With an operational area covering more than half of Wales and managing 136 drinking water catchments which feed 61 Water Treatment Works, Welsh Water’s Catchment Spatial Risk Analysts play an important role in delivering wholesome and acceptable drinking water to over three million customers.

With limited land holding across these catchments, the not-for-profit water company has little or no control over how it is used. Agriculture, forestry, the use of chemicals including pesticides, fertilisers and nutrients, as well as human settlements and adverse weather conditions can all determine the quality of raw water that enters their water treatment works.

To help understand and monitor its catchment areas, the Catchment Risk Analysis team, who sit within the wider Water Services Science department, acquire data from a range of sources. Traditionally, it relied on huge amounts of data from raw water sampling, along with spot samples and field observations. In recent years the organisation has started to capture knowledge and intelligence through proactive stakeholder programmes with farmers and landowners, to better understand the root causes of deteriorating or changing raw water quality.

The team was keen to demonstrate how a spatial and more collaborative approach to managing data from a variety of sources could transform how it provides scientific evidence and advice to the Water Services team. By safeguarding raw water quality before it reaches the water treatment works, Welsh Water can avoid using additional chemicals and energy to turn it into perfect drinking water, while safeguarding the environment and protecting drinking water sources for generations to come.

ArcGIS has historically been used by Welsh Water primarily to consolidate its network and asset-related data. The Catchment Spatial Risk Analysts identified that, as a system of engagement, the ArcGIS platform could be used to share and manage data both internally and externally, working more collaboratively with its stakeholders across catchment areas including farmers and landowners. The team developed the WaterSource Portal, which was initially trialled in November 2018 and quickly adopted 24/7/365 as a business-critical system, taking data out of spreadsheets and sharing it online, through web services, on maps and dashboards.

Data from multiple sources is stored in its Microsoft SQL server database acting as the data store for ArcGIS Enterprise, which collates, analyses, records and manages spatial data to identify and predict issues affecting raw water quality. Portal for ArcGIS acts as the ‘one stop shop’ for the team’s GIS needs, enabling them to create, use and share maps and apps with colleagues and external stakeholders.

Survey123 helps the team to work off-line in often remote and isolated environments, capturing and incorporating data from the field, supporting the team’s ability to identify specific areas of water deterioration. For example, areas where soil erosion has resulted in extra silt in rivers, flowing into reservoirs and requiring more treatment. Working with farmers to plant trees on the sides of valleys is reducing the erosion of soil into rivers, ensuring that water reaching the drinking water treatment works is of a more manageable and expected quality.

Data from the field is now quickly visualised and summarised using Operations Dashboards, highlighting such potential causes of water deterioration and providing business intelligence to help the Water Services Science team identify solutions for smarter catchment management. As business demands evolve and conditions change, such as the impact of adverse weather conditions, the Catchment team can quickly tailor collection and visualisation apps, thanks to configurable templates in ArcGIS Enterprise.

The team used the company’s pre-existing ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Online platforms to build the WaterSource Portal, utilising out-of-the box functionality with no additional software licensing costs. The WaterSource Portal now acts as a showcase to the wider business, demonstrating how spatial analytics can provide enhanced functionalities to different user groups by taking data out of spreadsheets and sharing it online, and supporting regulatory responsibilities.

Supporting business and environmental objectives
By working more collaboratively with external stakeholders and share areas of potential concern through a geographic approach, the organisation can support better land management. As the quality of water which needs treating improves, fewer chemicals are required to reduce pollutants thereby helping to reduce operating costs, while safeguarding the environment.

Shared insights
The WaterSource Portal allows instant access to data and insights, putting powerful spatial analytics into the hands of day-to-day users across the company. Vital business intelligence for the team’s regulatory responsibilities can now be summarised in a matter of seconds.

Enhanced health and safety
Task assessment forms created in Survey123 forms have led to improved health and safety. Forms now include prompts to tell people to stop working in adverse weather conditions, reminders to accurately mark hazards on a map and further prompts asking whether the user can take any steps to make the job in hand safer.

Improved enablement
ArcGIS Enterprise enables the team to work more efficiently, more accurately, more safely and more confidently with enhanced awareness of changeable environmental conditions. The business response is more robust, and a broader user group now benefits from access to powerful spatial analytics.

Better data management
Data, from multiple internal and external sources, can be managed more efficiently and productively in ArcGIS Enterprise. Information can be stored and retrieved quickly, and forms and additional documentation such as images from the field can be attached and shared with colleagues and stakeholders.

