Latest Contributions by JeffShaner

We are pleased to announce the release of Collector for ArcGIS v17.0.3 on the iOS and Windows platforms today. The Android platform will be following shortly with a release in October. Here are the top 3 key features of this release: 1. Passing collection information through the URL scheme When using the custom URL scheme to open Collector through another app, a website, or an email, you can now include information to start a collection. Pass information about the layer to add a feature to, as well as particular attributes and the values to assign to them. This improves integration with Workforce for ArcGIS as well as 3rd party app integration coming with CityWorks. 2. New 95 percent confidence interval setting When doing data collection, Collector allows you to specify the accuracy you require to use the GPS to collect locations. By default, accuracy is calculated using RMS, however government agencies like the USFS and BLM require accuracy be calculated using a 95 percent confidence interval. We are now providing this option. 3. Use Managed App Configuration with ArcGIS Enterprise Streamline your app deployment by pushing the URL of your ArcGIS Enterprise portal through your mobile device management (MDM). When your users open the app, they'll see the OAuth screen from your portal. In addition to these new features, there are a number of bug fixes and improvements that have been made.  Please refer to our What's New section of the documentation site for the full list of updates. Collector Team ... View more

During an emergency event, being able to deploy field solutions that aid response and recovery efforts are not only mission critical but extremely time sensitive.   Debris Reporting is a configuration that supports Emergency Management organizations in collecting and monitoring debris. You can find details of this configuration on the ArcGIS for Emergency Management site.    This blog article will illustrate, step-by-step, how you can build and deploy a debris reporting field solution with Collector for ArcGIS in minutes using a template within ArcGIS Online.  Step 1: Create A Debris Reports Feature Layer                           We have included Debris Reporting as a template within ArcGIS Online, so when you sign into your ArcGIS organization, click on Content and then click Create Feature Layer. From the New Hosted Feature Layer dialog, type debris in search, click to select Debris Reports and then click Create. The wizard will ask you a number of questions. With the Debris Reports layer selected, click Next, set the working area of your field collection work, click Next, provide a name for the feature layer like “Debris Reports” and click Done. Step 2: Author a Debris Reporting Web Map   Now that you have created your Debris Reports layer, you are ready to create a web map that Collector can open. Click Add layer to new map with full editing control to author your Debris Reporting map. With the map open, click on the Debris Reports layer in the TOC to see the list of report types. Each of these types will be a feature type entry in Collector. Zoom into the area that you would like to start collecting debris and consider changing the basemap using the Basemap tool.    Set a layer refresh interval for the Debris Reports layer so that you can see new reports that come in from the use of Collector.  Finally, you need to save your web map and share it into a group so that others can access it using Collector. Click the Save button and then enter a title, tags, summary for your map, and then click Save Map.   Next click the Share button and Share the map either within your organization and/or within a specific group that your responders are a member of. Note that you should be prompted to update sharing for the Debris Reports layer, click the update sharing button. Step 3: Open Map and capture reports using Collector for ArcGIS   On your smartphone or tablet device, with Collector for ArcGIS installed from either the Apple App Store, Google Play or the Windows Store, sign into your ArcGIS organization and then search for the map you just created. Once found, you can either tap on the map itself to open it directly and start capturing debris reports while connected or you can tap on the download button, download a map area to your device and then collect data when you are offline.   Tap on the map thumbnail to open the Debris Reporting map. With GPS enabled, the map will zoom to your current location and use that location for the collection of reports. Press the + button to start the capture process and then tap on the Vegetation report type. With the Vegetation feature type chosen, Collector will automatically use your GPS position as the location of the debris report. You can then fill out the Type of Debris, Details, provide a name, set a submission date, etc. Tap the camera button to open the camera on your device and take one or many photos of the damage and then tap Done when complete. Once you have completed the form and taken appropriate photos, you can either tap on the map button to ensure the location is correct or simply press the Submit button to send your changes back to the EOC. Once submitted you will return to the map screen on your device and back in the office you will see the new debris report appear when the layer refreshes itself. These 3 simple steps of creating a feature layer, creating a web map, and using in Collector can be completed within minutes. The solution configuration includes details for configuring an Operation View for use with Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS. Dashboards enable real-time decision making as each time a report is collected and submitted, it will appear in the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). Note: In addition to using the feature templates within ArcGIS Online, you can use the Solution Deployment tool to deploy the feature layer, web map and debris reporting Dashboard. Collector Team ... View more

