Configure Environmental Review

Environmental Review can be used to streamline environmental reviews and increase transparency.

In this topic, you'll learn how to configure the Environmental Review solution to meet specific needs of your organization.

Tip:

As you configure the solution, record the configurations or alterations you make with each version in a change log. This information will be valuable if you upgrade to a new version and need to evaluate the effort required.

Configure Environmental Screening app

The Environmental Review solution includes the Environmental Screening app. This app can be configured to work with your organization's layers and custom environmental review reports.

The ArcGIS Living Atlas is the foremost collection of geographic information from around the globe and includes many layers that are relevant for environmental screening. Several ArcGIS Living Atlas layers are already included in the Environmental Screening map and app to analyze potential environmental impacts of a project:

Feature layer	Description
Critical Habitat for Threatened and Endangered Species	This National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) dataset, shared as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) feature layer, displays proposed and designated critical habitat under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
iNaturalist Observations	This layer contains the latest collection of research-grade species observations contributed by iNaturalist users through the iNaturalist social network app and website. These Open Data observations can be used by the GIS community to better understand biodiversity, sustainability, migration patterns, invasive and threatened species distributions, and climate change adaptations, among many other use cases.
Justice40 Tracts	This layer assesses and identifies communities that are disadvantaged according to updated Justice40 Initiative criteria in the U.S. and its territories. Census tracts that meet the Version 1.0 criteria are shaded in semi-transparent blue colors to work with a variety of basemaps.
Regrid USA Nationwide Parcel Boundaries	Regrid Nationwide Parcel Boundaries for the United States.
USA Flood Hazard Areas	This feature layer displays Flood Hazard Areas from the Flood Insurance Rate Map created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
USA Historic Sites	Historic sites include areas where significant historical events of cultural interest occurred. These range from National Historic Parks, Sites, Trails, and Preserves to state, local, and areas held in trust.
USA Wetlands	This feature layer displays wetlands of the United States from the National Wetlands Inventory produced by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Note:

Learn more about adding ArcGIS Living Atlas layers to the web maps.

To fully configure the Environmental Screening map and app, you must include the relevant layers required for an environmental review.

Modify Environmental Screening map

The Environmental Screening map can be extended and modified to meet the needs of your organization. To configure the map, complete the following steps:

1. Sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Environmental Screening map.
2. Open the item page and click Open in Map Viewer.
3. Add your organization’s layers to the map.
You can add your authoritative layers to the Environmental Screening map. For example, you may have specific layers required for an environmental review application.
4. Add or remove ArcGIS Living Atlas layers.
5. On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Save and open and click Save.

Configure Near Me widget

The Near Me widget is used to identify data that intersects a project area. The results from the Near Me widget will be included in a custom environmental review report. If you kept any ArcGIS Living Atlas layers in the Environmental Screening map, they are already configured. If you added additional layers (user defined or living atlas) to the Environmental Screening map, they need to be configured to work in the Near Me widget. All layers included in the custom environmental review report must be configured in Near Me.

1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Environmental Screening app.
2. From the item page, click Edit.
3. On the Page panel, expand the Potential Impacts section, and click the Near Me widget.
4. In the Near Me widget, under Analysis Settings, click the Environmental Screening map.
5. Change the Search distance and Distance units to meet your criteria.
6. Click the Add Analysis button.
7. Under Select layer, select a layer to use in the analysis.
8. Under Analysis type, select Proximity.
9. Under Display field, select the field to display.
10. Under Configure fields to export, select the fields you would like to show in the analysis results.
11. Click OK.

Note:

Only the Proximity analysis type is compatible with the custom environmental review report. If you choose Closest Feature or Summary, results will be returned in the Near Me widget but will not be included in the report.

Learn more about configuring the Near Me widget.

Configure Environmental Review site

The Environmental Review solution includes the Environmental Review ArcGIS Hub site. This site can be configured with your organization's branding and used to share environmental review information with project applicants.

Update with organizational information

After deploying the Environmental Review solution, the Environmental Review Hub site layout requires a few updates to fit your local context.

