Mapping Liquid Water on Mars

Since NASA has recently announced the discovery of water on Mars, ESRI has created an interactive story map that combines high resolution satellite imagery, craters and animation videos to show the evidence of liquid water in Mars.

ESRI's Interactive story Map showing Liquid water on Mars

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Virtual trip to Mars using NASA's Mars Trek

NASA has launched Mars Trek - an interactive Map viewer, that can be used to explore Mars, just like the way you explore earth on google earth! You can take a quick tour to familiarize yourself with the Map viewer. You can even view the surface in 3D! If you think it is scary to sign up for a one-way trip to Mars, count your lucky stars, you can now explore Mars with few clicks from our very own planet - the earth! 

Click on the link below to access NASA's Mars Trek:
NASA's Map Trek - an interactive Map viewer

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Python code to export layers on Table of contents of mxd to pdf

# Name: layerstopdf.py
# Date: January 15, 2014
# Author: Sarbajit Gurung
# Description: Export each layer from Table of contents in ArcMap to a pdf document
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Import arcpy module
import arcpy

# if pdfs need dates attached to their names then use it, otherwise it can be excluded
import datetime
today = datetime.date.today()
yesterday = today - datetime.timedelta(days=1)

# Define mxd
mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(r"C:\input\test.mxd")

#set export path to export pdfs
path = r"C:\output\Maps\\"

# turn each layer on and off and export as pdf
for lyr in arcpy.mapping.ListLayers(mxd):
    if lyr.name == "LayerA":
        lyr.visible = True
        arcpy.RefreshTOC()
        arcpy.RefreshActiveView()
        arcpy.mapping.ExportToPDF(mxd, path + "LayerA_" + yesterday.strftime('%d%b%Y') + ".pdf")
        if lyr.name == "LayerA":
            lyr.visible = False
            arcpy.RefreshTOC()
            arcpy.RefreshActiveView()

    if lyr.name == "LayerB":
        lyr.visible = True
        arcpy.RefreshTOC()
        arcpy.RefreshActiveView()
        arcpy.mapping.ExportToPDF(mxd, path + "LayerB_" + yesterday.strftime('%d%b%Y') +".pdf")
        if lyr.name == "LayerB":
            lyr.visible = False
            arcpy.RefreshTOC()
            arcpy.RefreshActiveView()

# so on and so forth for other Layers on your mxd
# you can also store the layer names in an array and create a loop if you have many layers on TOC

# Release mxd
del mxd

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Python code to export mxd to pdf with date value on the pdf

 

# Name: Exporttopdf.py
# Date: February 11, 2015
# Author: SGurung
# Description: This code creates pdf map from mxd file. The pdf file can have date value attached on # its name, e.g., "testmap_date.pdf". The code can be scheduled on task scheduler to run it at your
# desired time.
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

# import arcpy module
import arcpy

# import datetime module. Date value can be today, yesterday or as defined by user
import datetime
today = datetime.date.today()
yesterday = today - datetime.timedelta(days=1)

# Overwrite output file if it already exist
arcpy.OverWriteOutput =True

# Define the location of mxd
mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(r"C:\input\test.mxd")

# Define the output location and then date value as needed to be displayed on the pdf file
# %d = day of the month, %b = abbreviated month name, %y = year
pdf = r"C:\output\Maps\\" + "testmap_" + yesterday.strftime('%d%b%Y') + ".pdf"

# Set pdf parameters as per your requirement here:
data_frame = 'PAGE_LAYOUT'
resolution = "300"
image_quality = "NORMAL"
colorspace = "RGB"
compress_vectors = "True"
image_compression = "DEFLATE"
picture_symbol = 'RASTERIZE_BITMAP'
convert_markers = "False"
embed_fonts = "True"
layers_attributes = "NONE"
georef_info = "False"

# Export mxd to pdf
arcpy.mapping.ExportToPDF(mxd, pdf, data_frame, 640, 480, resolution, image_quality, colorspace, compress_vectors, image_compression, picture_symbol, convert_markers, embed_fonts, layers_attributes, georef_info)

# Release mxd
del mxd

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Geoportal about earthquakes and relief efforts in Nepal

ICIMOD (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development) did an amazing job in creating a geoportal that provides interactive maps, charts, and infographics about the earthquakes and relief efforts in Nepal. ICIMOD was honored with the ESRI Humanitarian Award in ESRI User Conference 2015 for their role in assisting Nepalese government with GIS technology. 

The key features of the geoportal are as followings:

• interactive maps and charts with facts and figures at national, district and municipality levels
• facts and figures under different thematic areas such as geohazards, infrastructure, education, landslides, agriculture etc.
• swipe visualization of high resolution satellite imagery to view before and after earthquake effect
• story map journals of affected districts providing the status of casualties, damage, and response efforts
• information on geo-hazards, including field data on landslides with 3D visualization
• incident reporting for disaster events in near real-time

Click here to access the geoportal

The geoportal is very responsive and the rendering of the layers is smooth. The graphs are clearly laid out. The home page is a collection of different thematic Map viewers, such as 'Country profile', 'Landslide assessment', 'Geo-hazard', 'Swipe map', 'Incident reporting' etcetera. The Map viewers are extremely user friendly. However, the geoportal would have been better with addition of basic Map viewer tools such as measuring, simple querying, exporting attribute data and printing tools. Having said that, the geoportal reveals how GIS technology can be effectively used for natural disaster management.  

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