Geography 66: Week 1, Lesson 3: Finding Data and Creating a Web Map

Geography 66, Columbia College, Sonora CA.

Week 1, Lesson 3: Creating a Web Map in ArcGIS Online
In this lesson we’ll cover searching for and entering data and feature layers in your web map.

Errata!: Arrrghhh! I keep using "Feature Class" when I meant "Feature Layer." It's one of those things I can't cure myself of... So:

A FEATURE LAYER -- which is what I mean to say -- is a layer containing a grouping of similar features and their associated properties. Feature layers are how ArcGIS Pro represents feature classes.

FEATURE CLASSES are homogeneous collections of common features, each having the same spatial representation, such as points, lines, or polygons, and a common set of attribute columns, for example, a line feature class for representing road centerlines. The four most commonly used feature classes are points, lines, polygons, and annotation (a term for map text).
Sorry about that!

NOTE: We’ll be using creating a wildfire information map for our first example map. As I say in the narration, you may never find yourself creating emergency operation maps but this is a good example of the workflow involved in creating any map.

ALSO: I use currently active fires in Northern California as examples (September 2023). As I’m posting the videos, a major storm is moving in and will likely put out the fires though the perimeters – which I use in the lesson – will still be available for awhile. I’ll give specific instructions in Canvas Assignments page on any workarounds you may need to do.