Update: Collector's Aurora Beta is available. Already have it? Join the discussion in our Early Adopter Community.  Collector for ArcGIS launched in the Apple App Store and Google Play in January 2013, followed by the Windows Store in December 2015.  Since its initial release Collector has evolved considerably, and as its capabilities have grown, so has its adoption and we are very thankful for your support.   Now the time has come for a refresh. A refresh in user experience, a refresh in technology, a refresh in field data collection workflows. So… here comes the Aurora Project.   Through the Aurora project, Collector is getting a number of improvements you have requested: Better maps Improved user experience Smarter forms Streamlined offline workflows Enhancements to high accuracy 3D data collection   Most importantly, the Aurora Project brings a new foundation we will build upon to advance data collection workflows in the ArcGIS platform. Let’s take a deeper look at some of these improvements: Better maps Collector is adding support for vector basemaps (both online and offline), so that you can view crisp, high quality cartography that takes advantage of the amazing pixel density of your iPad Pro or Samsung S8+ device. Downloading vector tiles to your device will dramatically reduce the footprint of offline content on your device as well.   Rich symbology and smart mapping capabilities you rely on to effectively represent your spatial information and publish using ArcGIS Pro will look great in Collector.  In addition, it will support displaying labels in your map, the top idea you’ve asked for in Collector.   With these improved mapping capabilities, your maps will look great rotated, too! FIMT symbology, Labeling and Heat Maps Improved user experience Significant improvements to the user experience (UX) of Collector are coming and you will see this in the very first beta release. We have spent time redesigning the collect experience so that we can streamline workflows. Some improvements include: Better layout to support your workflows – Core tools like Collect are more accessible to promote the scenarios you use every day.   Easier capture of accurate data locations – use cross hairs that provide a “cursor-on-target” experience to precisely define location.   Better use of screen real estate - let’s face it, working on a phone often leaves you wanting a bit more screen real estate.  Sometimes you want to see the map, sometimes you want to see the form, sometimes you want to see a bit of both. With our new sliding panel design, move between these views seamlessly by sliding the panel up or down to seamlessly move between map-centric and form-centric views to fit your workflow.   Smarter data entry - have a lot of exciting work planned for the form, starting with the UX. Take a photo in fewer taps, capture additional media (audio, video), read information from QR and bar codes, edit in place on the form, and use a proper keyboard when editing numeric fields.   Smarter Forms Forms are improving more than just the UX: you’ll find they honor the modern capabilities of the ArcGIS platform. Collector is founded on the principles of the web map. Layers that you collect data into follow the guidelines set by feature layers you author and feature services you publish. The dictionary of feature types are based upon feature templates you create, and the forms experience is driven by popups you configure from the information model you create. But within that popup, support for validation of required fields, Arcade expressions, and attribute rules will be added. Arcade Expressions are particularly exciting, as they will drive a smarter forms experience when editing in Collector, in web apps, and in ArcGIS Pro. Conditional logic, enrichment of data, inheritance of values from other features, grouping, and ordering of attributes will all come with this update. Streamlined Offline Workflows Collector works anywhere, anytime you need it. Maps can be downloaded to your device and you can synchronize changes when you gain connectivity. This release brings a simplified download experience, improved management of offline map areas, and the ability to keep working when you drift in and out of connectivity.   