Creating web applications

to help showcase the value of your GIS data and analysis

Matt Peters / @mattagrc
Steve Gourley / @steveagrc
Scott Davis / @sthomasdavis

Introductions

Larry, Curly and Moe at AGRC the state of Utah's GIS shop

Think before you leap

What about that parachute? The one your Mom gave you

busy schedules
need to have a plan if going to be successful
a strategy
document things
build the righ it, don't just build it right
How do you know you are making he right decisions
Don't fall into the trap of choosing the same routine you have developed over time
MVP

This is the most important part! Take a deep breath when you have a new idea! We are all super busy and working on many things, so if you are going to be successful. You need to have a plan, a strategy to move forward, it is important you take it one step at a time and document it! Make sure – as quickly and as cheaply as you can – that you are building the right it before you build it right. You can build something that works great, even perfect, but if nobody wants to use it? then what? Test your assumptions, How do you know you are making the right decisions? you don't, you are just choosing from the same rountine you have developed over time. Some folks call this an MVP or Minimum Viable Product.

The GIS Mind

Don't kill the messenger!

GIS person, client, programmer may all be the same person
you are a negotiator
Crashes on a map, explain
Try to have folks state the problem not the solution

You as the GIS person, you will be doing the work or interpeting the clients needs in a GIS/Development language to a programmer and you may wear all three hats!, kind of caught in the middle. Lets start with an example. You work for the Highway Patrol in the data section. A person comes to you and says they want to see crashes on a map in a website. That sounds fairly simple, show something on a map, but then you as the GIS person, start to think of what that really means, you start to ask lots of questions and maybe even give some suggestions. You should really try to get the person to state the problems and not the solution! This can be hard, super hard. People want to give you solutions.

Goals

Define success for the project in a page or less

What are the high level goals
Crashes on a map, break down the goals
goals come through meetings with stakeholders
Tune their expectations to the amount of money they have or time
What is possible with more money

What are your high level goals you want to accomplish? I want to show crashes and information about them on a map. That is pretty broad isn't it? lets break it down. You could write high level stuff (epics) and then break each one down to user stories. These high level goals can come through a meeting with the stakeholders, each stakeholder at the beginning may percieve their needs as being different from the others. You need to learn how to listen to all the ideas being thrown around and explore them in a way to breed consensus. Most projects already have a budget, some number that cannot be exceeded. You need to learn to tune expectations to the $ amount they have, or let them know what is possible for more money.

Requirements/User stories

As a type of user, I want some goal so that some reason

Don't forget to define success!!

Create a scope that will satisfy all stakeholders.

Read the user story
User stories are an easy unit to estimate time with
define success
maybe need to build something small and cheap as a test

It takes a while to write really good user stories. If your using "and" in the stories then you are not writing them in a simple enough form. Going through this process will help you cover all the things you want to do and will help the client focus on what they are really trying to accomplish. You may need to cut back on some of the ideas as it may take too long and be too expensive.At this point you should have a good handle on what the requirements are. You should be able to make a better educated decision on what path is best. However, sometimes it takes a bit of building to help a stakeholder make a descision. Start simple, remember that idea of build it as simple and as cheaply as possible to see if people are going to use it.

Data and Process Flow Charts

Where did that data come from?

And What am I trying to do?

Understanding process steps
Work or data flows
does the data support the app
don't design the database first
what tasks does the user want to perform
User requirements can drive how data is stored
Test your assumptions

This can help you understand all the process steps that someone or you will need to go through, whether preparing data or using the app. There are many possibilities, you may realize that the data does not support what you want the app to do. You also need to be very careful here not to put the cart before the horse. You must not design a database before you know the user requirements and tasks the user wants to perform and in what order. This can greatly affect how the data may be stored. You must test all your assumptions.

Parting the Clouds

Each challenge may have a different approach to a unique solution

Just how long will this development process take?

Eons, Many Eons

AGOL - web map

fundamental building block

AGOL - web map

grades

Security

Effort

Cost

Flexibility

Technical Debt

web app templates & story maps

don't code, configure

config


define({
  //Default configuration settings for the application. This is where you'll define things like a bing maps key,
  //default web map, default app color theme and more. These values can be overwritten by template configuration settings and url parameters.
  "appid": "",
  "webmap": "24e01ef45d40423f95300ad2abc5038a",
  "oauthappid": null, //"AFTKRmv16wj14N3z",
  //Group templates must support a group url parameter. This will contain the id of the group.
  "group": "",
  //Enter the url to the proxy if needed by the application. See the 'Using the proxy page' help topic for details
  //http://developers.arcgis.com/en/javascript/jshelp/ags_proxy.html
  "proxyurl": "",
  "theme": "#f7f8f8",
  "color": "#4c4c4c",
  "title": null,
  "drawerSize": null,
  "bingKey": "", //Enter the url to your organizations bing maps key if you want to use bing basemaps
  //Defaults to arcgis.com. Set this value to your portal or organization host name.
  "sharinghost": location.protocol + "//" + "www.arcgis.com",
  "units": null,
  //If your applcation needs to edit feature layer fields set this value to true. When false the map will
  //be dreated with layers that are not set to editable which allows the FeatureLayer to load features optimally.
  "editable": true,
  "edittoolbar": false,
  "basemap": false,
  "alt_basemap": null,
  "home": true,
  "locate": false,
  "locatetrack": false,
  "search": true,
  "locationSearch": true,
  //When searchExtent is true the locator will prioritize results within the current map extent.
  "searchExtent": false,
  "searchLayers":[{
      "id": "",
      "fields": []
  }],
  "scale": true,
  "helperServices": {
    "geometry": {
      "url": null
    },
    "printTask": {
      "url": null
    },
    "elevationSync": {
      "url": null
    },
    "geocode": [{
      "url": null
        }]
  }
});

beware!

Mapbox

web app templates & story maps

grades

Security

Effort

Cost

Flexibility

Technical Debt

web app builder

leveling up configuration

widgets

work flow

authoring

Stan McShinsky (@smcshinsky)

Presentation Links

web app builder

grades

Security

Effort

Cost

Flexibility

Technical Debt

custom development

the last frontier

job security

~$100 an hour

User Experience

smooth, seamless, sexy

exactly what is necessary

have it your way

don't let an out of the box solution dictate your business process or workflow

access

Allow for advanced user permission workflows
Give different capabilities to different user types

integrations

With custom API's
Into custom applications

Integrate with custom API

Integrate into existing website

customizations

Make it pretty

Specific work flow

Advanced work flow

Advanced charting

Routing


					http://locate.utah.gov/#x=422705&y=4512007&scale=144448

Shareable urls
Initialize the state of an application

Printing

aversions

policies restrict the use of the cloud

don't trust the cloud

don't like arcgis online

want something prettier

want something faster

want something more specific

custom development

grades

Security

Effort

Cost

Flexibility

Technical Debt

Summary

Solution	Security	Effort	Cost	Flexibility	Technical Debt
AGOL
Story Maps
Builder
Custom

goo.gl/dKwsBd

Matt Peters / @mattagrc
Steve Gourley / @steveagrc
Scott Davis / @sthomasdavis

questions?

we have stickers!