Display a shapefile with custom symbology.

Use case
Feature layers created from shapefiles do not possess any rendering information, and will be assigned with a default symbology. You can apply custom styling to ensure that the content is visible and usable in the context of a specific map. For example, you could use this to visually differentiate between features originating from two different shapefiles, by applying a blue color to one, and a red color to the other.
How to use the sample
Pan and zoom the map to view the custom renderer applied to the feature layer created from the shapefile.
How it works
- Create a
ShapefileFeatureTable, providing the path to a shapefile. - Create a
FeatureLayerand associate it with theShapeFileFeatureTable. - Create a
SimpleRendererto override the default symbology. The simple renderer takes a symbol and applies that to all features in a layer. - Apply the renderer to the
FeatureLayerby setting the renderer.
Relevant API
- FeatureLayer
- ShapefileFeatureTable
- SimpleFillSymbol
- SimpleLineSymbol
- SimpleRenderer
Offline data
This sample uses the Aurora Subdivisions Shapefile. It is downloaded from ArcGIS Online automatically.
About the data
This sample displays a shapefile containing subdivisions in Aurora, CO.
Additional information
While shapefiles contain no rendering information, other data sources such as Service Feature Tables or Geodatabase Feature Tables can contain such information. As a result, the rendering properties of the other data sources can be pre-defined by the author.
Tags
package, shape file, shapefile, symbology, visualization
Sample Code
/* Copyright 2025 Esri * * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. * You may obtain a copy of the License at * * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 * * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and * limitations under the License. * */
package com.esri.arcgismaps.sample.applysymbologytoshapefile
import android.content.Intentimport android.os.Bundleimport com.esri.arcgismaps.sample.sampleslib.DownloaderActivity
class DownloadActivity : DownloaderActivity() { override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState) downloadAndStartSample( Intent(this, MainActivity::class.java), getString(R.string.apply_symbology_to_shapefile_app_name), listOf( "https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=d98b3e5293834c5f852f13c569930caa" ) ) }}/* Copyright 2025 Esri * * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. * You may obtain a copy of the License at * * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 * * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and * limitations under the License. * */
package com.esri.arcgismaps.sample.applysymbologytoshapefile
import android.os.Bundleimport androidx.activity.ComponentActivityimport androidx.activity.compose.setContentimport androidx.compose.material3.MaterialThemeimport androidx.compose.material3.Surfaceimport androidx.compose.runtime.Composableimport com.arcgismaps.ApiKeyimport com.arcgismaps.ArcGISEnvironmentimport com.esri.arcgismaps.sample.sampleslib.theme.SampleAppThemeimport com.esri.arcgismaps.sample.applysymbologytoshapefile.screens.ApplySymbologyToShapefileScreen
class MainActivity : ComponentActivity() {
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState) // authentication with an API key or named user is // required to access basemaps and other location services ArcGISEnvironment.apiKey = ApiKey.create(BuildConfig.ACCESS_TOKEN)
setContent { SampleAppTheme { ApplySymbologyToShapefileApp() } } }
@Composable private fun ApplySymbologyToShapefileApp() { Surface(color = MaterialTheme.colorScheme.background) { ApplySymbologyToShapefileScreen( sampleName = getString(R.string.apply_symbology_to_shapefile_app_name) ) } }}/* Copyright 2025 Esri * * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. * You may obtain a copy of the License at * * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 * * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and * limitations under the License. * */
package com.esri.arcgismaps.sample.applysymbologytoshapefile.screens
