Use the Time Slider in Portal for ArcGIS with data from ArcMap

Summary

This article describes the steps to use the Time Slider in a Portal for ArcGIS web map, and reconcile issues with non-spatial data and inconsistent time formatting in the source data. In this example, there is a Microsoft Access Database that includes a table with the following data:

• longitude
• latitude
• altitude
• date data

However the data is stored in a non-spatial table, and the time format is not consistent throughout the records.

Procedure

1. From the MS Access database, export the table to Excel.

2. Add the exported table to ArcMap. Refer to ArcMap: Adding tables to ArcMap for more information.

3. After adding the table to the map, right-click it in the table of contents and click Display XY Data.

4. Select the fields with longitude and latitude values for the X Field and Y Field respectively.

5. After displaying the X,Y points, export the layer, and add it to the map. Refer to ArcMap: Exporting features for more information.

6. Use the Define Projection tool to provide the layer with a spatial reference. In this example, the 'GCS_NAD_1983_2011' coordinate system is used.

7. Open the attribute table. In the attribute table of the layer, note that the date style in the 'DATEUTC' field is not consistent, as shown in the image below.

8. Click the Table Options button. Click Add Field.

9. Create a new Date field. In this example, the new field is named DATE_UTC_NEW.

10. Export all of the data from the old date field ('DATEUTC') to the new date field ('DATE_UTC_NEW').

1. Open the Field Calculator on the new field.

2. Double-click the old date field ('DATEUTC') field in the Fields list to add it.

3. Click OK. Notice the consistency in the date style of the new date field ('DATE_UTC_NEW').

11. Go to Layer Properties and check Enable time on this layer. Refer to ArcMap: Enabling time on your data for more information.
12. Set the time properties of the layer. Refer to ArcMap: Setting the time properties on data for more information.

The layer is time-enabled. After publishing the layer and adding it to a web map, the Time Slider is at the bottom of the page:

Configure the Time Slider by pressing the settings icon on the right side of it and clicking Show Advanced Options.

Additionally, the Time Slider widget can be added to a web application in ArcGIS Web AppBuilder.