For those new to this series, "This Week's Picks" is a (loosely) biweekly blog where I share some of my favorite ArcGIS Online content with you.

If you are interested in earlier posts, they’re archived here: This Week's Picks - ArcGIS Online: Archive 

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I'll admit, I'm on my phone more than I would like to be - but I'm not just scrolling Instagram and taking selfies. I regularly read story maps (which I should mention are mobile-ready by default), and I checked public safety apps habitually during last year's California fire season. Straightforward observation of the world around us indicates that I'm not the only one making good use of their unlimited data contract. And like me, most people are probably doing a lot more than scrolling Instagram. 

What if they were looking at an ArcGIS web app that you had built? What if you had configured it with mobile in mind and the UX/UI and functionality were excellent on a smaller screen?

The picks for this week may help change both of the above questions from rhetoric to reality.  

***Note: this post covers web apps accessed in mobile browsers through a URL, not native apps. To build native apps for iOS and Android you will need AppStudio for ArcGIS***

ArcGIS Experience Builder: Build Apps for Multiple Screen Sizes

ArcGIS Experience Builder takes advantage of modern web technologies to amplify Web AppBuilder's out of the box mobile capabilities. Crucial functionality is the ability to configure the same app differently for mobile and desktop. The Esri YouTube user "GeoDev" goes through some crucial steps in this video, from customizing widget layouts to different elements on the page so that your app looks great and performs on multiple screen sizes. Creating links between different pages is shown as well. Though the video is for Beta 1 it is still very informative. 

Additional References:

• ArcGIS Experience Builder | Build, Deploy, and Manage GIS Web Apps 
• Frequently Asked Questions 
• ArcGIS Experience Builder Beta 

Configurable App Templates: Configure Apps with Mobile in Mind

Beth Romero recently posted this really helpful blog on how to create great apps for mobile with Esri's configurable app templates. Pop-ups, symbology and testing methods, among other ideas, are covered. 

Additional References:

• Choose an ArcGIS Configurable Apps template—ArcGIS Online Help | Documentation 
• Create apps from maps—ArcGIS Online Help | Documentation 

Operations Dashboard: Configure Dashboards for Mobile

Derek Law published this in-depth blog  on optimizing dashboards for mobile use. From general best practices to maps, legends and interactivity, this is a must-read before jumping into mobile dashboard configuration. 

Additional References:

• Dashboards on your smartphone—Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS | Documentation 
• Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS | Real-Time Data Visualization & Analytics 

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I hope the above resources provided some helpful tips on configuring ArcGIS web apps with mobile in mind! Let me know in the comments below  if there are any outstanding questions. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for This Week's Picks - ArcGIS Enterprise and This Week's Picks - ArcGIS Pro!

If you're interested, I'd love to connect on LinkedIn You can follow me on Twitter too. I regularly post / tweet GIS(ish) content to these platforms.

See you again in a couple weeks,

-Peter

For those new to this series, "This Week's Picks" is a (loosely) biweekly blog where I share some of my favorite ArcGIS Online content with you.

If you are interested in earlier posts, they’re archived here: This Week's Picks - ArcGIS Online: Archive 

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There is a chance that if you’re reading this, you might have contacted Esri Technical Support before and spoken or emailed with one of my colleagues. It goes without saying that Esri Support Analysts are wizards at solving technical problems involving GIS, but what some folks don’t know is that they are also the engine behind the Support site’s Knowledge Base (KB). 

That’s why this week I want to highlight three new(ish) Technical Support-written Knowledge Base articles that get into some lesser-known ArcGIS API for Python and Arcade functionality.

Clone Hosted Feature Services between ArcGIS Online Organizations

“The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry…” and suddenly, it’s a requirement to transfer Hosted Feature Layers, Web Maps, Apps and maybe even surveys and dashboards to a different ArcGIS Online organization. This would be a daunting task, but the ArcGIS API for Python’s Clone Items method makes it easier. This KB article (written by yours truly, I know - shameless plug) provides a Jupyter Notebook and standalone Python script code sample to get you started. 

