Publishing Webmap - Best Practice?

[gis_KIWI4]

Hi, 

I am looking to publish a webmap of our UN. This will be the go to map for most of our users to search, locate and query assets. I was wondering what are some of the strategies that others have used to get the best performance? 

Here was my train of thought - 

1) Subtype Group Layers - While functional in ArcPro, the mapviewer doesn't support select tool. And also, it does something weird where when I zoom out, it will draw all features before applying the visibility range filters. I gave up on this option after reading the support for group type layers is still to come.

2)Definition Queries - Add multiple instances of the same layer but use definition queries to get different subtypes? Eg 

Electric Device -> ICP
Electric Device -> Transformers
Electric Device -> Switches

I liked this approach because it does give the map users control over toggling the layers on and off. 
I wonder though, does this increase the number of queries going to DB and affect performance? Would the above scenario make 3 sets of calls? 

Symbology Scales - Use one layer in the map and use symbology scales to define the different scales.

This does come with it's challenges though - labels will need multiple classes set up, cannot toggle visibilty of certain features within the layer. 

Keen to ensure our Webmap experience is fast and fluid 🙂 

[RichRuh · Accepted solution]

It depends a bit on what version of Enterprise you are using and when you think you will upgrade to 11.3 (forthcoming later this year).  We added a lot of Subtype Group Layer support to the Map Viewer in 11.2 (not a Network Management release) and 11.3.

The definition query strategy you outlined above will certainly make multiple queries, and is the main reason we added subtype group layers to the platform.

If you ever want to take utility network data offline, sync only works if you have a maximum of one layer per feature class; that's another reason to use Subtype Group Layers.

If you're using an older version of ArcGIS Enterprise and want to use Map Viewer, you are right that subtype group layers are unfortunately not a good solution.

--Rich

[PierreloupDucroix]

Hello @RichRuh,

I cannot find any information about subtype group layers being supported in the Map Viewer v11.2 or 11.3.

Can you confirm that SGL are supported in both version, and in Map Viewer and Experience builder ?

Is it supported only when published from AGPro, or can we manage SGL directly in the Map Viwer (add SGL from a service, modify symbology, popup, etc. for each sublayer...)

[RichRuh]

At this time, you have to author and publish your web map from ArcGIS Pro. You cannot modify symbology in Map Viewer, but you can author popus on the sub-layers. 

I'm not the best person t answer Experience Builder questions, unfortunately.

--Rich

[PierreloupDucroix]

Hi,

we are facing the same challenge, whether publishing web maps with subtype group layer is a good practice or not.

As mentioned, if you plan to use UN with field maps and perform tracing, you should definitely consider publishing your web maps from pro, with subtype group layers and named trace configurations.

Same for a use with experience builder and the trace widget

For web apps editing (at least field editing), I am not sure if it works well with subtype group layers, and any recommendation from Esri would be welcome. Maybe a standard (without the network layer) web service would work better.

Finally, I am wondering if publishing web maps to the portal, then opening them in Pro is a good practice too, instead of creating web maps directly in the Pro project, and use the UN feature service...

[RichRuh]

PierreloupDucroix,

Again, it depends a bit on what version of ArcGIS Enterprise you are using, and plan to use.  We're adding subtype group layer support with each new version- the goal is to have parity with ArcMap across the platform (web, field, desktop).  That said, functionality is evolving at a different rate across these three, and if what you need isn't available on one of those platforms, you might have to revert to using regular feature layers.

I hope this helps,

--Rich

[PierreloupDucroix]

So far I am in 11.1, but I plan to upgrade as soon as possible to 11.3 when it is released.

Great to know that subtype group layer will be supported across the platform