Create a swipe app

The Aral Sea, lying between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, was once one of the largest lakes in the world. It covered an area of 68,000 square kilometers (42,253 square miles), roughly the size of Ireland. In the 1960s, the Soviet Union redirected two of the rivers that fed the Aral Sea for cotton crop irrigation, causing the lake to start to shrink. Today, it is only a fraction of its former size. The shrinking of the Aral Sea is one of the most dramatic and visible environmental disasters in the world.

In this tutorial, you'll create a swipe app to demonstrate how the Aral Sea has changed. A swipe app allows users to compare multiple layers in a map by swiping between them. Your app will compare historical and modern imagery of the Aral Sea, showing exactly how much it has shrunk since 1960. You'll configure your app to have a user-friendly experience and share it publicly so others can learn about this significant disaster.

This tutorial was last tested on March 4, 2026.

View final result

Requirements

• ArcGIS organizational account with a Publisher, Facilitator, or Administrator role (see options for software access)

Create a swipe app

Explore a map of the Aral Sea

A swipe app is a web app that has the swipe tool enabled. Web apps display maps with a streamlined, user-friendly experience, so users don't need to interact with the large number of tools in Map Viewer.

To create an app, you first need a map. For the purposes of this tutorial, a map that contains historical and modern imagery of the Aral Sea has already been made for you. You'll open and explore the map to understand the data before you use it to make an app.

Note:

This tutorial focuses on creating a swipe app, so the imagery and map have already been created. To learn how to find and explore historical imagery, try the tutorial Explore Landsat imagery of a volcano eruption.

1. Open the Aral Sea in 1964 web map.

   

   The map shows the Aral Sea on the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The black-and-white image was taken by an Argon reconnaissance satellite on August 22, 1964. Because of the lack of color photography available at the time, as well as the cloud cover that obscures part of the Aral Sea, the sea's exact boundaries might be difficult to determine in some areas. For reference, the map also includes a pink boundary that shows the approximate extent of the sea at the time the image was taken.

   Note:

   To learn more about the historical image and the causes of the Aral Sea's decline, read the article The Aral Sea, Before the Streams Ran Dry on the NASA website.

   To better understand the map, you'll look at its layers.

2. On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Layers.

   

   Note:

   The example images show the expanded version of the Contents toolbar. Your toolbar may be collapsed by default, showing the button icons only. You can expand or collapse the toolbar by clicking the Expand or Collapse button at the bottom of the toolbar.

   The Layers pane appears. It lists the Approximate Shoreline (1964) and Aral Sea (1964) layers.

3. In the Layers pane, point to the Aral Sea (1964) layer and click the Hide button.

   

   The layer is hidden, meaning it no longer appears on the map. The map now shows modern imagery of the Aral Sea, indicating how much the lake has declined in size. Most of its original extent, indicated by the pink boundary layer, is now desert.

   

   The modern imagery doesn't come from either of the layers listed in the Layers pane. Instead, it comes from the basemap, a background layer that provides geographic context to data. This basemap is maintained and updated by Esri and also includes the labels that appear on the map.

   Note:

   Because the basemap is updated periodically, your basemap may look slightly different than the example images.

4. In the Layers pane, for the Aral Sea (1964) layer, click the Show button.

   

   The black-and-white image of the Aral Sea in 1964 reappears on the map. By hiding and showing the layer, it's possible to compare the historical and modern imagery. However, the experience isn't optimal, because you can only see one image at a time.

Choose an app

A clearer way to compare two layers is with the swipe tool, which allows the user to drag a layer on the map to reveal the layer under it. The swipe tool isn't available in Map Viewer, but you can configure a web app that includes it.

To create a web app, you'll first sign in. Then, you'll create an app using ArcGIS Instant Apps, which provides templates for quicker app configuration. You'll choose an app template appropriate for adding the swipe tool.

1. On the ribbon, click the Sign In button.

   

2. Sign in using your ArcGIS organizational account.

   Note:

   If you don't have an organizational account, see options for software access.

3. On the Contents toolbar, click Create app.

   

   There are several options available for apps.

4. Click Instant Apps.

   

   ArcGIS Instant Apps opens in a new browser tab. It provides a list of app templates to choose from. To narrow down the list to apps that have swipe functionality, you'll search by capability.

5. In the Search app capabilities bar, type swipe. In the list of options, click swipe.

   

   The gallery is filtered to apps that support the swipe capability. You don't intend to add much functionality other than the swipe tool, so the Basic (Media Map) app might be most appropriate. Before deciding, you'll read the app's description.