Within your ArcGIS organization, you will be able to plan ahead: prepare the areas to go offline, store them in your content, and share them throughout your organization. Mobile workers simply select the map areas they need and download them to their devices. We are simplifying the interactive download experience as well as managing local content on the device. One key aspect is how you work with basemaps. In addition to packaged tile map services, Collector will support packaged mobile maps built with ArcGIS Pro and vector tiles. In the app, you’ll be able to download and manage a collection of offline basemaps. Enhancements to High Accuracy 3D Data Collection As part of this project, Collector is adding support for direct capture of 3D data. In addition, vertical datum transformations will allow you to transform elevations on the fly, eliminating office workflows usually required to achieve accurate elevations.      Collector - Aurora Project Schedule The Aurora development project is underway and the first beta of Collector’s new dawn will be this fall! We will release a series of betas, bringing new capabilities with each update. To participate in the beta, please email collectorbeta@esri.com and then join our Early Adopter Program.  Your feedback throughout the beta is important to us – we want to hear from you!   Our current target for release is Q3 of 2018 for the iOS platform and Q4 for the Android platform. We have not set a release date for the Windows platform yet. We know Collector is an essential part of your mobile workflows, and our goal is to make the transition easy for you. Starting with the beta releases, Collector as you know it today and this significant update will happily live side-by-side on your device.   Collector Team ... View more

Collector released a very minor bug fix update today to support relief efforts with Tropical Storm Harvey. This update resolves a specific issue (BUG-000107667). Please reference our documentation site for any additional details. This fix is for the iOS platform only. We will have a v17.0.3 release coming soon on all platforms with enhanced support for app integration, Trimble Catalyst support on the Android platform and more. ... View more

Building upon the 17.1.0 and 17.1.1 releases, today we have updated Explorer for ArcGIS in the Apple App Store with some very important fixes: BUG-000106480—Pop-ups are not consistently displaying values when the field alias is different from the field name. BUG-000106814—Configuring custom attribute display to show multiple fields returns nothing. BUG-000107080—Attachments don't display for map service layers. Feature search can fail when searching integer fields using the Equals condition. If the request for an OAUTH page fails when signing in, a message shows instead of a white screen. We are already planning our next update and it will be coming very soon. A couple of important issues on our pending list include: BUG-000106721—Adding shapefiles enabled for but not containing any z-values into a map stops the map from loading. The error message displayed is *The shape must have a Z value. Performance improvements to the way Explorer performs queries against feature and map services. Thank you for your continued support. Explorer Team ... View more

Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS is an app that enables you to monitor, track, and assess your assets and daily operations. We’re delighted to announce that we just refreshed our beta for the next generation Operations Dashboard app. This beta empowers you to make visually stunning dashboards that enable operational decisions at a glance, all within your web browser. Sign up for the Operations Dashboard beta program and check out the beta through Esri’s Early Adopter site. Highlights of the new capabilities are: Author and share dashboards, all within a web browser You can now create a dashboard from scratch and share it with users, all from your web browser. There is no need to download and install anything locally. This new web architecture means Operations Dashboard is more closely integrated with your ArcGIS organization. For example, now you can launch Operations Dashboard from the ArcGIS Online app switcher, as shown above. You can also browse for and manage your dashboards within your ArcGIS organizational content, in addition to the new Operations Dashboard homepage, as shown below. You can also start creating dashboards from the homepage. These enhancements make working between Operations Dashboard and your ArcGIS organization seamless and easy. Create beautiful dashboards You can easily create stunning information products with this beta. Each visual element you add to a dashboard includes attractive and intuitive default style options. However, if you need more control over the look and feel of your dashboards, there are many configuration options to play with. You can adjust font sizes and colors, as well as use rich text, custom icons, and HTML symbols in your visual elements. You now have the option to display the last update time on each visual element, which improves situational awareness by informing users how current the data is. In addition, this release includes a redesigned dark theme, shown below, that makes your dashboards pop in dimly lit rooms. Simply put, you now have the power to create the dashboard best suited to your organizational needs. Leverage the latest web map capabilities You can now include map elements in your dashboards that take advantage of all the powerful new web map functionality, such as heat map renderers, stream layers, and vector basemaps. You can also use Arcade expressions to enhance map labels and symbology. In