To update the site with your organizational information, complete the following steps:

1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Environmental Review site.
2. From the item page, click Configure.
3. Scroll to the Your Projects section, hover over the row card, and click the edit pencil on the vertical toolbar.
4. In the Layout panel, expand the Visibility section and click Select Groups.
5. In the Select Groups dialog box, for From, select My Community.
6. Select the Hub Community Members group.

   Note:

   The Hub Community Members group will only be available to users who were administrators of the organization when Hub Premium was activated. If you don’t see this group, work with the Hub Community organization administrator to get access to this group.

7. Click Save.
8. On the left, click the Customize Toggle button to return to the Customize pane.
9. Scroll to any sections that you want to update, hover over the card, and click the edit pencil that appears in the horizontal toolbar, and then edit the content with information specific to your organization.
10. In the side panel, click Footer.

    A custom footer is provided. In most cases, you will need to update it with your organization's branding, contact information, and social media references.

11. Click the HTML box.

    The HTML window appears.

12. Make the necessary changes and click Apply.
13. Click Save.
14. Click the Save drop-down arrow and click Publish Draft.

Share items with the Hub community group

The Environmental Review solution is used to collect and organize environmental review applications from project applicants.

To submit an environmental review application, a project applicant must have a community user account and be signed in to the Environmental Review site. To grant access to the Environmental Review Projects app and form, you must share the applications to the Hub Community Members group. This group is automatically created during Hub Premium activation and contains all members of your community organization. As new community members join, they will automatically be added to this group and will have access to the Environmental Review Projects app and form.

To share items with the group, complete the following steps:

Note:

You must be a community administrator or added as a Group Manager to the Hub community group to perform the next steps.

1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Environmental Review folder.
2. Next to each of the following items, check the check box:

   Name	Item type
   EnvironmentalReviewProjects_submit	Feature layer (hosted, view)
   EnvironmentalReviewProjects_myprojects	Feature layer (hosted, view)
   Environmental Review Select Parcel	Form
   Environmental Review Draw Project	Form
   Environmental Review Projects	Web Experience
   Environmental Review Projects	Web Map
   My Environmental Reviews	Dashboard
   My Environmental Reviews	Web Map

3. Click Share.
4. In the Share window, click Edit group sharing.
5. Check the Organization Name Community Members group check box.

Note:

The name of the group will by default start with the name of your organization. The Hub Community Members group will only be available to users who were administrators of the organization when Hub Premium was activated. If you don’t see this group, work with the Hub Community organization administrator to get access to this group.

6. Click Apply and click Save.

Share project information with the public

The Environmental Review Comments app can be used by the general public and other interested parties to view and comment on projects under environmental review in their community. Several items included in the Environmental Review solution must be shared with everyone so they can be accessed by the general public and other interested parties.

To share items with everyone, complete the following steps:

1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Environmental Review folder.
2. Next to each of the following items, check the check box:

   Name	Item type
   EnvironmentalReviewProjects_public	Feature layer (hosted, view)
   Environmental Review Comments	Web Map
   Environmental Review Comments	Instant App

3. Click Share.
4. In the Share window, click Everyone (public) and click Save.

   The Warning: Sharing editable layers publicly message appears notifying you that you are sharing editable layers publicly.

5. Click Update.

Modify project types

The Environmental Review solution includes a set of project types. In some cases, you may want to add additional project types to the Environmental Review solution to meet your organization’s needs. You will review the EnvironmentalReviewProjects feature layer and identify the project types that your organization may want to add or remove from the Environmental Review solution.

Modify project layer

To configure the project layer, complete the following steps:

1. Sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to your EnvironmentalReviewProjects feature layer.
2. Click the Data tab.
3. Click Fields.
4. Click the Layer drop-down arrow and select EnvironmentalReviewProjects.
5. Click the Project Type display name.
6. Click Edit next to the List of Values (Domain).
   • Drag a label or code pair to a new location in the list to reorder them.
   • Click Add to define more project types.
   • To change a label, type a new one in the Label field.
   • Click the Delete button to remove a value from the list.
7. When you finish defining the list of project types, click Save.

Modify forms

The Environmental Review solution can be used to collect environmental review applications. The project type field is required when submitting an environmental review application and the field appears in the Environmental Review Select Parcel and Environmental Review Draw Project ArcGIS Survey123 forms.

The Environmental Review solution includes several project types. In some cases, you may want to modify project types to meet your organization’s needs.

