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Online Workshops

Register for the 2025 Online Workshops!

These workshops are available to everyone, regardless of conference attendance.

See individual workshop descriptions below for fees.

Day, time (EDT) Workshop

06/13/2025

11:00am - 3:00pm 

Configuring ArcGIS Field Apps and Conservation Solutions

Instructor: Miriam Schmidts (Esri)

Date: 06/13/2025 (4h; 11:00am - 3:00pm Eastern)

Experience level of participants: No requirements. Participants will need an ArcGIS Online account (user type Creator or higher), and ArcGIS FieldMaps, Survey123 and QuickCapture installed on a mobile device

Description: Join us to learn about ArcGIS field data collection and other fun apps like ArcGIS Dashboard and ArcGIS Hub to connect to your stakeholders. You will understand how to make and work with ArcGIS FieldMaps, ArcGIS Survey123, and ArcGIS Quick Capture projects – Once we understand how each individual app works, we are ready to explore the ArcGIS Conservation Solutions. We will learn how to deploy and configure a Conservation Solution with a few button clicks!

Fees$40 for members, $25 for student members, and $50 for non-members

07/18/2025

12:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Spatial Data Fundamentals in R: From Import to Insight

Instructor: Andy Lyons (University of California - Agriculture and Natural Resources)

Date: 07/18/2025 (2.5h; 12:00pm - 3:00pm Eastern)

Experience level of participants: The workshop requires basic functionality with R and RStudio. If you have never used R before, this may not be the workshop for you. If you have used R but are very rusty, you'll probably be ok because most of the examples will be "ready to run". Familiarity with basic GIS concepts like projections, vector and raster data, attribute tables, etc., is also assumed. The instructor will provide links to two short introductory videos to watch that review some of the basic terms and concepts in R and GIS.

Software Requirements: All participants are expected to have or create a free Posit Cloud account so you can run RStudio in a browser. The instructor will provide a link to a Posit Cloud project with all the packages, data, and exercises ready-to-go. Experienced R users who already use RStudio Desktop will be provided a setup script so they can run the exercises locally, but setup support will be limited to prior to the workshop (the instructor will have Office Hours the day before the workshop for anyone who needs help). Having two screens is highly recommended for everyone so you can work in RStudio on one screen and view the slides / demo on the other

Description: This workshop will cover the fundamentals of working with spatial data in R. Topics will include how R can complement desktop GIS, R packages for working with spatial data, importing vector spatial data from local and online sources, common spatial data manipulations including managing projections, working with attributes for querying and visualization, geoprocessing operations, spatial queries and joins, and automation. Basic visualization (i.e. mapping) will be presented but not in depth. R packages used will include sf, dplyr, arcgislayers, and tmap. Methods for working with raster data will be shown but not in depth. Best practices for using GenAI coding tools will also be discussed.

The workshop format will combine short presentations with hands-on exercises using Quarto notebooks. By the end of the workshop, participants will have a collection of their own notebooks with working code recipes, and be better equipped to develop workflows and tackle new challenges.

Fees$40 for members, $25 for student members, and $50 for non-members

07/25/2025

3:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Custom U.S. Geological Survey Topographic Maps On Demand – What’s New with the topoBuilder Application

Instructor: Marcelle Caturia & Alex Kaufman (USGS)

Date: 8/31/24 (2h; 3:00pm - 5:00pm Eastern)

Experience level of participants: Beginner. Ahead of the workshop, no downloads or account setup will be required. During the workshop, users will need to have a web browser on their desktop or mobile device. We would also like users to be able to download a PDF handout during the workshop. 

Description: Many remember U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) paper topographic maps with nostalgia. In 2022, USGS launched the topoBuilder application, enabling users to create customized topographic maps online using best available data from The National Map (TNM). These digital topographic maps, called OnDemand Topos, can be centered anywhere in the United States or territories. Since its introduction, the topoBuilder application has been enhanced with options including additional map scales (7.5-Minute and 1:100,000), customized layer display, and expanded export formats. This presentation will demonstrate the topoBuilder application and OnDemand Topos, while highlighting what is new and of particular interest to the Conservation GIS user community.

Fees$30 for members, $15 for student members, and $40 for non-members