short, you can now include more clear, useful, and attractive maps in your dashboards. Create advanced charts This beta offers many sophisticated charts of various types and styles to include in your dashboards. Click through the images below to see the new charting capabilities. You can easily make more types of charts in this beta. For instance, you can transform a pie chart into a donut chart just by adjusting the chart’s inner radius setting. You can also make an area chart by increasing the opacity of the area underneath a series in a line chart, as shown in the next image. Time-series data can now be visualized on line and area charts, as shown in the area chart above. You can also enable a scrollbar that allows you to only display times that you’re interested in, such as between 6 PM and 11 PM, as shown in the image at right above. In addition, you can filter data shown in your chart (and the indicator element) by common time periods, such as “within the last 7 days” or “within the last month.” Date-parsing along the category axis is also supported, as shown in the next image. You can create various multi-series charts, or charts with more than one data set, for your dashboards. The above chart has two series and each series is a different type. One series is a bar chart, and the other series is a line chart. This can be useful when you want to compare exact values with a rolling average, as shown above. This chart is another example of a multi-series chart, except each series is of the same type: bar chart. This chart was created by splitting the category field by another field. This is helpful when you want to see the composition of your data. In the above example, you can see the number of service calls from certain districts, distinguished by whether the calls were made during the evening, day, or midnight shifts. Another way to show data composition is to have stacked charts, like the one above. These are useful for making comparisons between data segments. To display the relative differences between components of data categories, you can also make 100% stacked charts, like the one shown above. This beta includes more ways to customize the appearance of your charts. You can make the orientation horizontal, increase label sizes, enable metric prefixing on the value axis, include axis titles, specify the order of values on the category axis, and alter the outline and opacity of data values and grid lines, as shown in the chart above. You can also stagger the placement of labels, as shown in the next image. You can now match the colors in your charts with the colors of your map symbols, as shown above. You can also match the colors of map symbols with symbols in other elements, such as feature lists. Use the enhanced indicator element The new indicator element merges the capabilities of the Summary and Indicator widgets in operation views, and includes additional functionality that makes it easier to understand the status of an asset or operation. The new indicator supports conditional formatting, which causes its appearance to change based on your data. For instance, if you want to easily tell whether a homicide has occurred, you can configure the indicator to turn bright yellow when the number of homicides is more than zero, as shown in the image to the top right. Conversely, you can configure the indicator to turn black when no homicides have occurred, as shown in the image to the bottom right.  The indicator can also better facilitate comparisons, by showing how a current measurement or value compares to a historical measurement. Last, the indicator has greatly enhanced aesthetics, with more options to customize text and add pre-made or custom icons, as shown in the top right image. This beta update represents a huge step forward in the evolution of Operations Dashboard, but over the next few months, we will continue to offer more functionality. We will provide more options to interact with your data, refine the dashboard authoring experience, develop highly responsive map tools, and add more data visualizations. We are aiming to release the first official version of the new web experience in QA of 2017, to coincide with the ArcGIS Online update planned for that month. To use the new capabilities described here, and ensure that we continue to make the next generation of Operations Dashboard useful and exciting for your organization, check out the beta on the Early Adopter Site. We look forward to seeing your questions, comments, and ideas. Sincerely, The Operations Dashboard Dev team ... View more

