You will learn: how to use the Map Viewer to style layers and create meaningful visualizations.
The ArcGIS Online Map Viewer allows you to easily change the basemap and layer styles in a web map. The viewer provides styling suggestions (smart mapping) when layers are loaded, but you can change symbols, colors, and shapes interactively with different styling tools. Layers can be styled with a single symbol for all locations or with multiple symbols that are based on attribute or numeric values. Labels and pop-ups can also be configured and styled. Once a web map is styled, it can be loaded into an application and all of the layer settings will be honored. Learn how to load a web map in the Display a web map tutorial.
In this tutorial, you will use the Map Viewer to style the Trailheads, Trails, and Parks and Open Space layers to create a more meaningful visualization.
Go to the LA Parks and Trails Map (unstyled) web map in ArcGIS Online.
Click Sign In and Save > Save As to copy the map.
In the top bar, click Details > Contents (Show Contents of Map) to show the Contents panel.
In the top bar, search for Mahou Riviera, Malibu, CA, USA
and zoom out until you can see some of the trails, trailheads, and park areas.
When styling a web map, it's generally best to start with the basemap to set the context for the other layers that will be drawn on top. To improve the quality of our map we can replace the default basemap with a high quality vector basemap and a hillshade.
Add the World Topographic vector layer as the basemap.
World Topographic Map Vector
(by Esri)Add the World Hillshade layer to provide a 3D relief effect.
World Hillshade
.Move the World Hillshade layer to the basemap.
In Contents, click World Hillshade > More Options ... > Move to Basemap.
You can change the style of point features to be simple shapes or icons (images). You can choose from a library of images or use your own. Change the Trailheads symbols to a hiking icon from the National Parks Service library and then add labels to show trail names.
In Contents, click Trailheads > Change Style and select the following:
Show location only
National Park Service
> Hiker
(black background, white foreground)Symbol Size
> 18px
Add labels to show the names of the trailheads.
TRL_NAME
You can classify features by numeric field values to show differences in the data. Change the style of the Trails layer to emphasize the elevation gain of each trail. Set the color to purple and set the thickness of the line according to the values in the ELEV_GAIN
field. Trails with more elevation gain will be wider and trails with less gain will be thinner.
In Contents, click Trails > Change Style and select the following:
ELEV_GAIN
#BA55D3
(purple)3
7
25%
.Click Trails - Trails 0 > More Options ... > Rename and change the name to: Trails
> OK.
You can show different visual patterns for a single layer by adding it twice, applying a filter, and then applying a different style to the features. Copy the Trails layer and filter the data with the USE_BIKE
field to only show trails that allow bikes. Use light colored dots to represent the trails and then overlay this layer on the original layer. This will make it possible to distinguish between bike and non-bike trails.
Trails for Bikes
> OK.USE_BIKE
is
YES
> UniqueShow location only
#FF91FF
(light purple/pink) click > OK2
Dotted Line
(The first dotted symbol)You can apply different styles to features by classifying them by unique field values. Change the style of Parks and Open Spaces layer to show the different types of parks in the map. Use the TYPE field in the layer to classify the data and apply a different color symbol to each land type.
TYPE
80%
Click Show Map Legend to see the styled layers.
Zoom in and out of the map.
Save your map.
Your styled web map should look something like this.
When styling a layer using attributes and values, the default color ramps are a good starting point, but you can always manually select the desired color to create your own color and styling scheme. Go back to the Parks and Open Space Layer and use the Change Style panel to manually set the colors for the different types of areas.
Feel free to experiment with different colors, but here is the suggested color sequence:
Local Park
: Light PurpleNatural Areas
: Light GreenRegional Open Space
: Light BlueReginal Recreation Park
: Light RedVisit ArcGIS Online to learn more about styling layers and how to use Arcade to write scripts to automate styling workflows.