topic Re: search by extent in ArcGIS Online Questions

search by extent

Anonymous User — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 21:21:15 GMT

Search by extent does not work. I had it set to search ArcGIS Online in the webmap Add Data and limited to map extent. I was using it for a class I am teaching as an example of using ArcGIS Online and things from around the world were coming up when I was zoomed to my county in Georgia. Not much to test. Happened on various machines and browsers, latest versions. No other layers had been loaded. Anyone else seeing that? Without limiting to extent, a massive amount of irrelevant layers from around the globe overwhelm the search result list.

Re: search by extent

RobertScheitlin__GISP — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 13:41:09 GMT

Kevin,

I see the same issue. Sounds like something to report to esri tech support.

Re: search by extent

Scott_Harris — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 19:04:43 GMT

Can you please link to an example of a layer that shows up when you set the filter to "Only show content within the map area" when the map is centered on a county in the state of Georgia?

I am interested to know the the extent that is set on the item.

Re: search by extent

Anonymous User — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 19:19:01 GMT

Thank you Robert - I have noted it. I put this and the popup highlight bug on the beta forum.

Re: search by extent

Anonymous User — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 19:46:04 GMT

Greetings Scott. Zoom to Chatham County, search for something generic, like 'rivers' and you'll be inundated with results. Even if services don't have the right spatial extent listed in REST (if the spatial index gets out of whack), I'd think AGOL should have some kind of logic to determine the maximum extent of the actual feature data in a service in order to head this issue off.

Re: search by extent

Scott_Harris — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 20:03:07 GMT

Here are the steps I'm following (just making sure we're on the same page)

When I search for Chatham County, GA, USA (so the map is centered over it).

click Add > Search for Layers.

choose to search in "ArcGIS Online".

type in "rivers".

set the Filter to "Only show content within map area".

I get 1,759 layers returned.

FYI - I think the search accounts for the "Extent" property that is set on the Item Details page. See this link, under Extent: Item details—ArcGIS Online Help | ArcGIS

Re: search by extent

Anonymous User — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 20:16:54 GMT

Scott, roger that- exactly.

Re: search by extent

Scott_Harris — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 20:36:50 GMT

Ok thanks for confirming... now the question is are you finding items that have an extent that falls outside of Chatham County, GA?

So far, I'm not seeing any. Especially if I also set a filter to only show "Authoritative" content. More on that here:

Item details—ArcGIS Online Help | ArcGIS

https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-online/announcements/whats-new-public-authoritative-content/

Re: search by extent

Anonymous User — Tue, 11 Sep 2018 17:31:00 GMT

Hi Scott, I think in the near term, I'd suggest making 'Authoritative' turned on by default. In the long term, have AGOL scan the data and ensure no data that is not literally in the extent, show up in results, regardless of whether it's authoritative. I will test a little more later, but regardless of the latter point, most public or even GIS users will probably not realize they should be checking the Authoritative box. They will probably just be overwhelmed by the results, or just click the "first thing on the top of the list" because we have all been "Google" conditioned. And they'll just go with that, even if it's "Scott's Cool River layer", ya know!

Re: search by extent

Scott_Harris — Tue, 11 Sep 2018 19:31:07 GMT

Thanks, Kevin. I think this Idea could be relevant: Sort ArcGIS.com searches by extent

Re: search by extent

Anonymous User — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 19:45:10 GMT

Scott Harris‌ this is still an issue. It was awkward explaining to my class. It's a GIS, it 'knows' the max. actual spatial extent of every layer, and AGOL should spatial index itself on the backend. Why can't it filter out any data that isn't in the current extent regardless of whether it is authoritative? I get all kinds of layers that are not in my county when I search for basically anything. It makes the Search almost useless particularly for casual users, they find it very confusing. The extent filter button should probably not be hidden in Filter I would add - I'd put it in its own blazingly noticeable button right in the main search pane. Maybe even On by default?

I am really glad to see the word 'extent' says 'content within map area'. I always re-write those strings in WAB to say exactly this. Would be a good terminology to use company-wide on public-facing interfaces.

Re: search by extent

Scott_Harris — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 21:45:35 GMT

Kevin,

I think this goes back to what I originally mentioned about the search accounts for the "Extent" property that is set on the Item Details page. If you have an example of a layer that shouldn't show up in a particular search, I can try to dig a bit more into it.

-Scott

Re: search by extent

Anonymous User — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 16:20:09 GMT

Let's say I search for "stadiums" in Savannah, GA. Things show up. We don't have an NFL stadium. Why does it show content from users? If it's a point layer for example, and there are no stadium points for hundreds of miles. AGOL should spatially index and know extents. Not what Details might say but the real physical max envelope of data. If there are no stadium points ... I propose users shouldn't see the layers there to add though. Now, perhaps for a point layer, yes maybe we are in the envelope. Sure, there are points all around me, let's say. But, let's consider this. If the point can't be seen in the current map extent or perhaps a buffer of half the screen width or of say, a hundred miles... why show them as options. Until they're zoomed out and can see the data. Trust me, users find this confusing, and essentially they give up on using AGOl to search for data. I don't know the exact solution except to say that the way it is currently, doesn't work.

Re: search by extent

Scott_Harris — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 17:56:47 GMT

Kelly Gerrow‌

Kevin is noticing the following behavior when searching for items and setting an extent filter:

In a web map, zoom in to Savannah, Georgia USA.
Add > Search for layers.
Set the filter to "only show content within map area".
Search for "stadiums".
The top result is this item: https://arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=eb3d7b273ed5418882be29e9b4148d46. The closest point in that layer is ~130 miles away from Savannah.

I am guessing the particular item is returned in the above example because its Extent property is set to the entire US.

Do you know if this is the expected behavior of Search? Perhaps this is a known limit of Search at the moment?

I don't think there is currently a way to only include layers that intersect the current map's extent like Kevin is requesting. NOTE: In the documentation, we have the following note "All layers that overlap your current map extent (and match your keywords) are returned." - Add layers to maps—ArcGIS Online Help | ArcGIS

Thanks!

Scott