Keeping track of mobile devices with access to your corporate network, maps and data is more important than ever. Organizations are implementing an Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) solution that provides for management of devices, provisioning of mobile applications, and compliance with corporate policies, and authentication with proper network access control.   There are a number of Mobile Device Management (MDM) products that help you implement your EMM solution and they all include support for Mobile Application Management (MAM). Here are just a few that Esri Apps have been deployed with – MobileIron, AirWatch, XenMobile, MaaS360, Meraki, InTune.   Esri Apps and MDM Products MDM products can connect directly to the Apple App Store or Google Play and you can manage and deploy applications to your mobile workforce. Esri apps like Explorer, Collector, Navigator and Workforce support per-app VPN so that you can secure device access to internal resources and reduce the inbound connection to a single app at the same time. When considering how you deploy Esri Apps through your MDM, please note that App wrapping is not supported.   Field Apps and Managed App Configuration Talking with several customers deploying Esri Apps using an MDM, we are following the guidelines found within the AppConfig community.  Explorer, Collector, and Workforce on the iOS and Android platforms have started including settings that take advantage Managed App Configuration API's for each platform. Implementing the MobileAppConfig on iOS and the Backend Service Configuration on Android, you can now streamline app deployment be allowing your MDM to push down the URL of your ArcGIS Enterprise portal.   Implementing the portalURL key that is of Data Type: String, apps will bypass the Portal URL sign in screen and automatically present the OAuth screen from your portal, easing the sign in process for your field workforce.   With Mobile Iron, the following steps can be used to push the Portal URL (using Explorer for ArcGIS on the iOS platform as the example): In the Core Admin Portal, go to Policies & Configs and navigate through Configurations > Add New > iOS and OS X > Managed App Config. Edit the Managed App Configuration with the Name, Description, BundleID and select the external file (PLIST), that contains the App-specific key-value pair configurations required for the app. Note: You can find the bundle ID for iOS apps by going to Apps > App Catalog, and clicking the hyperlink to edit the app. The bundle ID resides in the inventory field in parenthesis. To create the PLIST file, create a text file with the following text (see picture below). Replace the value in the portalURL key (<string>value</string>) with your organizations portal url. Save this file as a “.plist file (ie explorerAppConfig.plist). Here is how it works with Cisco Meraki, the following steps can be used to push the Portal URL: On Systems Manager, go to Apps > Add New > iOS app > Add App (Enter “Explorer for ArcGIS”) > Add. Within the Systems Manager, go to Settings > Add > New Meraki managed profile > Create New Profile > Add settings > Choose an app / Settings (see picture below) > Add Setting. If you are using another MDM product, please search their documentation for Managed App Config to find the necessary steps. Moving forward, we are looking to expose more capabilities that follow the guidelines outlined by the AppConfig.org community.  For more information about Esri's approach to Mobile Application Management, please read our patterns document on the ArcGIS Trust website.   ... View more

After receiving considerable feedback from the 17.1.0 release, we have updated Explorer for ArcGIS on the iOS platform with a strategic bug fix update. Thank you very much for all that have participated in the Test Flight beta for this update. You can now install the final, released version directly from the Apple App Store. This update includes the following: BUG-000106474—Can't see sublayers in the Layers list, or toggle sublayer visibility. BUG-000106478, BUG-000106507—Hyperlinks appear as text and URLs aren't clickable in the pop-up. BUG-000106475—Feature search fails when searching sublayers. BUG-000106698—Map search settings aren't honored, including disabling search in the app if Find Locations is disabled in the map. Improved performance when searching, identifying, and dropping pins on the map. Search results should list features before places. Improve sorting of maps in the Maps browse screen: sorting by title shouldn't be case sensitive, sorting by date shouldn't put oldest maps first. IWA Portals aren't being remembered in the list of recent portals. Support deep linking to Box with box:// and boxapp:// schemas. We have started work on the 17.1.2 release as well, with intention to bring a number of additional fixes and strategic updates very soon. The current proposed list of updates includes the following: BUG-000106480—Pop-ups for map services are not consistently displaying values when the field alias is different from the field name.  Note: We tried to get a fix for this into 17.1.1, but could only get a partial fix for map services hosted on ArcGIS Server 10.5 or later, and we didn't have a fix for earlier versions of ArcGIS Server. We have decided to wait and make sure we fix this properly, which unfortunately will take a bit longer. In the meantime, you can try one of the following workarounds: Republish your service so that the field names and field aliases match. Add the layer to the map using the FeatureServer endpoint instead of the MapServer endpoint. For example, https://myserver.com/arcgis/rest/services/MyService/FeatureServer instead of https://myserver.com/arcgis/rest/services/MyService/MapServer. Add the layer to the map using the full URL to the map service layer ID instead of the URL for the MapServer endpoint. For example, including the /0 for https://myserver.com/arcgis/rest/services/MyService/MapServer/0. BUG-000106721—Maps with uploaded shapefiles that contain a z-value don't load Correctly format dates and coded value domains in pop-ups when the field name and alias don't match. Certain layers not displaying and instead showing an exclamation mark beside the layer in the Layers list. Support attachments on map services.  Current Workaround: Add the feature service to the map instead of the map service. Improve the speed maps open Preserve the last open map when working without signing in Support using multiple fields in custom attribute displays Honor scale visibility when identifying NOTE: The 17.1.2 list is tentative and may change as we get closer to release. Thanks, Explorer Team ... View more

