{"id":2964125,"date":"2026-06-09T07:14:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T14:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=2964125"},"modified":"2026-06-16T07:07:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T14:07:24","slug":"part-2-increasing-accessibility-and-internationalization-in-your-arcgis-apps","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-online\/mapping\/part-2-increasing-accessibility-and-internationalization-in-your-arcgis-apps","title":{"rendered":"Part 2: Increasing Accessibility and Internationalization in your ArcGIS Apps"},"author":309572,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[777102,22941],"tags":[28911,555752,779042],"industry":[],"product":[36671,36551,36691],"class_list":["post-2964125","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arcade","category-mapping","tag-accessibility","tag-arcgis-notebooks","tag-internationalization","product-ops-dashboard","product-arcgis-online","product-survey123"],"acf":{"authors":[{"ID":309572,"user_firstname":"Kitty","user_lastname":"Hurley","nickname":"Kitty Hurley","user_nicename":"khurley","display_name":"Kitty Hurley","user_email":"khurley@esri.com","user_url":"https:\/\/www.github.com\/geospatialem","user_registered":"2022-05-04 21:30:59","user_description":"Kitty is a Principal Product Engineer with Calcite Design System, passionate about expanding access to the web and maps for broader audiences. She is dedicated to creating inclusive, user-friendly web experiences that connect people and places through innovative design and technology. Outside of work, Kitty enjoys exploring the wilderness of Minnesota and has a goal to visit every major league baseball stadium across America.","user_avatar":""},{"ID":360712,"user_firstname":"Kevin","user_lastname":"Gonzago","nickname":"Kevin Gonzago","user_nicename":"kgonzago","display_name":"Kevin Gonzago","user_email":"kgonzago@esri.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2024-08-26 20:33:13","user_description":"Kevin Gonzago is a Principal Product Engineer on the Developer Experience team, where he helps developers succeed with Esri\u2019s products, APIs, and SDKs through tools, guidance, and best practices.","user_avatar":""}],"short_description":"Learn how to build accessible, multilingual ArcGIS apps using automated workflows, ArcGIS Arcade expressions, and localization best practices.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

In Part 1: Increasing accessibility and internationalization in your apps<\/a> we shared techniques to automate accessibility and localization with your data. During survey collection of squirrel observations we can automate translation, how the data is structured, and content format to reach wider audiences. With these foundations implemented through a ArcGIS Survey123<\/a>, ArcGIS Notebooks<\/a>, and a\u00a0Microsoft Power Automate<\/a> workflow, the dashboard does not need to compensate for missing translations or inconsistent formatting. Instead, ArcGIS Dashboards<\/a> can focus on its presentation, resolving locale and rendering content dynamically at runtime.<\/em><\/p>\n

Next, let’s explore how to integrate your data into a single dashboard to serve multiple locales and support assistive technologies. We will focus on consuming the automated outputs from the data workflow without duplicating your data or dashboard and how to integrate usability into your dashboard to serve more individuals.<\/em><\/p>\n

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

Designing one dashboard for multiple locales<\/h2>\n
\n

A single ArcGIS Dashboard can adapt to multiple locales without duplicating its data or configuration. Dashboards resolve locale at runtime through the user\u2019s defined browser language settings or URL parameters. Based on the browser’s locale, the dashboard dynamically references the appropriate localized fields and applies localized-aware formatting for dates, numbers, and labels.<\/p>\n

In addition to the default browser locale interrogating the dashboard’s content, a locale can be set through a dashboard using a URL parameter. The parameters are appended to the end of a dashboard URL using a hash symbol, #<\/code>, and follow a key\u2011value pattern where param=value<\/code>. URL parameters provide more control in how the dashboard is displayed at runtime, including language and regional formatting preferences:<\/p>\n

