ArcGIS Online has received a pretty substantial year-end update according to Esri. In addition to loads of new features in AGOL, users have also been treated to improvements to Community Analyst, an update to Business Analyst Web App, fixes to ArcGIS Hub, and a big update to Operations Dashboard. Announcements about all of these product updates have been shared HERE.
If you follow Bern Szukalski, @bernszukaski on Twitter, then you are likely in the know when it comes to ArcGIS Online. Bern is the go-to person at Esri for everything ArcGIS Online, Story Maps and more! We noticed this week that Bern has shared his usual “What’s New” blog post on the Esri blogs, this latest edition sharing all the goodness that is now available in the newly updated, feature-packed ArcGIS Online. Now, judging by the Twitter-sphere, folks seem pretty excited about the availability of Firefly, a new point symbol effect with a very striking, colorized glow effect (see image above), however, there is much more to this release than glowing map symbols – but, yeah, FireFly is really awesome!
This list is extensive so we’ll simply touch on a few, noteworthy updates, however, when you dive deeper you’ll find that there’s loads of new functionality, including improvements to the user experience, spatial analytics, data vizualization, 3D mapping, data collection, admin functions, data and more.
Some of the major enhancements rolled out in this update to ArcGIS Online include these 10 Favorite Things:
- Do more with ArcGIS Online from your mobile device. Open layers in Map Viewer using the new open link on the layer’s item page. Sign in with your enterprise or social network credentials and get help with your password and user name. Administrators can now make web apps available to organization members by adding apps to the app launcher.
- A new online version of Insights is available for ArcGIS Online. For more information, see the Insights for ArcGIS help & see the Insights for ArcGIS website
- You can now update the URL of layers in your map from HTTP to HTTPS, or from a staging version of the layers to a production version of the layers. This is done through the map’s item page.
- A new firefly symbol set is available. A firefly point symbol is a dot with a colorized glow effect, useful for creating dramatic thematic maps. For more information about FireFly symbology, check out this article from John Nelson (the creator) as he shares how to hurricane map – an impresive lesson! See also this resource on glowing point symbols. Additionally, John has authored a blog post describing exactly how to work with FireFly symbols and according to John, “Any point layer in ArcGIS can be given Firefly point symbols.”
- You can now measure distances in 3D between two points in Scene Viewer and users can also place custom 3D symbols in your scenes with Scene Viewer.
- You can now access CSV and Microsoft Excel files stored in Google Drive, Microsoft One Drive, and Dropbox and publish them as hosted feature layers. You can also publish Google Sheets from Google Drive.
- You can now define an area of interest for hosted feature layer views to limit access to features to a particular area.
- Collector has updated since the last ArcGIS Online release, of interest, Trimble Catalyst (our UAV Services have been using this solution) is supported on Android, allowing you to use Trimble’s new subscription-based software GNSS receiver capable of collecting data at centimeter accuracy.
- World Imagery basemap has been updated with additional sets of DigitalGlobe imagery for several countries, including sub-meter resolution Basemap +Vivid imagery for Australia and the United States. In addition, sub-meter resolution Basemap +Metro imagery has been published for a few hundred additional cities around the world.
- ArcGIS Hub has recently been updated – Site and Page improvements include new cards that enable you to quickly and easily configure and customize your sites. Site Themes have an improved editor, and now include 7 configurable theme options
And there’s much more! For the complete summary of new functionality be sure to consult this Esri blog and for a complete list of the updates to ArcGIS Online see this document
See Also the following useful resources:
- What’s new in Survey123 for ArcGIS.
- What’s new in Workforce for ArcGIS.
- What’s new in Web AppBuilder for ArcGIS.
- ArcGIS Maps for Power BI.
- ArcGIS blog posts specific to this release.
Lots of improvements to ArcGIS Hub. ArcGIS Hub includes a quick, configurable and customizable website editor.
Note: GEO Jobe are experts in custom ArcGIS solutions and deployments, cloud hosting via the GEO Powered Cloud (shared and dedicated hosting supporting ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Enterprise and Esri partner solutions), application development and support for apps built on the ArcGIS Online platform and UAV data solutions for deployment and use in the organization’s ArcGIS infrastructure. Please feel free to contact us for more information
Some noteworthy Tweets from the User Community about this latest update:
@pwross01 – update includes new accessibility features in Story Map Journal that enable authors 2 add alternative text 4 media in their stories and readers to more easily navigate stories using the keyboard.
@Runneals – It’s almost like @pwross01 & the @ArcGISOnline team heard me on this one 😂 awesome new “authoritative” tags that came out today
@Barker_pc – One of my favorite features in @ArcGISOnline. Define an area of interest for your hosted feature layer view and control what data your audience can see.
@RkeithCooke – If you’ve been interested in applying #BI to your data (e.g. permitting, #311, CAD/RMS, etc.) and weren’t able to use Insights for #ArcGIS b/c you hadn’t deployed Portal, now you can use this app in @ArcGISOnline.
@dragons8mycat – @Esri have added measure tools to the @ArcGISOnline in the latest update
See many more community updates and comments on the #ArcGISOnline hashtag!
What are you excited wbout in this latest update to ArcGIS Online? Please share below via comment or Tweet to @geojobegis and use the hashtag #ArcGISonline
Our December release is live! The blogs and documentation are ready to introduce you to the new features. Log into #ArcGISOnline, try them out, and let us know what you think! @bernszukalski‘s blog: https://t.co/OPggySjIFF
Documentation: https://t.co/M4LxEnNzEq pic.twitter.com/HgJ6O6WWXy— ArcGIS Online (@ArcGISOnline) December 7, 2017
