Forms, Templates, Choice Lists, and Domains in ArcGIS Field Maps

This article provides some general advice and best practices for working with ArcGIS Field Maps Designer.

Forms and Templates

Feature templates are not ArcGIS Field Maps specific. Feature templates can be created in ArcGIS Pro and are useful when creating many features with the same or similar features. See: Create a feature template—ArcGIS Pro. Commonly, feature templates are used to set default values or fill in attribute information as the feature is added, instead of needing to edit the attributes after the fact.

In ArcGIS Field Maps feature templates are used to reorder, duplicate, format, delete and set default values for new features. This is similar to forms that can be used during feature creation and also to edit existing features. See: Configure the map—ArcGIS Field Maps

Choice Lists

Multiple combo box questions with the same choices holding different information, i.e., two different names can be used in ArcGIS Field Maps.

To create multiple combo box questions, it is possible to manually added the values for each of the choice lists for each of layer. Another option to reduce the amount of repetitive work is to create a CSV file with a column for the name and one for the label and then upload this CSV as the choices list. This process quickly adds the same choices to different layers and questions.

Domains

Domains could be used to simplify data and make it easier to work with. See: Create and manage domains—ArcGIS Pro. Domains can be used to specify potential values for an attribute field. For example, it is possible to have a different polygon layer for five different tractor operations. However, instead of five individual layers, one layer can be created to hold all five tractor operations and use domains to categorise each feature within the layer. As it is possible to symbolise a layer based on the attribute values, visually, it is possible to see the locations of each tractor operation, but they would all be stored in the same feature layer, reducing the amount of hosted feature layers.

Another use for domains, could be to predetermine the tractor operator choices. A domain can be set to a particular field and can show the same options regardless of any other attribute values. Using rules and subtypes based on the selected operation, the form could automatically include the worker's name, if the same worker always completes an action, to further reduce the amount of work required to complete a form. See: Introduction to subtypes—ArcGIS Pro. As domains stay with the feature layer in the web map and are available in Field Maps, the options can be specified outside of the Field Maps Designer in ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Pro.