Optimized Editing: Manage Templates in Map Viewer

We’ve got some exciting new enhancements to web editing with the February 2025 update of ArcGIS Online. Support for managing templates in Map Viewer is at the top of our list, along with batch attribute editing in Web Editor, and new drawing tools in Map Viewer. If you’ve been waiting for templates to drop in Map Viewer, we’ve got you covered. Now you can create, update, or delete templates without leaving the map, saving you time while helping you create cleaner data from the start. In this article, we’ll walk you through the basics so you can get started optimizing your editing with templates right away.

Templates

The first step in creating a new feature is choosing a template. Having a great set of templates to use as a starting point can help make editing workflows a breeze. Imagine you have a layer for fire hydrants that contains different templates based on an attribute, like hydrant color. Each of those templates can have different default values that correspond to the hydrant color. For example, if Red Hydrants have a maximum flow of less than 500 gallons per minute, you can plug that value into the Flow field for the Red Hydrant template.

Default values appear in the form when editors create the feature. When a field has a pre-populated value, editors don’t need to enter information. Having default values helps speed up the time it takes to create new features while ensuring fewer mistakes, which makes editing workflows more efficient for both editors and data managers alike.

Getting started

To manage templates in Map Viewer:

1. Select an editable layer in the Layers pane
2. Click the Configure editing button on the light toolbar
3. In the menu that appears, choose Templates

Note: You can manage templates when you’re the owner of the layer or an administrator in your organization. When neither of those apply, you can view templates for editable layers in read-only mode.  

Configure Templates

Inside the Configure templates window, you’ll see a list of types and their templates. You can customize the templates list as well as the properties for each one. Let’s explore some of the options.

Add or Remove Templates

• Use familiar buttons to duplicate or delete templates.

Format Templates

Select a template to format the following properties:

• Display name
• Description, and
• Default values

Providing default values for templates is the key to leveling up your editing workflows. Essentially it fills in the blanks automatically, helping you speed up data entry while maintaining accuracy. Just like with hydrants, where we set defaults for things like color and flow, you can set default values for attributes in any of your editable layers.

Reorder Templates

• Drag, drop, or select an option in the menu to rearrange templates in the list.

Save Templates

When you save changes, those are saved to the layer. The changes to templates appear in any map that contains the layer. But if you make a mistake you don’t want to save, don’t worry, we’ve added buttons that allow you to:

• Undo an action
• Redo an action
• Save your changes as you work, and
• Undo or Redo a stack of actions in the History menu

Sync Templates to Styles

When you change a layer’s style from a single symbol to unique symbols based on a field, it’s handy to have templates for each category. Similarly, if you introduce a new category, having a matching template is a good idea. With the latest update, you can easily sync the templates to the styles in your web map with the push of a button.

When you’ve finished styling the layer, open the Configure templates window. You’ll see an alert that the templates and style are out of sync. Click Update to automatically match your templates to the layer’s style.

Summary

Configuring and using templates can help make data collection smooth, efficient, and nearly error-free. This latest enhancement enables you to seamlessly manage templates within Map Viewer, helping you ensure data integrity while saving you time. We hope you’ll harness the power of templates for efficient data collection, reduced data clean up, and easier data management. There may be no such thing as a perfect dataset but, using the right tools, we can get close.