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Description
In this episode of "OpenJS In Action, we talk to Kristian Ekenes with Esri, a geographic information systems company. Esri is using predictive models and interactive maps with JavaScript technologies to help the world better understand and respond to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, they have built tools that visualize how social distancing precautions can help reduce cases and the burden on healthcare systems. They have also helped institutions like Johns Hopkins create their own informational maps by providing a template app and resources to extend functionality.
A
Hey
I'm
robin
ginn,
I'm
the
executive
director
of
the
openjs
foundation,
I'm
coming
to
you
from
my
home
in
spokane
washington,
and
today,
I'm
really
happy
to
have
christian
econous
from
esri
here
to
talk
about
how
esri
is
using
open.js
foundation
projects
in
their
solutions
now
just
quickly.
I
have
been
sort
of
a
fan
of
esri
for
some
time
and
have
been
really
inspired
by
what
they've
done
in
times
of
like
global
emergencies,
for
example,
hurricanes,
and
things
like
that.
A
So
it
was
really
cool
to
see
what
they're
now
doing
in
the
time
of
another
global
emergency,
which
is
our
pandemic
of
kovid19,
so
christian's
here
to
talk
more
about
how
what
they've
built
has
sort
of
become
a
global
data
reference
tool
that
many
of
us
rely
upon
every
day.
So
christian,
why
don't
you
tell
us
about
yourself.
B
Thank
you
robin
I'm
christian,
I'm
a
product
engineer
at
esri.
I
work
specifically
on
the
arctis
api
for
javascript,
because
esri
builds
a
number
of
solutions,
but
I
work
on
the
website
being
a
product
engineer.
I'm
not
involved
in
the
in
the
development
of
the
software
100
of
the
time,
though
I
do
do
that
a
little
bit,
but
I
work
on
the
qa
side
documentation
I
blog
present
and
work
on
all
aspects
of
the
product.
B
Well,
esri:
we
are
a
software
company
that
builds
geographic
information,
software
and
that's
that's
just
a
fancy
way
of
saying
that
we
build
mapping
software
and
it's
not
just
the
maps,
but
it's
also
the
data
behind
the
maps.
We
work
on
the
software
and
the
databases
that
create
store
and
manipulate
the
data,
and
we
also
build
a
variety
of
spatial
tools
that
users
can
use
to
analyze
their
spatial
data.
A
B
A
B
Well,
first
off
most
of
what
has
been
launched
hasn't
actually
been
esri.
It's
been
other
organizations,
so
johns
hopkins
dashboard
launched
very
early.
It
was
them
that
built
it
though
we
provided
the
the
app
and
the
building
blocks
that
allowed
them
to
build
and
deploy
that
so,
but
yeah
we
were
involved
very
early
in
in
helping
support
them
in
that
effort
and
that
kind
of
just
steamrolled
and
and
or
I
guess,
snowballed
rather
into
all
these
other
projects.
A
B
Well,
building
a
map
for
a
covet,
19,
well,
kova,
19
in
general,
it's
been
one
of
those
things
that
has
alerted
everyone
into
understanding
that
geography
does
matter.
In
a
lot
of
cases.
We
often
look
at
numbers
like
total
cases,
and
you
know
rates
and
death
rates,
but
those
things
vary
quite
a
bit
geographically.
It's
it's
been
interesting
to
see
that.
B
A
Yeah,
it's
pretty
fascinating.
I've
always
heard
zip
code
is
a
great
predictor
of
healthcare,
sometimes
so
pretty
interesting.
So
let's
talk
about
the
engineering
behind
it.
So
what
factors
did
you
look
at
when
you
decided
to
select
the
tools
that
you
all
did,
and
maybe
you
can
dive
a
little
bit
deeper
into
some
of
those
technologies
that
you
did
end
up,
selecting
to
build
that
tool.
B
So
this
ultimately
started
with
our
desktop
software
arcgis
pro
they
built
a
couple
of
spatial
analysis
tools
that
were
based
off
of
a
couple
of
models.
One
is
the
chime
model
which
was
developed
by
penn
medicine
and
another
one
is
the
cova
19
surge
model,
so
they
created
these
models
to
help
customers
make
these
predictions
as
to
how
the
number
of
hospital
beds
or
icu
beds
would
be
needed.
B
Given
you
know,
the
state
of
the
pandemic
in
a
particular
county
or
area
and
where
I
stepped
in,
was
more
about.
How
do
we
display
that
those
results
on
the
web
in
a
meaningful
way
that
allows
users
to
explore
them?
Potentially,
these
experts
can
use
it
as
a
way
to
hand
over
to
the
public,
so
they
can
see
for
themselves.
What
can
happen
if
we
don't
follow
certain
regulations
or
or
processes
to
avoid
the
virus.
B
That's
that
stipulates
what
percentage
of
the
population
what
will
happen
with
a
certain
percentage
of
the
population
follows
a
social
distancing
mandate
or
order
or
suggestion,
and
then
it
will
produce
a
curve
over
a
certain
number
of
days
of
what
that
might
look
like
the
kobe
19
search
model
is
a
little
different
it.
It
takes
a
look
at
closings
and
reopenings
and
phases.
So
if
we
close
down
the
businesses
in
the
schools
and
workplaces,
what
happens
if
we
reopen
in
phases
versus
all
at
once?
A
B
So
that
that
was
this
was
like,
where
the
process
got
really
difficult.
We
have
a
spatial
statistics
team
at
esri
that
actually
worked
into
building
the
models.
