{"id":338571,"date":"2020-05-07T17:20:07","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T00:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcuser&p=338571"},"modified":"2020-06-01T18:08:08","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T01:08:08","slug":"betternames","status":"publish","type":"arcuser","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/betternames","title":{"rendered":"Help Yourself and Others with Effective Field Naming"},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10392,1041,25022],"tags":[451811,201042,208992],"arcuser_issues":[445651],"class_list":["post-338571","arcuser","type-arcuser","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arcgis-online","category-collaboration","category-hands-on","tag-arcuser-spring-2020","tag-data-management","tag-gis-productivity","arcuser_issues-spring-2020"],"acf":{"short_description":"Make your ArcGIS Online layers more valuable with an effective naming convention. ","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"pdf","file":338591},{"acf_fc_layout":"blockquote","content":"What\u2019s in a name?\r\nThat which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.<\/span>\r\n

Juliet Capulet (from Romeo and Juliet<\/em>)<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Wrong!<\/span><\/h2>\r\nThere\u2019s a lot in a name.\r\n\r\nJust ask any expectant parent trying to decide on a name for their child. Names are important\u2014not just for people but for the attribute fields in your layers.\r\n

What\u2019s a Naming Convention?<\/h3>\r\nI think of field names the same way I do about complex words in English. They have a prefix, a root, and a suffix. Even if you\u2019ve never heard the word acrophobia before, you might be able to figure out its meaning by realizing that acro is a root that means height (think acrobat), and phobia is a suffix that means fear. In this case, fear of heights.\r\nPrefixes and suffixes in field names help communicate the meaning of the data in your field in a similar way. For example, for binary variables, which are variables that can only be yes or no (1 or 0), I often use the prefix is or the suffix _flag. Here are some examples:\r\n

isVeteran or veteran_flag\r\nisTeachingHospital or teaching_flag\r\nWhen categorizing a continuous variable such as age, or minutes spent commuting, I tend to use my own personal shorthand of LT, LE, GT, and GE.\r\nLT for less than (e.g., LT18 means less than age 18).\r\nLE for less than or equal to (e.g., LE5 means a commute time of 5 minutes or less).\r\nGT for greater than (e.g., GT60 means a commute time of more than an hour).\r\nGE for greater than or equal to (e.g., GE65 means age 65\u00a0and over).<\/p>\r\nAs you create more layers, you\u2019ll undoubtedly come up with your own consistent naming conventions that make sense for your data needs. The key word is consistency.\r\nLastly, pick a format\u2014camelCaseVariableNames or underscore_variable_names\u2014and stick to it. Maybe you do an underscore after some ID number but camel case for the rest. It\u2019s a personal preference, but consistency is valued.\r\n\r\nIf you are building a layer that others on your team will use at some point or that you might use several months from now, do yourself a favor and spend minutes now that will save you hours later. Good field names also help coworkers get up to speed quickly when collaborating. Naming conventions help when layers have dozens or even hundreds of related attributes, and you need to be able to make sure you\u2019re using the right one for the right purpose.\r\n\r\n "},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":338671,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

How Does This Really Work?<\/h3>\r\nIn my Energy Workers Employment and Wages layer (https:\/\/bit.ly\/3c4ns9w), available on the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, the prefix is the units of wage (\u201ch\u201d for hourly or \u201ca\u201d for annual), the root is the value itself (e.g., median), and the suffix is the detailed occupational category from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Standard Occupational Classification (BLS SOC). For example, the field called h_median_499051 is the median hourly wage of workers with BLS SOC number 49-9051, which happens to be wind turbine service technicians.\r\n

Convey Information about the Original Source<\/h3>\r\nThis energy workers employment and wage layer was originally a series of spreadsheets from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that contained all kinds of metadata. My field names let me provide the exact identifier of the occupation classifications, which makes the value my field is storing unambiguous.\r\n

Allow Other Analysts to Work with Layer Data Quickly<\/h3>\r\nAnyone applying any kind of SQL logic when using your layer will thank you for using a consistent naming convention. Consistent field names make it easy for programmers to do systematic data transformations. For example, if all hourly wage fields start with an \u201ch,\u201d programmers can multiply these fields by 40 to get an approximate weekly wage.\r\n\r\n "},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":338691,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Display Aliases Communicate What Your Fields Are<\/h3>\r\nMy attribute field named h_median_499051 is the hourly median wage for wind turbine service technicians. ArcGIS Online allows you to give your fields display aliases that communicate this information using natural language. Aliases bring explanations into the layer in a user-friendly way.\r\n\r\nAliases are much more accommodating than field names because they allow up to 255 characters. This lets you use a complete phrase to describe the field. That is usually enough room to spell out acronyms and abbreviations, so please do. Unlike field names, aliases can begin with numbers and contain spaces and special characters.\r\n

