Create Web Maps with ArcGIS Online

ArcGIS Online includes everything you need to create your own maps by accessing a gallery of basemaps, adding your own layers, and configuring mashups that you can share with others and embed in your own website.

In this section of the workshop we will create some basic web maps and embed them in our own website.

1. Navigating in ArcGIS Online

Sign in arcgis.com with your Clemson ID account as mentioned in the section before. Once you are signed in, go to Map at the top of the page.

One of the main features of ArcGIS Online is the Map section, where you can explore content, add your own data, perform analysis and create your own interactive web maps.

In the upper left section, click the Basemap button and choose a different basemap.

Go back to Arcgis Online. Click the Add button and at the bottom of the search results, click Done Adding Layers.

Take a look at this data layer. Expand its view on the Contents section (click the inverted triangle to the left of the layer) and notice there are two sub-layers. Click on the Show Legend button to understand what they represent.

This 3 ft Sea Level Rise layer from NOAA shows what 3ft of sea level rise would look like for the U.S. coast.

Levels represent inundation at high tide. Areas that are hydrologically connected are shown in shades of blue (darker blue = greater depth).

Low-lying areas, displayed in green, are hydrologically "unconnected" areas that may flood. They are determined solely by how well the elevation data captures the area's hydraulics.

2. Getting around the Map Interface

Let's try some examples of how to add data to the map, customize the symbology of a layer, view a pop-up, and perform analysis.

On the top left section, click the dropdown menu to the Add button. Click Search for Layers.

In the Search for Layers window, type wind and weather

Make sure the box next to In: is set to ArcGIS Online.

In the results window, find the Current Wind and Weather Conditions layer by Esri and click Add and click Done Adding Layers.

This is a (near) real-time dataset from weather stations all over the world. The default symbology shows the windspeed and direction, but there is lots of other data for us to explore. First, click on the Legend button to show the legend for interpreting the symbology.

Click on a point in the map to view it's popup window, which gives a snapshot of the attribute data for the point. Notice that the data has a nicely formatted pop-up, which is drawing attribute information from the table and presenting it in an easy-to-read way.

In the Contents panel, click the table button under the layer name to open the attribute table. Notice the information that is being presented in the popup window. Click the X to close the table.

2.1 Changing the layer symbology

Expand the Current Wind and Weather Conditions layer. Uncheck the box to turn off the Buoys layer.

For Choose an attribute to show, click in the dropdown and select Air Temperature.

Under the Stations layer, click the Change Style button. Under Counts and Amounts (Color), click Options.

Change the color ramp by clicking on Symbols. Click Fill and select a different color ramp and then click OK. Click OK again to close the options, then click Done.

2.2 Perform spatial analysis: Interpolate a temperature surface

The data are measured at discrete sampling points (weather stations) and displayed as points on the map. Let’s try some interpolation tools to estimate the temperature distribution all across the state of South Carolina. To do that, we will add another layer to restrict our analysis extent.

Search for and add the USA States (generalized) layer by Esri. Click Done Adding Layers and open the attribute table. In the upper-right corner, click the Overflow (three lines) and click Filter.

Enter the expression STATE_NAME is UNIQUE and select South Carolina in the drop-down menu. Click Apply Filter and Zoom To. You should see the temperature data and only the state of SC.

Next, select Analysis > Analyze Patterns > Interpolate Points. For option 1, set the point layer to Current Wind and Weather Conditions. For option 2. Choose Field to interpolate: Air Temperature Degrees F.

Under Optimize for, expand the Options and set the Clip output to USA States (Generalized). Change the Result layer name to Interpolated SC Temperature by *** replacing the asterisks with your initials.

Click the box to Show credits. The analysis will use 0.01 credit for every point in the analysis. You can change your extent to reduce the number of points in the display.

Click Run Analysis and view the result.

(Modified from Analyzing Real Time Weather Using ArcGIS Online by Joseph Kerski).

3. Your first map: Sea Level Rise

Now that you are familiar with the interface a bit more, let's create a few maps that will become the basis of your story map.

