Localization

Localization in ArcGIS Maps SDK for Kotlin ensures that your applications seamlessly adapt to your users’ language and regional preferences. The SDK's support spans across several languages, includes translated strings, date and number formatting, right-to-left (RTL) bidirectional content and customizable language settings for select API.

How does localization work with ArcGIS Maps SDK for Kotlin?

ArcGIS Maps SDK for Kotlin defaults to your device's current locale. To change the locale, you must change your device settings. If the locale is changed to one of the supported languages, you will see the effect in translated strings, data and number formation, bidirectional content, and localized directions. If your language is not supported, see locale fallback.

While the adaptation of your device's locale is automatic, there are various ways to customize locale settings.

Localization with basemap styles

Basemap styles are customizable with BasemapStyleParameters. You can manually change the language settings on basemap styles to customize label display. BasemapStyleParameters allow you to select a language strategy. A basemap style language strategy determines how to display localized labels. Strategies can show labels in the same language for different locales around the world or use mixed labels, with the local languages. The BasemapStyleLanguageStrategy enumeration offers five options to display localized languages on a basemap.

To specify language preferences on your basemap, create BasemapStyleParameters that specify a BasemapStyleLanguageStrategy with a specific locale or strategy. Then initailize your basemap with the parameters.

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        val basemapStyleParameters = BasemapStyleParameters()
        if (languageIdentifier.isNotBlank()) {
            // Apply a specific language if provided ("zh-CN" for Simplified Chinese, for example).
            basemapStyleParameters.languageStrategy = BasemapStyleLanguageStrategy.Specific(
                locale = Locale.forLanguageTag(languageIdentifier)
            )
        } else {
            // Otherwise, use the system locale language.
            basemapStyleParameters.languageStrategy = BasemapStyleLanguageStrategy.ApplicationLocale
        }
        // Apply the basemap style parameters (including language settings) to the basemap.
        arcGISMap.setBasemap(Basemap(BasemapStyle.ArcGISLightGray, basemapStyleParameters))

Localization in routing

Routing services localize labels and directions according to the current device locale. You can, however, explicitly set the directionsLanguage property for ClosestFacilityParameters and RouteParameters to display the resulting directions in a specified language.

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            val routeParameters = routeTask.createDefaultParameters().getOrElse { error ->
                return@launch showError("Error creating default route parameters: " + error.message)
            }

            routeParameters.apply {
                // Add the stops to the route parameters
                setStops(routeStops)

                // Return driving directions in Spanish
                returnDirections = true
                directionsLanguage = "es"
            }

Localization in portal services

Portal services are a large part of ArcGIS. The portal can perform operations such as updating or adding feature items, which often include sending metadata, including locale information. Locale data can affect items like basemaps, styling, and symbology. Device locale is the default setting but you can set a specific locale with Portal.locale. If the portal does not support the specified locale, the default portal settings are used.

Similarly, the OAuth login page can be localized during initialization with the constructor. If the given locale is not supported by the portal, the OAuth login page will be displayed in the language corresponding to the locale set in the portal or organization settings.

Locale-aware API

Localization includes displaying translated strings and error messages, formatting numbers and dates appropriately, and generating localized travel directions. Some APIs inherently support localization and cannot be customized. The following APIs support localization using the current locale:

• Popup
• All toolkit components, such as FeatureForm

Supported languages

ArcGIS Maps SDK for Kotlin has translation support for the locales listed below. In addition to these languages, date and number formatting is supported for any sub-locales.

• Arabic (ar)
• Bosnian (bs)
• Bulgarian (bg)
• Catalan (ca)
• Czech (cs)
• Danish (da)
• German (de)
• Greek (el)
• Spanish (es)
• Estonian (et)
• Finnish (fi)
• French (fr)
• Hebrew (he, iw)
• Croatian (hr)
• Hungarian (hu)
• Indonesian (id, in)
• Italian (it)
• Japanese (ja)
• Korean (ko)
• Lithuanian (lt)
• Latvian (lv)
• Norwegian Bokmål (nb-NO)
• Dutch (nl)
• Norwegian (no)
• Polish (pl)
• Portuguese (pt-BR, pt-PT)
• Romanian (ro)
• Russian (ru)
• Slovak (sk)
• Slovenian (sl)
• Serbian (sr)
• Swedish (sv)
• Thai (th)
• Turkish (tr)
• Ukrainian (uk-UA)
• Vietnamese (vi)
• Simplified Chinese (zh-CN)
• Traditional Chinese (zh-HK, zh-TW)

Support for right-to-left (RTL)

ArcGIS Maps SDK for Kotlin provides bidirectional support for supported languages and locales, where applicable. Content and positions with leading and trailing options will be converted to right-to-left for appropriate locales.

Locale fallback

Sub-locales not listed above will get translation strings from their macrolanguages. For example, French Canadian ("fr-CA") will use French ("fr") translation strings, and Mexican Spanish ("es-MX") uses Spanish ("es") translation strings. If there is no supported macrolanguage, the translation strings will fall back to English. Date and number formatting will still use the more specific sub-locale.