What's Coming in Operations Dashboard (April 2018)

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04-05-2018 10:39 PM
JeffShaner
Esri Regular Contributor
13 32 14.3K

Operations Dashboard is a configurable web app that's included with the ArcGIS platform. Dashboard offers a comprehensive and engaging view of your data to provide key insight for at-a-glance decision making.

Following our initial launch inside ArcGIS Online in December 2017, and support with ArcGIS Enterprise 10.6 in January 2018, we are poised to release a new update in April 2018 with some exciting new capabilities.

While we are putting the finishing touches on this release, we'd like to preview the key new features that you can expect to see:

Selection on Charts

Dashboards are composed of elements such as maps, lists, gauges, indicators and charts that bring your data to life. Not only do the elements within your dashboard update when your data changes, providing an effective yet static decision support tool, but you can configure elements to communicate with one another to provide better understanding. 

With this release we are adding charts as a source of actions for both pie and serial charts. You can select a single data point, or multiple data points in your charts and have their selection trigger actions in other elements like maps or lists. 

Search Map Tool

Within the map element, you can now add a new Search Map tool. This allows the user of a Dashboard to find locations or search features on the map. Search capabilities are derived from the search settings configured in the web map that you create. The Search tool will expand/contract when you click on it so that you can maximize your use of the map. Likewise, if you would like to search based upon a layer or a specific location you can click the drop down to maximize your search results.

Embedded Content Element

The new Embedded Content element makes it easy to embed documents, images and video into your Dashboard. Embedded content can be static, in which case all you need to provide is the direct URL of the content you wish to display. If you want to embed weather information, a video from YouTube, or even a web scene or Survey form, simply enter the URL as a document.

 

Second, you can embed content from features. This means that each feature’s attribute information can be used to dynamically construct a URL at run time. When embedding from features, the embedded content can be the target of an action such as selection on a map or list. This is a great way to display content from external web pages that are based upon a common key, shared in a feature attribute (like images from CCTV cameras for example).

Scale bar on maps

Included with the map tools, you can now add a scale bar to your map. There are two styles: a ruler style or a line style. When you choose a style, the scale bar will appear in the bottom left corner of your map element.

Feature-mode for Gauges and Indicators

Until now, you could only configure a gauge or indicator using a statistic value such as an average or a sum. With this release, you can now drive the value type, as well as the minimum and maximum values directly from attributes of a feature.


Sharing Premium Content in Dashboards

ArcGIS comes with ready-to-use map layers that require an organizational subscription account to access. Some of your subscription content, premium content, will consume credits as well. You can include subscription content in your Dashboard, provide seamless access to it, and if needed, limit the number of requests it can receive to manage costs.

Switch Languages

Depending upon the region you are in, you may need to override the locale settings of your browser to display your Dashboard in a different language.

 

Now you can use a query parameter on the URL of the Dashboard to load it in the locale of your choice. By appending the two-letter language code to your Dashboard URL, you can load the Dashboard into the locale of your choice.

 

Default Language:

https://<portal>/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/4f539791b2f1418cb5403891f1a7be50

 

French Locale:

https://<portal>/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/4f539791b2f1418cb5403891f1a7be50?locale=fr

 

New SVG Icons

When adding an icon to your Indicator or Gauge, you will find that we have added over 100 new icons to the collection. Of course, you can continue to add your own icons as well. Also, now you can use an SVG icon as the logo within the Header element as well!

No Data Label

It is possible that your visualization may not have any data to display. It may be driven by an empty layer awaiting data to be added from field apps like Collector, or, it may be the destination of a selection within another element. If the element is void of any data, Dashboard would fill the empty space with a “No data” label. Now you can provide your own text that makes sense to your users and potentially gives direction on how to populate the element with data.

In addition to all the new features mentioned above, we slightly changed the configuration user experience as well. Actions are no longer a separate button from the rest of the configuration experience. They are now available in a unified configuration experience so that they are easier to find and manage.

 

We look forward to seeing the Dashboards that you create using our April release! If you would like to share your Dashboards with us, or provide feedback directly to our development team, please email Dashboard4ArcGIS@esri.com.