Jacobs is a global organisation delivering impactful solutions to some of the world’s most critical problems for thriving cities, resilient environments, mission-critical outcomes and scientific discovery. Through a wide range of technical solutions and professional services, the company helps clients succeed by developing solutions to the real-world challenges they face every day.

Many of Jacobs’ clients are tackling the toughest infrastructure and technology challenges, where large multi-disciplinary teams need to collaborate closely and share a vast amount of technical documentation in order to complete high quality projects, on schedule. The company identified that project data was often stored in different systems, making it harder for teams to find, view and interact with the data they need to enable them to work efficiently. For example, designs created in Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software packages couldn’t be easily shared, as not everyone had access to the required specialist software or the skills to use it. So, Jacobs set out to develop a web-based solution that would combine CAD files, building information modelling (BIM) data and geospatial data to create a single, interactive and 3D viewer for all project information.

Jacobs’ Digital Solutions team already used Esri’s ArcGIS to deliver a range of services to clients, so it decided to leverage Esri technology in designing the new solution. The team started by creating a streamlined workflow for transforming thousands of individual CAD files and Autodesk Revit files, stored in a BIM environment, into a format suitable for publishing in a 3D geographic information system (GIS) environment.

Then, using Esri’s ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Enterprise, the Digital Solutions team created a 3D Viewer, allowing users to view CAD designs, BIM data and geospatial data all in one place. The solution brought together both 2D and 3D data files, allowing everything to be viewed side by side in a 3D environment for the first time. This web-based solution allows Jacobs’ clients to create a single, interactive repository for all their project data, enabling employees to explore multiple layers of project information. Users can navigate easily around different components of a design, get a better understanding of the geographic context of the project, such as the line of sight, and even explore sub-surface features.

Highways England became the first of Jacobs’ clients to use Jacobs’ 3D Viewer to see data from junctions 3-5 of the M20. Use of this pioneering solution allows project teams to zoom in on maps of the project to see 3D designs of new gantries, road signs, stairways, carriageways, verges and underpasses. Users simply click on any feature, such as a section of underground pipe or gantry, to see detailed attribute data and can use embedded Esri tools to take measurements within the app.

Improved efficiency in complex projects
The ArcGIS-based 3D Viewer improves the efficiency of project teams by making all project data available to view and explore in one place. Employees don’t waste time looking for information across multiple different software systems and can interact with CAD, BIM and GIS data at the same time, to gain a faster understanding of complex tasks.

More effective collaboration within teams
Critically, the 3D Viewer improves collaboration within teams, by making the same information available to everyone. Team members who are not CAD experts can now access CAD files in an interactive format that they can easily view and interrogate without the need for specialist CAD software and training. “In the rapidly evolving world of BIM, collaboration is key in keeping everyone on the same track and ensuring efficient, quality outputs,” says Liam Gallagher, Jacobs Director for Digital Delivery and Head of BIM, Smart Motorways Programme. “The development of this 3D viewer will change the way project teams interact with data and one another. This is part of the bigger picture that is BIM integration on projects.”

Innovative use of GIS to solve problems
The company has successfully leveraged the latest ArcGIS technology to create a web-based app with the potential to add value for clients right around the world. “The success of our 3D GIS solution puts us at the cutting edge of GIS development,” says Lorna Sherman, GIS Analyst at Jacobs. “By creating innovative technical solutions using ArcGIS we are helping clients improve efficiency in their projects and solve real world problems.”

While the City of London covers little more than a square mile and has just 8,000 permanent residents, it is visited every day by over 500,000 workers, students and tourists. In addition, the area’s 715 streets are all highly urbanised and surrounded by historic buildings, high value business premises and soaring skyscrapers, making this financial district an incredibly challenging environment for policing. Following a gradual reduction in funding, City of London Police needed to find a smarter, more targeted approach to crime prevention that would optimise the use of its resources and improve its effectiveness.

For many years, City of London Police has used Esri’s ArcGIS platform to help it analyse patterns in crime and plan policing responses. Through a research programme at Cambridge University, the force identified an opportunity to leverage advanced functionality within the ArcGIS platform and develop a new smarter approach to crime prevention. It then worked with Esri UK to elevate the use of its existing ArcGIS solutions and transform the academic research into a real-world policing tool.