3.1 Adding climate-related content (Sea Level Rise)

ArcGIS Online has a wealth of data from many trusted sources such as NOAA and USGS. Next we will search for climate data and add a sea-rise layer to our web map. On the upper right corner, select New Map. Create New Map.

You also have a search button to find places. In the search box on the top right, type Charleston.

Change the basemap to Imagery.

On the top left section, click the dropdown menu to the Add button. Click Search for Layers.

In the Search for Layers window, type sea level rise

Make sure the box next to In: is set to ArcGIS Online.

Scroll down in the results until you find 3ft Sea Level Rise by noaa. In the Search results, click on the title and select Item Details. A new window appears at this link that has extensive metadata about this layer created by NOAA.

Explore different basemaps and practice zooming in and out using the roller button in your mouse.

Zoom in downtown Charleston. To better see the area affected, change the transparency by clicking on the ... below 3 ft Sea Level Rise, select Transparency and change the slider to 25%.

You can see now that with a 3ft rise in sea levels a significant part of Charleston and the surrounding areas would be inundated with water.

3.2 Saving your map

Above the center of the map, click Save. Select Save. Follow these settings:

Title: Sea Level Rise in Charleston, SC

Tags: sea level rise, climate change, Charleston

Summary: A web map displaying sea-level rise data for Charleston, SC

3.3 Sharing your map

Next to the Save button, click Share.

In the new window that appears, check the box to share with Everyone (public).

Notice that you can share the short link to the map. In the next section, you will be embedding your new map in your Google site that you created earlier.

4. Your second map: Total Annual Precipitation

You are now going to create a second map that looks at precipitation. On the upper right corner, select New Map. Create New Map.

Go to the Add menu. In the drop-down menu, select Browse Living Atlas Layers. This is a list of updated GIS datasets that are specifically curated for use in ArcGIS Online.

Click the All Categories drop-down menu to see the themes. In the Search box, type Precipitation.

Find the National Weather Service Precipitation Forecast and add it to the map as a Layer. This layer contains real-time data displaying the precipitation forecast for the next 72 hours across the Continental United States. Click the Close button to go back to the map.

Notice there is a time slider at the bottom. Click on the play button to see the data animation for the next 10 days. Are we getting any rain in South Carolina?

Remove your layer by going to the Contents section, clicking the ... below the layer and selecting Remove.

Using the steps that we demonstrated to you before, search and add a layer from ArcGIS Online called Total Annual Precipitation by e.barona_CIAT.

Once you add this layer, zoom to the extent of the layer by clicking on ... and selecting Zoom To. Notice this is a global layer. Find some more details about this layer by clicking on ..., Show Item Details.

This layer displays annual average precipitation for the entire world at a 1-km spatial resolution.

Add the legend for this layer your map. Notice the units are mm.

Change your basemap to Oceans..

Save your map with the following details:

-Title: Total Annual Precipitation 2013

- Tags: precipitation

- Summary: A web map displaying total annual precipitation.

Click Save Map.

5. Third map: Global CO2 Emissions

5.1.1 Adding your GIS data from ArcMap: CO2 Emissions (World Bank)

In your computer, download the CO2_Emissions_WorldBank.zip file and uncompressed to your GISClimatedata folder. This is a file downloaded from the World Bank DataBank. You can get the original data here. Notice the units are metric tons per capita.

Open ArcMap and add the shapefile to your table of contents. Open the attribute table and become familiar with the fields available.

To upload your data from ArcMap to ArcGIS Online, go to File > Share As > Service.

In the new window that appears, select Publish a service. Click Next.

Choose a connection > My Hosted Services (Clemson University). Service name: CO2EmissionsbyMyInitials. Click Continue.

In the Service Editor window, follow these settings:

- Capabilities: Feature Access

- Item Description:

- Summary: CO2 emissions in metric tons per capita

- Tags: CO2, emissions

- Sharing: Everyone (public)

Click the Analyze button to check for any possible errors that might occur while uploading your data from your desktop to arcgis.com.

On the top right corner of the Service Editor window, click Publish. Your shapefile will be uploaded to the cloud as a feature service.

