{"id":264772,"date":"2018-07-02T13:30:32","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T20:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=264772"},"modified":"2020-03-26T12:59:40","modified_gmt":"2020-03-26T19:59:40","slug":"strategies-best-practices-for-using-dashboards-on-your-smartphone","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/ops-dashboard\/decision-support\/strategies-best-practices-for-using-dashboards-on-your-smartphone","title":{"rendered":"Strategies & Best Practices for using Dashboards on your Smartphone"},"author":5481,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[37141,23261,22941],"tags":[23241,42611,25521,147162,29201],"industry":[],"product":[36821,36671,36551],"class_list":["post-264772","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-decision-support","category-field-mobility","category-mapping","tag-best-practices","tag-configurable-apps","tag-dashboards","tag-operations-dashboard","tag-smartphone","product-configurable-apps","product-ops-dashboard","product-arcgis-online"],"acf":{"short_description":"This blog describes some strategies and best practices when using of Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS on smartphones.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Since the launch of our new all-web architecture in December 2017, many of you have discovered the rich set of configurable charts, gauges, maps, and other visual elements included with Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS<\/a>. You have showcased to your audience the status and performance of your personnel, services, assets, performance metrics, and so on. For many of you, your dashboards have been configured to update themselves in real time. And for others, your dashboards represent a more static view of your data. It doesn\u2019t matter to us. It all just works. You have been putting this product through its paces, and we have seen some truly great examples.<\/p>\n

While getting to know the product, many of you have commented on how access to dashboards on your smartphones was not working. And it\u2019s true: we disabled it. Dashboards that are designed to look great on a desktop browser or wall-mounted monitor simply do not look good when viewed on a phone\u2019s much smaller display. However, through your feedback, we have realized we are guilty of not allowing you to follow our own advice: a dashboard should be authored to look good for the environment in which it will be used. If a dashboard is authored to look good on a desktop or wall-mounted monitor, it will look good on a desktop or wall-mounted monitor. If a dashboard is authored to look good on a phone, it will look good on a phone. It is with this in mind that we are pleased to announce that starting with the June 2018 update of ArcGIS Online, we will no longer be blocking access to dashboards on mobile phones.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":264852,"id":264852,"title":"Fig1","filename":"Fig1.png","filesize":80880,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig1.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/ops-dashboard\/decision-support\/strategies-best-practices-for-using-dashboards-on-your-smartphone\/fig1","alt":"Dashboards on a smart phone","author":"5481","description":"3 dashboards are in smart phones","caption":"","name":"fig1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":264772,"date":"2018-07-02 20:45:11","modified":"2018-07-02 21:52:02","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":462,"height":614,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig1.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig1.png","medium-width":196,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig1.png","medium_large-width":462,"medium_large-height":614,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig1.png","large-width":462,"large-height":614,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig1.png","1536x1536-width":462,"1536x1536-height":614,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig1.png","2048x2048-width":462,"2048x2048-height":614,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig1.png","card_image-width":350,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig1.png","wide_image-width":462,"wide_image-height":614}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

The most important thing to consider when designing a dashboard for mobile use is that it should not try to compete with or replace existing dashboards. Rather, a mobile dashboard should complement other dashboards, and does not need to cover all the bases. Like any other dashboard, the design of a mobile dashboard should start with a thorough understanding of the end user. What is this person\u2019s role in the organization? In what scenario(s) will this mobile dashboard be used? What organizational goals are reached with mobile data access? And so on.<\/p>\n

A dashboard displayed on a phone should be kept as simple as possible. Most users will have little or no need for in-depth visualizations, and interaction between elements should be limited. The small screen size of a smartphone simply does not lend itself to in-depth analysis, and don\u2019t forget that the mobile user will probably not be sitting down and will not have the benefit of an input device like a mouse to initiate dashboard interactivity. If a mobile dashboard has too many visuals, chances are it is not focused enough. Consider creating another dashboard. When it comes to mobile dashboards, less is more<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Because mobile dashboards have less real estate than their desktop counterparts, it can be challenging to create an aesthetically pleasing interface and still provide users the ability to get the answers they need at a glance. One way to do this: using color effectively, and contrasting background and foreground colors is one technique that can be effective. With contrasting colors, metrics and outliers will stand out more.<\/p>\n

