Update Smarter: Seamlessly Swap Data Sources in ArcGIS Dashboards

“Productivity just got a major boost!”

Have you ever wanted to reuse your carefully crafted dashboard designs for another project, only to find it’s not as easy as it should be? Or dread the sight of that yellow triangle warning you of a ‘Data source error’? – you’re not alone. Creating and maintaining a dashboard can be challenging, especially when working with evolving data.

But here’s the good news: things have become a lot simpler and faster.

We are excited to introduce one of the most requested features in our ArcGIS Online October 2025 release- Data source replacement. With this upgrade, authors can easily update or replace data sources, ensuring that dashboard creation, reuse, and error resolution is faster, smarter, and far more intuitive.

Key Capabilities

Dashboard authors can now:

• Review all data sources—maps, layers, and data expressions—in one centralized location.
• Reuse a dashboard’s layout and configurations across multiple dashboards by simply replacing or remapping data sources.
• Repair broken data sources by reconnecting them to valid ones – no need to start from scratch.
• Spot issues quickly  with visual cues and messages that guide you to the fix.
• Edit data expressions independently outside of element configuration, so your element configuration stay intact.

What You Will See

Located under the action bar on the left, the new Data sources panel gives you a bird’s-eye view of all your data sources—web maps, web scenes, standalone layers, and data expressions—all in one place. Using the Configure data source option, you can update or replace a data source in just a couple of steps.

Here are two common scenarios :

Example 1: Reuse Your Design Layout

Whether you’re building annual performance dashboards or creating similar dashboards for multiple clients across different regions, reusing your design and interactivity is key.

Take this Delta Airlines performance dashboard, for example— it provides a monthly performance review of the airline’s operations at the Atlanta hub. It tracks key flight metrics such as total flights, on-time flights, delays, cancellations, and diversions. Below the indicators, two bar charts effectively display average delay times categorized by cause and flight direction. Additionally, a stacked chart shows delay patterns by day of the week.

This dashboard has been carefully built with considerable time and effort. If we want to build another dashboard with a similar layout design for a different Delta hub, such as MSP – Minneapolis, we can now streamline the process using the latest ArcGIS Online update. With the new Data Sources panel , we can easily swap out the existing data source for a new one in just a few clicks. This allows us to maintain the integrity of the dashboard while updating the data.

How do I configure data sources?

• In the Data sources panel, click the Configure data source button next to the current data source.

• A window opens showing a side-by-side table: the current data source on the left and the replacement on the right. Click the Change button under Replacement to browse and select a new item.

• Layers and fields are automatically matched based on their names and types. Otherwise, manually map any unmatched layers and fields, then click Done.

That’s it! The dashboard preview updates with the new data, and the Data sources panel reflects the changes. In the example below, the dashboard now shows Delta’s performance at the MSP hub, created by reusing the original Atlanta dashboard as a template. Same layout, new insights—made possible with minimal effort.

Example 2: Repair a Broken Dashboard

Everything working fine? Great! But if something’s off, the Data sources panel will show visual cues and meaningful error messages to help you fix issues quickly and confidently.

Here’s another example — a review dashboard that displays information about New York City tree maintenance service requests, including request status, total requests over time, request types, and more. However, this dashboard is currently broken.

Why?

One of the required layers is currently missing. As data evolves, this can happen for a variety of reasons—such as the layer being deleted, permissions being modified, or the layer being republished.

Previously, fixing this meant manually investigating and updating each element—often leading to a full rebuilding of the dashboard.

Now, the Data sources panel can immediately highlight what’s wrong—whether it’s an inaccessible item, a missing layer, or a mismatched field—giving authors a clear starting point for troubleshooting.

To repair the dashboard:

• Open the Data sources panel and click the Configure data source button.
• Replace the entire item or remap broken layers/fields to valid ones.
• Click Done.

With just a few clicks, the dashboard is restored, and there is no need to rebuild elements from scratch. Here is the updated version of the example dashboard.

Summary

This update is all about saving you time, reducing frustration, and making dashboards more flexible than ever. Whether you’re building dashboards for your stakeholders or adapting to a schema change, you’ll now spend less time troubleshooting and more time creating.

Ready to try it out? Head over to ArcGIS dashboards and explore the new Data sources panel today!