ARLAS v24: NEW LOOK WITH AN ERGONOMIC USER EXPERIENCE
ARLAS is constantly evolving to give users of diverse technical skills a smooth experience.
One of the benefits of building on open-source technology is the pooled feature development that benefits everyone. Feedback on user experience is highly appreciated as our team ensures that we live by our mission; to make geospatial intelligence accessible to all who need to draw insights from it.
ARLAS version 24 not only brings new functionality but also continues our journey of simplifying data exploration.
Analytics tabs on the left-side
Longtime ARLAS users may be used to navigating multiple tabs to access their analytics. This works well for people with advanced technical skills but may slow down others with basic technical abilities.
Now, in version 24, the analytics tabs are represented by their icon directly on the left side bar. This not only simplifies the navigation but also presents information clearly as the user goes analytics-by-analytics.
Masking the timeline
In spatial-temporal analysis, the aspect of time cannot be underplayed. Knowing when something occurred is just as important as where it occurred. One of the most appreciated ARLAS features is the timeline. On ARLAS, the timeline is not only a display of the temporal evolution of data. It is also a dynamic filtration tool whose results are also displayed on the map and analytics dashboards.
But, sometimes a user wants to focus on other aspects of the data. The new ARLAS version lets you choose when to display the timeline and when to mask it. Visually, it helps the data explorer focus on their point of interest at the time: spatial analysis.
New shortcuts for quick filtering
As promised, this version does not only offer improved user experience on old features but also proposes new functionality. Like the ability to preselect data dimensions on a dataset that you would like to save for quick filtration.
Taking the example of our demo on vessels courses drawn from AIS data, the user can for example add ‘ship type’ to the new filtering bar on ARLAS Builder, our back office for setting the analytics views.
Once set, these filters are then accessible on ARLAS-Explo, where the user interacts with the data. One can then quickly select a part of the data without navigating into the analytics widgets.
Bbox selection by coordinates
Geo filters allow users to select the area of interest on the map. When applied, the analytics results reflect on the data within the bbox selection. But sometimes, we want to enter the exact coordinates of this area. Often, to be more precise on a specific place that we want to examine.
Going back to our vessels courses demo mentioned above, imagine a user wants to only keep vessel courses crossing a specific area in the sea. In addition to drawing a bbox, it is now possible to select a bbox directly with its coordinates.
Area measurement included while drawing
The geo filters allow to select the area that matters, but it can be difficult to realise the size of the drawn area.
A question that is likely to come to a user when drawing over an area is, ‘how big is the area that I have selected? With ARLAS version 24, while drawing over a given point of interest, we immediately see the corresponding height, width and area of the geometry as demonstrated below.
Choosing to centre the selection on latitude/longitude
What is geospatial analysis if we can’t zoom right into a specific area of focus? We can navigate within the ARLAS map but sometimes we want to go straight to a known place.
Now, with version 24, if you have the coordinates of the area of interest, all you have to do is enter them and you’ll be able to centre the application right over that area.
Coming Soon, ARLAS version 25
ARLAS version 25 will be launched in a couple of weeks. It comes with a brand new user management interface that gives platform managers full control over questions like who accesses data and, what data they can access.
Whether it's providing extra context about a point of interest or comparing data from different collections, ARLAS's main goal is to eliminate all technical barriers and promote easy access to insights from geospatial big data.
Get Started
ARLAS version 24 is more than just a tool - it's a gateway to exploring, analysing, and visualising geolocated images and data. Designed with GIS experts, data scientists, and decision-makers in mind, it's all about making more informed decisions, faster.
ARLAS version 24 documentation is already available here on our website and has also been captured on Github. You can also access our live demos, where you will see the results of all the possibilities in place. Once you are ready to start, consult our tutorials and let us know how you are using ARLAS. Alternatively, we offer support services to get you started easily and quickly. Contact us here.
Our team is also available to discuss how the ARLAS framework can quickly help you build geoanalytics solutions for your data. Contact us.
