Configure categories in the Layers view

Available for an ArcGIS organization licensed with the Indoors extension.

The Configure Indoors Categories pane allows you to interactively create and manage ArcGIS Indoors categories and organize them into groups. You can create a catalog of indoor information for use in Indoors apps.

Category configuration contains descriptive information about points and areas of interest. A point of interest (POI) can be any relevant point, for example, a fire extinguisher, bike rack, smoking area, work order, or event. An area of interest can be any relevant polygon, for example, a conference room, elevator, or facility. These categories are configured to appear as icons in the Explore panel of Indoor Viewer and Indoors mobile apps. Configuring a category not only enables it as a category in the Explore panel of the Indoors apps, it also provides additional capabilities such as search, directions, and My Places for those features.

Categories and groups configured in the Configure Indoors Categories pane persist in the map files and are saved with the ArcGIS Pro project. You can share these maps inside and outside your organization. These maps can be shared as web and mobile maps to your organization for use with Indoors apps.

Learn more about categories and category groups

You can use the Layers view to create and manage categories associated with the layers in the active map. Changes made to map layers in the Contents pane, such as creating or renaming a layer or group layer, are reflected in the Layers view. Categories are organized by layer and do not include category group information. Category groups can be viewed and managed in the Explore or Categories views. Changes made to categories in the Layers view are reflected in the Explore and Categories views.

Categories and layers in Layer view

LabelDescription

1

Group layer

2

Layer

3

Category

Access the Layers view

Complete the following steps to open the Layers view in the Configure Indoors Categories pane:

  1. Click the View tab.
  2. In the Windows group, click the Indoors drop-down arrow and click Configure Indoors Categories Configure Indoors Categories.

    The Configure Indoors Categories pane appears, where you can configure or manage categories. The default view is the Categories view.

  3. Click the Layers view.

Create a category

You can create a category by clicking the Create Indoors Category button on the Layers view tab in the Configure Indoors Categories pane. This opens the Create Indoors Category wizard, which is a guided workflow on how to create a category for point and polygon features. You can optionally create default categories from a map layer using the Create Default Indoors Categories wizard. Once a category is created, it appears in the Layers view based on the map layer chosen during creation.

Repair a category layer link

Categories can be derived from a feature class layer in the ArcGIS Indoors Information Model or from feature web layers shared with your ArcGIS organization from other business systems. They can represent work orders, assets, or other points or areas of interest in your organization. ArcGIS Pro searches for the layer referenced by each category in the map. When a layer is removed, the layer link to the category is broken, which is indicated with a red exclamation point.

A broken category layer link must be repaired if the referenced layer is inaccessible or removed. The exclamation point disappears once the referenced layer is restored. You can also undo the action that removed the layer to add it back to the map and repair the category layer link.

If the source layer is not available, you can leave the broken category as is and continue to configure the rest of the categories and share the map. The category continues to appear as broken in the Configure Indoors Categories pane but is hidden from the Explore panel in the Indoors apps. If the broken category isn’t needed, you can remove it from the map.

  1. Click the Repair Broken Data Source button Repair Broken Data Source in the Disconnected Categories section.

    The Repair Disconnected Category dialog box appears.

  2. From the list of available map layers, choose the layer with which you want to associate the category.
    Note:
    • When you repair one category, all other categories associated with the original layer are repaired automatically.
    • When repairing the layer association for an existing category, you must ensure that the new layer's schema matches that of the original layer to prevent errors in your category configurations.

Organize categories

Categories define how people interact with point and polygon data layers in Indoor Viewer and Indoors mobile apps. Changes made to categories in the Layers view can be previewed in the Explore view of the Configure Indoors Categories pane.

The Layers view displays categories by associated layer rather than associated category group, and categories are organized alphabetically.

Tip:

You can arrange categories or category groups in the Explore or Categories view of the Configure Indoors Categories pane in the order you want them to display in the Explore panel of the Indoors apps.

Rename a category

A category name is set when you create a category using the Create Indoors Category or Create Default Indoors Categories wizard. You can also change a category name in the Layers view.

Use the following steps to rename a category:

  1. Right-click the category in the Layers view and click Rename.
    Tip:
    You can also choose an item and press the F2 key or double-click an item to rename it.
  2. Type the new name and press Enter.
    Note:

    The category name must be unique to avoid conflict with an existing category.

Copy a category

You can create a category by pasting a copy of an existing category. All the properties of the original category are set to the newly pasted category and can be modified as needed.

Note:

Only one category can be copied at a time.

  1. Right-click a category and click Copy.

    A copy of the category is created in the Layers view list depending on the association of the original category with a map layer.

  2. Rename the category if necessary.

Remove a category

Categories you add to the Layers view can be deleted from the map configuration by right-clicking a category and clicking Remove.

Tip:

You can use the following to remove multiple categories:

  • To choose multiple categories, press Shift or Ctrl while clicking categories.
  • To delete all the categories associated with a layer, right-click a layer and click Remove Categories.

Edit categories

Category properties are set when you create or copy a category, but you can change them. You can edit these properties by right-clicking a category and clicking the property you want to edit.