Configurable application templates

Application templates allow you to build web apps from the web maps and groups you create without having to write code. Esri provides the following options to build apps from configurable app templates:

• Use configurable app templates from the map viewer to embed your map and build an application.
• Download configurable app templates from the portal and deploy them on your web server. You would do this if you want to customize the template before deploying applications from it.

Tip:

Another option for creating web apps is to use the interactive Web AppBuilder for ArcGIS.

Here are some considerations to keep in mind as you consider which configurable app to use:

• Purpose—The most important consideration is the purpose of your app. Embedded within this goal is your intended audience: Who is going to use your app and what are the key points that you want them to take away from the experience?
• Functionality—What is the critical functionality needed to support that goal?
• Aesthetic—How does the app’s layout and color scheme support your brand or message?

The following sections organize the configurable app templates available in Portal for ArcGIS into categories based on their purpose. Some configurable app templates appear in more than one category, as they meet multiple purposes.

The final section in this topic discusses downloading and customizing these templates.

Build a story map

Use these apps to combine authoritative maps with narrative text, images, and multimedia content. Use these configurable apps to harness the power of maps and geography to tell your story.

• Story Map Basic—Presents a map through a minimalist user interface. Apart from the title bar and an optional legend, the map fills the screen. This is a good choice when you want the map to be the focus of the app.
• Story Map Journal—Creates a compelling map-based narrative presented as a set of journal entries. It's ideal for creating multimedia stories that combine text, maps, images, and video, especially when you have lots of text or a rich array of content.
• Story Map Series—Presents a series of maps or media. The app can be configured to use tabs, numbered bullets, or an expandable side accordion. You can also include images, video, and web content in side panels to help tell your story.
• Story Map Swipe and Spyglass—Compares two maps or two layers in the same map. It is a good choice for showing before and after imagery, or other changes over time.
• Story Map Tour—Presents a sequential, place-based narrative in the form of a series of geotagged photos and captions linked to an interactive map. This is a good choice for walking tours or for presenting locations you would like users to follow in a sequenced order.

Collect and edit data

The apps in this category are primarily focused on data collection. The source of the data can be either a subject matter expert or the general public. These apps fall into two subcategories: crowdsourcing and general editing.

Crowdsourcing

• Crowdsource Manager—Provides the ability to review crowdsourced information and update attributes such as status and assignment. This is a good choice for collecting crowdsourced data across multiple layers and maps since the data is collected using apps such as Crowdsource Reporter or Collector for ArcGIS. Requires a group that contains at least one map with an editable feature layer. Since the Crowdsource Manager app is created through a group, it is not available in the map viewer.
• Crowdsource Polling—Allows for collecting feedback and assessing public sentiment for a series of proposals, plans, or events. Users are presented with a map and list of features containing the details of each proposal, plan, or event, including any attached documents. These users can submit feedback in the form of votes and comments.
• Crowdsource Reporter—Provides the ability to collect a variety of crowdsourced issues or observations in a single app. This is a good choice for collecting crowdsourced data across multiple layers and maps. Requires a group that contains at least one map with an editable feature layer. Since the Crowdsource Reporter app is created through a group, it is not available in the map viewer.
• GeoForm—Provides a form-based experience for entering data through a form instead of a map pop-up. This is a good choice for users who find forms a more intuitive format than pop-ups for entering data.
• Information Lookup—Provides the ability to store the location of each search in a point layer. This is a good choice if you want to provide information to a community of users but are also interested in gathering their location for marketing or other purposes.

General editing

• Basic Viewer—Provides editing capabilities in the context of a general-purpose mapping app. This is a good choice when your audience needs additional tools or information about the map to support their editing activities.
• Edit—Provides focused editing capabilities. This is a good choice when the primary purpose is to enable users to edit features and attributes.
• Find, Edit, and Filter—Provides the ability to search for features or addresses, filter features based on attributes, and create, update, and delete features. The filter value is also used to automatically populate an attribute for new features.

Compare maps and layers

These apps are focused on comparing geographic phenomena; the nature of the comparison you choose may depend on your end goal.

• Compare Analysis—Provides side-by-side comparison of several maps. For example, you could use this app to present the results from a variety of different analytic methods, the difference between household income in multiple places, or the difference between household income and home values in a single location. The app also provides the ability to open the pop-ups for the same feature in each map to compare the values.
• Local Perspective—Compares layers within a buffered distance of an address or point. The collection of layers can be scrolled through to gain an understanding of the variation between the layers within the current buffer. This is a good choice for showing data comparing availability of resources like schools, police stations, fire stations, and hospitals, or for comparing different types of crimes committed near an address.
• Map Carousel—Shows a group of maps with the ability to autoplay through the carousel. This is a good choice even when your maps aren’t related but you want to have a dynamic presentation of multiple maps on a common office display or at a trade show booth. Requires a group.
• Public Information—Uses a swipe tool to hide and reveal a layer within your map. This is a good choice for inspecting the difference between two scenarios. For example, you could show the difference between current sea level and a projected rise in sea level, or visualize an area before and after a tornado where the map view may want to closely inspect the difference between the scenarios at a large scale. This supports configuring one swipe layer and allows you to optionally overlay geolocated content from Twitter, Instagram, and Flickr.
• Story Map Series—This is a good choice when you have a large number of maps or locations to present or if you would like to include text and other content with each map.
• Story Map Swipe and Spyglass—Displays the difference between two maps or between two layers in one map. For example, you could show the difference between current sea level and a projected rise in sea level, or visualize an area before and after a tornado where the user may want to closely inspect the difference between the scenarios at a large scale. This supports using the swipe or spyglass option by either configuring a swipe layer in one map or setting up two maps for comparison.

