Experiencing ArcGIS in a new way
Duration:     0:18:48

START AUDIO

Voiceover: The Spatial Jam, an Esri UK podcast.

Rosie: Don't be afraid to, like, just throw some data at it and see if it works.

Elleni: Sort of blurs the line between developers and figuration out of the box.

Sam: Hi, everyone, and welcome to the Spatial Jam podcast. Thanks so much for joining us today as we talk about building experiences with ArcGIS and, hopefully, provide some useful tips and tricks throughout today's episode.

My name is Sam, and today I'm joined by my co-host, Elleni Rogers, and our colleague and guest of the podcast, Rosie Gardner, who works in the pre-sales team and has plenty of knowledge about Experience Builder.

Throughout today's episode, we'll touch on the new kid on the Esri scene, Experience Builder, which has definitely grown into the spotlight recently, but I guess my first question to you, Elleni, is can we still call it the ‘new kid on the scene’? (Laughter)

Elleni: Yes, it has been around for, maybe, a year and a half or two years now, so maybe not quite the new kid on the scene, but definitely the new kid on the block in terms of the applications that we have in the ArcGIS system at the moment, so those web applications, I would say.

Sam: It's not quite fresh faced still, is it, really? I think-

Elleni: It’s seasoned a little bit.

Sam: It’s seasoned, definitely. (Laughter) Before we dive into talking about Experience Builder, I think it's probably worth just touching on what it actually is, for those listeners who haven't necessarily come across it. So, Rosie, what experience have you had of using this, and how would you best describe it to those that don't know what it is?

Rosie: Experience of Experience Builder. I guess how many times can you get that in a sentence? (Laughter) But it's a great new app that we've got developed to, I guess, improve that ability for users to create apps but really have control over the flexibility of the interface and what elements you can bring in, what widgets, and where you want to put them. So it really fits, I guess, the goal of that app that they're developing. So, not just the functionality and integration with the rest of the ArcGIS system, but also giving you all that control over the look and feel, too.

Sam: Yes. Elleni, have you had a similar experience of using it, or has it been a different…? I can't keep saying, “Experience,” can I? (Laughter) It's going to run tired quite quickly, but how much exposure have you had to using it, Elleni?

Elleni: Yes, so I think, personally, I've been able to have a play around with Experience Builder. What I've really enjoyed about it is it, sort of, blurs the lines a little bit more between developers and configuration out of the box. What I mean by that is me, personally, I'm not a developer. (Laughter) I can't code. I don't have those skills, but what I do enjoy is thinking about is wireframing apps, understanding how to create a nice user interface or a user experience.

For some of the configurable, out-of-the-box apps in the ArcGIS system, you can do that very quickly, but it doesn't give you that full control over that type of workflow that you're trying to produce through an application. So, for me, Experience Builder has just extended that developer feel so I can pretend I'm a developer and create my own app, (Laughter) without the need to code, yeah, which is something that I love about it.

Sam: Yes. I think that, for me, as well, is one of the more powerful things about it. It feels like you've got a lot more customisation. I guess that comes in nicely to the next question I was going to ask you both, because there are 101 different features on Experience Builder. We could probably spend all day talking about them, but what, if you have to say your favourite feature was, what would you say that would be? We’ll kick off with Rosie first.

Rosie: Yes, I think for me it's the ability to bring lots of different elements together into one app. With ArcGIS as a whole, you can create forms with Survey123, or you can create a dashboard and have some real-time information coming in that way, but sometimes you want to have that all joined up into the one place. Experience Builder allows you to do that.

It's really easy to do, as well. I think it's quick to spin up, but, for instance, with me, pulling into an app with an existing survey, to update existing features that you can then instantly see the results within that map view, is really quite powerful. I think that's a really great element to it.

Elleni: Yeah, that's really interesting, Rosie. I picked up on that ability in Experience Builder to not only create that dashboard experience but then have the ability to include a survey. Maybe even include the ability to export data from queries that you're making through the app, which is definitely something that I've been requested for from customers from across the business. Trying to understand how you can bring all of those capabilities into a single, one-screen app.

Rosie: Yes. I think it just streamlines those workflows, as well. Quite a lot of feedback I've got from customers is they love it all, but it's quite interrupting, I guess, to jump from one app, to then jump to the mobile, to jump out here. It just keeps it all really concise.

Sam: Yes. I think that's so powerful: just to have it all in one place. I guess, kind of, off the back of that, one of the things that I really love about it is the mobile-first responsiveness approach that it takes. So, you have the ability to, obviously, design your app as if it was in desktop, and make it look really nice and smart. Then, for someone who then opens it on a mobile device or an iPad, for example, you can customise the view that they get when they open it on a specific device.

