Can you create a Template for a map and a Feature layer?

[BillSands]

Hi,

I'm working on a publicly interactive mapping app and have a map and it's feature layer set up with all the correct symbology, popups and forms. I want to be able to make a new map connected to a new feature layer but with all the same settings as the one already set up.

The problem I face is that if I save a copy of the map, it is new, but it points to the other feature layers. So I then make a copy of the feature layer, but that then points to the previous data layer. So, I then tried making a new feature layer using the old one as a "template". This works correctly, but then all the settings of that layer are now default in the map, so I have to set it all back up again.

This is something I want to be able to quickly do over and over again, but it seems very labour intensive at the moment.

What am I missing? How do I create a Map and Feature layer template that would create a pre-set up map and feature layer totally new but with all the symbology etc set up?

I only started using GIS last year, and only Started using ArcGIS in about March this year. I have an ArcGIS Pro license.

Any advice or pointers would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks,

Bill

[bbollin]

hi @BillSands if you want to be able to have your feature layer preserve the settings without having to reconfigure it again and again,  you can do this by going to the layer's overflow menu and clicking "Save." Popups, symbology, forms, etc will all be saved to that feature layer item so any time you bring it into a map you'll have the same starting point!

You can then bring it into a new map and make any changes and save to the map itself. This allows you to override the feature layer's saved settings on a map by map basis.

I notice you mentioned new layers as well, typically best practice would be to go through and customize the layers beforehand and save like I mentioned. There are other options as well though, such as views. How many layers are you working with exactly? And are they all the same dataset?

Hopefully this helps

[BillSands]

Hi, that is very helpful indeed.
I do have a further question, which was not made clear in the original question:
If I have a View layer with its settings, how would I transfer those settings to a new view layer of the copied feature layer?
To clarify this a bit, I have a data layer that is publicly editable (add only), but that has sensitive data on it so it is not publicly accessible. I then have a view layer of this layer, which has only non-sensitive data available. This view layer has all the symbology applied to it.
When I create a new data layer for the new project, I will then create a new view layer, which will need to have all the attributes of the other view layer. However, this is not a copy of an old one, so is there a way to get the settings transferred?

EDIT: I should also have said, that the feature layers on each new map I create should have the same settings, but will have different content and must be independent of each other. So saving a copy of the Feature layer is not quite enough as it will still reference the same data set. Unless I'm missing something.

Thanks,

[bbollin]

Hi @BillSands, through the views UI there isn't currently a way to easily copy settings from one view to another

[KenBuja]

I've used the ArcGIS Assistant to do this. I used the Save as Copy option, then opened the copy in Assistant to change the url of the configured layer.

Read the user guide for more information about this tool.