Symbology for Hosted Feature Layers Removed

Question

I had symbology that was designed in ArcPro and uploaded to AGOL through a hosted feature service that has now been wiped out in AGOL. This symbology has been working without issue for about a year and a half now without issue for other hosted feature services.

The following is what the symbology used to look like. The original map in AGOL is retaining the symbology.

However, the visualization page for the same layer now only displays a single grey line.

When adding the hosted feature layer to a new map it is also not honoring the symbology that was originally set.

This specific hosted feature service was put on AGOL at the end of September 2023. I am not sure when AGOL wiped out the symbology as I am noticing it today, but I suspect the recent update may be the reason.

ChristopherCounsell · Answer

When publishing, hit the 'analyze' button. It will show warnings - things that will generate issues but not prevent you from publishing. If you have the original layer in pro with the symbology and do this it may explain why the symbology is being dropped.

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-online-questions/maps-uploaded-from-pro-losing-symbology-colors/td-p/1292248

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-online-questions/arcgis-web-app-not-honouring-web-map-symbology/td-p/1264307

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-online-questions/symbology-missing-for-a-layer-in-map-viewer/td-p/1318934

There are cases where symbology has been lost due to compatibility issues. Things like incompatibility don't always manifest in issues. e.g. you can publish a field with more than 30 characters in the fieldname, or certain reserved words, and only have an issue when downloading to a sqlite database (field maps).

Like you I'd generally expect these to manifest on or immediately after publishing but maybe something was there that eventually got triggered by an update.

Otherwise the only thing I can think of is that the layer got updated. But given what you described it doesn't sound like the case.

I'm not aware of any other instances where this behavior has occurred, and given it's already happened, it's going to be difficult to retroactively investigate for the community and probably even technical support unless there's a clearer answer.

CarsonG · Answer

It was published from Pro. No issues/errors occur when publishing as a web layer or web map.

The symbology has been in use for over a year in multiple hosted services without compatibility issues, ever since AGOL/Field Maps was updated to allow for more complex vector line symbology. I published a test service and no issues.

A previous service with the same symbology also on AGOL at the same time as the service in question, did not have its symbology altered. At a loss on this.

ChristopherCounsell · Answer

Interesting. Did you publish it from Pro? What happens if you go to publish
and analyse the service?

Maybe there was an incompatibility with the symbology that got downgraded.
Sometimes these things can exist until a point.