Did you know? ArcGIS Earth’s Elevation Profile tool allows you to visualize elevation changes along any path, offering valuable insights for terrain analysis, route planning, and risk assessment. You can easily generate interactive profiles from drawn lines, KML paths, or by using the Measure tool, making it a powerful feature for both analysis and presentation.

🛠️ 3 Powerful Ways to Maximize the Elevation Profile Tool:

1️⃣ Visualize Terrain Changes in Real-Time 🌄 Quickly generate an elevation profile by sketching a path or right-clicking an existing drawing line or KML line and selecting Elevation Profile. Instantly see how terrain rises and falls, making this perfect for planning hiking trails, infrastructure routes, or assessing construction sites.

2️⃣ Analyze Elevation and Slope Metrics 📊 Gain immediate insights with detailed metrics like minimum, average, and maximum elevation, total elevation gain/loss, and slope percentages. This data is essential for identifying high-risk landslide zones, optimizing transportation routes, or evaluating flood-prone areas.

3️⃣ Interact with and Share Profiles 🖱️🖼️ Hover over the profile to check exact elevation, distance, and slope data or double-click to zoom directly to any point on the map. Easily export the profile as an image for reports or presentations, making it ideal for sharing insights with stakeholders and improving decision-making.

🚀 Pro Tips:

1️⃣ Flip Direction: Reverse the profile path for new insights using the Flip Direction tool.

2️⃣ Spacebar Lock: Press the Spacebar to lock onto specific points for precise elevation and slope readings.

3️⃣ Mobile to Desktop Integration: Record routes with GPS tracking on mobile and analyze elevation profiles on desktop for deeper insights.

2025-01-13 TIL: Custom URI Schemes and Standard Web Links

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Custom URI Schemes and Standard Web Links

Custom URI schemes are application-specific protocols that allow apps to communicate with each other or be launched directly. They are defined by developers to enable deep linking into specific parts of an app.

• Example: A custom URI like myapp://section/page can open the “page” in the “section” of the app named “myapp”.

Standard web links use common protocols like HTTP or HTTPS to direct users to web content. When integrated with app linking mechanisms, they can open corresponding content within an app if installed, or fallback to a web browser if not.

• Example: A link like https://www.example.com/page can open the corresponding page within an app if installed; otherwise, it opens in the browser.

Here’s how these linking mechanisms are represented across major platforms:

Key Differences:

• Security:
  • Custom URI Schemes: Less secure; any app can register the same scheme, leading to potential conflicts or malicious hijacking.
  • Standard Web Links: More secure; rely on domain verification to ensure only authorized apps handle the links.
• Fallback Behavior:
  • Custom URI Schemes: If the app isn’t installed, the system may not know how to handle the link, potentially leading to errors or no action.
  • Standard Web Links: Provide a seamless user experience by opening the app if installed or defaulting to the web browser if not.
• Implementation Complexity:
  • Custom URI Schemes: Simpler to implement but require careful management to avoid conflicts.
  • Standard Web Links: Require setting up domain associations and hosting verification files but offer a more robust solution.

Today was stressful due to unfinished tasks, especially the uncertainty around my presentation content. After discussing the AI transformation video with a colleague, she kindly took over the task. I unexpectedly spent much of the afternoon selecting photos and planning the presentation.

In the evening, Xiaoyan and I had a quick meal and practiced a challenging dance routine for over an hour.

Surprisingly, Xiaoyan’s company granted two extra days of annual leave starting on the 25th, so I quickly booked her ticket home.

Did you know?

ArcGIS Earth allows you to elevate your 3D visualizations with Atmosphere Effects and Terrain Exaggeration. These tools can bring your data to life by adding depth, realism, and emphasis to landscapes and terrain analysis.

🛠️ 2 Powerful Ways to Boost Your 3D Visualization:

1️⃣ Add Realism with Atmosphere Effects 🌫️ Switch between None, Horizon Only, and Realistic atmosphere settings to control haze and depth in your scene.

2️⃣ Amplify Terrain with Exaggeration ⛰️ Adjust the terrain scale from 0–100, or up to 1,000 with admin configuration, to highlight geological features, flood risks, or urban developments.

🚀 Pro Tip:

Pair atmosphere effects with terrain exaggeration to create stunning visuals that resemble a Chinese landscape painting, blending subtle depth and dramatic elevation for both artistic and analytical impact.

This weekend, I felt quite tired after waking up early to send Hamer and Grandma off to Hunan. Xiaoyan and I dined at the uniquely decorated Don Quixote restaurant in Guomao but found the service lacking despite the great ambiance.

