Create a map
Add a layer from a file
First, you'll download a CSV file that contains information about public high schools in Detroit, Michigan. Then, you'll add the file to a web map as a layer.
- Download DetroitSchoolCharacteristics.csv. Optionally, open the file in a spreadsheet editor such as Microsoft Excel.
The table contains columns that show each school's name, address, telephone number, student data, and latitude and longitude. It also contains the number of students eligible for free and reduced meal plans, which is the data you want to show in your map. This data comes from the National Center for Education Statistics' (NCES) Education Demographic and Geographic Estimate (EDGE) program.
Note:
You can find data about public schools across the United States in the Public School Characteristics - Current layer.
It's difficult to visualize where these schools are located or any spatial patterns in the data from the table alone. Because the CSV has spatial data (in this case, addresses and latitude and longitude), you can map it. Making a map is a better way to understand spatial data than viewing it as a table.
- Close the CSV file. If prompted, don't save any changes.
- Sign in to your ArcGIS organizational account or into ArcGIS Enterprise using a named user account.
Note:
If you don't have an organizational account, see options for software access.
- On the ribbon, click the Map tab.
Map Viewer opens. By default, your web map only contains a basemap, which provides contextual geographic information like landforms, water bodies, and political boundaries.
You'll add the CSV file as a layer. Layers are the way geographic data is organized and combined to create maps. For example, a map may consist of a roads layer, a lakes layer, and a buildings layer. Your layer will show schools.
- In the Layers pane, click the arrow next to Add and choose Add layer from file.
- In the Add Layer window, click Your device. Browse to and double-click the DetroitSchoolCharacteristics file you downloaded.
Tip:
Alternatively, you can drag the DetroitSchoolCharacteristics file from Microsoft File Explorer to the Add Layer window.
- For How would you like to add this file, choose Create a hosted feature layer and add it to the map. Click Next.
A list of fields appears. Map layers consist of spatial and tabular information. The layer's table will contain the same columns—also called fields or attributes—as the CSV file.
The software automatically detected the fields and listed them on this page. On this page, you can choose which fields from the CSV file you want to include, provide display names, and update information about the data type.
The Display name option sets a nickname or shortened name of the field name that is more readily understandable to others. Field names cannot include spaces or numbers, so sometimes you may want these in the display name. Setting a display name allows you to provide meaningful names without changing the Field name text.
The Type option describes the data you'll store in the field. Data types include:
- Date—Date and time.
- Double—Numbers with decimal places.
- Integer—Whole numbers from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647 (long integer).
- Big Integer— Whole numbers from -9,007,199,254,740,991 to 9,007,199,254,740,991.
- String—Any sequence of characters. The default length is 256 characters.
In this tutorial, you'll include all the fields, so you won't make any changes.
- Click Next.
The Location settings page appears. Spatial information for the layer will be derived from the Latitude and Longitude columns in the CSV file. The software detected these fields automatically, so you don't need to make any changes.
Note:
If your table contains the names or addresses of locations (like Paris or 15 Central St., Bethlehem, PA) instead of latitude and longitude fields, try the tutorial Convert a list of historic places into a map, which is about geocoding data.
- Click Next.
- For Title, type Detroit high schools followed by your name or initials (for example, Detroit high school (Your Name)).
Note:
You cannot create two layers in an ArcGIS organization with the same name. Adding your initials to a layer name ensures that other people in your organization can also complete this tutorial. Once a layer has been created, you can rename it in the map to remove your initials, which will not affect the name of the underlying data layer.
- Click Create and add to map.
The new layer appears on the map
The map displays the locations of the schools listed in the CSV file. Each school is considered a feature in the layer. You have access to the other information from the CSV file by viewing the layer's table.
- In the Layers pane, next to Detroit high schools, click the Options button and choose Show table.
The layer's table appears. It contains the same information as the CSV file.
- Review the data in the table. When finished, close the table.
Change the basemap
Maps in ArcGIS Online consist of layers. You added the Detroit high schools layer, but the map also has a basemap layer by default. Next, you'll change the basemap.
- On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Basemap.
Tip:
Use the Expand and Collapse buttons at the bottom of the toolbar to expand it to show text in addition to icons or collapse it to hide the text.
The Basemap pane appears. By default, the Topographic basemap is selected. (Depending on your organization's settings, another basemap may be selected by default.) This basemap looks good, but is better suited for a reference map. You'll choose a more minimalistic basemap so it doesn't distract from the school data.
- In the Basemap pane, click Light Gray Canvas.
Note:
You may see different basemaps depending on the configuration of your organization. If the Light Gray Canvas basemap is not available, scroll to the bottom of the Basemap pane and click Living Atlas. Search for Light Gray Canvas and add the appropriate result.
On the map, the basemap changes.
Style the layer
Next, you'll configure the high school layer's symbols so they are sized based on the number of students at each school eligible for free and reduced meal plan programs.
Note:
Eligibility for free and reduced meals is set by the United States Department of Agriculture Child Nutrition Programs and is based on poverty guidelines issued by the Department of Health and Human Services.
- On the Contents toolbar, click Layers.
The Layers pane appears. It lists the layers in your map except for the basemap.
- Confirm Detroit high schools is selected.
If a layer is selected, there is a blue bar next to its name.
If a layer is selected, you can make changes to it using the options on the Settings toolbar.
- On the Settings (light) toolbar, click Styles.
