Mastering ArcGIS Experience Builder: From Powerful Apps to Strategic Platforms
- NexGen Technologies
- 9 minutes ago
- 5 min read
A guide to elite data strategy, security, and design.
ArcGIS Experience Builder has changed the way organizations think about GIS applications. What once required collections of individual apps, duplicated data, and custom development can now be delivered through purpose-built experiences that are secure, scalable, and easier to maintain.
The New Mandate: From a Collection of Apps to a Purpose-Built Experience
A Collection of Apps
A collection of apps often leads to simple map viewers, duplicated data, and siloed functions. Each app solves a narrow problem, but together they create inefficiencies and long-term maintenance challenges.
A Purpose-Built Experience
A purpose-built experience is different. It is centered on core data and designed around integrated workflows, streamlined data access, and minimal custom code. The result is greater efficiency and stronger strategic focus, with experiences that scale across teams and audiences.
The Golden Rule: Your Experience Is Only as Good as Your Data
The “Configure First” philosophy is one of the most powerful tools available in Experience Builder. Centralizing your data avoids creating multiple, duplicate web maps for different tasks.
This approach reduces maintenance overhead and ensures consistency across applications. When your data foundation is solid, every experience built on top of it becomes more reliable, easier to update, and easier to scale.
Technique 1: Streamline with Shared Attributes and Data Views
Use Common Attributes for Filtering
Ensure layers share a common field, such as “District_Name,” to allow a single Search widget to filter multiple layers simultaneously.
Create Dynamic Data Views
Use data views to create unique subsets of data for different widgets without duplicating the underlying feature service. This approach is critical for both performance and maintainability.
Technique 2: Curate the User Journey by Controlling Visibility
Thematic Views with Bookmarks
Go beyond location. Use bookmarks to control layer visibility groupings, allowing users to instantly switch between themes such as “Administrative View” and “Forestry View” within a single map.
Classic Toggling with Map Layers
For traditional user-driven layer control, the Map Layers widget provides a familiar interface for toggling layers on and off in both 2D and 3D scenes.
Clean Interfaces with Sections
Combine Section widgets with Views Navigation to present different content or map states in a clean, tabbed interface. This keeps the experience focused and decluttered.
Security Is Not an Afterthought
Robust security is built in, not bolted on. A secure experience begins with a multi-layered strategy that protects identity, data, and infrastructure from the start.
Experience Builder supports secure-by-design patterns that help organizations protect sensitive information while still delivering accessible, user-friendly applications.
The Three Layers of Protection
Identity
Control who has access by leveraging enterprise logins with SAML 2.0 and enforcing Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). This ensures only authorized users can enter the system.
Data
Control what users can see and do. Use hosted feature layer views to segment data, applying different sharing and editing settings for different audiences from a single source.
Infrastructure
Ensure secure connections. ArcGIS Online enforces HTTPS and helps identify insecure external services that could break applications or introduce risk.
Deep Dive: The Power of Hosted Views for Data Segmentation
Stop sharing your master editable layers. Hosted views allow you to provide tailored access without exposing source data.
For example:
An editable master layer restricted to internal staff
A public, read-only hosted view
A partner view with limited edit access to specific fields
This approach provides granular control while protecting the integrity of your core data assets.
Polishing Your Craft: Avoiding Common Pitfalls
Configure “No Selection” Messages
Don’t let dynamic text widgets show blank values. Use expressions to display helpful guidance like “Please select a county to see details.”
Proactively Find Broken Links
Use the ArcGIS Online Security Advisor tool to flag insecure HTTP references before they break your experiences.
Master the “Pending” Tab for Mobile
When designing for mobile, don’t delete widgets you want hidden on smaller screens. Move them to the Pending tab so their desktop configuration remains intact.
The Migration Path: From Web AppBuilder to Experience Builder
What You Know (Web AppBuilder)
Layer List
Splash Screen
2D-focused
Fixed Layouts
Your New Power (Experience Builder)
Map Layers (Functional equivalent)
Window (More flexible equivalent)
Integrated 2D & 3D (Major advantage)
Advanced Mobile-First Layouts (Major advantage)
When a Widget Doesn’t Map 1:1
Some specialized widgets from Web AppBuilder, like Public Notifications, are "unplanned" and don't have a direct equivalent in Experience Builder.
Think beyond a single tool. The modern ArcGIS ecosystem provides the answer.
For public notification workflows, leverage an ArcGIS Instant App specifically designed for that task. Link to it from your main Experience. This keeps your core Experience clean while using the best tool for the job.
The COTS-First Decision Framework
Customize
Use the ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript only when complex, unique business logic cannot be met through configuration or extension.
Extend
Use the Developer Edition for targeted enhancements. Example: Add custom CSS to hide the arrows on a list widget for a cleaner look.
Configure
Use out-of-the-box widgets, themes, and data-driven settings. This should solve the vast majority of your needs.
The Business Case: Why a COTS-First Strategy Wins
Lower Total Cost of Ownership Drastically reduce long-term maintenance costs and dependencies on specialized developer talent.
Faster Deployment Cycles
Deliver powerful solutions to stakeholders in a fraction of the time required for custom development projects.
Simplified Maintenance & Upgrades
Stay current with platform updates without the fear of breaking brittle custom code.
Lower Total Cost of Ownership
Drastically reduce long-term maintenance costs and dependencies on specialized developer talent.
Faster Deployment Cycles
Deliver powerful solutions to stakeholders in a fraction of the time required for custom development projects.
Simplified Maintenance & Upgrades
Stay current with platform updates without the fear of breaking brittle custom code.
The Impact of Mastery in the Real World
Global Security Compliance
By following best practices, your work aligns with global standards such as FedRAMP and GDPR right out of the box.
True Operational Agility
Organizations can securely share sensitive internal data with staff while providing curated public subsets to external audiences, all from a single, managed system.
You Don’t Need a Workshop Full of Hammers
Stop building one-off tools for every task. With a well-configured data foundation, ArcGIS Experience Builder becomes the only multitool you need to serve your entire organization.
When configuration, data strategy, and security come together, Experience Builder moves from being just another app builder to a true enterprise platform.
About NexGen:
NexGen Technologies (NexGen) provides the people, processes, and solutions that help make innovative IT transformation possible across your systems and applications.
We specialize in delivering top-tier IT support services, specifically tailored for the unique needs of the federal government. Our dedicated team combines cutting-edge technology with deep industry expertise to ensure your projects meet the highest standards of quality and security.
For more information, please contact NexGen at info@nexgeninc.com or (720) 377-1800.
