Explore an interactive app

Maps have always been powerful tools for understanding our world. Today, however, maps have even greater potential, thanks to interactivity. Interactive maps and apps can store and convey far more data and experiences than the static maps of the past. The ability to zoom in, open pop-ups, control what is visible on the map, and change how it is visualized aren't just extra tools available to the map reader; they are new dimensions in mapping. A single interactive map can now do the job of many static maps at once.

In this tutorial series, you'll explore four interactive maps and apps and learn how they surpass the traditional understanding of cartography. In this tutorial, you'll explore the Wildfire Aware app, which tracks wildfires across the United States. You'll learn how interactive maps can perform on-the-fly analysis, combine diverse data from multiple sources, share information that updates daily, and be shared as apps to provide a more focused user experience.

This tutorial was last tested on August 20, 2024.

Requirements

Explore an interactive app

Compare a map to an app

Each map has a different purpose, and with it, different challenges of communicating its message. Web maps can be wrapped inside of applications—also known as apps—to provide a user experience tailored to the map’s purpose. The app can provide controls and information specific to the needs of that map and its users.

Next, you’ll view a web map, and then the app that was created for it.

1. Open the Wildfire Aware map.

   

   This map was made by the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World team at Esri. It has a lot of information about current wildfires, weather, prior burned areas, and much more. There are also a lot of controls surrounding the map, but these are intended for the mapmaker, or at least an audience that is familiar with GIS. They are less useful to the map's intended audience: the public.

2. Go to the Wildfire Aware app.

   This is the same map, but here it’s wrapped inside an app that helps to present all of the information in a more user-friendly way. It includes controls designed to make the map easier for a non-expert to explore and understand. You’ll explore the app to discover a few of its features.

   By default, the app sorts wildfires by the number of personnel assigned to each incident. You’ll sort by number of acres burned instead.

3. On the side panel, click the Size tab.

   Now the fires are listed from largest to smallest.

4. Click the fire name at the top of the list.

   Note:

   The fire at the top of your list will be different than the one shown in the image below because the map data is constantly updated. It may be much larger or smaller than the fire shown.

   

   The map zooms to the location of the largest fire. The selected fire, and any others that are nearby, are labeled on the map. The fire’s perimeter is also shown on the map in a transparent red color.

   

   The side panel also updates to show detailed information about the selected wildfire, including when it started, how many acres have burned, and the current weather at the fire’s location.

   

5. In the lower left corner of the map, click the Map Layers button.

   

   An interactive legend appears. Some of the items in the legend are unavailable.

   

6. Zoom out on the map.

   More legend items become available. The app limits layers so they only appear at appropriate scales. This prevents the map from becoming overwhelming even though it contains a large variety of data.

7. In the legend, check the Fire burned areas check box.

   

   Gray and black areas appear on the map, allowing you to see where the current fire may overlap with previously burned areas.

   

   This app makes the map’s information easier to discover and explore. The app provides opportunities to interact with the map, for example by sorting the fires by different criteria or by turning layers on and off. It provides fewer controls than are available in Map Viewer, but they are targeted controls, specific to the purpose of this map. The controls in Map Viewer are intended for the person building the map. The controls in this app are intended for the person reading the map.

8. In the legend, uncheck the Fire burned areas check box.

   Note:

   To see another example of a web map enhanced by an app, visit the Census Self-Response Participation and Voter Turnout map and app. In this example, the app presents charts alongside the map.

   Apps provide a cleaner user experience for web maps, with controls and contextual information targeted to the map’s message and intended audience. If you’re sharing a web map with the public, it is recommended that you consider wrapping it inside of an app.

   The Wildfire Aware app was created with ArcGIS API for JavaScript, but you can also make apps without writing any code, using ArcGIS Instant Apps, ArcGIS Dashboards, ArcGIS StoryMaps, or ArcGIS Experience Builder. To learn how to make your own app, try the Create an app tutorial.

Explore diverse data sources

The goal of the Wildfire Aware app was not to replace official maps or provide evacuation information but to provide the latest information about wildfires and the areas they impact to a wide audience. Instead of designing the app around the wildfire data and what it could provide, the app’s creators designed it around the questions they imagined their audience asking, such as the following:

• Where is the fire and how big is it?
• Have there been fires in this area in the past?
• What is the weather like where the fire is located?
• Are there people or towns nearby?
• What ecosystem and vegetation types are in the area?
• What is the potential environmental impact?

To answer these questions, more data was needed beyond the locations of current wildfires. Next, you’ll learn how apps can synthesize data from diverse sources to help answer questions.

1. In the upper right corner of the map, click the Default map view button.

   

   The map zooms out to show all of the United States.

2. In the legend, turn on the Air Quality today layer.

   

   Areas of poor air quality appear on the map.

   

   This information is not part of the wildfire data, but it is relevant to the wildfire story, since people far from fires can experience polluted air from the smoke. Interactive maps can provide more related layers of information like this one because users have the ability to turn them on and off as needed.

3. On the map, click any of the flame symbols.

   The side panel updates to show details for the selected fire.

4. In the side panel, scroll down.

   

   Aside from information about the fire, this app provides information about the weather, population, housing, and ecosystem within the fire perimeter.

   Note:

   If you selected a fire that has no perimeter, it will show information summarized for a 2-mile radius around the fire, indicated by a dashed yellow circle on the map.