Under the leadership of Detective Inspector Lee Bowen, City of London Police first used algorithms in ArcGIS Pro to analyse a database of 21,000 crimes and identify where the most crime was taking place, in the fewest locations. While the force had used ArcGIS before to show crime hot spots, its new, more advanced spatial analysis enables police officers to pinpoint the fewest locations where the most crimes take place and therefore identify policing priorities with a previously-unattainable level of precision.

Next, City of London Police used ArcGIS Pro to analyse the relative harm caused by each individual crime, using the Cambridge Crime Harm Index as a way of measuring the severity of crimes. This spatial analysis revealed only a handful of 50m2 locations with a high proportion of serious crime and gave police officers unequivocal evidence of the areas where it should focus its activities, for the first time.

City of London Police then used ArcGIS to develop interactive story maps to make all of its new intelligence about priority policing areas and harmful crime accessible to police officers in a format that is easy for them to understand. Officers working on the beat now use these story maps on mobile devices to get instant access to information on specific crimes in their locations, right when they need it.

Optimal use of finite policing resources
Using the insight provided by ArcGIS, City of London Police can now deploy police officers and resources to exactly those locations where high volumes of crime and the most harmful crimes occur. The spatial analysis is used every day to inform the City of London Police Patrol Plan, allowing true evidence-based targeting of resources within the force for the first time. “Our use of ArcGIS enables us to put the right people in the right place, at the right time, to deliver the best possible public service with the resources we have available,” says Detective Inspector Bowen.

A significant increase in arrests
The adoption of advanced spatial analysis has undoubtedly improved the effectiveness of police activities in the City of London and contributed to large numbers of arrests in the area. “Arrests have increased dramatically since we started to focus our efforts on those priority crime areas identified by ArcGIS,” Bowen says. “We have also been able to prioritise the crimes communities are most concerned about, by focusing on areas with a large number of crimes with a high harm index.”

Effective crime prevention strategies
By allocating resources more strategically, based on better evidence about criminal activity, the City of London Police is improving its ability to prevent crime and therefore eliminate costs across the whole criminal justice process. Jane Gyford, former Commander of Operations, City of London Police, says: “In policing we talk about prevention all the time, but actually being truly strategically preventative is a key aim of City of London Police. Our use of spatial analysis helps to put the police ahead of the criminal.”

Better information for officers on the beat
Police officers within the force can now use story maps on the beat to find out detailed information about crimes, in the locations where they are working. The story maps give police officers autonomy, so when they are patrolling a high harm location, they have the information they need at their fingertips to make decisions about the best premises to visit and how to engage with the public to improve their effectiveness.

Improved collaboration in crime prevention initiatives
City of London Police is also sharing the insight it gains from its spatial analysis with external organisations and the Crime Prevention Association, as part of a range of target hardening initiatives that aim to make it harder for criminals to operate. For example, the force advises companies on ways to improve lighting and make private security professionals more effective as deterrents. “ArcGIS gives us evidence we can share with businesses in the City of London, so that they understand the risks in their location and can take measures to minimise their vulnerability to crime,” Bowen says.

High Speed Two is joining up Britain to build a fairer, more balanced country. By creating much needed capacity and connectivity for the country’s rail network, it will be the catalyst for economic growth and regeneration, with local areas planning to create around half a million jobs from the arrival of high speed services. With enabling works underway along Phase One of the route between the West Midlands and London, and parliamentary approval expected for Phase 2a, extending the route north to Crewe, HS2 Ltd is currently undertaking planning and consultation for Phase 2b, completing the ‘Y-shaped’ network to Manchester and Leeds – and beyond.

HS2 Ltd has a statutory obligation to publish an Environmental Statement identifying any possible environmental consequences of building and running the Phase 2b railway and describing planned measures to reduce the impacts on local communities. The organisation wanted to engage with as many members of the public and other stakeholders as possible, during a period of consultation, to gain feedback on its draft Environmental Statement. However, it recognised that its working draft was both complex and long, comprising more than 10,000 pages, making it difficult for people to find and understand information pertinent to their local areas.

To try to make its Environmental Statement more accessible to a wider number of people, HS2 Ltd set up a project group to explore the possibility of creating a digital tool to support the working draft that would provide a visual and interactive overview of the environment information detailed in the statement. This project team soon identified that it could create an online navigator for its working draft, quickly and inexpensively, by leveraging Esri technology already used within HS2 Ltd to create a story map.

The digital solution was developed using two interlinked ArcGIS StoryMap templates, which provided the framework for displaying the environmental information in a highly visual way. HS2 Ltd embedded existing high resolution, high impact project images and corporate videos into its online navigator to draw people into the story. Most importantly, the organisation incorporated a series of interactive, digital maps allowing people to explore their own community areas and see the precise locations of the HS2 Phase 2b route.