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.Columnimport androidx.compose.foundation.layout.fillMaxSizeimport androidx.compose.foundation.layout.paddingimport androidx.compose.material3.Scaffoldimport androidx.compose.runtime.Composableimport androidx.compose.ui.Modifierimport androidx.lifecycle.viewmodel.compose.viewModelimport com.arcgismaps.toolkit.geoviewcompose.MapViewimport com.esri.arcgismaps.sample.applysymbologytoshapefile.components.ApplySymbologyToShapefileViewModelimport com.esri.arcgismaps.sample.sampleslib.components.MessageDialogimport com.esri.arcgismaps.sample.sampleslib.components.SampleTopAppBar
/** * Main screen layout for the Apply Symbology to Shapefile sample */@Composablefun ApplySymbologyToShapefileScreen(sampleName: String) { val mapViewModel: ApplySymbologyToShapefileViewModel = viewModel()
Scaffold( topBar = { SampleTopAppBar(title = sampleName) }, content = { padding -> Column( modifier = Modifier .fillMaxSize() .padding(padding), ) { MapView( modifier = Modifier .fillMaxSize(), arcGISMap = mapViewModel.arcGISMap ) }
// Surface any error dialogs surfaced by the ViewModel mapViewModel.messageDialogVM.apply { if (dialogStatus) { MessageDialog( title = messageTitle, description = messageDescription, onDismissRequest = ::dismissDialog ) } } } )}/* Copyright 2025 Esri * * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. * You may obtain a copy of the License at * * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 * * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and * limitations under the License. * */
package com.esri.arcgismaps.sample.applysymbologytoshapefile.components
import android.app.Applicationimport androidx.lifecycle.AndroidViewModelimport androidx.lifecycle.viewModelScopeimport com.arcgismaps.Colorimport com.arcgismaps.mapping.ArcGISMapimport com.arcgismaps.mapping.BasemapStyleimport com.arcgismaps.mapping.Viewpointimport com.arcgismaps.mapping.layers.FeatureLayerimport com.arcgismaps.data.ShapefileFeatureTableimport com.arcgismaps.mapping.symbology.SimpleLineSymbolimport com.arcgismaps.mapping.symbology.SimpleLineSymbolStyleimport com.arcgismaps.mapping.symbology.SimpleFillSymbolimport com.arcgismaps.mapping.symbology.SimpleFillSymbolStyleimport com.arcgismaps.mapping.symbology.SimpleRendererimport com.arcgismaps.geometry.Pointimport com.arcgismaps.geometry.SpatialReferenceimport com.esri.arcgismaps.sample.applysymbologytoshapefile.Rimport kotlinx.coroutines.launchimport java.io.Fileimport com.esri.arcgismaps.sample.sampleslib.components.MessageDialogViewModel
class ApplySymbologyToShapefileViewModel(application: Application) : AndroidViewModel(application) { val provisionPath = application.getExternalFilesDir(null)?.path + File.separator + application.getString(R.string.apply_symbology_to_shapefile_app_name)
// Define renderer: red outline with yellow fill for all features private val outlineSymbol = SimpleLineSymbol( style = SimpleLineSymbolStyle.Solid, color = Color.red, width = 1.0f ) private val fillSymbol = SimpleFillSymbol( style = SimpleFillSymbolStyle.Solid, color = Color.yellow, outline = outlineSymbol )
// Initialize the map with a topographic basemap, an initial viewpoint, and the shapefile layer val arcGISMap = ArcGISMap(BasemapStyle.ArcGISTopographic).apply { val center = Point( x = -11662054.0, y = 4818336.0, spatialReference = SpatialReference.webMercator() ) initialViewpoint = Viewpoint(center, 200000.0) }
// Create a message dialog view model to surface errors val messageDialogVM = MessageDialogViewModel()
init { val shapeFile = File(provisionPath, "Subdivisions.shp") if (!shapeFile.exists()) { messageDialogVM.showMessageDialog( "Shapefile not found", "Expected .shp file at ${shapeFile.path}" ) } else { // Create shapefile table using local file, and create its layer val shapefileTable = ShapefileFeatureTable( shapeFile.path ) val featureLayer = FeatureLayer.createWithFeatureTable(shapefileTable).apply { // Apply the renderer to the layer renderer = SimpleRenderer(fillSymbol) } // Add the shapefile layer to the map and attempt to load the map arcGISMap.operationalLayers.add(featureLayer) // Load the configured ArcGIS Map viewModelScope.launch { arcGISMap.load().onFailure { error -> messageDialogVM.showMessageDialog(error) } } } }}