Close ArcMap and go to arcgis.com. In your Home section on the left, click on the drop-down arrow to see your main menu. Go to the Content section. Notice in your content now you have a Feature Layer named co2emissionsbyyourinitials. For each GIS dataset, you have two components in Arcgis online: the feature layer that contains the data and the service definition that contains the information related to how you published your data to Arcgis online from ArcMap.

Click the overflow button (three dots) next to the feature layer (hosted) and select Add layer to new map. Once it appears, you can see the attribute table by clicking on the table icon below the layer's name.

5.1.2 Adding data from a table - CO2 emissions per capita for each country (Optional)

This demonstrates another way to add data to ArcGIS Online: importing tabular data, such as spreadsheets and comma-separated-values files. Click to download a comma separated values file (CSV) CO2_emissions_WorldBank.csv to a location on your computer.

Click on Add Item - From My Computer and Choose File. Navigate to the location in your computer where you saved the csv file.

- On the Title box, make sure to add your initials at the end of the file name

- Add a Tag: carbon dixiode emissions.

- Make sure the checkbox next to Publish this file as a hosted layer is selected. This will make any tabular content in your table available as interactive content.

- Choose Addresses or Places to locate features

- For In (Country): select World

- Review the field types to make sure they match their functionality. Most of the fields should be integer or double instead of string types. Make sure that COUNTRY_NAME is selected as Location Fields.

- Review your settings so they match the image on the left.

- Click on Add Item. This will not only upload the csv file, but will create a Feature Service. A Feature Service allows you to serve your tabular data as a geographic service over the Internet as well as the symbology and query capabilities.

Notice that a new window opens up. It should say that 206 of 206 locations were matched. It is a good practice to review the data to ensure they are properly located. Click Yes to review the matched addresses and inspect the locations of the data points. When you are satisfied, click Done Reviewing. You now have the beginnings of the second map we will use in the story map.

5.3 Changing the Symbology

We are going to symbolize this polygon layer by the CO2 emissions on 2013.

In the Contents section, click the Change Style symbol below the layer's name. Follow these settings:

- Choose an attribute to show: Year_2013

- Select a drawing style: counts and amounts (size).

If you want to change these symbols, click on Options > Classify Data and change the color and size individually by clicking directly on the circle for each category.

Change the transparency to 25%.

Add the legend to the map by clicking on the symbol below your layer.

Change your basemap to Dark Grey Canvas

5.4 Changing the Pop-up Window

Click on any country to open a pop-up window. Notice it displays all the fields and values from the attribute table for that country.

To change the pop-up window, go to the ... below your layer's name and select Configure Pop-up.

For the Pop-up Title, remove CO2_Emissions_WorldBank and leave {CNTRY_NAME}. Click OK and check the changes.

Open up again the configure pop-up window and follow the instructions below:

Pop-up Contents: select Pop_Cntry. Change its alias to Total Population

Pop-up Media: click Add > Line Chart.

- Title: Emissions from 1963-2013

- Caption: Data sources: World Bank

- Chart Fields: Select the years from 1960 to 2013

Click OK twice to see your results.

Save your map as: CO2 Emissions in metric tons per capita by yourinitials

Share your map and embed it on your website.

5.5 Embedding your map in your website

You can embed your interactive map in any website of your choice, as long as you can edit in HTML mode.

In the Share menu, make it public and click the Embed in website button. Notice the new window that appears:

Under choose the size of your map, enter a width of 850 pixels and a height of 600.

In the Map Options window, check the Home Button and Legend boxes.

Click the COPY button to copy the HTML code that will embed this map in your website.

Go to your Google site, start an editing session.

Select the <HTML> view and paste the code the editor box. Click Update.

Notice the warning message.

Click Save.

6. Managing your content in ArcGIS Online

Your map that you created is saved and is part of your content section in ArcGIS Online, where you manage all your data, maps, and apps.

In the upper left corner, click the Home menu and select My Content.

Notice you have three Web Maps that you created. One of them is Public and the other one is private (precipitation).

Check the box to the left of Total Annual Precipitation and click the Share button on top. Select Access and check the box next to Everyone (public).

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