ArcGIS Online - JessicaOPRD/docs GitHub Wiki
Cloud style editors
I had a really hard time re-discovering how to do this in July 2022. It turns out there are 3 very similar, but slightly different, cloud portals for editing layer and basemap styles. As a non-GIS teammate, it's easier if I can use the cloud features of ArcGIS Online to contribute to style/interface decisions.
| Option | Notes |
|---|---|
| Map Viewer | ⚪ Most findable via the cloud portal ("Map" top-nav item from Oregon portal) ⚪ "Content" wants to open in this viewer by default 🔴 Can't edit layer shapes, lines, and/or text colors 🟢 Can apply global effects such as layer transparency, blending mode, and filter effects (blur, hue rotate, etc) 🟢 Sketch tools feel pretty advanced (have not used) |
| Map Viewer Classic | 🔴 Harder to find 🔴 Likely to become legacy/deprecated 🟢 Can edit layer and basemap shapes, lines, and/or text colors, but a bit unintuitive to get started especially for basemaps (see below). 🟢 "Change Style" interface offers access to layer styles, text, visibility, patterns, icons, etc. on granular level 🔴 Font choice is determined by means that is unobvious from web editor perspective (it is definitely limited/chosen somehow from the original file) 🔴 Icons are bitmaps and must be uploaded 🟢 "Edit by color" option is excellent and allows simplifying palette/number of colors in use, as well as quick global edits 🟡 Can set global effects such as layer transparency, but not blending mode or filter effects (outside "Change Style" editor) |
| Vector Tile Style Editor | 🔴 I have no idea how to find this or what it is overall — someone supplied a direct link — it appears from the original URL to be part of the Developers ArcGIS tooling, possibly an app created by? 🔴 I suspect my original style edits took place in this editor, as it is almost identical to the Map Viewer Classic style editor and has all of its features — I believe a key difference that confused me was different basemaps 🟢 Overall easier to browse my content through this tool |
Map Viewer Classic
Defining a new style from an existing default basemap
- Go to arcgis.com and sign in
- Click "Map" in the top nav to create a new map
- Click "Switch to Map Viewer Classic"
- Click the "Basemap" tab to select a starting basemap
- Click the "Content" tab
- Click the "[Basemap] Canvas" item to open its layers — there should be two, a "Reference" which includes content like labels and a "Base" which includes feature colors — in January 2022 I feel like this was only one layer where all styles could be edited
- Hover over one of the layers
- Click the "Change Style" icon 🟡🟥 to open the style editor — you will be asked to first "Save style as" before initiating edits on either layer
I tried to use the style JSON export/import between ArcGIS accounts, but I could not get this feature to work. I also think it's odd that I could only figure out how to edit styles in the "Classic" tool. This tutorial from Esri indicates it's necessary right now.
To view all style layers created via the online editor, click "Content" in the top nav.