly extract, transform, and load data into an Enterprise data platform. And storing this Enterprise data in a Data Lake environment would facilitate efficient analysis for post- enumeration development purposes.
Esri has components of the enterprise data workflow which we can speak to.
2. ArcGIS and Generative AI Assistants
Over the past several years, Esri has been adding machine learning and GeoAI to ArcGIS to provide you with advanced spatial analysis capabilities.
Last year, there was a revolutionary shift with the development of Large Language Models, or LLMs, used in Generative AI. These advancements have opened new avenues for interactive, accessible experiences. You might have heard of Microsoft’s CoPilot and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. These capabilities change how people work by providing creative reasoning and natural language interfaces.
Across Esri, we’ve been exploring new capabilities that use generative AI to automate and accelerate workflows.
It starts by following the WebGIS pattern. Publish your data as services, including high-quality metadata. Use these data services as layers in a map, and use in Applications.
领英推荐
We are developing new “AI Assistants” that extend these Apps which use Agents with specialized training, prompt engineering, and LLM to provide particular skills. These use our Tools to access the live data and services – which is important to ensure that answers are accurate and trustworthy.
3. Preparing for your upgrade to ArcGIS Enterprise 11.x
We are thrilled to be in the 11.x generation of ArcGIS Enterprise! Last year, we turned ArcGIS Enterprise up to 11 with the release of ArcGIS Enterprise 11.0. This introduced many new and breaking changes to the software that marked a new generation of ArcGIS Enterprise. We built on this with the release of ArcGIS Enterprise 11.1 earlier this year.
The 11.x generation introduces many significant changes to the software, to make ArcGIS Enterprise more modern, secure, and add even more valuable functionality. We know many ArcGIS Enterprise users are already thoughtfully planning their upgrade to this new generation of the software and want to provide another resource as you prepare for your upgrade to 11.x. In this blog, we will review the considerations you should make prior to upgrading to 11.x, why it might be a good idea to upgrade to Enterprise 10.9.1 first, depending on where your organization is currently at, and considerations for future versions of ArcGIS Enterprise.
Product Lifecycle
Before diving into all the new and exciting things in current releases, we should review the Product Lifecycle for ArcGIS Enterprise and the difference between long and short-term support releases on Windows and Linux. For any given version of ArcGIS Enterprise, there is a defined product lifecycle. A version of Enterprise will move from general availability (in which it receives full technical support and patching) all the way to retirement (in which in no longer receives technical support or patching). The length of time it takes a release to move along this spectrum from general availability to retirement depends on if it is a short-term or long-term support release. If a version of Enterprise is classified as a short-term support release, it will receive 1.5 years of technical support and 3 years of patching. Long-term support releases of ArcGIS Enterprise receive 4 years of technical support and 6 years for patching. Please refer to the Product Lifecycle page on the Technical Support website for more information.
There were also some version numbering changes starting at the 11.0 release of ArcGIS Enterprise that relate to the product lifecycle. In the 11.x generation, there are no longer “dot dot” version numbers, meaning instead of having ArcGIS Enterprise
11.0.1 after 11.0, we went straight to 11.1. In the 10.x generation, long-term support releases were “dot dot” releases. For example, ArcGIS Enterprise 10.9 was a short-term support release and 10.9.1 (the “dot dot” release) was a long-term support release. With the removal of “dot dot” version numbers in the 11.x generation, even numbered minor versions (11.0, 11.2, 11.4, etc.) are now short-term support releases and odd numbered minor versions (11.1, 11.3, 11.5, etc.) are long-term support releases. For more information on these version numbering changes, refer to the What’s in a number? blog.
We encourage you to upgrade to both short and long-term support releases, but we know some organizations may wait to upgrade from long-term support release to long-term support release if the longer product lifecycle is necessary for their organization. Because ArcGIS Enterprise 11.1 is our first long-term support release in the 11.x generation of Enterprise, this may be the first version of 11.x many customers upgrade to. The significant changes originally released in Enterprise 11.0 are also present in Enterprise 11.1 and onwards and we want you to be prepared.
