Available for an ArcGIS organization licensed with the Indoors extension.
Points of interest (POIs) are people, places, events, and objects that you want to interact with on the map. You can configure these POIs to support explore and search capability in the ArcGIS Indoors web and mobile apps. You can also use them as input to generate the network to support routing. Points of interest are divided into logical Category Groups and Categories to facilitate the explore experience in the Indoors app.
ArcGIS Indoors includes map templates that are preconfigured with category groups and several dozen categories that refine these groups. These categories are configured to appear as icons in the Explore pane of the Indoors web and mobile apps. The apps allow you to search and locate POIs such as facilities, people, and events on the Indoors map. The categories can be configured according to the POIs that are important to your organization. You can assign different symbols to represent each category defined by unique query expression.
Category groups
A category group is a broad collection of similar categories that are useful to your organization. An example of a category group is Places + Things, for places and things that you want to explore on the map with a catalog of similar categories, such as conference rooms, offices, and restrooms. The following most common category groups are preconfigured by default in the Indoors map template:
- Safety + Security—Indicates where equipment, first aid, exits, and other emergency or safety-related resources are located.
- Retail + Services—Indicates where on the map you can purchase goods or services or make other financial transactions. Examples include gas stations, stores, restaurants, or ATMs.
- Places + Things—Unit centroids or indoor addresses for noncommercial locations inside (or outside) of a facility. These can be ATMs, auditoriums, restrooms, elevators, or other unit use types. This can also include fountains, art pieces, or other landmarks that people may want to find.
When defining category groups, limit the categories in a group to categories using the same map layer as a source. While Indoors supports groups that contain categories from multiple map layers, the Indoors apps perform best when all categories in a group share the same source layer.
Categories
A category is a collection of similar points of interest that contain more details within a category type. For example, the Places + Things category group can be classified into an office category to include a list of office spaces across different facilities in your organization.
Categories can be attached to a category group to create a hierarchy of similar points of interest bundled together for a better exploring experience in Indoors. These categories can also exist outside of a group as stand-alone categories when they don't fit in a logical group. These stand-alone categories appear on the root level of the Explore pane along with category groups.
When defining categories, use simple expressions to define which features from the source layer to include. While Indoors supports complex queries, the app performs best with simple ones. The following are examples of simple expressions:
- CATEGORY_SUBTYPE = 'DOORS'
- USE_TYPE = 'ENTRYWAY'
Note:
People and event points do not have any further classification and are maintained as stand-alone categories in the category configuration.
Category display order
The order in which the category groups or categories appear in the Explore pane of Indoors is dictated by the display sequence set in the Explore and Categories view of the Configure Indoors Categories pane in ArcGIS Pro.
The Explore view in the Configure Indoors Categories pane is useful when validating your category and group configurations. The display and order of categories and groups in this view are reflected in the Indoors web and mobile apps when you share your Indoors maps.
The listing order for POIs contained in a category in the Explore pane of the Indoors web and mobile apps varies across platforms. This listing sequence in the Indoors apps is not defined in the category configuration and is managed at the app level.
Viewer lists the POIs in alphabetical order by default if the home location is not set. When it is set in My Places, the web app sorts the display order of POIs based on the farthest to the closest POI from the saved home location. The app also displays the travel time for the closest 10 POIs to the home location in the display list.
The Indoors mobile app can determine the geographic location of the user's device through an indoor positioning system (IPS), which provides the ability to track the current device position and calculate the distance between the device and POIs to enable routing. In the mobile app, these POIs are listed based on the nearest to the farthest POI from the device location when IPS is available. When IPS is unavailable, the app relies on the center of the map extent to sort the POI listing order. This provides a better navigation experience while searching the closest facility.