So, for example, if I've made quite a complicated dashboard, if I open it on my desktop, that's going to look great and I'm going to have 20 different items and buttons to click, but if I open it on a mobile, that's going to be pretty stressful for my eyes to process what to click first. So, you can actually design with this mobile-first responsiveness in mind, so removing those 20 buttons, reducing it down to the three essential buttons that you want to include.

I know I had an experience fairly recently where I designed something using Operations Dashboard, which is great that you've got so many different features on it, but actually, after spending weeks designing this application, when you opened it on a mobile, it was essentially useless because it didn't respond in the way that allowed people to use it.

So, having this functionality in Experience Builder, and if I'm honest, if I had known about it at the time, would have saved me a lot of hassle, but I would have definitely designed it in Experience Builder first time round, because then it just gives people that option of having a simplified mobile view, which is really handy.

Elleni: So important, especially as all of us are constantly on our phones and using that experience now more than ever.

Sam: I guess for the users that have never touched Experience Builder before and they're going in for the first time, what kind of templates and starting-from-scratch items do you have in Experience Builder that help people get to grips with it and start designing something that looks like a final product?

Rosie: Yes, so there's a whole range. Actually, this is being continuously added to, as well, by the development team, so it makes it easier to pick the style that you're going for, and then build on that.

The other approach is to just start from a blank canvas, as well, but what I'd recommend there is make sure that you set your layout first. When you go in and have a play with Experience Builder, you'll see there's a little layout section of the different widgets. Based on that, you can then add other elements in, but it just keeps the structure of the app really good for you.

Sam: Yes.

Elleni: Yeah, I think they've recognised that, as well in Experience Builder. One of the, I think, recent updates, back in April of this year, was adding snapping. So, you can actually snap some of those layout cards or widgets that you're creating on that page, to make sure that things don't shift around as you're developing it. That's really, really nice, as well.

I think one of the other things I would definitely recommend is checking out the Experience Builder gallery. It holds so many different examples of what customers and the GIS community are creating with Experience Builder, so that's a good place to go if you're wanting to start from scratch and you want some inspiration. So, yes, definitely check that out.

Sam: It's definitely a good place to see the art of the possible and just see what other people have been designing. You've got some, yes, really amazing Experience Builders on there, or experiences.

I guess because we've touched on Experience Builder – well, I made the comparison with Web AppBuilder earlier, there’s going to be a lot of crossover with both StoryMaps, Web AppBuilder, Hub. It, kind of, feels like it takes the best elements of all of them.

In terms of, like, where it sits in relation to them, can either of you talk on the parity it has with Web AppBuilder? Is it something that's eventually going to replace it, or is it something that is going to sit alongside it and they’re not going to cross over, so to speak?

Elleni: Yes, so I think in terms of that comparity between Web AppBuilder, Web AppBuilder definitely still serves a purpose for rapid, agile deployments of apps that just need a simple measurement tool or something very, very quick. Ultimately a question that you need to ask of, “What am I trying to do for my end users, or what experience (Laughter) – ‘experience’ – am I trying to create for my end users?” Then see which application actually suits the job better.

Sam: Yes. We should definitely play ‘Experience Bingo’, I think, with how many times we’re going to say this. (Laughter) As you say Elleni, if you need more customisation and almost more complexity, that's where you move into using something like Experience Builder or going into the developer side of things, which is obviously another level of complexity altogether.

What would you say the learning curve is like, getting to grips with some fairly complex wireframing and some very out-of-the-box, easy templates? What does that experience look like, and is it challenging? Is it something that is easy to follow?

Rosie: Yes. I think it links to what we were just saying in terms of, with flexibility, there is that extra degree of complexity into the config, as well. So, I think there is a learning curve, for sure. If you're fairly new to the ArcGIS system as a whole, it might be quite a steep learning curve, whereas those who are familiar with how some of these more configurable apps are developed, you can then pull on those ideas and those skills that you've already learned. Then build an experience from that, but yes, certainly you've got those widgets and lots of kind of button config, so to speak. It's not necessarily all coding, but there is that steep learning curve that you have to navigate.

Sam: Yes. I think one of my colleagues told me an analogy, which I really liked, was, when you're building with something like Web AppBuilder, all the wiring is done for you. You just have to decide which lights to turn on and off. It’s fairly simple. When it comes to Experience Builder, you have to decide which lights you want to turn on and off, but also then configure the wiring to get to the light, which is sometimes quite complicated, but it gives you full customisation of how that full wireframe is going to look.

Rosie: Gives you a great light display at the end, Sam. (Laughter)

Sam: Exactly, yes. That's all we're going for. For me it was that almost steep, first couple-of-hour learning curve which I found really challenging, but, after getting to grips with the layout and where everything sits, there’s a very intuitive way of working around Experience Builder.

Then you start understanding how to create the different widgets and have actions from each button. Once you've wrapped your head around that, it becomes a lot more… It just makes sense.