Many mobile dashboards are about conveying performance. To this end, indicators and gauges are often the best visualizations as information can be consumed quickly and action can be taken immediately. When showing charts, limit the use of text and grids, and so on. Limit or avoid visuals that contain too much information to be consumed quickly. This includes details, list, and legend. The following are offered as best practices to consider when authoring your dashboards for phone use.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

General:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Pick a phone orientation (portrait or landscape) and design for that. Dashboard elements are designed to take up 100% of the display and do not re-align themselves with changes in the display\u2019s aspect ratio.
\n\u2022 Take advantage of the fact that many desktop browsers (e.g. Chrome<\/a>) have built-in tools that enable you to get a close approximation of how your dashboard will look on mobile devices. When assembling your dashboard, periodically turn these tools on to get a sense of how things look, and adjust sizes, text, colors as necessary.
\n\u2022 Take advantage of the fact that dashboard elements can be expanded at runtime to fill the entire display.
\n\u2022 Use a dashboard\u2019s ability to group and stack<\/a> elements to your advantage, but be conservative. You should not try to re-create a desktop dashboard for your phone by over-using these abilities. When used, stacks (tabs) should be renamed to reflect their content.
\n\u2022 When adding elements to the dashboard, do not add any unnecessary text such as titles and descriptions.
\n\u2022 Don\u2019t add a header<\/a> to your dashboard unless it really needs one.
\n\u2022 Limit the amount of text you place in each element\u2019s title and description (or omit text in these areas altogether).
\n\u2022 For all elements, turn off the \u201clast update text\u201d option.
\n\u2022 For pie chart and serial chart, turn off the \u201chover text\u201d option.<\/p>\n

Maps and legends:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Maps should be as simple as possible. Limiting it to one operational layer whose symbology contrasts with the background basemap is ideal. This will make the map easier to interpret, faster to draw, and reduces the amount of data being downloaded to your device over what might be a slow network connection.
\n\u2022 Disable popups on the operational layer(s). Tapping on a single feature on a phone is difficult, and there really isn\u2019t enough real estate on the phone to show an info window on top of the map like there is on your desktop.
\n\u2022 Consider whether a refresh interval is necessary. Many mobile dashboards will be opened and then immediately closed once the information it displays has been consumed.
\n\u2022 When adding a map<\/a> to a mobile dashboard, avoid enabling map tools such as search, layer visibility, legend, basemap switcher, etc. They are rarely needed in mobile situations.
\n\u2022 Because the map used on a mobile dashboard should be simple to understand, adding a map legend element<\/a> is typically unnecessary.<\/p>\n

Interactive dashboards:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Dashboard actions<\/a> should be kept to a minimum.
\n\u2022 Use selectors<\/a> sparingly. When used, consider placing them on a left panel<\/a> configured to slide over the dashboard rather than on a dashboard header.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

The following is an example open shelters dashboard you might see in a typical emergency operations center. Through it, the command center support staff can acquire, analyze and act on information as it shows up on the dashboard. The dashboard is flexible, and can display data in rapidly changing conditions. To improve situational awareness, the map shows many operational layers. The open shelters are shown on a list, and key metrics for the number of open shelters, shelter population and shelter capacity are included. To save screen real-estate, the key metrics have been stacked, and additional metrics are shown along the bottom using serial charts. Because this dashboard is intended to be shown on a wall-mounted monitor, large texts sizes are used, and contrasting colors improve legibility in artificially lit rooms.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":264922,"id":264922,"title":"Fig2","filename":"Fig2.png","filesize":82039,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig2.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/ops-dashboard\/decision-support\/strategies-best-practices-for-using-dashboards-on-your-smartphone\/fig2","alt":"Example EOC Shelter Dashboard","author":"5481","description":"Example Shelter dashboard that you might see in an EOC","caption":"","name":"fig2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":264772,"date":"2018-07-02 20:58:05","modified":"2018-07-02 21:52:29","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":801,"height":509,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig2.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":135,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig2.png","medium-width":411,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig2.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig2.png","large-width":801,"large-height":509,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig2.png","1536x1536-width":801,"1536x1536-height":509,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig2.png","2048x2048-width":801,"2048x2048-height":509,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig2.png","card_image-width":732,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig2.png","wide_image-width":801,"wide_image-height":509}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

