Map selection improvements: Click it to select it!

[FriederikeAlschner]

Click it to select it

With the June 2023 update of ArcGIS Dashboards we’ve made map selection workflows much more intuitive for dashboard viewers. When layer actions are configured, users simply need to click a feature on the map to select it.

There is no longer a need to activate a selection tool or to choose a layer when features from more than one layer are selected. The new click-it-to-select-it behavior is automatically enabled when layer actions are configured. If you prefer giving your users the choice to select multiple features within a certain area, you have the option to add a rectangle or lasso selection tool to your map. Once the dashboard viewer activates the tool, the click and drag motion that usually pans the map is repurposed to draw a rectangle or lasso for selection.

Enable the option to select by rectangle or lassoDashboards created before the June 2023 update of ArcGIS Dashboards will have the rectangle selection tool visible when layer actions are present.  

Tip: The Shift key can be used to add to a selection, and clicking an empty space on the map will clear the selection.  

To be able to support the new selection workflows, pan, zoom and show pop-up are no longer available as configurable layer actions. They remain available on the other dashboard elements (see our documentation for more details). Within the map, dashboard viewers are now responsible for navigating to a selected set of features. This can be done using the “Zoom to selected” button that appears when a selection is made, or via any of the map’s built-in navigation tools. Dashboards with several maps that were targeting each other with pan or zoom actions can use map actions to ensure their extents remain in sync. 

With click-it-to-select-it, two workflows can now happen at the same time: showing the pop-up and triggering a layer action. Keep in mind that you may have configured both of these workflows differently. When pop-ups are enabled in the map element settings, it applies to all layers, while layer actions might only be applied to one. In this case, there may be a discrepancy between the number of features selected vs the number of features displayed in the pop-up. Disabling any non-essential pop-ups directly in Map Viewer will make it easier for viewers to understand the dashboard and, at the same time, declutter the map. With click-it-to-select-it, you may not even need a pop-up anymore, as any information you see in the pop-up can be just one click away when displayed in any other dashboard element. 

[JonathanPollack]

This is nice but this should be an OPTION.  I am dismayed to find that you seemingly have removed simple IDENTIFY functionality.  Many users just want an identify/pop-up not a SELECTION when clicking on a feature.  If I want to select I will use the selection tool provided. 

After a user has done a bunch of filtering and have narrowed down thier interest to some sub-set of features they often want to IDENTIFY individual features.  You have now removed this functionality by effectively resetting all the filters they have set.  

This is a big step backward (unless I am missing something). 

[FriederikeAlschner]

Thank you for your thoughtful feedback and for sharing your concerns @JonathanPollack. Let me clarify some of the changes around pop-up and selection.

First, it is important to note that users can still show pop-ups that were configured in map viewer. When you click on a feature in the map the pop-up is displayed just like before. What was removed is the "Show pop-up" layer action which was confusing to many users.
Second, selection is still optional. A dashboard author can decide to add layer actions for each eligible layer. What has changed is the following: if an author configured layer actions for a certain layer and has pop-ups enabled in the map settings as well, you will now see both of these happen at the same time when you click on a feature in the map.

If I understand correctly, you want to identify a single feature from your selection without loosing the existing selection. You may find that holding Shift while clicking that feature helps in this scenario as this will (re-)add the feature to the selection and identify it at the same time.

[JonathanPollack]

Thanks.  The HUGE issue here is that the action of clicking on the feature to get to the popup RESETS any/all selections you have on Category Selections, Charts, etc. to 1 (one).  This is a big usability issue.  I just want an IDENTIFY (no slection).  I want to be able to have the user keep all there filters active but click on different features on the map.  I don't want to add-to/change my current selection at all.

To be honest I don't see much use case to do a selection (e.g. updating charts, tables, etc) on a single feature.  Anyway I would really like to have an identify-only back in the tool.  I also would like to see the CIRCLE selection and POINT selection put back in the map selection options.  It seem a bit crazy to REMOVE/REPLACE functionality rather than just add this "click-to-select" as a option.