 

Thank you,

Dashboard Team

32 Comments
markcrow1
New Contributor III

These look like great updates, I look forward to digging in.  Do you expect Operations Dashboard to support related tables in this release?  Is this on the roadmap?

EricPeña
Occasional Contributor

Will the April 2018 release include a downloadable update for ArcGIS Enterprise 10.6, or is this release only for ArcGIS Online?

EliasLazarou
New Contributor II

Great updates indeed! What about the "Follow" action on a feature when let's say we want to follow the location updates of a moving asset?

ChrisRobinsonCOF
New Contributor III

I hadn't tried the original work around for related tables but the last post of this thread goes into how  it can be accomplished in the current version of operations dashboard.

https://community.esri.com/thread/170745 

Chris

JeffShaner
Esri Regular Contributor

Thanks Chris. @mark - we did not make any additional changes with support for related tables in this update. There are some limitations today (like related table support in popups as a key example). Are there specific enhancements you are looking for? Please let us know!

JeffShaner
Esri Regular Contributor

Hey Eric - this update is into ArcGIS Online and then the updates will be rolled into version 10.6.1 of ArcGIS Enterprise.

JeffShaner
Esri Regular Contributor

Hi Elias - the Follow action is a candidate for our next release. Sorry for the obtuse way of saying that but we have not finalized the ship list for the next update yet. Thanks for your ask. Would be interested in hearing more of your needs around moving assets as well if you don't mind sharing either on here or emailing me direct at jshaner@esri.com. I'm wondering if you are using GeoEvents, if there are alert requirements, if AVL systems are being used, etc. Thanks!

EricPeña
Occasional Contributor

Jeff, any idea when ArcGIS Enterprise 10.6.1 is to be released?  If it's soon I may hold off on implementing some Enterprise Ops Dashboards I'm working on.

DerekLaw
Esri Esteemed Contributor

Hi Eric,

ArcGIS Enterprise 10.6.1 is scheduled for release around the Esri UC timeframe ... but this is NOT final and may change.

And please share any Operations Dashboard apps with Jeff and I - we would love to see them!

Hope this helps,

Christopher_L_Rogers
New Contributor III

Hey Jeff you know me... crazy and always trying to bend reality and rip a hole in the time space continuum but you brought up some very real and powerful use cases. We are already working on Alerts, Notification, and Messaging in Operations Dashboard with or without GeoEvents (some of us need the poor mans method) . As well as continued integration with external web resources continuing to extend the capabilities of the new "Embedded Content" recently released. We should connect so I can show your some real interesting use cases, demonstrations, and some out of this world blending of the new Embedded Content feature. You'll think I'm crazy but you guys built it and provided it and I squeezed new meaning/use out of it. It's not pretty at this stage but it will show you how I have been able to take the latest release and blend real-time Law Enforcement Radio Traffic Streams, Traffic Camera Streams, our use of Workforce as an AVL, and other interesting concepts into a very rich and meaningful hybrid command and control app. This is still in the Mad Hatters Lab phase but I can share it with you and other Esri team members for now and probably the general public at UC. Cheers Jeff, you and all the folks at Esri are doing amazing work and the products and those of us around the globe twisting them to fit our needs are proof positive!

Regards,

Chris 

AdamRepsher
Occasional Contributor III

Hi Jeff,

The follow feature in the original Operations Dashboard was the only out-of-the-box way we had to "follow" specific tracks within AVL.  I am very upset to hear that it has not been developed as basic functionality in the new OD.  Let's get it in there!!!

AVL via GeoEvent.  Want to use streaming too!

Thanks!

Christopher_L_Rogers
New Contributor III

Agreed the "Follow" feature is critical to our use as well especially in pursuits!

JeffShaner
Esri Regular Contributor

This week, we have been meeting as a team to qualify backlog priorities for our next release (which will be coming in July and with code freeze, that's only 6 weeks of development work away for us). As mentioned above, Follow Feature is ranked very high and once we are full swing into development, we will update you. Stream services as a data source that powers elements is unfortunately not going to be released in this update. It is just too big of an effort to make it for July. That doesn't mean we won't start working on it though! 

