Available for an ArcGIS organization licensed with the Indoors extension.
Categories in an map define ArcGIS Indoors how people interact with point and polygon data in Indoor Viewer and Indoors mobile apps. These layers can be derived from feature classes in the ArcGIS Indoors Information Model or from feature layers shared with your ArcGIS organization from other business systems. The layers can represent work orders, assets, office spaces, or other features. These categories can be configured into logical groups to help Indoors app users quickly find relevant information, such as a bike rack, elevator, conference room, or work order.
You can use the Create Default Indoors Category wizard to create categories automatically from a map layer based on the layer’s symbology. The wizard uses layer and symbol properties to configure default categories that can later be edited in the Configure Indoors Categories pane to meet your organizational needs.
Define the categories by layer
The wizard is contextually driven by the active map and uses properties from the map contents to prepopulate parameters. The categories created by the wizard persist in the selected map layer, so changing the active map after opening the wizard resets the wizard and deletes the unfinished changes.
Note:
Consider how Indoors layer configuration affects default category creation:
- The wizard supports creating default categories for layers symbolized using single symbol or unique values symbology. For layers with single symbol symbology, the wizard creates a single category. For layers with unique values symbology, it creates as many categories as there are symbol values, unless you are using an all other values symbol class.
- If a layer's symbology is based on a field that is not part of that layer's schema, it does not appear as an option in the wizard and you cannot create default categories from it. Ensure that the layer's symbology is updated when you update the layer's schema.
- Set a text field for the layer's Display field option on the Layer Properties dialog box. Only text fields are supported by Indoors apps for search and search suggestion functionality.
Follow these steps to create default categories for a layer using the Create Default Indoors Categories wizard:
- Start ArcGIS Pro.
- Open or create an ArcGIS Indoors map.
- Click the View tab and click Indoors > Configure Indoors Categories.
The Configure Indoors Categories pane appears.
- In the Categories view, click the Create Default Indoors Categories button
.
The Create Default Indoors Categories wizard appears.
The Define pane lists existing point and polygon layers in the active map that are symbolized using single symbol or unique values symbology.
Tip:
You can also access the wizard through the following:
- Click the Create Default Indoors Categories button in the Explore or Layers view.
- Right-click a layer in the Layers view and click Create Default Indoors Categories.
- Click the Create Default Indoors Categories button
- Choose the layer from which to derive the default categories.
Note:
Keep the following in mind when choosing a layer:
- Category configuration reflects the chosen layer and changing the chosen layer resets the wizard parameters.
- Map layers with broken data sources don't display in the layer list. Repair the map layers to make them visible in the Define pane.
- Click the Category Group drop-down arrow and choose the group to which you want to associate the new category.
The list shows the existing Indoors categories. By default, the tool sets a category group based on the layer name. If a category group with the same name as the layer doesn’t exist, the wizard creates one and associates categories to it.
Optionally, you can create stand-alone categories by setting the default value to None.
- Click Next.
Map fields to the Indoors model
When configuring categories, you can provide mapping to define which fields in the layer describe the required fields when the schema for the layer does not conform to the Indoors model. To simplify the category configuration process, configure your map as floor aware by setting the map's indoor Layers properties before creating categories. When configuring categories for layers from a floor-aware map, Facility and Level properties are automatically recognized and the sections for mapping these properties are not displayed.
Note:
If you are configuring categories for layers from an indoor dataset in a map that is not floor aware, you must map Facilities and Levels properties in the category creation wizard. This might require adding additional fields to your feature layers if they do not already exist, such as a facility ID field. Configuring your map as floor aware greatly simplifies the category creation process.
If you are configuring categories for a feature layer that conforms to the Indoors model, the field mapping is automatically populated.
The following field mapping is required:
- Unique ID
The following field mappings are required if your map is not floor aware:
- At least one of the facility fields
- At least one of the level fields
The following field mappings are optional:
- Subtitle field
- Display field (only available for web layers)
- Work order fields
Unique ID
Some systems available for publishing feature layers don’t reliably provide a static object ID, and a static unique ID is required to support Indoors. Map this field to a unique ID represented in another available field.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
Unique ID | Static unique ID for the feature. Indoors defaults to using the layer’s object ID as a unique ID for a web layer’s features. However, this is not always appropriate, as Indoors expects this to be a static unique ID for the features in a web layer that will not change over the lifetime of the feature. |
When mapping fields for categories based on a feature layer, the following fields must be mapped to make the location floor aware when represented as categories in Indoor Viewer and Indoors mobile apps. Field mappings are required where one or more of the required fields are missing in the category source layer or when configuring categories for a work order, for example, feature layers published from a work order or other ticketing system.
