Available for an ArcGIS organization licensed with the Indoors extension.
Categories in a map define how users interact with point and polygon data in Indoor Viewer and Indoors mobile apps. These layers can be derived from feature layers, web feature layers, and map image layers. These categories can be organized into logical groups to help Indoors app users quickly find relevant information, such as a bike rack, elevator, conference room, or work order.
Tip:
Plan the structure of your category groups so that each group only contains categories from a single map layer. Including categories from multiple map layers in a single category group can impact the performance and experience of the search and explore functionality of the Indoors apps.
You must configure your map as floor aware by setting the map's Indoor Layers properties before creating categories.
The Create Indoors Category wizard can be used to create a new category to interact with features in the Indoor Viewer, Indoors for iOS, and Indoors for Android apps. To create default categories for a layer instead of individually creating each category, use the Create Default Indoors Categories wizard.
Define the category
The wizard is contextually driven by the active map and uses properties from the map contents to prepopulate parameters. Changing the active map after opening the wizard resets the wizard and deletes the unfinished category.
It’s important to consider the appropriate category groups for features when creating a new category.
- Start ArcGIS Pro.
- Open or create an ArcGIS Indoors map.
- Ensure that the map is configured as floor aware.
- Click the View tab and click Indoors > Configure Indoors Categories.
The Configure Indoors Categories pane appears.
- In the Categories view, click the Create Indoors Category button
.The Create Indoors Category wizard appears.
The Define pane lists existing point and polygon feature layers available in the active map. You can expand the layer to see these layers along with their symbols.
- Choose the layer from which the new category items will be derived.
The name field for the new category you are creating uses the name of the layer you choose in the list unless you change it.
Note:
Category configuration reflects the chosen layer, and changing the chosen layer resets the wizard parameters.
- Optionally, change the name of the category.
This is the name that appears as a category with an icon in the Explore panel of Indoor Viewer and Indoors mobile apps. The wizard restricts the use of an existing category name to avoid listing duplicate categories in the Indoors web and mobile apps.
- Click the Category Group drop-down arrow and choose the group to which you want to associate the new category.
Category Group lists all the existing Indoors categories. You can create a new stand-alone category by leaving the default value of None.
- Click Next.
Filter a subset of features
You can filter features for the new category to a subset of features from the source layer by applying a filter expression. A category with no expression returns all records from the source layer. The wizard automatically sets an expression if you selected a layer subtype for the new category in the Define pane. There are three methods to define or modify an existing expression:
- Clause mode—You can build queries using drop-down menus in an SQL query builder.
- SQL mode—If you are familiar with SQL expressions, you can create a new expression in the SQL editor with syntax help and autocompletion.
Note:
Use the Verify option to ensure your expression is valid before moving to the next step.
- Add expression—You can load a predefined query from a query expression file (.exp file extension) into the wizard and modify it in the clause or SQL mode as needed.
Indoors also includes the ability to use tokens for string substitution in query expressions. You can configure categories to filter dynamically on app-driven information. Tokens can be defined using the following syntax:
{user.username}
The token is included between the braces in the previous example.
The following SQL editor example shows a token used in a WHERE clause:
Field1 = ‘{user.username}’
The following identifies the URL token supported by Indoors:
| Name | String | Description |
|---|---|---|
User Name | user.username | Replaces the text in the string to include the ArcGIS organization user name for the signed in user. This token is primarily used in a query expression to construct subcategories that are limited to items associated with the active user (for example, work orders assigned to the active user). It requires the Indoors app user to be signed in to the ArcGIS organization. |
Tip:
Use a simple expression to define the features to include in the category, such as USE_TYPE = 'ENTRYWAY'.
Define the categories using the same fields for all of the categories that are to be grouped. For example, if you're defining categories for the Places + Things category group, all categories would refer to the same field (such as USE_TYPE) in their expression.
- Optionally, create or edit an expression.
- Click Next.
