New app selector preview feedback
First I'd like to say I am glad the app selector page is getting a redesign, as we keep adding more maps to VertiGIS it was getting very busy. Being able to just favorite and show the ones you use will help our users a lot.
I do have some concerns though with the method of adding new maps though from a users perspective.
When you first load the new layout it shows no maps and has this prompt:
For users that take the time to read things, that should be ok. But I think it is a bit confusing that is says apps and not maps. All the users I know of think of these as maps, since it's a mobile maps app. So saying 'Add Apps to you library' will definitely throw people off. I know the current version uses the term 'Production Apps' but no one really paid attention to it since they maps were all there.
Second, the search icon in the upper right might not be too obvious to people at first, and even down the road may be forgotten about once they have a few favorites and don't use it for a while and this initial prompt is gone. Maybe text there with it saying search or add new maps might help, or some other type of text that may be a bit more obvious it's used for adding new maps. And the initial prompt may mention the search button is in the upper right. Again, it is always surprising how little users will look around and app layout and tap on things to try and figure it out on their own.
Third, and this is more for the admin side. How do we update the thumbnails on each map? All of my maps in Portal that each Studio Mobile app uses have thumbnails that were added after the VertiGIS app was created but both Studio Mobile and Go refuse to pick up the new thumbnails so they are just a grey square. I know if I build a new Studio Go app from a portal item that already has a thumbnail it uses that, but won't get show changes to it if they are made. So is there a way to update existing apps thumbnails? In the past I didn't care because no one saw them, but with the new Studio Go app picker, now everyone will.
-
Hey Max - thanks very much for this feedback - very helpful to get the perspective of customers on features like this!
First - app vs map. This is a very intentional language for us. Studio Mobile is a platform that creates apps, where an app will reference one or more maps (a web map, an MMPK, both(!)), a special layout, config, workflows, commands, etc. The app approach is so much more than just getting an 'out of the box' experience looking at a single web map. You can't just load a map directly into Go - and you won't see a list of web maps when you go to Search. We even have some customers who will create multiple apps - all pointing to the same app. Each of these apps might expose different tools for different use cases. That all said, your comment that users think of these as maps (not apps) is an interesting one - we'll consider that further.
The comment about Search functionality being somewhat hidden is just good feedback. I'll discuss with our Product Experience team and consider making it more discoverable.
Regarding thumbnails - I just did a simple test, changing the thumbnail for an app in ArcGIS Online. When I view that app in 'my library' or in Search - the new thumbnail appears without issue. I'll get QA to kick the tires here and see if they can find any issues. They'll probably reach out directly for more details if necessary. Just to be clear - you are changing the thumbnail on the app item, not the web map, right?
Thanks again for taking the time to write - getting this kind of feedback really helps us polish a feature like this!
0 -
Hi Cam, thanks for responding so fast.
Your app vs map distinction makes sense to me on the dev/admin side and I get how apps are not maps and the various ways they can be utilized. I was just thinking more of the users view of everything, they just think of these as mobile maps, and that may be our use case more than anything since the majority of our apps are really just mobile versions of our webmaps, but some do have the editing and other tool functionality. It may also play into the general mindset of people and apps. They usually think of an app as the icon they tap on their home screen, then once they are in that app they select a map (your apps) to view info in. And it essentially functions as a map for them with search, layer list, edit, etc tools, similar to webmaps they have always used.
Maybe I'm changing the wrong thumbnail. I always thought the initial Portal webmap was where the thumbnail came from since when I built a new app that is the thumbnail that shows up. But it seems like maybe that is not what needs updated to show changes, which one of the four portal items does the app picker user the thumbnail from? Dev map, dev app, prod map, or prod app? It has been easiest to change the dev map since I can use the edit thumbnail in Portal and just zoom in on the map to make it. I always just figured that would flow through to the other portal items on a save and publish in Studio Mobile.
0 -
Your points about the app being the thing they click on to launch is one we've grappled with for a while. We have an app that launches apps. Our hope is that people don't get too hung up on that terminology and instead simply launch the 'hydrant inspector' and don't get too hung up on it.
When you create a new app (so, a dev instance) - it pulls the thumbnail from the web map that you specify (again, the dev web map). That thumbnail gets associated with the app item. If you subsequently change the thumbnail for the dev web map - we don't go back and fetch it again - so your dev app will continue to have the thumbnail from when it was created. You can go find the app portal item and update the thumbnail, as mentioned, and the new thumbnail should appear in Go. When you push your app to production, the dev app thumbnail will get copied to the new prod app portal item. If you then change the dev app thumbnail and push to prod again - we will NOT overwrite the prod app item thumbnail (it is on the administrator to manually update that thumbnail).
A lot of words, but I hope this helps!
0 -
Hi Cam, any updates on when this new app picker will be rolled out as default? We are excited to start using it more with the many apps and areas we have, it will be great to make the home page cleaner for most users. Just want to be ready for it as we will need to send out comms and instructions on it hopefully before it goes live. Maybe the 5.22 update in late Feb?
0 -
Hi Max. I'm happy to report that the V2 App Selector will be set as default in our upcoming 5.22 release. We will still allow users to manually "switch back" to V1.
Any devices that have 5.21 (or earlier) and are set to use V1 will automatically get V2 as their default when they update to 5.22.
Looking forward, when we release 5.23, we will double down and remove the option to go back to V1 (maintaining both app selectors is time-consuming).
0
Du måste logga in om du vill lämna en kommentar.
Kommentarer
5 kommentarer