Explore and summarize data

The apps in this category allow your users to interact with attributes and in some cases other services to facilitate a deeper exploration of the content of your map to create visual, interactive representations of your data.

• Elevation Profile—Generates an elevation profile graph based on a selected line feature in the map or a line drawn with the measure tool. This is a good choice for showing changes in elevation along a trial or route.
• Filter—Displays an interactive dialog box for exploring the distribution of a single attribute or the relationship between different attributes. This is a good choice when you want to understand the distribution of different types of features within a layer, or create an experience where you can gain deeper insight into how the interaction of different variables affect the resulting map content.
• Finder—Provides the ability to search for features or addresses, print maps, and share through social media and email.
• Impact Summary—Summarizes numeric data for up to four different fields. This app also includes the ability to geoenrich data and is ideal for showing the impact of an event or a proposal on the local population.
• Summary Viewer—Shows basic statistics (count, sum, ave, min, max) for a collection of fields. The app also summarizes data about features in the current map extent and configures a filter field to summarize the features that meet that criteria.
• Time Aware—Provides the ability to visualize the changes in data over time by interacting with a time slider. The map can be configured to aggregate the data points as time progresses or show data at discrete time frames, for example, animating the progression of an oil spill over time or showing the variation in crime at different times.

Make a gallery

Use these apps to create a gallery of maps, apps, or other content that can be used as a convenient access point for all of your geographic content. These apps require a group.

• Map Carousel—Shows a group of maps with the ability to autoplay through the carousel. Since the Map Carousel app is created through a group, it is not available in the map viewer.
• Maps and Apps Gallery—Displays a collection of maps, apps, documents, and layers. Gallery contents are searchable and can be filtered using item tags. Private gallery content can be accessed by signing in to the app using your ArcGIS credentials. Since the Maps and Apps Gallery app is created through a group, it is not available in the map viewer.
• Public Gallery—Displays maps, apps, and layers from a group in a grid or a list. Since the Public Gallery app is created through a group, it is not available in the map viewer.

Map social media

Use these apps to include social media content in your map to supplement your message with content related to your theme and location.

• Public Information—Displays geotagged social media contributions to understand what is trending through these networks centered on your theme and location. Supported feeds include Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, YouTube, and Webcams.travel.
• Story Map Tour—Creates a map with points based on an album of photos from Facebook, Flickr, or Picasa. This is a good choice for showing pictures from hikes, vacations, or local events.

Provide local information

Use these apps to highlight the resources available at a location. Options include highlighting all of the features within a certain distance of a location and informing a user that their address is located within a certain geographic area.

• Crowdsource Polling—Provides a forum for soliciting citizen feedback on proposals or issues in a local area.
• Impact Summary—Presents the impact of an event or a proposal on the local population. This app also allows you to geoenrich data as part of the configuration process.
• Information Lookup—Allows users to identify the polygon or polygons that their address or location intersects. The pop-up from each feature is shown when there is an intersection, and a pop-up containing the message of your choice is presented when there is not an intersection.
• Local Perspective—Displays the amenities, demographic, lifestyle, and weather information within a buffer of an address or point. This is a good choice for showing data that describes resources such as restaurants, parking lots, theaters, and museums available near an address.
• Public Information—Displays social media commentary to the map. This is a good choice when you want to assess local sentiment on current events. Supported feeds include Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, YouTube, and Webcams.travel.
• Story Map Tour—Highlights points of interests as part of a sequential narrative. This is a good choice for highlighting a collection of historical landmarks, presenting municipal development projects, or showcasing a town's iconic river walk.

Route and get directions

Use these apps to provide driving directions from a user-defined starting point to the geographic features within your map.

• Directions—Identifies the nearest destination feature to a user-selected address or location and provides turn-by-turn directions between the two points. This is a good choice when you want to route to the nearest destination, make a store locator when many options are available, or for providing directions to a single office or location.
• Local Perspective—Provides directions to features within a radius of a user-selected point. This is a good choice when you want to allow users to find directions to a point of interest in a local area or for routing to destinations in more than one feature layer.

Showcase a map

This category of apps includes many options for presenting thematic or general maps. The apps include legends, descriptions, and other basic tools to assist users in understanding the message of the map. They also support a configurable search experience and all but Story Map Basic support using URL parameters to open the map to a specific feature. These apps do not have any requirements—they can be used as is and do not require any map or app configurations. They are good choices when you want the map to be the focus of the app.

While there are some differences in functionality between these apps, the primary differences are aesthetic. It is recommended that you preview these apps from the map viewer and explore the various configuration options.

• Basic Viewer—Displays a set of commonly used tools within a floating pane. This is a good choice for balancing the need for a collection of tools while still maximizing the amount of screen real estate dedicated to the map. The app includes the ability to toggle layer visibility, print a map, and show pop-ups in the floating pane.
• Map Tools—Displays a set of commonly used tools in a more traditional toolbar-driven user experience. The app includes the ability to toggle layer visibility, print a map, and view a table of attributes.
• Minimalist—Presents a map with a zoom slider and a scale bar, maximizing the amount of screen real estate dedicated to the map. The app includes the option to show a legend, description, or pop-up info in a side pane.
• Simple Map Viewer—Displays a map with a legend and description within a sliding drawer pane. This is a good general-purpose map app when simple navigation tools are needed.
• Story Map Basic—Presents a map with a title bar, maximizing the amount of screen real estate dedicated to the map. The app includes the option to show a legend.

Download and customize

You can download configurable app templates from Portal for ArcGIS, alter them, and deploy them in your own web server. You must alter the sharing host to use your portal, change the JavaScript API references to point to the JavaScript API copy that is local to the portal, and add a map ID for every configurable app template you download and deploy to your own web server. Additional steps may be needed for individual app templates. These instructions are in a readme file that is included with the .zip file you download.