They
took
the
math
and
converted
that
and
wrote
the
code
so
to
speak
and
deployed
them
as
as
tools
into
the
desktop
software.
So
these
experts
could
run
the
outputs
on
the
website
it
was.
We
were
involved
in
helping
design
what
the
output
service
might
look
like.
How
do
we
structure
the
data?
B
A
A
B
So
we
use
a
number
of
of
open
js
projects.
Historically,
our
our
javascript
api
was
built
using
the
dojo
toolkit,
so
that
played
a
very
significant
historical
role
in
our
product
in
order
to
make
it
consistent
across
all
browsers
and
platforms.
But
we've
since
moved
largely
away
from
the
dojo
toolkit.
We
use
it
in
configurable
solutions
for
internationalization.
B
A
B
Well,
ultimately,
I
guess
the
number
one
thing
would
be
productivity
things
like
linting
and
grunt.
You
know
those
tools
really
boost
a
developer's
productivity
and
something
like
intern
and
testing
modules.
Obviously
it
comes
down
to
the
quality
of
the
product
too.
You
want
to
make
sure
it's
properly
tested,
and
so
that
translates
into
a
better
overall
product
for
the
customer.
A
B
Well,
so
we
are
a
little
unique
in
the
sense
that
we
don't
only
deploy
apis
and
sdks,
but
we
also
provide
a
number
of
different
apps
across
what
we
call
platforms.
So
it's
an
arcgis
platform
where
they
can
create
a
web
map
on
the
desktop
application
and
share
it
so
that
it's
viewable
on
the
web
or
in
a
mobile
device.
A
B
Yeah
yeah,
it
does
come
down
to
ease
of
use.
One
of
the
things
that
we
try
to
champion
is
configuration
over
development.
So
if
our
users,
which
a
lot
of
our
a
good
chunk
of
them,
come
from
geography
backgrounds,
not
so
much
programming
or
developers,
and
so
if
we
can
give
them
solutions
that
they
can
configure,
that's
the
number
one
way
to
go
and
then,
of
course,
we
give
them
the
apis
that
they
can
extend
and
build
off
of
that
when
they
need
to.
B
Oh
yes,
absolutely
we
I
mean
we're
on
a
large
team.
I
I
actually
don't
know
the
exact
number
of
who
works
on
the
arcgis
api
for
javascript,
but
it
hovers
around
40
because
some
of
us
are
full-time.
Others
are
part-time,
they
work
in
other
projects,
but
one
of
the
challenges,
or
probably
the
largest
challenge,
is
just
maintaining
consistency
across
the
api.
Once
you
have
too
many
cooks
in
the
kitchen,
I
don't
want
to
say
too
many.
B
When
you
have
a
lot
of
cooks
in
the
kitchen,
you
can
introduce
a
few
inconsistencies
and
and
that's
a
challenge,
but
also
this
broader
platform
and
ecosystem
of
products.
We
need
to
make
sure
that
we're
consistent
and
conforming
to
a
common
specification.
So
our
sdks
that
run
on
mobile
and
those
that
run
on
the
desktop
are
all
consistent
in
how
they
implement
the
web
maps
that
we
develop.
A
B
Yes,
I
mean
I
say
that
hesitantly
because
I'm
not
like
the
authority
on
that
topic,
but
yeah,
it's
it's
definitely
global
in
the
customers.
We
support,
I
know
just
from
capacity
analysis
and
what
I've
tracked.
I
don't
know
how
many
organizations
have
deployed
that
a
version
of
that
app
and
their
own
organization,
but
I've
seen
deployments
of
that
app
in
brazil,
indonesia
and
other
parts
of
the
world
also
counties
in
the
united
states.
So
great.
A
B
Right,
yeah,
the
capacity
analysis
app.
Is
it's
really
intended
to
be
this
solution
that
helps
people
understand
what
would
happen
given
two
different
scenarios.
One
is
probably
a
more
aggressive
approach
to
to
social
distancing
or
to
shutting
down
versus
what
would
happen
if
we
didn't
do
that
and
the
way
we
the
way
you
might
view
the
app.
B
Our
hospitals
might
be
over
capacity
across
the
board.
But
going
back
to
your
previous
question
about
why
the
maps
or
the
geography
matters
is,
it
might
just
be
one
spot,
that's
causing
that
and
other
areas
are
fine,
so
so
they
can,
they
can
explore
it
that
way,
and
then
they
can
also
choose
a
variable,
such
as
icu
beds
versus
hospital
beds
versus
ventilators.
A
Wow
amazing-
and
I
know
that
governments
are
looking
at
that
data
for
reopening
and
all
kinds
of
really
nuanced
guidelines.
So
that's
super
important,
so
yeah
I
mean
what
you
work
on
again
is
just
so
inspiring
and
you
know
you
may
not
show
up
for
work
every
day
and
go
wow,
but
you
know
when
we
see
it
sort
of
from
the
outside.
So
for
us
I
always
like
to
ask
sort
of
when
you
show
up
for
work
and
have
a
great
day.
What
does
that?
Look
like
what's
a
good
day
for
you
today,.
B
So
I
like
prototyping
and
just
trying
new
ideas,
most
of
those
don't
pan
out
and
work,
but
it's
good
to
at
least
try
and
make
sure
that
that
you
know
it
doesn't
work,
and
we
don't
just
wonder
what
what
if
you
know
this
would
have
worked.
So
I
like
testing
things
out.
I
also
really
like
interacting
with
the
customers
and
and
blogging,
so
it
involve
a
good
day
involves
a
variety
of
things.
Writing
coding,
prototyping.