Volunteer Assisting Key Conservation

Key Conservation helps conservationists receive critical funding and increased global support through a mobile app that provides real-time updates on day-to-day campaigns. The app will have a scrolling feed that will update as needs from conservationists arise globally and provides three ways for conservation organizations to get help and three ways for supporters to give it. The first feature allows supporters to give funds. The second feature is Skilled Impact which enables supporters to give their professional skills. Lastly, the In-Person feature allows supporters to be alerted to real-time volunteer opportunities in their area through geo-based push notifications. After the contribution has been put to use the conservation organization will send a photo/video update to the supporter to show the outcome.

Jeff Scarmazzi, a GISCorps volunteer from Virginia, was selected for the mission. Jeff provided Key Conservation with roughly 30 hours of consulting support focusing on 2 efforts: integrating DynamoDB with ArcGIS Online and improving the mapping component of the mobile application. Jeff worked with Jay, the lead developer at Key Conservation, and decided that the system integration should avoid relying on a routine that would continuously pull DynamoDB for updates, and instead, it should rely on the “Change Data Capture” functionality provided by DynamoDB Streams. Using the interfaces provided by the ArcGIS REST JavaScript library, Jeff and Jay developed a Lambda function that would receive edits as they happen in DynamoDB, and then push those additions, updates, and deletes into a hosted feature layer in ArcGIS Online.

After the integration part of the project was completed, Jeff and Jay spent time exploring various improvements to the React application that handles the mapping component of the mobile application. As with most development efforts, that was an interactive process. They started with a standard 2D approach and, among other things, found a solution for the custom symbology requirements that Key Conservation requested. After they had a solid foundation for the map, they looked at a 3D approach using a SceneView. However, the performance within the mobile application for the 3D scene was not acceptable. Once they moved back to a 2D representation of the data, their effort mostly focused around updating the clustering and search configurations that are exposed via the ArcGIS API for JavaScript. At each stage, Jay would send Jeff a list of customization requests, and Jeff would research and develop a solution. They would then get onto a call to ensure the solution fit all the needs of Key Conservation.

“Both Jay and Megan at Key Conservation were amazing to work with and this volunteer experience was a great example of how GISCorps was able to meet the initial needs of the client (i.e. system integration) and then provide more dedicated help on the front-end customization that would ultimately help engage users when they are using the Key Conservation application. GISCorps provided a structure for this engagement that ensured the client and volunteer were both satisfied with the experience.” – Jeff Scarmazzi, GISCorps Volunteer

“Our experience with GISCorps volunteer Jeff Scarmazzi was amazing from start to finish. Jeff was able to help us figure out how to put an ESRI multi-layered global map on a React native platform, which has never been done before. Jeff worked diligently to address any issues that came up as we worked through the solution and was excellent at being quick to respond and collaborate with our development team.” – Megan Cromp, Director of Key Conservation