With links directly from the HS2 website, the online navigator allows users to zoom into the map to see new features, such as tunnels and cuttings, and click on hyperlinks to access more detailed information from the full suite of documents. By overlaying different maps on top of one another in the story map, HS2 Ltd was able to show people the existing situation and likely future scenarios in a very clear way and illustrate precisely how the HS2 Phase 2b route is likely to change the environment.

Effective engagement with stakeholders
The development of the HS2 Phase 2b online navigator has enabled HS2 Ltd to engage more effectively with a wide range of stakeholders, online and at regional events, during and after the consultation. Over a period of six months, the Environmental Statement online navigator was viewed more than 22,000 times, which demonstrates just how successful it was in engaging the interest of the general public.

Clearer communication of relevant information
One significant benefit of the online navigator is its ability to make the working draft of the Environmental Statement more meaningful and relevant to everyone. Users can use the interactive tool to quickly find the information that matters to them and zoom in to see likely environmental changes in the communities where they live or work.

Faster responses to telephone enquiries
Unexpectedly, the online navigator is also helping HS2 Ltd to improve its customer service by helping it to respond to enquiries more quickly. Members of staff in the HS2 call centre routinely use the story map to find the locations that callers are concerned about and zoom in to find the information they need to answer specific questions about possible environmental impacts.

Affectionately known as Methody, Methodist College Belfast is one of Northern Ireland's leading grammar schools. Pupils here have the opportunity to study Geology and Geography courses at GCSE, AS and A Level, as well as participate in a wide variety of extra-curricular opportunities that strive to develop pupils’ interest in university courses and careers relating to Geology and Geography.

Geology teacher Karen Parks needed to integrate the use of geographic information system (GIS) technology into her teaching with A Level students, because the compulsory ‘Practical Endorsement’ part of the A Level states that students must be able ‘to compile and analyse geological data sets through to visualisation using GIS’. In addition, she wanted to integrate GIS into more of her lessons with pupils of all ages, to ignite their interest in GIS and give them real-world IT skills that they may need in their future studies and work. She therefore signed up to use Esri’s ArcGIS platform free of charge, through the ArcGIS for Schools programme.

Parks now regularly uses ArcGIS solutions and interactive maps available in ArcGIS Online, along with teaching resources prepared by Esri Ireland, to make lessons fun and engaging for pupils. For example, she helps pupils understand the potential impact of volcanoes using the ArcGIS Online Volcano Top Trumps map, where volcanoes around the world are given scores for height, deadliness, unpredictability and destruction potential. “I find that the pupils who engage well with GIS tend to get a better understanding of global issues, as they can think about them spatially,” she says.

The Geography teachers at Methody will also be using the Esri’s Survey123 app to allow students to collect data on their smartphones while on field trips. Use of this mobile GIS solution enables pupils to record very accurate locations on maps, take their own pictures and make notes in any weather, without worrying about soggy paper. Pupils have enjoyed using the technology in the field, and Parks expects to use Survey123 during all geology field work at GCSE and A Level in the incoming academic year. She says: “Using GIS in the field gives pupils an insight into the working world. Professionals in a wide range of civil engineering and environmental careers need to be able to access and use maps in the field.”

Pupils have also had the opportunity to use GIS in extra-curricular activities and deepen their knowledge of GIS. For example, a group of students recently used ArcGIS as part of research to enter the National Schools Geology Challenge and also participated in the Association for Geographic Information (AGI) conference in Belfast. They used ArcGIS to explore the environmental, economic and social impacts of renewable and non-renewable energy sources and presented their ideas in a presentation and poster entitled ‘Fuel for Thought’.

“When my students go to university to study geology, geography or other related courses like civil engineering, they are not afraid to use GIS,” Parks says. “They already have real-world GIS skills, which puts them a step ahead of other students.”

Before starting to teach ArcGIS in the classroom and on field trips, Parks attended an ArcGIS for Schools training course organised by Esri Ireland and a GeoMentor from Esri Ireland came to Methody to deliver training workshops for some Geography and Geology students. She then took advantage of some of the ready-made resources that have been prepared by Esri Ireland for teachers to use, adapting some of them and using others straight ‘out of the pack’, which saved her time.

