ESRI User Conference 2023 – Day 2: AGOL Map Viewer

The thing that I possibly like the most about the ESRI Users Conference is that you not only get to see all of the recent updates that the company has recently developed but also glimpses of what is coming soon.  In particular, I am excited about the advancements that they have made in respect to web mapping applications.

Are you an ArcGIS Online user, and have been wondering when to transition from the Traditional Web Map Viewer to the new Web Map Viewer?  To answer that question, for myself, I think the time is now.  At this point, per ESRI, there are now only four remaining functionalities that remain to be added to the new Map Viewer to give it all of the functionality that the Traditional Map Viewer had, which will be discontinued in late 2025, including the abilities to:

• Calculate fields (this would be nice to have)
• Add additional relationships to related records (something I have never needed to do previously)
• Vector tile style editing (not something I have ever needed to do, but which I could see being useful for some people)
• Saving/duplicating layers (there is a relatively simple work around for this, but it would be nice to have it built into the Map Viewer)

That said, there are far more than four added functionalities that the new Map Viewer has that the old version lacks, including:

• Easier browsing of data
• Feature editing enhancements
• Analysis enhancements, both for vectors and rasters
• Shortcuts
• Improved visibility, filtering, and effects (on the fly)
• Toggleable layers
• Charts (donut and pie)
• Label enhancements (including improved bookmarks and placements)
• Blending (in a group layer); including blending layers with basemaps and multiply effects
• Added display expressions
• Multidimensional imagery support, including an imagery slider
• The ability to upload feature symbols (svg)
• Sketch layers (as opposed to Classic's notes) with snapping, and also with the ability to upload custom symbols
• The ability to add and manually georeferenced media layers (jpg or png) using control points (on which media blending and effects can also be applied)

Besides all of these additions, the interface has been thoughtfully revamped with usability and efficiency in mind.  Some of the above enhancements will now allow you to complete some work flows/functions several times faster than they could be done before.  I must admit that I am very pleased!

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