Changes at 11.x
Some of the most significant changes at the 11.x generation of Enterprise include the removal of the ArcMap-based runtime, the .NET generation update, and various web app retirements. Let’s go through each of these changes in detail:
ArcMap-based runtime removal:
Versions of ArcGIS Enterprise prior to 11.0 included two internal runtimes: one runtime for services published from ArcMap and a second runtime for services published from ArcGIS Pro. At the 11.0 release of Enterprise and onwards, there is only an internal runtime to support services published from ArcGIS Pro. This means with releases of ArcGIS Enterprise 11.0 and onwards, it will no longer be possible to publish services from ArcMap and ArcMap-based ArcPy to ArcGIS Server sites (both federated and non-federated). Thankfully, if you are still using services published from ArcMap, there is migration tooling in the software to help you migrate these services. Many services will migrate automatically during the upgrade to 11.x, meaning you don’t have to manually republish anything. Other specific types of services, such as geoprocessing services, originally published from ArcMap will need to be republished from Pro. For thorough documentation on this change and the migration
work involved, please refer to the Removal of ArcMap-based runtime from ArcGIS Enterprise blog and the Services and the ArcGIS Pro service runtime documentation page.
.NET generation update:
ArcGIS Enterprise on Windows, and other products in the ArcGIS system, use .NET as an underlying framework technology. In order to stay modern, we regularly update the version of .NET that is used and supported by ArcGIS Enterprise. With the release of ArcGIS Enterprise 11.0 we began the move to the modern version of .NET (called simply .NET in contrast to the older .NET Framework). At 11.0, we moved the ArcGIS Enterprise SDK from .NET Framework 4.x to .NET 6. This means
ArcGIS Enterprise 11.0 and onwards requires that server object extensions (SOEs) and server object interceptors (SOIs) are built using .NET 6 rather than .NET Framework. This affects both developers using the SDK and system administrators deploying SOEs and SOIs. Prior to upgrading, system administrators should ensure that .NET 6 and any necessary extensibility prerequisites are installed. For more information, refer to the ArcGIS Enterprise SDK.
At the 11.1 release, the ArcGIS Web Adaptor for Microsoft IIS also shifted from using .NET Framework to being built with
.NET 6. In order to ensure you do not run into any challenges while upgrading, make sure to have .NET 6 and any necessary prerequisites installed. Please refer to the ArcGIS Web Adaptor 11.1 system requirements documentation for more information.
Web app retirements:
At ArcGIS Enterprise 11.0, there were a variety of web app retirements. All of these older web apps have now been superseded by new and improved versions that allow you to accomplish the same work with an enhanced user experience and additional functionality. All of these older apps were based on ArcGIS API for JavaScript, version 3.x. New apps are built using ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript, version 4.x, a more powerful, performant, and modern API.
The process of moving from these older web apps to the current generation depends on which apps you are specifically working with. Certain apps may require little to no migration to get started with using the current-generation version, while others may have a more involved migration pattern. Let’s go through the web app retirements to understand the migration pattern to the new apps:
?Classic Esri Story Maps templates: If you are currently using Classic Esri Story Maps templates, you will need to rebuild those stories using ArcGIS StoryMaps prior to upgrading to ArcGIS Enterprise 11.0 and beyond.
?Presentation for Map Viewer Classic: Presentation for Map Viewer Classic was superseded by the Exhibit instant app. Prior to upgrading to ArcGIS Enterprise 11.x, you will need to retire those old presentations and rebuild them using Exhibit.
ArcGIS Configurable Apps: Many configurable app templates were retired at 11.0. Existing apps created from these retired templates will need to be rebuilt using ArcGIS Instant Apps prior to upgrading. For a full list of retired configurable app templates, see What’s new in ArcGIS Configurable App templates. There is also a Python script available to help you identify apps that are using retired Configurable App templates.
Read Complete Article Here
4. Esri Publications
About Microcenter - Esri Bahrain