Parks has had tremendous support from GeoMentors at Esri Ireland and Queens University, Belfast, who have encouraged her and given her practical help and tips along the way. She has also benefited from help from the wider GIS community, including the Geological Society Northern Ireland. “Lots of people have been very enthusiastic about ArcGIS and that has made all the difference,” she says.

At Saint Conleth’s Community College in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, teachers proactively seek out new ways to expand the learning opportunities for their students, recognising that practical skills are as valuable as academic skills.

Deirdre O’Crowley, a geography teacher at the school wanted to embed the use of geographic information system (GIS) technology into her lessons to help her broaden the learning experiences for students. “Geography is not just about theory,” she says. “There are lots of practical elements to the teaching of geography. I felt that GIS would complement and enhance the other skills that students develop throughout the Junior and Senior Cycles.”

As a result of O’Crowley’s enthusiasm for GIS, Saint Conleth’s Community College became one of the first schools in Ireland to participate in Esri Ireland’s ArcGIS for Schools Program. Through this scheme, the school now has free access to Esri’s digital mapping platform, ArcGIS Online, along with lesson plans, teaching resources and guidance from GIS professionals.

Having now used ArcGIS with students for a full academic year, O’Crowley is convinced that the technology delivers significant benefits for students. She says, “ArcGIS enhances students’ engagement in learning about geography and helps them to become critical thinkers. Using ArcGIS they can query multiple layers of data on interactive maps, explore environments and constantly ask questions to find answers.”

O’Crowley also recognises that ArcGIS enhances learning for students will all levels of ability. “ArcGIS promotes an inclusive learning environment,” she says. “Using ArcGIS in the classroom gives students of all abilities the opportunity to excel in geography. It helps them to work collaboratively and develops their vocabulary which benefits other subjects.”

O’Crowley has employed ArcGIS very effectively with a group of fifth year students as part of a field trip to the Burren, or ‘Rocky Place’ in Co. Clare. This limestone landscape features unusual stone patterns and is often visited by school groups as part of their geography studies. The students from Saint Conleth’s Community College used ArcGIS to plan their research and created a Story Map to plot their route to the research location. Once in the field, they used an ArcGIS mobile app, Survey123 for ArcGIS, to collect data on their mobile phones about underground features such as stalactites and surface features such as limestone pavements. Then, afterwards, the students used ArcGIS Online to visualise their survey results on a field study map layer, analyse their results and present their findings.

In addition, Saint Conleth’s Community College has used ArcGIS in the classroom to support teaching on topics as diverse as earthquakes and economic development. In one project, pupils were shown how to use ArcGIS to help them identify the best location to set up a multinational company, taking into account factors such as local employment, transport services, training providers and communications. “Students have been very creative and motivated in their use of ArcGIS,” says O’Crowley. “I have been able to give them a brief outline of the task to complete, which allows them to become independent learners.”

A number of students have used ArcGIS Online independently to create Story Maps combining pictures, videos, maps and data to help them revise for exams. “Students like the interactive and creative way of learning,” O’Crowley says.

To build up her own GIS skills, O’Crowley has attended free training sessions and workshops held by Esri Ireland. She has also taken advantage of Esri Ireland’s pre-prepared teaching materials to help her incorporate ArcGIS Online into her lesson plans.

Such is her continuing enthusiasm for the ArcGIS for Schools Program that O’Crowley is now actively promoting it to other teachers, both within her own school and at other schools. She hopes to encourage her teaching colleagues at Saint Conleth’s Community College to use ArcGIS with first year geography students for the first time and even embed ArcGIS into science lessons. “The more I use ArcGIS in teaching, the easier it gets,” she says. “I urge other teachers to give ArcGIS a go, make a plan and use it regularly.”

The scale of the challenge for Sellafield Ltd cannot be underestimated. The organisation has been tasked with decommissioning and remediating the Sellafield nuclear site, which currently comprises 1400 buildings, 250 nuclear facilities, over 330 km of utility pipes and drains, a 55 km road and rail network and 20 km of overhead cables. The target completion date for this mammoth undertaking is 2120, so the organisation needs to plan a schedule of highly complex and hazardous programmes of work, in close proximity to each other, over the next 100 years. In order to treat and safely store legacy nuclear inventory, Sellafield Ltd needs to construct at least 50 new buildings, decommission and demolish existing facilities and move hazardous materials safely around the site, while minimising costs.

