With this semester bringing a slew of new courses ranging across different topics, I have encountered one issue: none of my current classes make use of any Esri products. The courses I have taken over the past two to three semesters have helped me hone my skills with ArcGIS Pro and provided me with opportunities to learn tools such as Survey123, Field Maps, and Experience Builder. However, with my current arrangement of courses, I am not being challenged to improve my cartographic skills with Esri tools the same way I have been in the past. Do not get me wrong, change is often good and can open us up to different perspectives to bring to future work, and I enjoy my current workload and the skills I am being taught. I’m just still left a little blue with the lack of time I get to spend on Esri tools this semester.

Last semester, I had the pleasure of exploring new tools and techniques through coursework, even working with my colleague, Juliette Adams Fong, to construct multi-modal service areas surrounding Toronto hospitals. As mentioned by Juliette in a recent post, this assignment allowed both of us to expand our skillsets in ArcGIS Pro for computations and StoryMaps for visualization — our work can be viewed through the link below. In addition to significant coursework, I had the opportunity to attend the GIS in Education and Research Conference and learn about a range of other tools. In retrospect, I wish I had spread some of my GIS workload more evenly across the year. For small visualizations in more policy-based classes, I still find myself firing up ArcGIS Pro, importing data, and doing a quick visualization to situate myself in the situations presented in class. Without the inherent need for Esri tools this semester, I am growing even more excited for the ECCE App Challenge — and I hope everyone else is too.

The GIS-Blues are real, and I look forward to working with the Esri suite of tools again soon!

Link to story map: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/6c87dc96aa7e4129b077edecf18baf43