Changes to Bing Maps usage in ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Desktop

Recent changes to the Bing Maps Terms of Use (http://www.microsoft.com/maps/product/terms.html) mean that complimentary use of Microsoft’s Bing Maps within ArcGIS software is being phased out. ArcGIS software will continue to be Bing Maps-ready, but you will need to obtain a Bing Maps key directly from Microsoft to use with your ArcGIS products. Once you have applied the new Bing Maps key, you will again be able to use Bing Maps with your ArcGIS software.

Last week’s release (March update) of ArcGIS Online (AGOL) introduced the first stage of this transition by adding new functionality, allowing users to input a Bing Maps key into their AGOL Subscription account.

Getting a Bing Maps key

The following Microsoft topic describes how to create a Bing Maps key:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff428642.aspx

There are 3 types of Bing Maps key:

1. Trial - Trial keys are used for evaluation during a 90 day evaluation period and must not exceed 10,000 transactions of any type in any 30 day period
2. Basic - Basic keys are used for non-trial applications that do not exceed 50,000 transactions of any type within a 24 hours period and comply with the limits of the application type as defined by the Bing Maps Terms of Use
3. Enterprise - Enterprise keys are used for enterprise accounts only with a separately executed, valid Bing Maps agreement in place. To become an enterprise customer you need to contact Bing Maps for Enterprise

Adding a Bing Maps key to ArcGIS Online

To add a Bing Maps key to an ArcGIS Online Subscription account go to My Organisation > Edit Settings > Map, enter your Bing Maps key into the textbox under the Bing Maps heading and click Save:

Loading a Bing Maps layer into ArcGIS Online

The workflow to add a Bing Basemap to your map has changed. By default, you can no longer add Bing Maps from the Basemap section of the ArcGIS.com map viewer.

To add a Bing Basemap to your map, select Add > Add Layers from Web > A Bing Basemap (from the dropdown box), select the required Bing Maps layer and click Add Layer:

If you would like to have Bing Maps displayed using the Basemap Button, you can do so by creating a Group that contains both Esri and Bing Basemaps and then changing the selected Basemap Gallery from Esri Default to your new Group:

1. Select Groups in the arcgis.com banner.
2. Select ‘Create a Group’.
3. Complete the required fields (including Group members) and click ‘Save’.
4. In the ‘Search for Maps’ area, search for ‘Bing Maps’ (make sure to uncheck the option "Only search in Organization" on the left). This will display the Bing Maps Aerial, Roads and Hybrid.
5. Click ‘Details’ for the Map you want to add to the Group.
6. Click ‘Share’ and select the Group that you created.

Repeat steps 4 to 6 for all of the maps that you would like to use as basemaps (including Esri basemaps).

1. Select My Organisation > Edit Settings > Map
2. Under Basemap Gallery, select the Group that you created
3. Click ‘Save’ and go the Map viewer. Now, you should be able to see all of the basemaps that were included in the group.

Bing Maps in ArcGIS Desktop

As a result of the ArcGIS Online release, Bing Maps has also been removed from the ‘Add Basemaps’ section of ArcGIS for Desktop:

Currently, Bing Maps can still be accessed from the ‘Add Data from ArcGIS Online’ window without the need for an ArcGIS Online account or a Bing Maps key:

However at the end of September, Bing Maps will also be removed from this dialog. Customers will then be expected to do one of the following, depending on the version of ArcGIS for Desktop being used:

ArcGIS 10.1 for Desktop users will currently have to upgrade to ArcGIS 10.2 before being able to input a Bing Maps key (although this is subject to change and a patch may be released). ArcGIS 10.2 is currently scheduled to be available Summer 2013.

ArcGIS 10.0 for Desktop users will need to install a patch to use their Bing Maps key. This patch will introduce an option to add a Bing Maps key into your ArcGIS Administrator/ License Server Administrator. The patch is currently scheduled to be available Summer 2013.

ArcGIS Desktop 9.x will no longer support the use of Bing Maps.

LocatorHub: Upgrading from Feature Class Locators

If you are using LocatorHub web services with ArcGIS for Server 10.1, then you will need to change the way you search for records in feature classes.