ArcGIS Online Uses Aliases throughout the Product<\/h3>\r\nArcGIS Online rewards you when your layers have aliases by using them throughout the whole product. Aliases are visible in the auto-generated legend for the attribute you\u2019re mapping. When I map the count of employees who are wind turbine service technicians from the attribute field named tot_emp_499051, the legend reads Wind turbine service technicians instead of tot_emp_499051. This is much better. <\/em>\r\n\r\nAliases are visible in Change Style view. If a layer does not have field aliases, you see the field names. If a layer does have field aliases, you see those aliases when you change the map\u2019s symbology.\r\n\r\nIn the attribute table view, aliases appear as your field headers.\r\n\r\nAnd my favorite use of aliases is in the fields list under the Data tab on the item details page, where you can sort field names alphanumerically. The item details page is where you add a long description for each field with all the gory details. On the item details page for my Energy Workers Employment and Wages layer, I incorporated the long descriptions that the Bureau of Labor Statistics has for each occupation. These descriptions go that last mile and provide additional details and definitions pertaining to an attribute.\r\nAre you convinced to give your fields aliases? Not yet? Wait. Did you know that aliases are preserved when exporting a web layer to a geodatabase?\r\n

Many Ways to Apply Aliases to Layers<\/h3>\r\nIf you are publishing a web layer from ArcGIS Pro, all aliases on your feature class will be transferred. This also adds aliases permanently to their source file in the geodatabase.\r\nIn ArcGIS Online, you can apply aliases within the Map Viewer using Configure Pop-up > Configure Attributes. This is also where you can toggle the display of fields in your attribute table on and off, change the order in which fields display in the attribute table, and format fields (e.g., number of decimal places shown or use of comma separators for thousands).\r\nIn ArcGIS Online, on the Data tab of the item details page, you can add long field descriptions, which lets you move the data\u2019s documentation closer to the GIS analysts who will be using your layer.\r\n\r\nYou can also change aliases on a hosted feature service using the Feature Service Alias Updater too<\/a>l written by my colleague Lisa Berry and available at no charge. I use it so often I have added it to My Favorites in ArcGIS Online. It\u2019s great for doing bulk updates to a layer with dozens of fields.\r\n\r\n "},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":338701,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

The Initial Effort Pays Off<\/h3>\r\nNext time you publish a layer, help your future self out and anyone else who will use the layer by constructing consistent field names and descriptive aliases. The payoff is well worth the initial time. You won\u2019t have to remember what you were thinking months ago or constantly refer to a codebook. It will help other analysts in your organization who will work with your layer and those who will be viewing your maps by making the legend easy to read.\r\n\r\nIf you publicly share your consistently named and well aliased layer with ArcGIS Online users worldwide or nominate it for inclusion in the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, you will be building trust and credibility in this layer and in yourself as a professional GIS content creator."}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"\nHelp Yourself and Others with Effective Field Naming<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Make your ArcGIS Online layers more valuable to yourself and others with an effective naming convention.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/betternames\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Help Yourself and Others with Effective Field Naming\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Make your ArcGIS Online layers more valuable to yourself and others with an effective naming convention.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/betternames\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Esri\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-06-02T01:08:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2020\/05\/20q2_betternames_bannner.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Esri\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n\t \"@graph\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/betternames\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/betternames\",\n\t \"name\": \"Help Yourself and Others with Effective Field Naming\",\n\t \"isPartOf\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website\"\n\t },\n\t \"datePublished\": \"2020-05-08T00:20:07+00:00\",\n\t \"dateModified\": \"2020-06-02T01:08:08+00:00\",\n\t \"description\": \"Make your ArcGIS Online layers more valuable to yourself and others with an effective naming convention.\",\n\t \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/betternames#breadcrumb\"\n\t },\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t \"target\": [\n\t \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/betternames\"\n\t ]\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/betternames#breadcrumb\",\n\t \"itemListElement\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 1,\n\t \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t \"item\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 2,\n\t \"name\": \"Help Yourself and Others with Effective Field Naming\"\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/\",\n\t \"name\": \"Esri\",\n\t \"description\": \"Esri Newsroom\",\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t \"target\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t },\n\t \"query-input\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t }\n\t }\n\t ],\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/82e5143bcdebadf8fd64d84e503ca468\",\n\t \"name\": \"Monica Pratt\",\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2018\/08\/MonicaMug_agol2.jpg\",\n\t \"contentUrl\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2018\/08\/MonicaMug_agol2.jpg\",\n\t \"caption\": \"Monica Pratt\"\n\t },\n\t \"description\": \"Monica Pratt is the founding and current editor of ArcUser magazine, the executive editor of ArcNews magazine, the editor of Esri Globe and head of the Publications team at Esri. 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