PLEASE dont remove the "Show Pop-up" from the list widget.  This is my only work-around for this new behavior.   I don't understand why you think having this capability "was confusing to many users".  Seems pretty straightforward to me.

[FriederikeAlschner]

Hi @JonathanPollack,
I am really sorry to hear you're running into issues with the selection. I'm trying to understand how your dashboard is set up and whether you might be encountering a bug. Would you be able to reach out to tech support to share your specific setup and ideally your dashboard as an example so that we can look more closely at what you are seeing?

[JonathanPollack]

This doesn't involve a bug.  This is an issue with Esri REMOVING functionality ("Identify" and multiple map selection options-(circle and line are gone)) and replacing it with click-to-select which hinders usability on dashboards that have multiple ACTIONS (chart, table, category, indicator, etc.) as they all get reset to 1 when someone clicks on a feature.  I have no issue with the introduction of "click-to-select" but it should have been introduced as a configurable OPTION.

For example, "What do you want a mouse click to do on the map"?  A-"Identify" or B-"Selection".

My dashboard(s) is setup where nearly every widget, category chart has an "Action" tied back to the map feature.  So after someone has configured all the categories, table filters, etc. (e.g. screen capture 2 below0  They then want to review the filtered sub-set (screen capture 2) by clicking on filtered points on the map.  Now when they click on one of the sub-set points to get more info about the point the entire dashboard filters to 1 point and the user has lost all their settings/applied-filters, etc.. 

[ColinBergmann]

@JonathanPollack @FriederikeAlschner Hi Friederike, I would just like to echo Jonathan's concerns as I am having the same issue plus another one. Due to this update, the usability of two of my dashboards (one is client facing) has been severely degraded and I'm going to have to completely re-configure it or just downgrade its functionality. The issue that Jonathan (correct me if I'm wrong) and I are facing is that we need the ability for the user to EITHER select a feature OR view it's pop-up. We also need the ability for a user to view the pop-ups of other features without exiting the selection.

I have a list widget set to filter upon the selection of features in my map. With the old functionality, the user could have a feature selected in the map, which filtered the list widget and opened a survey123 in an embedded content widget, and then they could view pop-ups of nearby features, which is needed to complete the S123 form. Now, if they want to view a pop-up of a different feature, it exits out of the selection and they lose all progress on the S123 form, which renders the workflow I set up pretty much useless. The other issue I am facing is with multiple selection. With the old select tool, if you selected multiple features, you could then select from a list which specific feature you wanted to select. Alternatively, you could open the pop-up and select just one feature from the pop-up interface. There is no longer the option to do this. If you click features that are close together or overlayed you have no choice but to include all of the features in the selection. I have a widget that aggregates multiple datasets features into one list via arcade and I need the ability know I'm only selecting one feature, otherwise the user cannot adequately filter the list via the map. I understand there may be some workarounds I could use, but it would mean spending hours and budget we don't have re-configuring both of my dashboards. I agree with Jonathan that the new "click to select" functionality should be an option as it might be useful for some, but it should not be the default.

[AlessioDiLorenzo]

 In many cases it is not an improvement to select a feature with a click because the user just want to show a popup without filtering. The old workflow was the right one. Please, restore it at least as an option! Let define in the configuration if the select tool is active by default or if (as before the update) the user must activate it. 

[MattPohl]

@FriederikeAlschner Hi Friederike- It also seems that a select by polygon tool would be extremely helpful, regardless of what selection workflow is being implemented by ESRI. Lasso is nice and quick, but the select by polygon tool gives users total control over a selection that the select by rectangle and lasso do not. Is there a specific reason why dashboards have never had this ability?

[JonathanPollack]

THANK YOU Esri for fixing this "enhancement" in the latest release!!  Making these optional is great

[AlessioDiLorenzo]

Fixed with the October 2023 Update! Thank you, Esri! 

[JenHorsman]

Whew! I just wrote a long rant essentially agreeing with Jonathan and explaining how this feature messed up my dashboard. But I realized I should scan the other replies first.

THANK YOU so much for making this optional. My Dashboard is about to go live and I was panicking!