I spent Sunday binge-watching Speedsters and practiced narrow-lane driving in the evening. Though my AI video for the annual meeting didn’t turn out as planned, it might bring some laughs.

I’m very grateful that my colleague offered to give me a piano and a friend’s help in organizing our insurance policies.

Today was packed with tasks. After dropping Hamer off at school for her half-day session with awards and homework, I shared Retro content at work and joined a two-hour meeting.

At noon, we rehearsed twice and spotted areas for improvement. In the afternoon, I took Hamer for a dental sealant redo, as some molars hadn’t come in yet. I also bought a Daoxiangcun gift box for Xiaoyan’s uncles.

Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to get a train ticket home, leaving me a bit stressed.

2025-01-09 TIL: WIIFM Principle & the Meaning of Level

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WIIFM

WIIFM stands for “What’s In It For Me”—a simple yet powerful question people naturally ask when facing change.

• This principle helps you understand stakeholders’ needs, motivations, and expectations.
• By applying WIIFM, you can tailor communication to show how changes benefit others, making it easier to gain their support and engagement.

Level

Level has multiple meanings depending on the context:

1. To make a surface flat or even.
   • Example: Level the wet cement before it sets.
2. To completely destroy a building or area.
   • Example: Devastating wildfires in the LA area have leveled entire neighborhoods as firefighting resources are stretched thin.

Did you know that in ArcGIS Earth, bookmarks do more than save locations—they let you craft interactive, dynamic stories? By capturing specific views and scene settings, you can seamlessly revisit important locations or create stunning visual tours for presentations and analysis.

🛠️ 4 Creative Ways to Use Bookmarks in ArcGIS Earth:

1️⃣ Capture and Revisit Detailed Scenes 🎯 Bookmarks save more than just a location—they capture the entire scene, including camera position, basemaps, layer visibility, and daylight settings. Instantly return to complex views, like tracking a hurricane’s path over several days or revisiting key project stages.

2️⃣ Organize Workflows with Bookmark Groups 🗂️ Keep your projects structured by grouping bookmarks into categories based on project phases, regions, or themes. This makes navigating between analysis stages or geographic areas effortless.

3️⃣ Create Engaging Bookmark Presentations 🎬 Transform a sequence of bookmarks into an automated presentation that guides viewers through your data. Customize transitions, playback speed, and add descriptive pop-ups to tell a compelling, interactive story.

4️⃣ Export and Share Your Story 🌍 Export bookmark groups as KMZ files or images to easily share your maps with collaborators. You can even convert bookmarks into movies for polished, impactful storytelling.

🚀 Pro Tips:

1️⃣ Drag & Drop: Reorder bookmarks by simply dragging them to create smooth, logical tours.

2️⃣ Add Visuals: Customize each bookmark with images and descriptions to highlight critical insights.

Today, I worked on my presentation but felt stuck, shifting focus to data-sharing between mobile and desktop in the afternoon.

A gym session at noon helped clear my mind. In the evening, I shopped with Hamer and enjoyed a simple dinner.

Family updates included my uncle’s scooter accident, requiring surgery and rest, and my cousin’s wedding plans being canceled, which left everyone disappointed.

Hamer has been thoroughly enjoying playing the role of our barista these past mornings, taking our coffee orders with enthusiasm.

Frozen, 2013

As kids, Elas and Anna sneak into the Great Hall to play in the winter wonderland that Elas creates. Frozen filmmakers help a “Sister Summit” in which women from across the stuido were invited to share stories of their own sisterly bonds. Their stories helped inspired Elsa and Anna’s.

2025-01-09 TIL: city-roads, Earth Peel, llama-ocr & Rendezvous Meaning

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city-roads

city-roads allows you to render every road in any city at once using WebGL.

• Roads are fetched from OpenStreetMap via the Overpass API.
• To enhance download performance, ~3,000 cities with populations over 100,000 were indexed into a protobuf format.
• Name resolution is handled by Nominatim.
• You can customize the display and export visuals for further use.

Earth Peel

The Earth Peel explores how projections flatten Earth’s spherical surface into a 2D map.

• It highlights the trade-offs and distortions in flattening a round object.
• Check out The Impossible Map for a creative demonstration of projections using fruit.

llama-ocr

llama-ocr converts documents to Markdown using Llama 3.2 Vision.

• It leverages the free Llama 3.2 endpoint from Together AI to parse images into Markdown.
• Inspired by Zerox, a PDF-to-Markdown tool, this library focuses on image-based OCR for structured outputs.

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rendezvous

Rendezvous (noun) /ˈrɑːn.deɪ.vuː/

• An arranged meeting, often secret, at a specific place and time.
• A place where a particular group regularly gathers by arrangement or habit.