To take this dashboard into the field for smartphone use (by an area commander, for example), it needs to be simplified and some design choices should be changed. The following is one interpretation of how this might be accomplished.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":264962,"id":264962,"title":"Fig3","filename":"Fig3.png","filesize":54707,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig3.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/ops-dashboard\/decision-support\/strategies-best-practices-for-using-dashboards-on-your-smartphone\/fig3","alt":"Shelter dashboard on a smart phone","author":"5481","description":"Dashboard with 2 tabs showing relevant shelter info","caption":"","name":"fig3","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":264772,"date":"2018-07-02 21:01:54","modified":"2018-07-02 21:53:03","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":532,"height":453,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig3.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":181,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig3.png","medium-width":307,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig3.png","medium_large-width":532,"medium_large-height":453,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig3.png","large-width":532,"large-height":453,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig3.png","1536x1536-width":532,"1536x1536-height":453,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig3.png","2048x2048-width":532,"2048x2048-height":453,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig3.png","card_image-width":532,"card_image-height":453,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Fig3.png","wide_image-width":532,"wide_image-height":453}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

The above is a single dashboard organized into two named tabs: Metrics<\/em> and Shelters<\/em>. On each tab, the elements have been grouped. Not all the elements in the original dashboard were included in the mobile dashboard. Text sizes have been reduced to look better on a phone. The color scheme of the elements and the basemap have been changed slightly so that the colors contrast even more (just in case the dashboard is used in daylight conditions). The number of operational layers of the web map has been reduced to one, pop-ups have been disabled, map tools have been not enabled on the map element, and the list has been configured to show essential information only.<\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/strong> To enable a mobile responsive design user experience for your dashboards, please see this blog: Two dashboards, one intelligent URL<\/a><\/p>\n

As you can see, by simply making some straightforward design choices, creating dashboards that look great on your phone is possible. With that said, we want you to know that there are some things we know we need to work on. This includes element responsiveness, \u2018fat finger\u2019 usability, providing better design time tools, and so on. You can think of our unblocking phone access for the June 2018 release as only our first step. You can expect incremental improvements in future releases from here on out.<\/p>\n