In 2010, the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, caused by an earthquake and subsequent tsunami, focused global attention on the need not only for exceptionally robust safety measures, but also for effective emergency response systems. Sellafield Ltd recognised that if it expanded its use of geographic information systems (GIS) for day-to-day operations, it could, in tandem, make better data and systems available to support rapid decision making in the event of an emergency.

Through an Enterprise License Agreement with Esri UK, Sellafield Ltd used Esri’s ArcGIS to create a web mapping platform, called Sellafield Maps, that makes GIS capabilities and spatial data accessible to 11,000 employees and thousands of supply chain resources. Sellafield Maps comprises hundreds of data layers showing everything from the locations of 5,000 manholes and the routes of underground gas pipes to the nearest bus stops. The service typically receives 20,000 hits and handles 100,000 feature searches every month. “Sellafield Maps is now part of the daily toolkit that people use to do their jobs,” says Richard McGrath, Spatial Development Lead at Sellafield Ltd.

In addition, Sellafield Ltd has used ArcGIS Portal to develop more than fifty specialist GIS apps that deliver specific GIS functionality and data for certain groups. One such app has been developed to support emergency responses and is displayed on a large screen in the control room. The app mimics the company’s prior use of whiteboards, allowing employees to see the incident location, incorporate live weather reports and wind direction, to enable a plume to be automatically drawn once a radioactive release point has been identified. The app can also be accessed remotely by managers working off site, alongside government teams and emergency services if necessary.

Both Sellafield Maps and ArcGIS Portal use a ‘Data Wheel’, a centralised library with nine data categories for storing and accessing all data in a standard way, so that when departments are inevitably reorganised during the next 100 years, the way that data is stored can remain consistent. “We received support from consultants in Esri UK’s Professional Services group, who help us push the boundaries of Esri software,” says McGrath. “The consultants show us how to do things differently and build apps more efficiently to reduce server load and deliver additional services for users.”

Effective implementation of a century-long plan
The Sellafield site has a finite land resource and is heavily congested. ArcGIS plays a pivotal role in helping Sellafield Ltd to identify the optimum sites for new buildings, based on the locations of utilities and adjacent facilities, and subsurface ground conditions and visualise what the site will look like at different points in time, as old buildings are demolished and new structures take their place. “Over the next 20 years alone, Sellafield Ltd will be investing £13.5 billion in new facilities for the storage and treatment of nuclear waste,” McGrath says. “ArcGIS helps us to ensure we put specialist facilities in the right places, to reduce costs in the building phase and ensure they can be operated efficiently during their lifetime.”

£2.5 million in efficiency savings
The use of Sellafield Maps and ArcGIS Portal apps allows teams right across the business to work more efficiently. On average, Sellafield Ltd estimates that employees save fifteen minutes every time they consult an ArcGIS map or app. Even taking into account the ArcGIS licence, IT hardware and staff time, these time savings equate to an annual cost saving of £2.5 million pounds, year after year.

Readiness for any future emergency
Sellafield Ltd is confident that its extended use of ArcGIS puts it in a better position to respond quickly to future emergencies. Following a recent failure in part of the site steam system, the emergency control room used the ArcGIS app to quickly access relevant information, understand the implications of the incident, explore different scenarios and make rapid decisions. “It is reassuring to have a proven ArcGIS emergency app in place that we know we could rely on if a serious incident were to occur,” McGrath says.

Improved collaboration and safety on site
Several teams at Sellafield Ltd, including the utilities teams, make extensive use of ArcGIS Portal apps to share information with employees working in different zones across the 262-hectare site. “ArcGIS improves clarity for employees working at locations right across Sellafield,” McGrath says. “It supports collaboration between teams and improves safety, by ensuring everyone knows what is happening nearby, when new projects are being kicked off and where hazards are located.”

For geography teacher Andrew Horan, ArcGIS for Schools was the perfect solution to an unexpected challenge. He discovered, quite late in the summer, that he would be teaching Transition Year students from September and, as he had not taught Transition Year for four years, his previous teaching materials were outdated. With limited time available, he needed to come up with a new programme that he could put into place quickly and that would engage and inspire his students.

“A colleague mentioned the ArcGIS for Schools programme and it ticked all the right boxes,” Horan says. “I wanted to offer something new and exciting. Straight away, I could see that ArcGIS would encourage a more active learning approach, incorporate ICT into geography and allow students to explore local, national and international issues.”

During the course of the school year, over forty Transition Year students had the opportunity to use ArcGIS in a geography programme that was based around a series of creative projects. According to Horan, “ArcGIS helped the students develop critical project skills, from how to gather, analyse and reflect on data, to how to work as part of a team and present your results.”