Feature Class Locators are no longer supported within LocatorHub web services when using ArcGIS for Server 10.1. There are now two new Locators to use instead: the ArcGIS Map Service Locator and the ArcGIS Feature Service Locator. These new Locators will allow you to search for records in a feature class that has been published out as a service from ArcGIS for Server 10.1

Below are the steps you will need to go through if you are using Feature Class Locators.

1. With your current setup, find out what feature classes you are consuming and make a note.
2. Publish these feature classes out as an ArcGIS Map or ArcGIS Feature Service. Depending on the number of feature classes you have, you may want to create a single service or multiple services.
3. Create a LocatorHub Locator for each ArcGIS Service that you wish to search within and publish this as a LocatorHub web service. 
4. Update your applications to point to these new services.

Full details to conduct each of these steps can be found in the LocatorHub help. 

Batch Map Production using Data Driven Pages

I have recently been working with a customer to create plans for all their sites which are batch produced, but tailored to include all the information relevant to that site.  In trying to meet the needs of the client, I have learned a lot about the capabilities of Data Driven Pages (some of which were new at 10.1) and also how using Python can take the process even further.

To explain some of the useful features in Data Driven Pages, I have created a sample project showing incident plans for a series of fictitious events.  For each event I wanted to produce a map showing all the planning elements for that event along with some textual information relevant to that site.  Below, you can see two plans for neighbouring events in Nottingham.  As you can see each page only shows the features for the specific event along with relevant text. (Click on image for larger view)

Here’s how I created each of the elements which I have circled in the corresponding colour in the maps above:

1. Creating a page for each event - Data Driven Pages

Using the Data Driven toolbar, I set up data driven pages based on the event location layer (a polygon showing the extent of the event) and used the Event ID as the unique page name.

More info on Data Driven Pages:
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//00s90000003m000000

2. Only showing features relating to that event [Circled in Purple] - Page Definition Queries

Once you have enabled Data Driven Pages, any layer within that data frame can have a definition set whereby only features relating to that page are shown.  This requires each feature in the other layers to share a common ID with the layer used to create the pages.  In my scenario, each point, line and area is tagged with an Event_ID which relates to the Event polygon.

More info on Page Definition Queries:
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#/Using_Page_Definition_Queries/00s90000003p000000/

3. Showing Text relating to Map project [Circled in Orange] - Dynamic Text

Dynamic Text (available from the Insert menu whilst in layout mode), allows you to include text on a map layout that changes based on the current properties of the map document and data frame.  In my scenario, I have used these settings to add the username, file path and date to the final maps.

More info on Dynamic Text:
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//00s90000000v000000

4. Showing Text relating to current event [Circled in Red] - Data Driven Dynamic Text

New at 10.1, is the ability to add text to the map by reading any attributes of the layer used for Dynamic Driven Pages.  This option is also found by choosing Insert>Dynamic Text from within the layout mode.  In my scenario, this allowed me to add information such as the Event Name, start and end dates as well as contact details.

Note: it is not possible to add text based on attributes of any other layers.  This can be achieved using code – see later example.

More info on Data Driven Dynamic Text:
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#/Using_dynamic_text_with_Data_Driven_Pages/00s900000039000000/

5. Only showing Legend Items in current map [Circled in Blue] - Dynamic Legends

Again, a new feature at 10.1 is the ability to limit the list of items in your legend to only include those items visible within the current map extent.  This option is found by opening the Legend Properties and selecting the Items tab.  Items can be limited to either the current map extent (bounding box) or the extent of the current map page feature (polygon).  In my scenario, I have used this option to limit my legend to only list the items relevant for the chosen event.

More information on Dynamic Legends:
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//00s900000023000000#GUID-A7B1A8FA-01E9-43CE-8B95-5DC5E443D622

In conclusion, these options enable you to create some very rich batch maps, but there may be occasions when the functions don’t go quite far enough. With the client I’m working with, I wanted to also include attributes from other layers in my layout.  At present this can only be achieved using python, but there are some excellent resources to help you get started.  For example the MapBookWithGraphicTables_10_v1 project (available from ArcGIS.com) includes sample scripts to dynamically add additional tables to a layout based on the current Data Driven Page.