Contributors: Patrick Brennan and Derek Law<\/em><\/p>\n"}],"authors":[{"ID":5481,"user_firstname":"Derek","user_lastname":"Law","nickname":"Derek Law","user_nicename":"law","display_name":"Derek Law","user_email":"dlaw@esri.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2018-03-02 00:17:11","user_description":"Derek is a Senior Product Manager working on ArcGIS Monitor. Based in the Esri Redlands, CA office, he's involved with requirements gathering, software development, and product marketing. Follow on Twitter\/X | Mastodon | BlueSky: @GIS_Bandit","user_avatar":""}],"related_articles":[{"ID":82601,"post_author":"5481","post_date":"2018-02-06 10:00:43","post_date_gmt":"2018-02-06 10:00:43","post_content":"","post_title":"Some Example Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS Apps & Resources","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"some-example-operations-dashboard-for-arcgis-apps-resources","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2020-01-28 09:59:40","post_modified_gmt":"2020-01-28 17:59:40","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/product\/uncategorized\/some-example-operations-dashboard-for-arcgis-apps-resources\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":123421,"post_author":"5481","post_date":"2018-03-15 08:49:35","post_date_gmt":"2018-03-15 08:49:35","post_content":"We had a very busy Esri Developer Summit<\/a> last week. It was great to meet and talk with many users about Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS<\/a> in the exhibit showcase, after our technical sessions, and during the social events. There was a lot of great feedback, discussion, and questions.<\/span>\n\n\"\"<\/a>\n\nSo, we wanted to share a quick recap of Operations Dashboard related events at Dev Summit and share some answers to\u00a0some of the common questions we received throughout the week.<\/span>\n\nOperations Dashboard Pre-Conference Seminar<\/span><\/strong>\n\nAttendees pre-registered and participated in a half-day event, where they rolled up their sleeves and were hands-on with Operations Dashboard, learning how to create effective dashboard apps. Instead of just using the maps provided, many participants applied the exercise materials to their own data and built some really nice dashboards in the seminar!<\/span>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\nOperations Dashboard Tips & Tricks Demo Theater<\/span><\/strong>\n\nThis 30 minute session presented many best practices for configuring and designing efficient and effective dashboards. It was standing room only, as some attendees had to watch outside the theater seating area. Given all the interest and positive feedback, we will be publishing the content in a series of future blog posts.<\/span>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\nWhat\u2019s New in Operations Dashboard <\/span><\/strong>Technical Workshop<\/span><\/strong>\n\nThis 1-hour session served as an overview of Operations Dashboard. Topics included a tour of the capabilities Dashboard offers, an exploration of the many visualizations that you can create, and how you can bring them to life with interactivity and selectors. As with the demo theater session, the room was completely full!<\/span>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\nWith all of the conversations at the conference, we wanted to highlight and share the top 5 questions that were asked about Operations Dashboard and how our team answered them: <\/span>\n\nQ1. How do I get the Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS app?<\/span><\/em><\/strong>\n\nA1. Operations Dashboard is included with your ArcGIS Online organization at no additional cost. It is also available for ArcGIS Enterprise 10.6. For this release only, you will need to download a separate setup from the MyEsri customer download site<\/a> that can install the web app on your 10.6 Portal. This setup is not available for older versions of ArcGIS Enterprise and with ArcGIS 10.6.1 and higher, will be included with all of the other configurable web apps.<\/span>\n\nQ2. Who is the target audience for Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS?<\/span><\/em><\/strong>\n\nA2. The primary audience is a decision-maker within your organization. That could be the CEO of your company, a Commander or Section-Chief during an event, or perhaps a Project\/Operations Manager. However, anyone in your organization or in the community that your organization serves can use dashboards. It is an effective presentation tool for visualizing key performance indicators. Also, Operations Dashboard is self-serving and easy to configure, so you don\u2019t need a GIS expert to create and share dashboards. <\/span>\n\nQ3. How does Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS compare with Web AppBuilder for ArcGIS and Insights for ArcGIS?<\/span><\/em><\/strong>\n\nA3. Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS is the premier app for creating sophisticated dashboard apps. It offers precision charting and visualization options and uses a new \u201cdashboard\u201d item type in ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise 10.6.<\/span>\n\nWeb AppBuilder for ArcGIS<\/a> has a \u2018dashboard\u2019<\/em> theme layout option, where you can create a dashboard. You can use the Infographic widget to create simple charts and visualizations quickly and easily. You can also incorporate additional functionality such as editing and geoprocessing in your apps. Existing Web AppBuilder users will likely choose this option to create dashboards.<\/span>\n\nInsights for ArcGIS<\/a> is designed for both spatial and non-spatial analysis and data exploration. The analysis results are displayed in maps, charts, and tables on a worksheet \u2013 these can be interpreted to be a \u201cdashboard\u201d, but not in the traditional sense. The distinction here: this app\u2019s focus is for data discovery and analysis.<\/span>\n\nQ4. Does Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS\u00a0work with Esri\u2019s field apps (Collector for ArcGIS, Survey123 for ArcGIS, and Workforce for ArcGIS)?<\/span><\/em><\/strong>\n\nA4. Yes, absolutely. Operations Dashboard can be thought of as the \u201cmonitoring app\u201d for field workflow projects. The work assignments and field worker locations\u00a0from Workforce for ArcGIS<\/a> along with data captured and updated from the field with Collector for ArcGIS<\/a> and Survey123 for ArcGIS<\/a> can be displayed within a dashboard app in real-time.<\/span>\n\nQ5. What is the developer story for Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS?<\/span><\/em><\/strong>\n\nA5. Operations Dashboard is a configurable web app and is not extensible and we do not have plans to provide a developer experience for Operations Dashboard. However, in the April release, we will support a new type of element called Embedded Content<\/em> that will let you host documents, media and videos. If you find that the configurable experience of Operations Dashboard is not sufficient, please post details on the ArcGIS Ideas site<\/a>.<\/span>\n\nFor more information about Operations Dashboard, checkout these resources:<\/span>\n