As we move forward with Dashboard development, we are looking for early adopters that we can work with prior to releasing updates. Folks that are interested in testing new features that we add to Dashboard using your own data and workflows, and providing us with direct feedback. If you want to work with us on new development, please shoot me an email at jshaner@esri.com.

Thank you for your comments and your continued support!

Christopher_L_Rogers
New Contributor III

I'll send you an email as well Jeff but you know you can count me in on the testing!

Ursu_Lacramioara
New Contributor III

I added a pdf as an item to my Content and then added this pdf to the Dashboard, once I add the pdf in the Dashboard all looks good but if I open the Dashboard again the pdf is not available and instead I get an error with Access Denied. (Access Denied Request has expired...). Any suggestions?

Christopher_L_Rogers
New Contributor III

Can you see the PDF in your ArcGIS Account somewhere (was it uploaded) or is it a link to this document?

It sounds like it may be a sharing permissions issue but that's just a wild guess first thought. If the PDF was uploaded and you can find it see if you can change the share permissions on it.

I've done this the long way around by creating a folder in my Content called PDFs and then Added an Item by uploading a PDF here you can see it is not shared and is locked by default but you can click on the lock and choose with whom you wish to share it with and whether they can simply Access it or Access and Update it...

Hope this helps... Cheers... 

Test PDF Upload

Sharing PDFs

Cheers,

Chris

Ursu_Lacramioara
New Contributor III

Thank you, Chris – I shared the pdf file with the same group the Dashboard is shared too, and it works fine now, I can see the pdf. I thought I could see the pdf without sharing it.

Now, I am trying to move this pdf to a different location within Dashboard and is very difficult to find these selectors, I was able to find it earlier but now it seems I cannot find it.

Thanks

Lacri

ChrisRobinsonCOF
New Contributor III

Jeff,

In staying with the related table ability in operations dashboard, I just noticed in the previous desktop version, the list widget had an option to automatically select the top record in the list.  I am not seeing this option in the new web based version's list element.  Could this be added for consideration in upcoming releases?  Currently as it stands, I have 2 list elements, one for Fire Trucks, then another below it for Truck Capabilities.  When the dashboard is first loaded, the capabilities list is populated will all capabilities until a record is chosen from the trucks list.  Not a big issue but would be nice to have. 

Thank you,

Chris

Ursu_Lacramioara
New Contributor III

After sharing the pdf (so is not ‘locked’), now I am able to see the Selectors to move the pdf around but again I get the error of Access Denied. For one day the pdf was there now it disappeared.

DerekLaw
Esri Esteemed Contributor

Hi Lacramioara,

The behavior you're describing is very unusual and we haven't seen this. Can you please contact Esri Tech Support and open an incident so they can investigate further and try to get detailed repro steps?

Thanks,

Ursu_Lacramioara
New Contributor III

Hi Derek,

I opened a service and this is the Case number: 02107508.

I explained the behavior and attached some files to describe it.

Thank you,

markcrow1
New Contributor III

I found a great post in the comments of the link that Chris Robinson shared.  It shows how to set up the list widget to show related records of selected features.  I've experimented with it, and it works great.  I'm not sure that I require any further related record support than this.  

Ursu_Lacramioara
New Contributor III

Hello.

Users would like to have the ability to measure distances, can the measuring tool be added too next to Search, Home, Legend, List and Basemaps?

Thank you

JohnFannon
Occasional Contributor III

I've just begun experimenting with Operations Dashboard for a potential customer. Based on this here are some suggestions for the app - there may already be solutions for some of these, but I've not found them yet:

