Authoring a web map for Roadway Reporter

Roadway Reporter gets its map definition of which layers to use from a web map. Web maps are maps that can be authored and hosted on ArcGIS.com or an onsite deployment for Portal for ArcGIS.

There are three options for hosting the web map:

• Using ArcGIS.com
• Using Portal for ArcGIS
• Using a web server

Authoring a web map on ArcGIS.com or Portal for ArcGIS

Web maps can be authored using ArcGIS.com or Portal for ArcGIS. You can add the data layers (map service) you intend to use, change the map extent, select a basemap from the basemap gallery, include a description of the map, and save it as your own item for use within Roadway Reporter.

1. Log in to the ArcGIS.com website.

   When you log in to ArcGIS.com for the first time, you need to create an account.

2. Create a web map with linear referencing capability on ArcGIS.com.

   Add the one map service with linear referencing capability that contains the LRS Network layers and the event layers as one of the layers in the web map. Optionally, you can also add basemaps or any reference layers as layers in the web map.

3. Once you have created a web map and added all required layers, click Save.
4. Enter the following information for the web map:
   • Title
   • Tags
   • Summary
5. Choose a folder in My Content to store the web map.
6. Click Save.

   See Save maps for more information.

7. Make the web map publically accessible.
   1. Click Share.
   2. Check the Share with everyone (public) check box. See Sharing items for more information.

      Although the web map is shared publically, you can limit access to the map service with linear referencing capability by enabling ArcGIS Server security. If the ArcGIS server exposing the map services is behind a firewall, consider copying the web map from ArcGIS.com to the web folder on the web server that hosts Roadway Reporter web application as a JSON file.

8. After the web map is created, you need to know the web map ID because it will be used in the other steps of the Roadway Reporter deployment process.
   1. Click My Content.
   2. Click the title of the web map to open the item details.

      The URL for the item details web page will be in the following format: http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=<webmapID>. The web map ID is the 32-character string at the end of the URL.

      For example, http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=1dcf369089804329946e3b3abf385251.

Copying a web map from ArcGIS.com as a local file

If you have an ArcGIS.com account and your organization restricts members from sharing items outside the organization, copying the web map onto the web server might be the best approach.

1. Open a web browser and enter the web map definition URL in the address bar. The URL for the web map definition should have the following syntax: http://www.arcgis.com/sharing/content/items/<your web map ID>/data?f=pjson.

   For example, the following URL retrieves the web map definition for the New York sample data hosted on ArcGIS.com: http://www.arcgis.com/sharing/content/items/1dcf369089804329946e3b3abf385251/data?f=pjson.

2. Copy the entire contents of the web page and paste it into a text file.
3. Rename the text file to have a .json extension.

   You can use any name for the .json file.

4. Copy the file to the web folder containing the Roadway Reporter web application on the web server.

   For example, in Internet Information Services (IIS), the web folder may be located at C:\inetpub\wwwroot\RoadwayReporter.

   The actual location of the IIS wwwroot directory could differ on your server machine. Use the IIS Management Console to get the location of the IIS wwwroot directory.

Authoring a web map as a local file on the web server

As an alternative to authoring the web map using ArcGIS.com, you can author web maps directly by modifying the URL parameters in the sample web map that can be found within the Roadway Reporter web application.

1. Using Windows Explorer, browse to the sample web map at $INSTALL_DIR$\Server\Web\RoadwayCharacteristics\sample_webmap.json.
2. Using a text editor, open the sample web map (sample_webmap.json) file.

   {
     "operationalLayers": [{
       "id": "LRS_map_service",
       "title": "LRS map",
       "url": "http://roadsandhighwayssample.esri.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/RoadsHighways/NewYork/MapServer",
       "visibleLayers": [ 0, 1, 2, 3 ]
     }],
     "baseMap": {
       "baseMapLayers": [
         {
           "id": "World_Light_Gray_Base",
           "url": "http://services.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Canvas/World_Light_Gray_Base/MapServer"
         },
         {
           "id": "World_Light_Gray_Reference",
           "isReference": true,
           "visibility": true,
           "url": "http://services.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Canvas/World_Light_Gray_Reference/MapServer"
         }
       ],
       "title": "Basemap"
     },
     "version": "1.6"
   }
   

URL parameters allow you to define the contents of a map, for example, the basemap, operational layers, and the extent.
3. At a minimum, some of the items within the operationalLayers configuration section need to be modified to use your data.
   1. Change the URL parameters to point to the URL of the map service with linear referencing capability that you have published.
   2. Change the visibleLayers parameters to include the layer ID of the layers that you want to have visible by default.

   For more information on authoring a web map, see Using URL parameters.

4. Copy the file to the web folder containing the Roadway Reporter web application on the web server.

   For example, in Internet Information Services (IIS), the web folder may be located at C:\inetpub\wwwroot\RoadwayReporter.

   The actual location of the IIS wwwroot directory could differ on your server machine. Use the IIS Management Console to get the location of the IIS wwwroot directory.