Additional References:

• API Reference: Content Manager (ctrl + f clone_items)
• Get Started with the ArcGIS API for Python
• Clone Dashboards (KB Article)

Automate ArcGIS Online Hosted Feature Service Downloads

Unintentionally overwriting a layer or accidentally deleting a Hosted Feature Service are mistakes that many of us have made in ArcGIS Online. With the ArcGIS API for Python, it is possible to automate local backups of your Hosted Feature Services for when these situations unexpectedly come up. See the code sample in Munachiso Ogbuchiekwe's KB article.

Additional References:

• API Reference: Content Manager (ctrl + f download, export)

Step-by-Step: Calculate a Field in ArcGIS Online with Arcade

In This Week's Picks - ArcGIS Online #3, I highlighted Arcade resources focused on pop-ups, symbology and labeling. To round things out, Hanushrie Gopalkrishnan's support KB article demonstrates how to use a simple expression to calculate a field based on the values of two existing fields. 

Additional References:

• Arcade Reference: Logical Functions
• ArcGIS Online Documentation on Field Calculations

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I hope the above KB articles provided some helpful tips on the ArcGIS API for Python and Arcade! Let me know in the comments below if there are any outstanding questions. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for This Week's Picks – ArcGIS Enterprise and This Week's Picks – ArcGIS Pro. 

If you're interested, I'd love to connect on LinkedIn. You can follow me on Twitter, too. I regularly post / tweet GIS(ish) content to these platforms.

Happy holidays and see you in 2020!

-Peter

Next ArcGIS Online Update Planned: December 10

On the evening of December 10 (Pacific time), we plan to update ArcGIS Online. You can look forward to improved sharing interfaces, an updated settings tab, a new capability to set organizational notices, and support for location tracking using Tracker for ArcGIS.

Improved Sharing Interfaces

The interface for both sharing and shared content will be updated.  The new interfaces clearly delineate how and whether items are shared widely to the organization or to everyone, as well as specifically to groups.

When sharing content, you first select a sharing level (Owner, Organization, or Everyone) that denotes how and whether an item is shared widely.

Then, if you’d like to share the item with groups, you can search for and select groups with the specific sets of members you want to share with. Specially designated groups such as Open Data groups, Shared Update groups and groups featured in the Gallery or Organization Home Page, will have badges that help you see the impact of sharing to these groups.

When looking at your items in the My Content tab, you will be able to see at a glance the sharing level of the item (Owner, Organization, Everyone) as well as the groups the item is shared with.

Updated Settings Tab

Administrators can more easily navigate the organization settings tab by searching for a setting or using the side navigation links. In addition, setting changes will automatically save.

New Organizational Notices

Need to notify everyone in your organization about something important? Two new announcement options will be available to administrators:

1. Information banner: Authenticated members will see a message at the top and bottom of their ArcGIS Online organization’s site. Typical use cases could include confidentiality notices and best practice reminders.
2. Access notice: A pop-up window needs to be accepted before logging into your ArcGIS Online organization.

Support for Location Tracking

A new organization-wide capability for ArcGIS Online will allow you to record where users are and where they have been. When you enable location tracking, licensed users in your organization can use the Tracker for ArcGIS mobile app to upload their locations. Learn more about Tracker for ArcGIS

Please note that all planned updates are subject to change. We will provide a comprehensive list of the new capabilities in our upcoming What's New email and blog article.

Want Early Access?

Explore the new capabilities by joining the ArcGIS Online Early Adopter Community. Sign up →

Welcome to the third round of Product Advocacy’s completely unofficial, recurring GeoNet post!

In case you missed my first and second posts over the past month, "This Week's Picks" is a (loosely) biweekly blog where I share some of my favorite ArcGIS Online content with you.

