topic Opacity widget in Basic (Media Map) Instant App in ArcGIS Instant Apps Questions

Opacity widget in Basic (Media Map) Instant App

OlyBrian2 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 22:49:27 GMT

I am in the process of replacing the retired apps I used to display Sanborn maps on a local historical society webpage. I found that I can use the Basic (Media Map) for the simple widgets I want to include, except I would like the user to control the opacity/transparency of a layer in the app. I believe that was an option in the retired app and it was handy. Users could look at the georeferenced mosaics of the historic map tiles over the current day aerial map and interact with the map more. Is there an Instant App that does this? I searched for capabilities and could not find opacity or transparency Instant App capabilities. Here is a link to the replacement app I developed today (https://hovisross.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/basic/index.html?appid=7b2d7fa84f1f4fae896bc390779249c3 ) Here is the web map: Web Map for 1884 Sanborn Map . Please note that the 1884 maps are pretty simple, but the later maps are more complicated and rely on more tiles, for instance 49655105427a4a46ae7e93103ac5ba66

Re: Opacity widget in Basic (Media Map) Instant App

KellyHutchins — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 16:07:56 GMT

Basic doesn't have an option to apply layer transparency - but that could be a good enhancement for a future release. But it does have the option to add the swipe tool that can be used to view the underlying basemap. Here is an example:

https://jsapi.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/basic/index.html?appid=0724e272354a4815b5b2f5a4af0a1f04

Another option could be the Atlas app it does allow you to apply transparency to layers. Here's an example of that you use the Map layers option to set the layer transparency

https://jsapi.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/atlas/index.html?appid=439f2d03a86e47fe9c5eeb18f6e5d0b8&webmap=4eb84af574c348dba3d8378c205dcb1b

Re: Opacity widget in Basic (Media Map) Instant App

KellyHutchins — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 17:11:04 GMT

This is an easy update so we will add support for this to the basic app for the next release of Online.

Re: Opacity widget in Basic (Media Map) Instant App

OlyBrian2 — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 21:27:03 GMT

Thank you very much Kelly, now that I think about it, the swipe option might actually work better. I also appreciate you pointing out that the Atlas app would work. Not sure why opacity did not come up when I was searched for capabilities in the Instant Apps. Much appreciated.

Re: Opacity widget in Basic (Media Map) Instant App

OlyBrian2 — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 21:27:59 GMT

Thank you, it would be helpful.

Re: Opacity widget in Basic (Media Map) Instant App

OlyBrian2 — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 14:59:48 GMT

Hi Kelly, I discovered another reason it would be good to be able to change opacity. The way I have the app set up, the overview page is the leading edge of the swipe tool. Swiping uncovers the tiled sheets that I created by using the Mosaic tool. The tiled sheets however just block the view of what is currently at the site and the only option seems to be to turn the sheets on and off to see what is underneath. The old app with the opacity control allowed users to fine tune their view. Any idea when the next upgrade will occur so that we can include opacity control? Thanks for your interest.

Re: Opacity widget in Basic (Media Map) Instant App

OlyBrian2 — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:02:11 GMT

Re: Opacity widget in Basic (Media Map) Instant App

KellyHutchins — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:27:40 GMT

The next update is still a few months away in early summer. Not sure if this would work in your use case but you can also include a layer picker when you configure the swipe app and that allows you to define additional leading and trailing layers to hide/show when the swipe bar moves.

Re: Opacity widget in Basic (Media Map) Instant App

OlyBrian2 — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:54:40 GMT

Thank you, I figured out a work around where the overview map is not the trailing edge and is hidden at first. Users can then swipe the detailed maps to see what is under them. It will be fine for now and may develop a splash screen to describe the changes. The magnifier glass and some of the other tools in the new Quick App are improvements too. Thanks again for the information on updates and for your willingness to help.