I teach an introduction to GNSS mapping class at a community college. In the spring semester of 2025 I decided to switch up the workflow from an ArcGIS Pro to AGOL process, to doing everything through ArcGIS Online. In general, the tools are all there in AGOL, but I find the workflow exceedingly distributed and frustrating to teach. Based on my experience I would like to recommend a step through process for creating a new web map for use in the Field Maps mobile app following this general workflow:
- Step 1 - Create your data structure - Start with Field Maps Designer (existing workflow for form development works great!). Have a next option to symbolize your data.
- Step 2 - Symbolize your data
- This is where it fell apart for me. In Field Maps Designer, you can open your data in a Map Viewer and symbolize your data according to the domains you created in step 1. This symbology does not "stick" to the hosted feature layer; it is only relevant to the web map. Also, editing feature templates are not automatically created resulting in not having a breakdown of feature classes in the Field Maps app.
- I recommend instead of opening in Map Viewer, Step 2 of the step through process takes you to the "Visualization" section of the feature layer properties. Defining a layers symbology through the visualization allows the symbology to "stick" with the feature layer. This is incredibly important because often times when you have an editable feature layer, you want to create a view of that layer for sharing publicly (e.g. park map). If you symbolize your data in map viewer, you'll need to re-symbolize the view layer all over again.
- Step 3 - Ideally the symbology defined in step 2 should automatically translate into an editing template. Creating an editing template is not intuitive in Map Viewer nor Field Maps Designer. If this auto-translation is not available then this step is necessary to create/sync editing template. Failure to create this editing template results in a poor Field Maps experience.
- Step 4 - Create your web map - this step can then jump to Map Viewer where users can polish their web map (e.g. select base maps, add supporting data, etc).
I may be off basis with this idea, but I feel I needed to jump around too much to develop an appropriate data structure and web map for field applications strictly using AGOL. Please consider a step by step process to make things smoother. My students will greatly appreciate it!
Thanks,
Tim
