3D web apps provide stunning visualizations and a unique way of interacting with spatial data on a wide range of devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. They are often a preferred choice for many users due to their inherent ease of use compared to desktop applications. They provide a simplified and intuitive user experience, making it easy to navigate and interact with your data in 3D. Widespread accessibility across multiple devices ensures that you can access and utilize them seamlessly regardless of your preferred platform. Additionally, 3D web apps facilitate effective engagement with the public and other stakeholders, enabling collaborative decision-making and promoting interactive participation in geospatial projects.
Workflow
ArcGIS provides a suite of web apps for 3D visualization and interaction such as Scene Viewer, Instant Apps, Experience Builder, StoryMaps, and 360VR. All these web apps are built on the ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript, which you can use to build your own custom 3D web app.
To create a 3D web app, the primary requirement is access to a web scene. This can be accomplished in three ways: by authoring a web scene within Scene Viewer, publishing a scene from ArcGIS Pro, or utilizing a preexisting scene that has been shared with you. Once you have a web scene, the next step involves selecting the appropriate 3D web app to effectively share the web scene with your intended audience.
Scene Viewer
Scene Viewer is a powerful and user-friendly 3D web mapping and data visualization tool. It offers a seamless experience for creating, exploring, and saving captivating web scenes on both ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise. In addition to publishing scenes directly from ArcGIS Pro, Scene Viewer serves as the premier method for generating high-quality scenes. Once you've finished authoring your scene, you can share the scene directly in Scene Viewer or seamlessly transition to other web apps by going to the Designer toolbar in Scene Viewer and clicking the Create app button.
Alternatively, you can create a web app from a scene using one of the following methods:
- On the content page in your organizational account, click the Create app button.
- On the web scene item page, click the Create Web App button.
Instant Apps
Instant Apps are configurable web mapping apps and provide your audience with an intuitive and focused experience to engage with your data. It includes a number of 3D apps such as 3D viewer and Atlas that you can use to create a customized 3D web app with no code.
Experience Builder
ArcGIS Experience Builder enables you to transform your data into web apps and web pages with low or no code. You can explore design decisions with templates that are easily customized, access ready-to-use widgets that are integrated with 2D and 3D, and, when needed, build custom tools to deliver modern web experiences you envision.
Story Maps
ArcGIS StoryMaps is a powerful web-based application designed for authoring interactive narratives by combining maps, scenes, and multimedia content. It provides a platform for sharing your maps and scenes within the context of compelling narrative text and multimedia elements. When incorporating scenes into your StoryMaps using the Scene Viewer, it is advised to follow a recommended best practice of minimizing the Scene Viewer user interface (UI). By minimizing the UI, you can ensure a more immersive and focused experience for your audience, allowing them to fully engage with the visual content and narrative without distractions.
360 VR
360 VR is a lightweight, all-in-one solution for creating and viewing 360-degree panoramic VR experiences. You can use web scenes or ArcGIS CityEngine scenes to author VR experiences consisting of computer-generated panoramic images, multiple viewpoints, and—when exporting from CityEngine—design scenarios. The experiences are shared to users on ArcGIS Online and can be viewed in a web browser on XR devices, mobile devices, and desktop computers.
Maps SDK for JavaScript
Last but not least, you can use the ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript to create custom web applications that offer immersive user experiences and stunning 2D and 3D visualizations. The SDK contains a JavaScript API, API reference, documentation, samples, and other resources to assist with building 3D web mapping applications.
Consideration
When a published web app is based on a scene, any changes the author makes to the scene, including its extent, layers, description, and so on, are reflected in the web app. If a scene that was available to everyone in the organization is made private (or deleted), the scene no longer appears in the app.
Required software
You will need a web browser and an ArcGIS Online account to view nonpublic 3D web apps and to create 3D web apps from web scenes. You will need a developer API key to access ArcGIS services, such as basemaps, geocoding, and routing when building custom web apps. ArcGIS CityEngine is required to export 360VR experiences from CityEngine.
Explore the following resources to learn more about creating 3D web apps in ArcGIS.
ArcGIS help documentation
Reference material for ArcGIS products:
- Get started with creating apps
- Get started with Scene Viewer
- Get started with ArcGIS Instant Apps
- Get started with ArcGIS Experience Builder
- Get started with ArcGIS StoryMaps
- How to export 360 VR experiences from CityEngine
- How to create 360 VR experiences from web scenes
- How to view 360 VR experiences
- Examples of 360 VR experience
ArcGIS blogs, stories, and technical papers
Supplemental guidance about concepts, software functionality, and workflows:
- Starting with Web3D
- ArcGIS Instant Apps
- 3D viewer Instant App
- Sync 3D maps in Experience Builder
- 3D web scenes in StoryMaps
- 3D stories with ArcGIS StoryMaps
- Add perspective in StoryMaps
- Create and view 360 VR experiences on the web
- Visualizing voxel layers with the JavaScript Maps SDK
- Add 3D labels in a custom 3D web app
- Elevation profile widget in a custom 3D web app
- 3D camera in the JavaScript Maps SDK
Videos
Esri-produced videos that clarify and demonstrate concepts, software functionality, and workflows:
Tutorials
Guided, hands-on lessons based on real-world problems:
Developer resources
Resources and support for automating and customizing workflows:
Esri community
Online places for the Esri community to connect, collaborate, and share experiences:
- Ask the 3D community questions