To configure the forms, complete the following steps:

1. Start ArcGIS Survey123 Connect and sign in to your ArcGIS organization.
2. Click Environmental Review Select Parcel to download the survey.
3. In the Download window, click Download and click OK.
4. Click Environmental Review Select Parcel to open the survey.
5. On the left, from the side toolbar, click the XLSForm button.
6. At the bottom of the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, click the choices tab.

   This tab comprises all the selectable options for survey questions.

7. In the list_name column, type projecttype.
8. Type the new project type in the name and label columns.
9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 for each new project type.
10. Save and close the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and preview your changes in ArcGIS Survey123 Connect.
11. In ArcGIS Survey123 Connect, in the left toolbar, click Publish to publish your changes.
12. Click Publish survey to publish your changes, and then click OK.
13. Click Environmental Review Draw Project to download the survey.
14. Repeat steps 5 through 12 to add new project types to the Environmental Review Draw Project form.

Configure email notifications (optional)

Note:

This workflow is optional and doesn't need to be completed to work with the solution.

The maps that come with the Environmental Review solution include customized pop-ups that highlight project information and allow the project coordinator to email project applicants. These email functions are added using Arcade expressions that can be modified to provide more information in the email body, have pre-defined recipients, and more depending on your process' needs.

To review and update these Arcade expressions, start with the Environmental Review Manager web map. Open the web map, navigate to the Project layer's pop-up settings, and review the expressions as desired. These updates can be copied and then pasted into other maps accordingly. Learn more about how to configure pop-ups.

Add custom environmental review report (optional)

Generating a report to communicate the results of an environmental screening is a crucial part of the review process. You can design custom reports and publish a custom print service from ArcGIS Pro to generate custom environmental review reports in the Environmental Screening app.

Note:

ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3 or later and ArcGIS Pro 3.3 or later are required to publish a custom print service. Once published to ArcGIS Enterprise, the custom print service can be used in the Environmental Screening app deployed to ArcGIS Online to generate custom environmental review reports.

Configure report

Note:

This workflow is optional and doesn't need to be completed to work with the solution.

To download and review the Environmental Review Reports ArcGIS Pro project, complete the following steps:

1. Sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Environmental Review Reports desktop application template.
2. From the item page, click Download.
3. Unzip the downloaded folder, and then from the unzipped folder, open the ArcGIS Pro project.
4. If you do not see the Catalog pane, from the View tab, in the Windows group, click Catalog Pane.
5. Expand the Task folder, and then double-click the Environmental Review Reports task group.
6. In the Tasks pane, expand the Getting to Know Environmental Review Reports task group to get started.
7. Follow the steps provided and complete all tasks to design a report and publish a custom print service.

Update Print widget

Note:

This workflow is optional and doesn't need to be completed to work with the solution.

The Print widget is used to generate custom environmental review reports that can be downloaded and attached to the projects in the EnvironmentalReviewProjects feature layer.

To use the custom report and print service previously created in the Configure report workflow, complete the following steps:

1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Environmental Screening app.
2. From the item page, click Edit.
3. On the Page panel, expand the Create Report section, and click the Print widget.
4. Under Print service, click Printing.
5. Click the Added tab, and click Add Utility.
6. Copy and paste the URL of your custom print service into the text box, click the Add button, and click the Done button.
7. Under the Added tab, verify the custom print service added during step 6 is selected.
8. Click the New template button.
9. Under Layout, choose Use service layout and click the dropdown to find the name of the layout you designed in Environmental Review Reports.
10. Under Report, choose Use service report and click the dropdown to find the name of the report you designed in Environmental Review Reports.

    The layer names included in the report will now appear.

11. Under one of the layer names, click the Select data button.
12. Click the Outputs tab and expand Near Me. Click the corresponding layer.
13. Repeat steps 10-12 for every layer in the report.
14. Under Template name, add a new name for your report.
15. Close the Template configuration panel.
16. In the Print widget configuration, expand Template common settings.
17. Click the Expand button (pencil) next to Title. The default title is ArcGIS Web Map. This title will be returned in the report. Optionally, rename the default title here. It can also be renamed when using the Environmental Screening app.
18. Save and publish the updated Environmental Screening app.