   

5. Explore the information in the side panel.

   

   This information comes from multiple data sources. Previously, you would have had to consult many sources to find all of this information.

   

   This app summarizes the relevant information from many sources so you don’t need to search for it and make comparisons across different maps.

6. At the top of the panel, click the information button.

   

   A window appears, with information about the app.

7. Scroll to the bottom of the window, to the Sources heading.

   

   The information available in this app is synthesized from 22 data layers, from sources such as the National Weather Service, the U.S. Census, and Nature Serve.

8. Click any of the links in the Source list.

   The item page for a web layer appears. All of the source data layers are individually available in ArcGIS Living Atlas, but the Wildfire Aware app compiles them all in one place.

9. Close the item page tab and return to the Wildfire Aware app.
10. In the window, click the Close button.

    The data sources used in the Wildfire Aware app are all publicly available. When you make your own maps and apps, you can incorporate these datasets as well. You can even reuse the Wildfire Aware Incident, Population, and Environment Enriched Layer from this map, which includes all of the summarized data from diverse sources.

    Note:

    To see an example of another app that combines many data sources, see What’s going on here? This app features a map that appears empty until you click to reveal summarized information from multiple sources about the selected census tract.

    Web GIS makes it easier to access data from many sources and use it in your own maps and apps. There are millions of maps, layers, and apps shared on ArcGIS Online, many of them shared publicly. ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World provides a curated subset of some of these layers, focusing on authoritative sources and data quality. To learn how to leverage ArcGIS Living Atlas data in your own maps and apps, try the tutorial Get started with ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World. Esri is thankful to the many organizations who share their data, making the collaborative world of web GIS possible.

Explore analysis results

The Wildfire Aware app doesn’t just provide information from multiple sources, it also performs analysis with this data before sharing it in the app.

1. Scroll to the bottom of the side panel to find the Potential Carbon Loss heading.

   Note:

   If there is no Potential Carbon Loss heading for the selected fire, zoom out and click a different fire in a forested area.

   

   This number is not available in a table somewhere; instead it is calculated for the app behind the scenes. First, the country is covered with an array of hexagons, one per square mile. Then a U.S. Forest Service carbon model is used to count carbon in each hexagon. Finally, the carbon values for all hexagons falling within the fire perimeter or a 2-mile radius are added together to produce the potential carbon loss number reported by the app.

   

   This hexagon-based analysis is used to calculate many of the numbers found in the side panel, including the landcover chart, the median home value, and the demographic numbers.

2. If you live in the United States, zoom and pan to your home and click the map where you live. If you don’t live in the United States, click anywhere in the county that is not a current fire.

   

   The side panel updates to summarize data within a 2-mile radius of your location. The analysis results are available for anywhere in the country, providing information not only about the areas affected by current fires but about how an area might be affected if it were to experience a wildfire.

   Note:

   To see another example of analysis in an app, visit the School Districts and Socioeconomic Information app. Click any county to see statics on school enrollment and socioeconomic indicators.

   In an interactive map or app, including analysis results, either precalculated or generated on the fly based on the user’s interaction, can help to make the map more relevant and better able to answer questions. Try this tutorial to get started with analysis in ArcGIS Online: Solve a spatial problem.

Explore real time data

The analysis results you viewed in the previous section are particularly useful because they are frequently updated. Static maps can only present data that was collected before the map was made. They must be manually updated and republished to include updates. But the world is constantly changing. Interactive maps can keep up with this change and map dynamic phenomena.

1. Zoom out on the map until current fire features come into view. Click any fire symbol.
2. In the side panel, read the date listed under the Fire Information heading.

   

   The data in this map is a live-feed layer, which means that it is automatically updated on a regular basis—in this case, every hour. Wildfires change quickly, so up-to-date information is crucial for anyone who is tracking them.

3. In the side panel, scroll down to the Landcover chart.

   

   The percentage of each landcover type is calculated for the fire perimeter area or a 2-mile radius. The landcover data rarely changes, but the fire perimeter updates every hour. This means that the percentage of the area that is scrubland, forest, or other landcover types may also change every hour. This app uses a live feed routine to automatically aggregate the landcover, demographic, and other data to fire perimeters every hour, so the analysis results, as well as the wildfire data, are always up to date.

   Note:

   To see another example of an app with live-feed data, visit Hurricane Aware. Depending on the time of year, this map may be empty, but during hurricane season, it becomes essential for tracking the progress of storms.

   The world is always changing, and we need maps that can keep up. Interactive maps with live-feed data can portray changing phenomena and provide maps that are always current.

Wildfire Aware is a great example of many of the benefits of interactive maps and apps. In this tutorial, you learned about extending web maps by making them into apps, combining data from multiple sources, performing and sharing analysis through interactive apps, and how live-feed data can create maps that are never out of date.

You can read more about the Wildfire Aware app in the Be Wildfire Aware with this new application and Wildfire Aware App Design and Implementation blog articles. Many parts of this app are driven by ArcGIS Arcade expressions behind the scenes. Try the next tutorial in this series, Explore Arcade expressions in a web map, to learn about the role Arcade plays in web mapping.

Acknowledgements

• The Wildfire Aware app was created by the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World team. The data in the map is from the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, National Weather Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Census, USDA Forest Service, USDA Forest Service FIA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Integrated Reported of Wildland-Fire Information (IRWIN), National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), Nature Serve, and Esri.