Notes from the field

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Tutorials, code, and lessons from building premium GIS — ArcGIS automation, portal administration, the modern Esri stack, and open-source spatial workflows.

One source feature layer feeding multiple filtered view layers, each serving a different audience
Featured · ArcGIS Online

One layer, many audiences — hosted feature layer views in ArcGIS Online

One authoritative dataset, three audiences — and every exported copy is a governance failure waiting to happen. Hosted feature layer views serve filtered, field-limited slices of a single layer, each with its own sharing and editing rules. How views work, the portal workflow, and the ArcGIS API for Python pattern to script it.

July 13, 2026 · 8 min read · ArcGIS Online

More posts

A session pass covering a grid of map tiles - the basemap session usage model on ArcGIS Location Platform
ArcGIS Location Platform

Stop paying per tile: basemap sessions on ArcGIS Location Platform

Per-tile billing makes your most engaged users your most expensive ones. Basemap sessions cap the cost — one session, unlimited tiles for up to 12 hours — and since Maps SDK for JavaScript 5.0 it’s one config block.

July 6, 2026 · 8 min read · Basemaps
A Calcite app window being re-skinned by a brand color token
Calcite Design System

Brand a Calcite app the right way — theming ArcGIS apps with design tokens

Hard-coded CSS overrides break on the next Calcite release. The durable path: override semantic design tokens once at the root, theme light and dark together, and reach for component tokens only for the last 10%.

June 29, 2026 · 8 min read · Theming
ArcGIS Maps SDK widgets being deprecated, replaced by map components
Maps SDK for JavaScript

All widgets are deprecated in ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript 5.0 — your move to map components

5.0 deprecated every widget; components are the recommended path. What still works, the one-line CDN change, and a calm migration plan before removals begin in 6.0.

June 24, 2026 · 8 min read · Migration
Glowing holographic key over a blue topographic data network — ArcGIS API key migration
ArcGIS Location Platform

Legacy ArcGIS API keys retire June 27, 2026 — what breaks, and how to migrate

Legacy keys are revoked June 27. What breaks (silently), and the step-by-step move to API key credentials — including the Online vs Location Platform privilege split.

June 22, 2026 · 7 min read · Security & Authentication
A crisp printed map sheet over a blue cartographic surface
Maps SDK for JavaScript

Why your web-map PDF export looks blocky — and three ways to fix it

A decision tree from client screenshot, to Esri’s ExportWebMap print service, to a custom serverless render service.

June 8, 2026 · 9 min read · Architecture
A floating map info panel hovering over a blue terrain map
Maps SDK for JavaScript

Render an Esri popup in a React panel without it vanishing

The Feature widget silently detaches its container in React. The fix: hand Esri a raw div that React never tracks.

June 1, 2026 · 8 min read · React
Glowing modular geoprocessing tool tiles in brand blue
ArcPy

One ArcGIS Pro toolbox, every project: the .pyt + Favorites pattern

Ship your house tools into every project via a git-tracked .pyt pinned through Favorites — a git pull is the whole update story.

May 25, 2026 · 8 min read · ArcPy
Glowing holographic data grid and schema columns over a blue topographic field
ArcGIS API for Python

A self-updating data dictionary for ArcGIS Online

Crawl your account with the ArcGIS API for Python into a multi-sheet Excel inventory: services, layers, fields, coded + range domains, counts, SR. Free notebook + Pro tool.

May 18, 2026 · 8 min read · Free download
Glowing cartographic map-marker symbols as vector wireframes over a blue topographic field
ArcGIS Pro

Export ArcGIS Pro symbology to SVG: reuse your cartography on the web

A .stylx is just SQLite and a symbol is CIM JSON — so you can export Pro symbols to crisp SVG (and PNG) with no arcpy. Free notebook + Pro tool.

May 11, 2026 · 8 min read · Cartography
Glowing grid of cartographic map thumbnail cards in brand blue — automated ArcGIS Online thumbnails
ArcGIS API for Python

Stop letting ArcGIS Online pick your thumbnails: brand every item with Python

Your content gallery is the cheapest branding surface in ArcGIS. The full workflow — template, SVG anatomy, and the ArcGIS API for Python batch job — that restamped 355 items in one run.

May 4, 2026 · 9 min read · Automation

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