The Styles pane appears. Currently, the style is based on the data's location only. You'll configure the style so high schools will have different symbols depending on an attributes; specifically, the attribute that lists the number of students eligible for free and reduced meals.
- In the Styles pane, click the Field button.
- In the Select fields window, scroll down and select Total of free lunch and reduced-price lunch eligible.
- Click Add.
The options under Pick a style update to reflect choices that are suitable for the Total of free lunch and reduced price lunch eligible field. The Counts and Amounts (size) style is selected and the map is updated to reflect this style. This style reveals some new patterns in the data. The larger the symbol, the more students are eligible for free and reduced meals at the school.
Because the symbols have different sizes, some of them overlap or cover others. To ensure you can see all the symbols, you'll add transparency to them. You'll also change the symbol color.
- For Counts and Amounts (size), click Style options.
- In the Style options pane, for Symbol style, click the symbol.
The Symbol style window appears.
- For Fill transparency, type 25. For Outline transparency, type 0.
The symbols on the map update. It's now easier to see overlapping symbols.
You'll also change the symbol color. You can set a color using its hexadecimal code (#).
- For Fill color, click the symbol.
- In the Select color window, for #, type 0070ff.
The color of the map symbols changes to blue.
- In the Select color window, click Done. Close the Symbol style window.
- In the Style options pane, click Done. In the Styles pane, click Done.
Your map shows the number of students at each high school who are eligible for free and reduced meals. The schools with more eligible students are represented by larger symbols.
Configure the pop-up
Web maps are interactive. By clicking a feature on the map, you can see a pop-up that provides attribute information about the feature. You'll configure a custom pop-up to convey the most important information.
- On the map, click any point feature.
The feature's pop-up appears with information about the school from the layer's table.
The default pop-up shows every attribute associated with the layer. However, your map is focused on free and reduced meal eligibility, so most of the other information isn't necessary. You'll configure the pop-up to show only attributes that are important to your map.
- Close the pop-up.
- In the Layers pane, confirm Detroit high schools is selected.
- On the Settings toolbar, click Pop-ups.
The Pop-ups pane appears and a sample pop-up appears on the map. The pop-up's title contains the name of the layer and the name of the school. This title is unnecessary for your map, so you'll remove it.
- In the Pop-ups pane, click Title. Delete the text in the box.
The title text disappears from the sample pop-up. You'll replace the list of fields with a sentence that includes the relevant information.
- Next to Fields list, click the Options button and choose Delete.
The list of fields is removed from the sample pop-up.
- Click Add content and choose Text.
First, you'll use dynamic text to include the name of the school as an attribute. With dynamic text, attribute names are indicated with curly brackets.
- In the text editing window, type {. In the menu, scroll near the bottom and choose School name.
The School name field was one of the fields in the CSV file you used to create the feature layer. By setting the dynamic text to this field, the pop-up that displays for each school point will display the corresponding school name attribute.
- After {School_name}, type (or copy and paste) enrolled {Total_elementary_secondary_students__excludes_AE_} students during the 2019-2020 school year.
- Press Enter to start a new paragraph. Type (or copy and paste) {Total_of_free_lunch_and_reduced_price_lunch_eligible} of those students were eligible for the free and reduced meal plan program.
- Highlight {School_name} and click the Bold button.
- Add bold formatting to {Total_elementary_secondary_students__excludes_AE_} and {Total_of_free_lunch_and_reduced_price_lunch_eligible} .
- Click OK.
The preview pop-up replaces the field names with the attribute values of one of the features.
All of the other fields still exist in the data table, but they don't display in the pop-up. You can modify the contents of the pop-up at any time.
- Close the Pop-ups pane.
Change the display order
Your map has a useful style, but there's one remaining problem. Because the symbols draw on the map in the order they appear in the table, some larger symbols completely cover smaller symbols, which can make it difficult to click the symbols and see their pop-up. You'll change the order the data is displayed in so schools with more students eligible for free and reduced meals appear at the bottom, making it easier to click all of the symbols.
- In the Layers pane, confirm Detroit high schools is selected.
- On the Settings toolbar, click Properties.
The Properties pane appears. It contains basic information and settings regarding the layer.
- Scroll to the bottom of the Properties pane. In the Feature display order section, for Order by, choose Total of free lunch and reduced-price lunch eligible.
The display order is changed so schools with larger values for this attribute appear on top. You want schools with smaller values to appear on top, so you'll reverse the order.
- Click the Sort features with larger values on top button.
The order is reversed. Now, smaller features appear on top, making it possible to click any feature to view its pop-up.
- Close the Properties pane.
Save the map
Your map is finished. You'll save it so you can access it again later.
- On the Contents toolbar, click Save and open and choose Save as.
- In the Save map window, enter the following information:
- For Title, type Public high schools in Detroit.
- For Tags, type education, students, meal plans and press Enter.
- For Summary, type Map of public high schools and free and reduced meal program eligibility in Detroit, Michigan.
- Click Save.
In this tutorial, you created a web map with a CSV file of school locations. You changed the layer's style and configured its pop-ups to communicate information clearly. You're now ready to share your map so others can see it. To learn more, try the tutorial Share a map.
There are many ways you can use maps to visualize data, understand problems, and discover possibilities. Try making a web map on your own, using your own data. What kinds of maps can you make?
You can find more tutorials in the tutorial gallery.
