Lab 2: Publishing Geospatial Web Services

Goals and Background 

  The goal of this lab is to become familiar with creating and publishing geospatial web services through ArcGIS online and ArcGIS server from both ArcMap and ArcGIS pro, and to author a feature service and create a web map from it. These services include a feature class, raster, and Excel .csv file. Publishing services on the web can be useful because it is an easy way to share and display data. Data can be shared with everyone or just to members of certain groups and can be embedded in a website. People are more inclined to see the data and maps if it is online rather than if it were in ArcGIS desktop because ArcGIS online is free whereas ArcGIS for desktop costs money.

Methods

Fig 2.0: Using a Zip file to publish
to ArcGIS online

  Part 1: Publishing Feature Hosted Service Through ArcGIS Online
The first part of this lab consists of publishing three different feature layers (hosted) to ArcGIS online and then creating web maps from them. This is done through the use of zip file, .csv file, and an ArcMap document. 
  First, the zip file was used to publish. The zip file contains files which make up the shapefiles Wisconsin highways, counties, cities, and interstates. This is published by navigating to My Content → Add Item → From my computer and then by inserting the zip file, title, tags. This dialog window can be seen on the right in figure 2.0. Then, a web map is created from this service.
  Second, the .csv file, shown below in figure 2.1, was used to publish to ArcGIS Online. This was done by downloading the .xlsx file containing Wisconsin wildfire information, saving it as a .csv file, and then publishing the same way as the zip file. A web map was then created from the Wisconsin wildfire data.

Fig 2.1: A snippet of the .csv file used
publish to ArcGIS Online

  Third, an ArcMap document was used to publish. The process of this consisted of first adding the Rivers_and_streams and Lakes feature classes into an ArcMap document. Then, the feature classes were relabeled to Rivers and Streams and Lakes. Next, the user signed into ArcGIS Online in Arcmap from the file bar and went to Share As → Service and then entered in the necessary information in the dialog boxes. The item description was updated to reflect the data in the map. Before publishing it, the Analyze button was used to make sure there were no errors. Then, the map was published by clicking on the Publish button. Lastly, a web map was created with the river and lake features.

Part 2: Publishing a Tiled Map Service Using ArcGIS Server from ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro
  To do this in ArcMap, first, the user connects to their enterprise geodatabase on ArcGIS server in  and adds the Chippewa Valley land use layer. This is done by adding a database connection and importing the land use layer into it using the Raster to Geodatabase tool. Then, to publish this as a tiled service, one needs to be logged into ArcGIS online in ArcMap and then navigate to File → Share As → Service → Publish a Service → Next → Add ArcGIS Server and then add the user's enterprise geodatabase and finish the publishing steps by following the dialog windows, creating an item description, and enabling Using tiles from a cache under the Caching tab in the service editor window. The server URL used for publishing is http://geog01.uwec:6080/arcgis. Enabling caching for this service allows for the Chippewa Valley land use raster to draw quicker than it would without enabling tiled caching for the end user.
  Next, a similar process is used to publish the Chippewa Valley land use raster to ArcGIS online from ArcGIS Pro. First, a new geodatabase was created for this service and the land use raster was imported into it. Then, the land use layer properties: title, tags, summary, description, and credits were edited. The layer was published by navigating to the Share tab on the ribbon and then clicking on Web Layer → Publish Web Layer. Then, the layer type was set to tile and the item description information was entered.

Part 3: Author a Time Enabled Hurricane and Earthquake Feature Service and Make a Web Map From It

Fig 2.2: Symbology for Earthquakes
and Hurricane layers

  This was done by first importing the Hurricanes and Earthquakes to the enterprise geodatabase. Then, in ArcMap, the layers were added to the map and the symbology was edited to display what is shown in figure 2.2. Then, to enable the time component, the calculate button was clicked under the time tab in the layer properties for each operational layer. Then, the Time Slider button was used to open up the time slider window. In order the time component to look visually appealing to the end user, the settings had to be changed so that the time step interval was 2 days, the time window was set to 1,000,000 days, and playback speed was set to 60 seconds. Next, the map was published as a service through the server just like in part 2. In the service editor window, the delete, query, create, and update operations were enabled before editing.
  To turn this service into a web map on ArcGIS Online, first, the Add Layer from Web drop-down selection was accessed in the map viewer on ArcGIS Online. This can be seen below in figure 2.3.

Fig 2.3: Adding a layer from the web

Then, the feature service URL was inserted and the earthquakes and hurricanes layers were added to the map. These layers labels were edited along with their configured pop-ups so only important information was displayed. Lastly, playback settings were edited as follows because they didn't carryover from the server: the map would progressively display all the data, the playback speed was set to 3/4 fast, and the data would be displayed in 6 month intervals.

Results

  Below is an embedded web map created from the published feature service originated from the .zip file data described in part 1. This map can also be viewed through this link: https://arcg.is/14mXTm. The map displays Wisconsin counties, interstates, highways, and cities.

  This next embedded web map was created from the published feature service from the .csv file described in part 1. This map can also be viewed through this link: https://arcg.is/1eqCiy. The map displays the location of wildfires in Wisconsin in 2004. The exact date of each wildfire can be found by clicking on the wildfire symbols.

  Below is the embedded web map which was published to ArcGIS Online through ArcMap. This map depicts the rivers and streams of Wisconsin. The map can also be viewed through this link: https://arcg.is/1CCKuq.

  Next, shown below is an embedded web map published from ArcGIS Pro of  the Chippewa Valley land use. This map can also be viewed through this link: https://arcg.is/1mryLG. There are patterns in the land use including that most of the commercial land use is concentrated around Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire and that most of the vegetation/shrub and forest land cover types are generally located near lakes, streams, and rivers.

  Lastly, an embedded web app of the hurricanes and earthquakes that occurred from January 1st,  2000 to January 1st, 2009 is displayed below. The web app can also be viewed through this link: http://uwec.maps.arcgis.com/apps/TimeAware/index.html?appid=0d5421abd0304d98b727c1e2529808f0. The map shows the path of hurricanes classified by their WMO speed and the location and magnitude of earthquakes in time intervals of 6 months.

Sources

ArcGIS Online, Esri, https://www.arcgis.com/home/index.html
Chippewa Valley Land Use, Dr. Wilson
Fu, Pinde, 2015
Geospatial Web Services, Dr. Wilson, 

  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1RJN5un8yU8bGhZeEdUOUNYTWM/view?usp=sharing

Mastering ArcGIS geodatabase. Maribeth Price, 2016
Hurrican and Earthquake Data, NOAA & USGS