In terms of other people using it, so I know we've seen… Elleni, you touched on the gallery being a really good place to see inspiration, but, for some of the Esri UK users, have either of you seen any really good examples of where Experience Builder has been used?

Elleni: Yes. For me, personally, some of the ways in which I've seen Experience Builder being used internally, we've set up almost demo-gallery experiences through Experience Builder so that you have a single page that you navigate to on a web browser. Then you're really quickly able to look at different topics or say, “Okay, in this section I'm interested in sharing and collaboration,” or, “I'm interested in analysis.” And, you almost don't realise that that is being facilitated by Experience Builder, that nice webpage where you go to get a central resource of all of that information that we're trying to share.

So, it's nice not only seeing customers use Experience Builder, but we, ourselves, as a way of better collaborating demo resources and things that are useful across the business, is quite cool as well.

Rosie: Yes, I can second that. I've used it myself for my team to share bits out, but I've also come across some great examples from, for instance, Homes England, in our conference. They've pulled together a Land Hub. It's a very clever app, actually, because they've got a huge amount of information in there, but the way they've used and configured Experience Builder means that all that information isn't cluttering the app. You just click through and get access to the appropriate information when you need it. It’s a really neat way.

Then converse to that, I guess, the Rivers Trust have used it, but in a very different way, and have used it really nicely as an app that's embedded within their existing website. So, it fits the theme. It's taking those branding and the colours, and then it's pushing out information. I think that one was around where it’s safe to play, and where the water sources are, and the health of that water. So, two very great examples, but used it in totally different ways to achieve what they are wanting to do as an organisation.

Sam: I think you touched on a really interesting thing there about the branding and the importance of branding. It’s definitely a theme that we're seeing across the ArcGIS system in, for StoryMaps the increase in customisation and how much control you have over the colour choices, the text, the font, the sizing of everything. We’re seeing there's a demand from our users to have that, almost that match the branding of the website. Now we're seeing it in Experience Builder.

As you say, Rosie, the Rivers Trust, it almost doesn't look or feel like an Esri product, which is ultimately the aim of designing an app from a non-Esri perspective. You want it to look like your own thing and embed it on the website, and it perfectly matches the text, the font, the colours.

I think, with the Rivers Trust, it almost took me a couple of seconds to realise that it was an Experience Builder that had been used to create it. So, I think that's something we're seeing across all of our products, and definitely the right way to go. I'm very picky when it comes to colour choices, definitely. (Laughter)

Rosie: I think something else it’s worth touching on, though, is also the scale that you can use Experience Builder, so a lot of the… We've been talking about it as an app, but actually you could take the example of the Environment Agency and their Geomatics team have built out a multi-page app where it's more like a website, so that you have individual pages touching on different topics.

Then you can click through to the other areas that are more survey based or have different elements on them. So, you can build it out into a much bigger interface than just necessarily that one page that people may be more familiar with, with Web AppBuilder, for instance.

Sam: Yes. I think that's a really good point. This is just a final question to the floor, then. Elleni, actually, we'll start with you. If you could tell people one thing about Experience Builder, what would that be?

Elleni: Tough one. I think-

Sam: Put you on the spot. (Laughter)

Elleni: Potentially on a similar vein to looking at the Experience Builder gallery is checking out YouTube and seeing some of the videos of people actually building an experience out of Experience Builder. Something like Experience Builder, I think, you can't explain very clearly through a blog. Definitely check out some of the videos that Esri have provided online.

Sam: Yes, nice. No, that's really useful. Rosie, you've had the benefit of an extra minute to think about it. I'll put you on the spot, as well. What one thing would you tell people about Experience Builder?

Rosie: I think it, kind of, links into what Elleni has been saying, but more down the line of having a play because, like we were saying earlier, you need to familiarise yourself with how it works, but actually one way or a workflow for one person might not suit you. So, there might be different ways of going about it, particularly with all the different config options that are available in there.

Find the fit for you that works and, yes, is usable for what you and how your mind works, and how it connects with that. So, yes, have a play. Don't be afraid to just throw some data at it and see if it works, if it doesn't. Then slowly, over time, you'll get used to it, and it will just click.

Sam: Yes. I think there's always a click moment, isn't there, when you're starting to get used to it? You get it and you’re like, “Ah, this is how it works. This is where that button is.” Yes, I think that, for me, I'd echo both of those comments and just say, for the mobile-first responsiveness element of it, I think that's something worth exploring, going to play around with it. You can just see how magical it is and how much time it might save you.

I think that wraps up the episode. Thanks so much for joining us today, Rosie. It was really great to have you on the podcast. If anyone wants to find out more about Experience Builder, we have loads of great resources on our website. Please, do leave us a review and subscribe to the channel on your chosen podcast platform. It really does make a difference. We’ll look forward to seeing you on the next episode.

Voiceover: The view of the presenters may differ from those of Esri UK.

END AUDIO