Facility properties
If you have not configured your map as floor aware at least one of the following field mappings is required:
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
Facility ID | Facility ID for the feature's location. |
Facility Name | Facility name for the feature's location. |
Level properties
If you have not configured your map as floor aware at least one of the following field mappings is required:
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
Level ID | Level ID for the feature’s location. |
Level Name | Level name for the feature’s location. |
Level Number | Level number for the feature’s location. |
Vertical Order | Vertical order for the feature’s location. |
Additional properties
These field mappings are optional:
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
Subtitle | Used to display subtitles in the various parts of Indoor Viewer. |
Display field | Used to display titles for features in various parts of Viewer. Required if your feature layer doesn’t include a display field property or you want to override the display field property of the layer. |
Work order properties
These field mappings are required if you want to take advantage of the work order listing capabilities of Indoors. Failing to include these additional field mappings in the category definition for a work order feature layer results in the layer being treated as a traditional web layer in Viewer and Indoors mobile apps with the traditional explore experience for feature layers.
The following are required field mappings to configure work orders as Indoors categories:
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
Work Order ID | Defines an identifying number for each work order. |
Title | Short description of the work order that can be a readable title for the record. |
Priority | Sequence or priority in which a work order needs to be resolved. The value should be a text description of the priority that can be displayed to the app user. Example—Critical, High, Medium |
Status | Status or current position of the work order in its life cycle. The value should be a text description of the status that can be displayed to the app user. Example—Planning, Assigned |
Created On Date | The date and time when the work order was created. |
Created By | Person who reported or is affected by the work order. |
Assigned To | Name of the agent to whom the work order is assigned. |
Field mapping workflow
Complete the following steps to add the required field mappings for a category:
- If the source layer does not conform to the Indoors model, map the unique ID field.
- Optionally, map the additional properties to define a subtitle field and display field for use in Viewer. This is required if you are configuring a work order category.
Note:
Display field mapping is only available for feature layers. For stand-alone layers, set the display field in the layer properties.
- Optionally, complete the field mapping for work order integration. This is required if you are configuring a work order category.
- Click Finish to save the category configuration.
Note:
If there are any invalid or missing parameters, the Finish option is unavailable and the Create Default Indoors Categories wizard indicates which pane contains the error with a red outline around the corresponding navigation breadcrumb. You can still move through the wizard to make changes.
Example field mapping
The following table is an example of attribute mapping for Indoors and ServiceNow work order feature layer integration.
| Mapping property | Field name |
|---|---|
Facility Name | location_facility_name |
Level Name | location_level_name |
Work Order ID | number |
Title | short_description |
Priority | priority_level |
Status | state_label |
Created On Date | sys_created_on |
Created By | called_id_name |
Assigned To | assigned_to_name |
Edit default category configuration
Some of the properties for the default categories are automatically configured from the selected layer properties, but you can change them in the Configure Indoors Categories pane.
You can change the following:
- Category name—Double-click to change
- Category order—Drag to change
You can also change the following by right-clicking a category in the Configure Indoors Categories pane and choosing the property you want to edit:
Category names
By default, the names of categories are based on the layer’s symbology labels. These are the names that appear as categories with icons in the Explore panel of Indoor Viewer and Indoors mobile apps. You can rename the categories after they are created.
Note:
Categories must have unique names. If an existing category has a name that matches a symbol label, the wizard creates the new category and appends the number of duplicates to the name.
Category order
Categories created using the Create Default Indoors Categories wizard are listed in alphabetical order in the Configure Indoors Categories pane.
You can organize categories or category groups in the order you want them to display in the Explore panel of the Indoors apps. You can do this from the Explore or Categories views of the Configure Indoors Categories pane.
Category filter expression
The wizard applies a filter expression for the default categories based on the layer’s symbol values for layers with unique values symbology. No filter is applied for categories created from layers that use single symbol symbology.
For example, if the selected layer is symbolized based on the USE_TYPE field, the wizard applies filter expressions to define the features included in the default categories:
- USE_TYPE = 'PARKING'
- USE_TYPE = 'AUDITORIUM'
- USE_TYPE = 'RESTROOM'
Search fields
Search fields are required to support the search experience in Indoors apps. The wizard sets search fields for default categories based on the layer’s display field. You can edit search fields or choose additional fields as your default search fields.
Note:
Only text fields are supported by the Indoors search. Certain fields such as ObjectID, GlobalID, or fields that are not supported are restricted from use and aren’t available.
Suggestion template
The wizard configures a suggestion template for the default categories based on the layer’s Display field option value. If you mapped a display property in the Field Mappings pane for web layers, this is used as the suggestion template.
Note:
Only text fields are supported by the Indoors search suggestion. Certain fields such as ObjectID, GlobalID, or fields that are not supported are restricted from use and aren’t available.
Icons
Icons are necessary for categories and category groups to display in the Explore panel and in other areas of the Indoors apps. Icons for default categories are automatically populated using a single symbol or unique values from the source layer’s symbology. The wizard scales the icons to the appropriate size for use in Indoors apps. Category groups are assigned a default icon.
Note:
For polygon features, an icon is created based on the polygon symbology of the layer. This icon is used in the Explore panel in the Indoors apps but does not affect the polygon symbology on the Indoors map.