\/\/ Default browser locale<\/span>\r\nhttps:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/21159e6135bc40158c4314782fc20f5c<\/span><\/a>\r\n\r\n\/\/ Specify the English locale<\/span>\r\nhttps:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/21159e6135bc40158c4314782fc20f5c#locale=en<\/span><\/a>\r\n\r\n\/\/ Specify the Spanish locale<\/span>\r\nhttps:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/21159e6135bc40158c4314782fc20f5c#locale=es<\/span>\r\n<\/a><\/code><\/pre>\n
Handling locales in Dashboards<\/h3>\n
The following workflow highlights how a locale is handled when a dashboard loads:<\/p>\n
1. New survey responses are processed using the squirrels automation notebook<\/a> that generates localized attributes and validates accessibility requirements.<\/p>\n
2. When the squirrels dashboard<\/a> loads, the user\u2019s preferred locale is resolved using ArcGIS Arcade<\/a>:<\/p>\n
\/\/ Get the browser locale<\/span>\r\nvar<\/span> locale = GetEnvironment<\/span>().locale;\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
3. Arcade expressions reference locale-specific fields and apply appropriate formatting across the dashboard’s\u00a0 elements. For instance, you can set the topText<\/code>, topTextMaxSize<\/code>, middleText<\/code>, and middleTextMaxSize<\/code> properties of a dashboard’s indicator<\/a> element based on the browser locale.<\/p>\n
\/\/ Set the Indicator's title based on the locale<\/span>\r\nvar<\/span> squirrelText = IIF<\/span>(locale == \"es\"<\/span>, \"Ardilla de negro\"<\/span>, \"Black squirrels\"<\/span>);\r\nreturn<\/span> {\r\n  topText<\/span>: `${squirrelText}<\/span>`<\/span>,\r\n  topTextMaxSize<\/span>: \"medium\"<\/span>,\r\n  middleText<\/span>: $datapoint<\/span>.COUNT_OBJECTID,\r\n  middleTextMaxSize<\/span>: \"large\"<\/span>,\r\n};\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
<\/div>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
Localized formatting for dates and numbers<\/h2>\n
Designing for accessibility and internationalization ensures data is not just translated, but displayed based on a defined locale, which optimizes date formats, number separators, and currency conventions for a given region. ArcGIS Arcade<\/a> allows you to dynamically format data to create localized display by determining locale settings and applying conditional formatting.<\/p>\n
For instance, the Text()<\/code> function formats dates, which can adapt to locales such as D<\/code>\/ M<\/code>\/ YYYY<\/code>\u00a0for the Spanish locale:<\/p>\n
\/\/ Get the browser locale<\/span>\r\nvar<\/span> locale = GetEnvironment<\/span>().locale;\r\n\r\n\/\/ Get the feature layer's date field<\/span>\r\nvar<\/span> dateField = $datapoint<\/span>.date_field;\r\n\r\n\/\/ Format the date based on the locale<\/span>\r\nvar<\/span> formattedDate = When<\/span>(\r\n  locale == \"es\"<\/span>,\r\n  Text<\/span>(dateField, \"D\/M\/YYYY\"<\/span>), \/\/ Spanish locale<\/span>\r\n  Text<\/span>(dateField, \"MMM DD, YYYY\"<\/span>) \/\/ English locale<\/span>\r\n);\r\n\r\nreturn<\/span> formattedDate;<\/code><\/pre>\n
\n
Another Arcade expression retrieves the locale from the environment, formatting the value using a localized pattern, and adjusts the number format for the Spanish locale:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\/\/ Get the browser locale<\/span>\r\nvar<\/span> locale = GetEnvironment<\/span>().locale;\r\n\r\n\/\/ Set the indicator value<\/span>\r\nvar<\/span> dataValue = $datapoint<\/span>.value;\r\n\r\n\/\/ English formatted numbers (e.g., 1,000.00)<\/span>\r\nvar<\/span> enFormat = Text<\/span>(dataValue, \"#,##0.00\"<\/span>);\r\n\r\n\/\/ Spanish formatted numbers (e.g., 1.000,00)\r\n<\/span>var<\/span> esFormat = Text<\/span>(dataValue, \"#.##0,00\"<\/span>);\r\n\r\n\/\/ Return the formatted indicator text for each locale<\/span>\r\nreturn<\/span> {\r\n  middleText<\/span>: When<\/span>(locale == \"es\"<\/span>, esFormat, enFormat)\r\n};\r\n\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
Authoring dashboards for assistive technologies<\/h2>\n
Accessibility does not stop at the map. Dashboards should also:<\/p>\n
To learn more about the Arcade expressions provided in this section, visit the Eastern Gray Squirrels GitHub repository<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n