One group considered if it would be possible to establish a new school anywhere in Dublin, without it being within a ten minute walk of a fast food takeaway, and discovered that it was impossible to find a ‘no-fry’ zone. Another group conducted a nationwide search for remote locations that could be used as Hollywood film sets and might prove as successful as the island of Skellig Michael, in Kerry, where filming took place for Star Wars, The Last Jedi. “I was quietly impressed by the range of project titles that students selected and the way that they went about exploring data with ArcGIS to support their ideas.”

ArcGIS was particularly effective in helping the students to develop skills in analysing information and finding evidence to support decision-making. In one block of lessons, the Transition Year students were asked to find the best site to locate a new business, in their choice of industry, in Dublin, in an empty building or on a parcel of land available for development. Using ArcGIS, the students were able to take into account a wide range of factors, including transport links, local skills, the locations of suppliers and the distance to Dublin airport, to inform their decisions about the best sites.

Students were also able to hone their presentation skills, by creating ArcGIS Story Maps to present their projects. One group created a Story Map to share its findings about accident black spots in the local area. “All the project skills our students developed during their Transition Year will be invaluable for them in their future careers, particularly if they go into engineering or town planning roles,” Horan says.

Through the ArcGIS for Schools programme, Horan was able to access free training, ready-made lesson plans and hand-outs which helped him prepare for his Transition Year class in a matter of weeks. “I can’t speak highly enough of the help I received from Esri Ireland, right from the start,” Horan says. “Any fears I had about not being prepared for teaching Transition Year were wiped away.”

During the course of the year, experts at Esri Ireland were always on hand if Horan or his students had any queries, and this was very reassuring and helpful. Now, Horan is looking ahead to another academic year and will be using ArcGIS with Transition Year students for the second year running. Esri Ireland has provided a GIS mentor to provide ongoing support to the staff at St. Kevin’s College and is helping Horan to fine tune a 10-week Transition Year programme. Without hesitation, Horan reports, “The ongoing support has been amazing”.

“Just looking at maps in books and on whiteboards can be a bit tedious for students,” says Colette Flanagan, a geography teacher with 28 years of experience in the classroom. When the opportunity arose for her to embed geographic information system (GIS) technology into her lessons at Presentation College Headford, she immediately recognised that this was a technology that could really inspire students.

“Young people nowadays are so technology focussed that using computers and digital maps is second nature to them,” she says. “ICT is already a huge part of their learning in so many areas, that it makes sense to use technology to get them more engaged in geography lessons and help them learn important new life skills.”

Presentation College Headford is a secondary school in County Galway in the Republic of Ireland and it became one of the first schools to sign up to Esri Ireland’s ArcGIS for Schools Program. Through this scheme, all Irish schools can gain free access to Esri’s digital mapping platform, ArcGIS Online, along with lesson plans, teaching resources and expert support.

Presentation College Headford started by making ArcGIS Online available to Transition Year students and showing them how to use ArcGIS to create engaging Story Maps. One group produced tourism Story Maps, combining historical, cultural, environmental and commercial information in one place in an appealing format. Some of these Story Maps presented information about international cities including Rome and Hamburg, while others focused on local towns and villages including Headford in County Galway and Shrule in County Mayo. “These Story Maps are so good that some of our local councils want to publish them on their own websites,” Flanagan says.

Other Transition Year students used ArcGIS to create a Story Map to support their entry for the Young Environmentalist of the Year Award. The Story Map provided the group of young people with the ideal way to present a vast amount of data about an area of woodland, including archaeological sites, public amenities, survey results and trails. The team was successful in winning the regional round of the competition, and Flanagan believes that the students’ use of Story Maps made them stand out from other groups, contributing to their success. “ArcGIS enabled the students to share information in a much more effective and attractive way than simply using a PowerPoint presentation,” she says.

All of the students at Presentation College Headford who have had the opportunity to use ArcGIS Online have responded very positively and learned valuable new skills. “Our students really enjoy working with GIS,” Flanagan says. “Using ArcGIS and creating Story Maps helps our students to develop research skills and gives them experience of using different types of maps at different scales. It also encourages them to think about how information is communicated and improve their presentation skills.”

Flanagan found it relatively easy to learn how to use ArcGIS for teaching, despite the fact that GIS was entirely new to her. She attended a workshop run by Esri Ireland to gain an initial overview of the capabilities of the ArcGIS platform and saw demonstrations of how it can be embedded into lessons and projects. She then subsequently gained inspiration by reviewing Esri Ireland’s online resources, including pre-prepared teaching materials. “Using the information online, I could pretty much teach myself,” she says.