Thank you for all the feedback we have received on the 17.1.0 release! We very much appreciate your comments - we are hearing you and working on updates now. We want to get fixes out quickly, so will be releasing with the first set of them very soon, and then continuing to work to address others as quickly as we can. The first update, 17.1.1, is expected to be available next week. It will include the issues listed below. Most of these are available to test in beta now, others will be coming in a beta update on Monday: BUG-000106474—Can't see sublayers in the Layers list, or toggle sublayer visibility. BUG-000106478, BUG-000106507—Hyperlinks appear as text and URLs aren't clickable in the pop-up. BUG-000106475—Feature search fails when searching sublayers. [17.1.1 Beta 2] BUG-000106698—Map search settings aren't honored, including disabling search in the app if Find Locations is disabled in the map. Improved performance when searching, identifying, and dropping pins on the map. [17.1.1 Beta 1 for dropping pins, Beta 2 for identify and search improvements] Search results should list features before places. Improve sorting of maps in the Maps browse screen: sorting by title shouldn't be case sensitive, sorting by date shouldn't put oldest maps first. IWA Portals aren't being remembered in the list of recent portals. Support deep linking to Box with box:// and boxapp:// schemas. Explorer 17.1.1 Beta - you can request access to the betas for 17.1.1 by emailing Explorer4ArcGIS@esri.com. As this is a new beta program, you'll need to request access even if you participated in the beta program for 17.1.0.  We are also working on another update, 17.1.2, to address more of your feedback. Although not final yet, here is a tentative list of what we plan to include: BUG-000106480—Pop-ups for map services are not consistently displaying values when the field alias is different from the field name.  Note: We tried to get a fix for this into 17.1.1, but could only get a partial fix for map services hosted on ArcGIS Server 10.5 or later, and we didn't have a fix for earlier versions of ArcGIS Server. We have decided to wait and make sure we fix this properly, which unfortunately will take a bit longer. In the meantime, you can try one of the following workarounds: Republish your service so that the field names and field aliases match. Add the layer to the map using the FeatureServer endpoint instead of the MapServer endpoint. For example, https://myserver.com/arcgis/rest/services/MyService/FeatureServer instead of https://myserver.com/arcgis/rest/services/MyService/MapServer. Add the layer to the map using the full URL to the map service layer ID instead of the URL for the MapServer endpoint. For example, including the /0 for https://myserver.com/arcgis/rest/services/MyService/MapServer/0. BUG-000106721—Maps with uploaded shapefiles that contain a z-value don't load Correctly format dates and coded value domains in pop-ups when the field name and alias don't match. Certain layers not displaying and instead showing an exclamation mark beside the layer in the Layers list. Support attachments on map services. Current Workaround: Add the feature service to the map instead of the map service. Improve the speed maps open Preserve the last open map when working without signing in Support using multiple fields in custom attribute displays Honor scale visibility when identifying Identify on tile layers Support for CSV layers through a URL The following are also being discussed and evaluated right now, although no time frame has been determined: BUG-000106841—Add groups to the browsing experience Bring back the magnifier BUG-000106539—Support for sharing a map with others in your organization Thank you for your feedback and our deepest apologies for any problems the 17.1.0 release has caused you.  Explorer team ... View more

We are excited to announce that Workforce for ArcGIS is now fully supported with ArcGIS Enterprise 10.5.1! Workforce is a stand-alone setup that you will need to download from the MyEsri website. Once you sign in to MyEsri, navigate to the Downloads section and click on Apps. There you can quickly search for Workforce and find the installer. Before installing Workforce on top of ArcGIS Enterprise 10.5.1, please ensure that you have configured a hosting data store as Workforce writes project contents to it. Once installed, simply navigate to: https://host.domain.com/webadaptor/apps/workforce (where host, domain, and webadaptor are replaced by the information about your portal) to create your first Workforce project! For more information about ArcGIS Enterprise configuration for Workforce, please read our documentation topic. Workforce Team ... View more