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One of my favorite parts of my role is all the time I get to spend on GeoNet – you might have seen me answer a question or troubleshoot an issue in the ArcGIS Online space recently. Within this space I have noticed an uptick in the number of posts related to ArcGIS Arcade, the lightweight expression language that among other functionality unlocks pop-up, symbology and label customization across the platform.

So for the 11/12 edition of “This Week’s Pick’s – ArcGIS Online” I want to highlight some of my favorite Arcade resources that can assist with getting started on writing expressions or take existing code to the next level.

Understand Arcade:

I remember we had a unit on Arcade in my Master’s in GIS Program, and to be honest I was somewhat lost about what it was or where to start. In this video, Esri Canada’s Mark Ho provides a lucid overview of Arcade and how it can be used in ArcGIS Online – I certainly could have used this two years ago.

Additional References:

• Getting Started with Arcade
• Introduction to Arcade - Slides from FedGIS 2018

Smart Map with Arcade:

Take a deeper dive into the concepts that Mark presents though this Story Map on Smart Mapping with Arcade. Illustrated, step-by-step examples show how to create custom symbology, labels and pop-ups with Arcade. For further inspiration, there are also links at the bottom of the Story Map to live examples of Web Maps and Apps that have implemented Arcade.

Additional References:

• Function Reference

Take a Deeper Dive with FeatureSets:

FeatureSets are one of the most popular Arcade functions because they unlock data across a Web Map (and after Arcade 1.8, across ArcGIS Online) for use in pop-ups and field calculation. Lisa Berry’s excellent two-part blog series takes a close look at how to ‘pump up your pop-ups’ using FeatureSets and Living Atlas layers.

• Part One
• Part Two 

Additional References:

• What’s new in Arcade 1.8 (October 2019)
• ArcGIS Blog Entries on Arcade

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I hope that the above picks provide some insight into the various ways in which Arcade can make pop-ups, symbology and labels come alive. Let me know in the comments below if there are any outstanding questions. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for This Week's Picks - ArcGIS Enterprise & This Week's Picks - ArcGIS Pro!

If you're interested, I'd love to connect on LinkedIn. You can follow me on Twitter, too. I regularly post / tweet GIS(ish) content to these platforms.

-Peter

It was recently announced that Operations Views created using the Operations Dashboard ArcGIS app for Windows will no longer be supported after December 2019. These views must be manually rebuilt as a newer, more powerful Operations Dashboard item before that deadline. Using the ArcGIS API for Python, you can quickly scan your entire organization for outdated Operations Views, and create a migration plan.

If you are an ArcGIS Online user with operation view items in your organization, we have an important announcement:

 

The Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS app for Windows that was used to create operation views was retired on January 1, and with the March 2019 release of ArcGIS Online, these items were marked as retired in your organization’s content. For more information, see this blog. Up to this point, users have still been able to view these retired items. However, with the upcoming December 2019 release of ArcGIS Online, operation view items will no longer be viewable. Therefore, we highly encourage users who are still using operation view items to rebuild them as dashboard items as soon as possible using the Operations Dashboard web app. To get started with the app, visit our help documentation.

The python script used to locate these items is fairly simple. It can be run in Jupyter Notebook, which is automatically installed with ArcGIS Pro or as an addition to ArcGIS Enterprise. More information can be found on the Esri developer page. For best results, run the script using your administrator AGOL or Portal credentials—this will locate all items in the entire organization, rather than just your personal content.

#Import the library

from arcgis.gis import GIS
from arcgis.gis import ContentManager
#Connect to the organization with the AGOL username and password
source = GIS("https://<yourOrg>.maps.arcgis.com", ",adminUsername", ",adminPassword")
#get the items items

#by default, this scan caps out at 10 records

#max_items has been set to the cap of 9999 results
items = source.content.search(query="", item_type="Operations View",max_items=9999)

#return the list of items
items

If you encounter any issues, reach out on GeoNet!