Districting at 10.1

Ever wondered how you can create new territories from an existing set of boundaries? This is a common problem faced by many people when trying to re-organise their sales force into well-defined territories. There is no easy way to quickly create well balanced territories based on a set of boundaries with specific attributes. Fret no more, because Districting is here!

Districting for 10.1 is an ArcGIS add-in which was available at previous versions as well. The add-in essentially allows you to interactively create new territories based on an existing geography (boundary) and any specified attribute. You can download the add-in here. Once you have installed the add-in, enable it by going to Customise --> Extensions and checking the box next to districting:

 

This will turn on the Districting tool-bar:

Using the districting toolbar, we can interactively create new ‘plans’ based on existing geographies to suit our needs. As you create new districts, you get feedback through the chart and summary table to guide your decision making process.

 

Once you have a satisfactory plan, you can export it as a map or export the data as a feature class that you can use in other GIS analysis.

The districting for ArcGIS Help document takes you through a detailed tutorial on utilizing the different features that this add-in has to offer. To finish off, I will leave you with an interesting game based on the districting concept - http://www.redistrictinggame.org/. Have fun! 

Identifying Clusters in Time and Space

One of the challenges I often come across working with Crime and Intelligence Analysts is how to identify hot spots of activity both spatially and temporally.  Often referred to as Near Repeat Victimisation, the aim is to identify those areas prone to repeat incidents in a given time period.  For example if neighbouring houses get burgled a year apart that may not be significant, but if 3 properties within 1km of each other get burgled within 10 days of each other then that is significant.

Using ArcGIS Desktop there are a number of ways to look at patterns in space or time.  Spatial clustering can be identified using kernel density, aggregation to polygons or using cluster renderers.  Temporal clustering can be identified using time clocks or summarising tables.  Identifying clusters in time AND space is more challenging.

Previously I have tried to do this by creating multiple-layers split by time or using time aware layers, but these techniques involve chopping the data into specific time periods (e.g. a week, a month).  Such techniques do not, therefore, help us to identify clusters that cross time periods.  For example, what if the burglaries mentioned above happened on a Saturday and Monday and we were looking at one week (Sun-Sat) at a time.  Also, these techniques rely on visual representation as the means of identifying patterns so are subjective at best.

At the release of ArcGIS 10.1, a new ‘Space-Time Clustering’ capability was introduced which provides tools for exactly this problem.  Essentially this capability is an enhancement to the existing Hot Spot Tools within the Spatial Statistics Toolbox, but in a nut-shell this is how it works:

1. Using your incident data, create a Spatial Weights Matrix 

This tool essentially models the relationships between features in your dataset.  Traditionally it does this purely spatially (and there are a number of techniques for doing this), but at 10.1 it also includes an option for doing by space and time. 

By selecting the SPACE_TIME_WINDOW for the Conceptualization of Spatial Relationships parameter, you can define both space and time settings:

Space - by specifying a Threshold Distance value

Time - by specifying a Date/Time Field, a Date/Time Type (such as HOURS or DAYS) and a Date/Time Interval Value.

For example, in my burglary scenario, I might set the distance to 1000m, theDate/Time type to days and the Interval Value to 10.

2. Having created a Spatial Weights Matrix, run the Hot Spot Analysis (Getis-Ord Gi*) Tool

This tool will then use the Spatial Weights Matrix file to identifies statistically significant hot spots and cold spots within your data using the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic.

The result is really interesting as the two images below show.  On the left is the typical density analysis I would run looking at spatial clusters only.  On the right is the result of my Space-Time Cluster Analysis.  Not only are the clusters outside of the density ‘hot zone’, they are also few in number and at specific locations, meaning that it’s far more useful for preventative policing actions.  Finally, as the results have been generated using Getis-Ord Gi* they are not just ‘Hot Spots’ but spatially significant Hot-Spots; meaning the results are no longer subjective!

For more details on the Spatial Statistics Toolbox, refer to
http://esriurl.com/spatialstats

For a video overview of the Space-Time Cluster Analysis, see
http://video.esri.com/watch/2003/whats-new-in-spatial-statistics-space_dash_time-cluster-analysis