   Note:

   The Imagery Viewer app is also a recommended option for comparing imagery.

6. For the Basic (Media Map) app, click the Menu button and choose App description.

   

   A window appears with a description of the app. The description states that this app includes common map tools, including swipe.

7. In the app description window, click Close.
8. For the Basic (Media Map) app, click Choose.

   

   Tip:

   You can also see a preview of the app before you choose it. To do so, click the Menu button and choose Preview.

   The Create app window appears.

9. For Give your app a title, type Aral Sea Swipe App.

   You can also add tags, but the default tags (which are the same as the web map's tags) are appropriate.

10. Click Create app.

    The app is created. A new browser tab appears with the Instant Apps configuration window.

    

    Note:

    If the Express pop-up appears, close it.

Configure the swipe tool

Currently, the app only has basic navigation functions. You'll configure a swipe tool so users can swipe between the historical imagery and the basemap. To add the swipe tool, you'll search for it in the settings.

1. Click Search settings.

   

2. In the Search settings window, search for swipe. In the list of results, click Swipe tool.

   

   The Interactivity panel appears. This panel allows you to enable the swipe tool.

3. Enable the Swipe tool option.

   

   The swipe tool, a vertical bar, appears on the map.

4. On the map, drag the swipe tool left and right.

   

   No matter how you move the swipe tool, nothing changes on the map. To swipe between the historical imagery and the basemap, you'll set the historical imagery layer as the leading layer. The leading layer is the layer that is displayed before, but not after, the swipe tool.

5. In the Interactivity panel, for Select leading layers, expand Aral Sea (1964). Check the Aral_Sea_1964.jpeg box.

   

   Now, the historical imagery appears on one side of the swipe tool but not the other.

   

   Lastly, you'll set the approximate shoreline layer as the trailing layer, which means it will be displayed after, but not before, the swipe tool. Because the historical imagery already shows the Aral Sea at its full extent, it's not necessary to see the shoreline feature when it's visible.

6. For Select trailing layers, check the Approximate Shoreline (1964) box.

   

7. On the map, drag the swipe tool left and right.

   

   Now, when you swipe, you can compare the past and present Aral Sea imagery side-by-side. The dramatic difference is apparent, even to users without GIS experience who might not know to turn layers on and off.

   Tip:

   You can also change the swipe direction. The default direction is horizontal, meaning the swipe tool moves left to right. If you change the Swipe direction option to Vertical, the swipe tool will move up and down. For your app, a horizontal swipe direction is recommended, but you can experiment with the other option.

Publish and share the app

Now that you've configured the swipe tool, you're ready to publish your app and share it. Once shared, anyone with a link to your app will be able to see it and use the swipe function to see how the Aral Sea has changed.

Note:

This tutorial focuses on the swipe tool, but there are many other tools you can add to an app to improve the user experience. To learn about other ways you can configure an app, try the tutorial Make an app.

1. At the bottom of the Interactivity panel, click Publish.

   

2. In the Publish window, click Confirm publish.

   The app is published. The Share pop-up appears, showing the sharing level. Currently, the app is only shared with the owner (you). You'll update the sharing settings so everyone can view the app.

3. Click Change share settings.

   

4. In the Share window, for Set sharing level, choose Everyone (public).

   

   Note:

   To share an app with everyone, the map and its layers must also be shared the same way. In this case, the map you used to create the app is already shared with everyone, so you don't need to do anything. If you were using a map you created in the app, you would need to share the map too.

5. Click Save.

   The app is now shared with everyone. You'll copy a link to it and launch it.

6. Click the Share button.

   

   The Share pop-up reappears.

7. Click Copy Link.

   

   The URL to your app is copied to your clipboard. You can paste it in emails or other messages to share the app with anyone you know.

8. In the Share pop-up, click View published app.

   The app appears in a new browser tab.

9. Optionally, explore your app.

In this tutorial, you used a web map of historical imagery of the Aral Sea to create a swipe app that allows users to see how the lake has declined over time. By publishing and sharing your app, you can show others the dramatic change affecting what was once one of the largest lakes in the world.

You can find more tutorials in the tutorial gallery.

Acknowledgements

• The Aral Sea (1964) image was published by the United States Geological Survey and acquired from the NASA article The Aral Sea, Before the Streams Ran Dry. The image is in the public domain. The Approximate Shoreline (1964) layer was manually digitized based on the image.
• Imagery Hybrid map sources: Esri, Vantor, Earthstar Geographics, TomTom, Garmin, FAO, NOAA, USGS, OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GIS User Community