  1. Allow an option to add a % symbol in the number format without multiplying the value by 100. For example, my value is 5 not 0.5 and I want to show this as 5%, not 500%.
  2. Search does not appear to work the same as other apps. It should be possible to configure search settings in the app (as per Web App Builder) to add layer search, choose geocode services and limit geographic region for the world geocode service as well as specify search order. Currently I can't even get the layer search to work in OD when this is configured in the web map and working in map viewer.
  3. Add a 'Select' action to the List element. Currently it's possible to Filter, but my customer wants to select (and highlight) the feature and see it in context with other features. Currently, the Select tool on the map and the the List element with filter action allows the user to select features on the map and narrow down the selection to a single feature in the List element, but this filters out all other features on the map and is not intuative as it prevents further selections on the map until the List item is clicked again to remove the filter.
  4. On pie charts, allow for showing a single value as the percentage. For example, I have a single value that represents a percentage (e.g. percentage resolved = 75), but when I display as a pie chart this just displays as a whole, not as 75% with the remainder as 25%.
  5. Make attribute/field values available in all the dashboard elements using the {fieldname} syntax. Currently this is supported in some parts of some elements, but not in others.
  6. It would be useful if the user we able to filter the map based on dates. For example, the operational layer includes data from multiple years, but the user is primarily interested in the current year. The layer could be filtered initially on the current year (i.e. between two dates) and the user has the option to change the date filter.
  7. It would be good to limit display of data in the various elements only to the selected feature(s) on the map. Currently, where no features are selected on the map, the charts, indicators etc show data from the first feature in the layer (when maximum features limited to 1).

If there are solutions or work-arounds for any of these, I'd be glad to hear them.

John

DanteLee
Occasional Contributor II

I just noticed that the full set of icons available on ArcGIS Online Dashboards isn't available on our Portal version of Dashboards. Is there something we need to do as administrators to get that full set into Portal? Derek LawJeff Shaner

DerekLaw
Esri Esteemed Contributor

Hi Dante,

Apologies for the late reply. I was out on vacation since Dev Summit 2019, then out on business travel.

> I just noticed that the full set of icons available on ArcGIS Online Dashboards isn't available on our Portal version of Dashboards. Is there something we need to do as administrators to get that full set into Portal?

No, unfortunately there is no way to manually add the additional icons to Portal for ArcGIS. Sorry.

Hope this helps,

DanteLee
Occasional Contributor II

No prob! Thanks for getting back. Any insight on leveraging them as custom SVGs? (see this other question I posted)

DerekLaw
Esri Esteemed Contributor

Hi Dante,

> Any insight on leveraging them as custom SVGs?

Yes, you could add them to a Dashboard in Portal for ArcGIS via the custom SVG option. I just tested in Portal 10.7 and it works.

Hope this helps,

JohnStowell
New Contributor III

Derek Law

Hi, is there a documented way to pass geometry/bbox from a Map Extent to an Embedded Content widget (on the fly)?

I want to be able to pan around an Operations Dashboard map object and have a third party website changing dynamically based on the map extent. Eg. something like //<thirdpartysite>/content?geom={bbox_from_map_extent}

I know that I can do this already for other built in widgets, such as Lists with filter actions.

My use case is something I've developed to show all feature layer attachments in a gallery view, but I'd like to take it a step further and make it dynamically filter by map extent. I think adding this feature would allow for some really interesting custom widgets to be developed for the community and used as Embedded Content.

DerekLaw
Esri Esteemed Contributor

Hi John,

> ... is there a documented way to pass geometry/bbox from a Map Extent to an Embedded Content widget (on the fly)?

This workflow is not possible in Operations Dashboard. Sorry. Please submit an enhancement request,
ArcGIS Ideas for Operations Dashboard

> I think adding this feature would allow for some really interesting custom widgets to be developed for the community

FYI, there is no extensibility framework for Operations Dashboard. It does not support any custom elements.

Hope this helps,

JohnStowell
New Contributor III

Hi Derek, thanks for getting back to me. I have submitted it as an enhancement request. 

https://community.esri.com/ideas/16805-enhancing-embedded-content-in-operations-dashboard

Cheers, John

JohnFannon
Occasional Contributor III

FYI - There is also now a Dashboard theme within Web App Builder which has some similar functionality to Operations Dashboard, but with Web App Builder you can create custom widgets.

About the Author
I am the Group Product Engineering Lead for our Field Apps team at Esri. I work with an amazing team building out our field solutions. Please feel free to ask me anything about ArcGIS Field Maps, Workforce, and Navigator.