I'm excited to introduce this completely unofficial recurring GeoNet blog post!

In my role as ArcGIS Online Product Advocacy Lead, I am continuously coming across informative, interesting, and inspiring content. Through "This Week's Picks" I hope to quickly share some of my favorites with you.

For this week, I want to touch on three topics I’ve seen a lot excitement about both here at Esri and within our user community.

New Map Viewer:

There are countless reasons to be excited about the New Map Viewer in ArcGIS Online. The beta is coming sometime this fall. Built on the ArcGIS API for JavaScript 4.x, the New Map Viewer is flexible, fast, and intuitive. Highlights and how you will access the beta can be found here.

Calculate a Weighted Average with Arcade:

For a non-programmer like myself, it’s always a little mind-bending (in a good way) to see different uses of Arcade and try to implement them in my own projects. My colleague Christopher Zielinski wrote this post showing how to use a weighted average within multivariate symbology - it's an elegant way to quickly visualize trends in your Web Map.

Additional References:

• Arcade Reference
• Arcade Playground

Introduction to Distributed Collaboration (Video Demo):

If you've thought about setting up Distributed Collaboration between ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise, Esri Canada's two videos provide a succinct overview of how collaboration works, as well as a deeper dive into how items move across collaboration groups.

• Distributed Collaboration Part 1
• Distributed Collaboration Part 2

Additional References:

• ArcGIS Online - Collaboration
• How Collaboration Works
• Create a Collaboration

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for This Week's Picks - ArcGIS Enterprise & This Week's Picks - ArcGIS Pro! 

If you're interested, I'd love to connect on LinkedIn. You can follow me on Twitter, too. I regularly post / tweet GIS(ish) content to these platforms. 

-Peter

Next ArcGIS Online update planned: October 1

On the evening of October 1 PDT, we plan to update ArcGIS Online. The update will give you more ways to share interactive maps, new Arcade functions to transform data, and a convenient way to update hosted vector tile layers.

ArcGIS Configurable Apps

Nearby, a new configurable app, will enable users to enter an address and search radius to find nearby locations. After a location is selected, the app can provide directions to it. By grouping the results by layer, app authors will be able to configure the app to answer questions. For example, a user could search for nearby schools and see them grouped by the school type including middle schools, elementary schools, universities.

Attachment Viewer will have a new map-centric layout option in addition to the existing photo-centric layout. The new map-centric layout will provide users with a gallery of attachments based on the features within their map extent. Additional authoring features will include the ability to display more than one layer, support PDFs as an attachment type, and hide features that don’t have attachments.

Media Map will include an interactive time slider that animates data as it appears over time. Using this configuration, you will be able to showcase data that is time enabled.

More Arcade functions

Arcade, the scripting language that transforms your data on the fly and can be used to build pop-ups and customize symbology, will have four new functions:

• GroupBy—Group features within a feature set by a field and return statistics for each group.
• DistanceGeodetic—Calculate the shortest distance between two points along a great circle.
• FeatureSetByRelationshipName—Easily access features from layers that have relationships.
• FeatureSetByPortalItem—Build data-rich pop-ups with data from any layer without adding the layer to your map.

New way to update hosted vector tile layers

Users managing hosted vector tile layers will be able to update layers in place using the new Replace Layer option. Replace Layer will update the tiles in the target hosted vector tile layer by replacing the entire tile cache with the layer selected as a replacement. This will allow existing applications and styles that reference the hosted vector tile layer to continue to work without having to update them.

Upcoming Map Viewer beta

A beta version of the next generation Map Viewer will be released later this fall. ArcGIS Online users will have the opportunity to explore the next generation Map Viewer and provide feedback about the design and workflows. More information will be provided in the coming weeks.

Please note that all planned updates are subject to change. A comprehensive list of implemented changes will be provided in our What's New email, blog, and documentation.