Following the success of using Esri’s Story Maps with Transition Year students at Presentation College Headford, Flanagan now plans to use ArcGIS in the Junior Cycle for classroom-based assessments and in the Senior Cycle for geographical investigations that are part of the leaving certificates for senior students. She also plans to start using Survey123, an Esri field collection app included as part of the schools program, with Transition Year students. This enables them to use mobile devices to collect information during field-work exercises and embed their own GIS data into their Story Maps.

Recognising that she cannot achieve all of this at once, Flanagan plans to extend the use of GIS at Presentation College Headford one step at a time, calling on support from her designated GeoMentor, a GIS professional assigned by Esri Ireland to provide the college with free ongoing support and encouragement. “Every year, I want to build on what we have done with ArcGIS and continue to incorporate new uses of GIS into our teaching,” she says. “Our Transition Year students have gained a lot from using Esri’s technology and Story Maps, and I want to make this opportunity available to as many of our students as possible.”

The threat that climate change poses to mankind and the planet is a huge and complex topic. However, it is widely accepted that ecosystems act as the Earth’s regulatory system and biodiversity has an intrinsic role in mitigating the impact of climate change. Crowther Lab has generated quantitative models of the Earth’s ecology and revealed that it is possible to offset climate change by restoring plants and soils across the globe. It has identified that restoration of the Earth’s forests is one of the most effective solutions to climate change available today and the location of where global tree restoration should be implemented without affecting existing cities or agriculture is fundamental to its work.

In arriving at its conclusions, the Lab has unrivalled access to spatial data sets and ground-sourced data from researchers, ecology bodies and labs across the globe. Ensuring that data is clean, consistent and accurate is vital to continuing interpretation and analysis and keeping on top of these data sets and making the best use of Big Data is one of its primary operational challenges.

The ability to successfully communicate its findings that global tree restoration is a tangible climate change solution is a further challenge. The Lab shares its findings with multiple audiences, from individuals to global scientific bodies, aiming to convey that there is a viable solution to help mitigate climate change without compromising cities or agriculture.

The scientists at Crowther Lab conduct Global Ecological Monitoring (GEM), classifying global ecological systems by pairing top-down satellite imagery with its ground-sourced data sets of forest tree and soil diversity – the largest in the world. GIS acts as a foundation for the Lab’s data strategy, pulling the data together with geoprocessing tools filtering and converting data into layers of information, generating a richer understanding of the world’s forests.

By using geoprocessing tools, the team can perform spatial analysis, manage GIS data and build custom tools to automate complex tasks and solve problems. ArcGIS and other tools are then used to create interactive maps to communicate the Lab’s findings, including the essential identification of sustainable land where forests could be restored without affecting existing cities or agriculture. This information sharing is vital to the success of Crowther Lab’s work to communicate a quantitative understanding of what’s possible; different options for where and which ecosystems should be restored, thereby improving the efficiency of restoration projects.

These interactive maps are vital communication tools enabling users, from scientists to anyone interested in climate change, to interrogate the Lab’s findings, learn something new about ecosystems and take decisions and act on quantitative information, beautifully presented.

Access to the Lab’s maps and data visualisations has further been extended by their availability on the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the world, an evolving collection of authoritative, ready-to-use global geographic information. Content includes imagery, basemaps, demographics and lifestyle, landscape, boundaries and places, transportation, earth observations, urban systems, ocean and historical maps that can be combined with data to create new maps, scenes and apps and perform analysis.

User-friendly tools
Both experienced and non-GIS specialists with no coding knowledge work with ArcGIS’s intuitive, user-friendly interface to rapidly bring together data from multiple sources to create powerful visualisations.

Impactful data visualisation
Complex data is presented in eloquent, stunningly-designed maps, enabling users to more easily grasp how global tree restoration presents a powerful and viable solution to mitigate climate change.

Insightful Communications Tools
Crowther Lab’s interactive maps are powerful communications tools enabling viewers from any background, from students to scientists, governments or commercial organisations, to query the data presented and help find the answers to questions they may have.

More efficient decision-making
The articulate presentation of quantitative data in map form makes it possible for decision-makers to develop more insightful strategies into restoration management. By identifying specific locations to restore trees, plants and soils the efficiency of restoration efforts can be improved.