With the latest update ArcGIS Online added several new configurable templates to the map viewer’s application template gallery. Even more interesting, you also now have the ability to publish your maps in these configurable templates directly from ArcGIS Online. Let’s take a closer look how.
We’ve signed in to our ArcGIS Online account, and opened a soils map from the ArcGIS Online Gallery. You can use any map that is publicly shared or that you have authored. Below we’ve opened the soils map from the gallery in the ArcGIS.com map viewer:
Our goal is to create a custom application using this map, and publish it for others to use. To do this we can take advantage of the newly introduced configurable application templates and ArcGIS Online application publishing.
Click Share, then choose Make a Web Application to view the template gallery. You’ll notice several new templates in the gallery, and the configurable ones are indicated by the “gears” that appear in the thumbnail.
For this example we’ll work with the configurable Basic Viewer template (currently located in the upper left corner). First we’ll preview the map in the template by clicking the template thumbnail. Note that the template has lots of ready-to-use built-in tools; print, measure, layer controls, a basemap gallery, social media sharing, and an overview map and legend and details panels.
Like other templates, we can download the template source code to modify and publish it from our own site. However for this example we’ll click Publish:
This binds our map to the Basic Viewer template and publishes it directly from ArcGIS Online as a hosted application.
When published, we’re prompted for a title, tags, and a summary description. It’s saved and managed like other items in My Contents, and is listed as a Web Mapping Application:
When the item details are viewed you’ll see a couple of key additions – the Attach Code and Configure App buttons. Click Configure App to display the configuration settings and options for the template.
By changing the options you can choose a different color scheme, add a custom logo, and check or uncheck menu items that you want to display. Make a change then click Refresh to view the changes. When satisfied click Save.
Below we’ve configured our application with a new color scheme, title, and custom logo, and also checked some menu items off:
Additional configuration options can be set at any time, and all application users will automatically see any changes. Publishing configured templates via ArcGIS Online is a free, quick, and easy way to share custom applications – no programming needed!
For more information and to view a video see Sharing maps.
