Use smart map search

Smart map search allows you to view geography areas that match your criteria. You can select up to five variables, set your ranges, and view the results on the map. You can export the results to Excel or click any geography on the map for more options.

When working with smart map search, it is useful to first set your map extent using the zoom levels tool or the search tool.

To use smart map search, do the following:

1. In the Maps tab, click Create maps and select Smart map search.

   The Smart map search pane opens.

2. Select variables to map using the following options. To view the variables included in a list, click Options and click Show list.
   • Popular lists tab—This tab displays a set of curated variable lists. If an administrator in your ArcGIS organization created variable lists, those are also listed here.
   • My lists tab—This tab displays variable lists that you previously created. For these lists, the additional options Edit list and Delete list are available.

   • Browse all variables—Open the data browser to search variables or browse by category.

   Once you have selected variables, the results are displayed on the map.

3. Use the following options to modify the map:
   • Use the sliders to adjust the range of values for your selected variables. You can deselect a variable to remove it from the selection. The updated results appear immediately on the map.
   • Use the Current map extent drop-down menu to choose the map extent or select sites or boundaries on the map to filter the results to a specific area.
   • Click Add variables to add more variables to the selection. If five variables have already been selected, click Change variables to change any of the selected variables.
   • Choose the geography level for your map using the Geography drop-down menu. By default, the geography level is selected based on the current zoom level and updates when the map is zoomed in or out. Click Lock to set the geography level for your map to the currently selected level.

     Note:

     Small geographies are not available at all zoom levels. When using the Geography drop-down menu, you can automatically zoom to the appropriate map extent by clicking Zoom to enable.

   • To save your variable list, click Save variable list. In the Save variable list window, name the list and, optionally, choose an icon for it. Once saved, the list appears in the My lists tab.
   • Click any geography on the map to view its pop-up menu containing the variable values for it and more options: Infographics, Reports, Comparisons, Zoom to, Add photo, and Create site.
4. Click Next.

   The results are displayed in Table format .

5. Hover over an item in the table or chart, and the corresponding area on the map is highlighted.

   You can modify the appearance of the map or data display and export your results to Excel.

   • Click Chart to view the results as a bar chart.
   • Click View full table to view the table or chart with all the selected variables.
   • Use the Transparency slider to change the transparency of the map overlay.
   • Click the Overlay color swatch to change the color of the data on the map.
   • Click Export to Excel to export the results of your search to an Excel worksheet.
6. Click Finish.
7. To complete the workflow, the following options are available:
   • Click View/edit results to return to the workflow results (step 3 in the above instructions).
   • Click New smart map search to return to the first stage of the workflow and start a new search (step 2 in the above instructions).
   • Click I'm done to close the smart map search workflow.

Set preferences

You can set preferences for Business Analyst Web App in the application preferences. For the smart map search workflow, you can turn the workflow intro page on or off and set preferences for overlay transparency and color. Administrators can set preferences for the entire organization.

To set the workflow preferences, do the following:

1. On the top ribbon, click Preferences .

   The Preferences window opens.

2. Expand the Maps section, expand the Create maps section, and click Smart map search.
3. You can set the following preferences:
   • Use the Show smart map search intro page check box to skip the workflow overview page when you start the workflow.
   • Use the Transparency slider to set the transparency of the map overlay.
   • Use the Color swatch to select a color for the map overlay.
4. To restore the default settings, click Restore defaults.
5. To save your changes, click Save or, optionally, click Save and close to close the Preferences window. To view your changes, refresh the app.

Workflow video