New widget: Near Me (beta) is now available in Experience Builder!

[#1]

The  Near Me widget is now available in ArcGIS Experience Builder as beta following ArcGIS Online June 2023 update. It incorporates major functionalities of the Near Me, Situation Awareness, Info Summary, and Screening widgets found in Web AppBuilder, and it will reach full functional parity with these widgets when development is complete sometime in early next year. 

Near Me allows users to view and analyze features within a specified distance from a location or current map area. Users can apply search and analysis to generate list of features with curated information. Results can be downloaded to a CSV file.  

Key capabilities 

• Search in the following ways: 
  • Draw a location on the map with drawing tools. 
  • Use the Search widget in a web map to find an address or place. 
  • Select an existing feature using the List, Feature Info, Table widgets, or Select tool. 
  • Use the active map extent. 
• Analyze results to show the closest feature and features within the proximity and view detailed information about each feature. 
• Summarize numerical information, such as total population and average age, and apply a background color to each summary field. 
• Show categorical information with count, such as how many parks are ADA compliant. 
• Show all the features in the layer and get curated information about each feature, such as road closure status. 
• Download analyzed information to a CSV file.  

Related resources  

What's new—ArcGIS Experience Builder | Documentation 

Near Me (beta) widget—ArcGIS Experience Builder | Documentation 

What's New in ArcGIS Experience Builder (June 2023) | Blog article

Recreating Near Me workflows in Experience Builder | Blog article

Recreating Situation Awareness workflows in Experience Builder | Blog article

Recreating Info Summary workflows in Experience Builder | Blog article

[dcallaghan]

@AzizaParveen1 Thanks for the overview of this beta release of the Near Me widget.

I have been using the Near Me widget in Web App Builder in a variety of applications, and I'm now looking to rebuild these applications in Experience Builder.

I've noticed a difference in the documentation for the WAB and ExB versions of the Near Me widget:

WAB:

The Near Me widget allows you to find features within a buffer of a defined address or location, view detailed information about those features, and get directions to the selected feature.

ExB:

The Near Me (beta) widget allows you to find and analyze features within a specified distance of a defined location. The location can be a selected feature, a drawn graphic, and more. You can also find features based on the current map extent.

I have the ExB application set up to allow a user to (a) search for a location and (b) find features that are in proximity to the searched-for location but I am unable to then provide them with (c) directions between the searched-for location and the feature selected. This was possible in WAB.

Is it possible to do this with the current version of Near Me widget in ExB?

Thanks in advance for any pointers!

[AzizaParveen1]

Hi @dcallaghan,

Unfortunately it cannot be done right now in EXB, In EXB builders widgets can communicate with each other, so we have a plan to explore if it can communicate with Direction widget to provide direction, but it is not in our roadmap in near future.

Thanks,

Aziza

[dcallaghan]

Hi @AzizaParveen1 , thank you for the information. That's a great shame.
What is your suggested workaround for overcoming this gap in functionality?

[IngaPlayle1]

Hi @AzizaParveen1 . Thanks for the information on the Near Me (Beta) widget. 

Can you tell me when it will be released (not Beta)?

Thanks

[IngaPlayle1]

Hi @AzizaParveen1l Is there a way to change the spelling of the distance units in the widget? e.g. change kilometers to kilometres?

[colejo02]

Hi @AzizaParveen1,  I really like the Near Me widget in ExB.  I was wondering if the Location buffer size could be hidden in View mode?

I'm working with a large point dataset of permits and want to limit user's search area to less than 1000 feet but still allow them to pan and zoom the map to wider areas for context.  If  an option to set the buffer in Edit mode and hide the buffer area selection tool in View mode it would be very helpful for us.  Thanks!  

[AValenski]

@dcallaghan : my recommendation would be to not migrate to ExB. There are considerable gaps in functionality between WAB and ExB that are non-priorities for Esri at this point. 

If WAB is meeting your needs, I'd recommend downloading WAB Developer Edition and maintaining your application in that environment and self-hosting as it is the only way to ensure that you can provide the functionality in perpetuity. You should also self-host the underlying JS SDK so that when Esri deprecates the 3.x JS SDK your apps will continue to function. 

[AzizaParveen1]

@colejo02 

Yes you can do this, turn off "Show distance settings" in the configuration.