Map fields to the Indoors model
When configuring categories, you can provide mapping to define fields in the layer that describe the fields used in the Indoors web and mobile apps. This includes a required unique ID field as well as optional fields for subtitle and display fields or work order properties. Configure the map as floor aware by setting the map's Indoor Layers properties before creating categories.
Note:
If you do not configure the map as floor aware before configuring categories, you must provide fields that identify the feature's associated facility and associated level.
The following field mapping is required:
- Unique ID
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 uses a static unique ID for the features in a web layer that will not change over the lifetime of the feature. |
Additional properties
These field mappings are optional:
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
Subtitle | Displays subtitles in the various parts of Indoor Viewer. |
Display field | Displays titles for features in various parts of Viewer. This is required if the 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 | The 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 the work order was created. |
Created By | The person who reported or is affected by the work order. |
Assigned To | The 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:
- Ensure that the map is configured as floor aware.
- 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 Next.
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 |
|---|---|
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 |
Specify search fields
Search fields are required to support the search experience in Viewer and Indoors mobile apps. Search keywords are matched to these fields. You can choose one or more fields as your default search field, but a minimum of one field is required to support the search capability.
- Choose the fields that you want the Indoors apps to search.
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.
- Click Next.
Specify a suggestion template
You can configure a template for search suggestions. This template supports the Indoors search capability by providing a list of possible matches as you type the search keyword.
- Click the Available Fields drop-down arrow and choose a field.
Note:
A minimum of one field is required to support the Indoors search suggestion capability. Adding a new field appends it to the existing template. The wizard automatically constructs an expression that is supported by Indoors.
- Click Add To Template.
This template now contains an expression that points to specific data values in the source feature class or feature layer.
Tip:
The template is also an expression editor where you can add or delete fields manually. Be sure to follow the correct syntax when adding or editing the expression. The inclusion of spaces or text to form an expression is supported.
Example
"{MODEL} by {MFG}"
"{MODEL}{MFG}"
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.
- Click Next.
Choose icons
You need to set up icon symbols for the new category to display in the Explore panel and in other areas of Indoor Viewer and Indoors mobile apps. If the source layer uses a single symbol or a unique value renderer, the icons used for the new category are automatically populated from the source layer’s symbology. The wizard scales the icons to the appropriate size for use in Viewer and Indoors mobile apps and displays a preview. If the selected layer uses an unsupported symbol type, the icons are blank in the wizard and you need to manually add a symbol for all required resolutions.
Note:
It's recommended that you use SVG symbols, because they can scale to different resolutions. Other vector symbols can lose quality and look blurry or pixelated when resized or reformatted to the required resolution.
- Choose an icon symbol.
There are two ways you can replace an icon symbol:
- Load from File: Loads a .png icon from your computer.
Note:
Ensure the image size is appropriate for the resolution.
- Load from Style: Loads an ArcGIS Pro icon. This opens an ArcGIS Pro gallery containing imported styles (.stylx) and default symbols. Once chosen, the wizard automatically scales the symbol to the required resolution.
Indoors comes preconfigured with default symbols in ArcGIS Pro as a style file. If the default symbols don’t meet your requirements, you can modify the existing set of symbols or create your own.
When setting up a symbol, check the Scale Proportionally check box in the symbol properties, which enables the symbol to resize and scale correctly when applied as a category icon.
Tip:
The category icon and the symbology of the corresponding layer on the map should be consistent. Any discrepancy can cause a disconnected experience between the icon in the Explore panel and the map layer in Indoors web and mobile apps.
- For categories based on polygon layers, an icon is created based on the symbology of the layer. This icon is used in the Explore panel in the Indoors apps.
- Load from File: Loads a .png icon from your computer.
- Click Finish to save the category configuration.
Note:
If there are invalid or missing parameters, the Finish option is unavailable and the Create Indoors Category wizard indicates which pane contains the error with a red outline around the corresponding navigation breadcrumb. You can continue to move through the wizard to make changes.