Open Excalibur projects

An Excalibur project can be opened from the Excalibur projects list. By default, the project opens in the canvas view. The project capabilities determine the available tools. The sections below describe the various project items you'll encounter based on the type of project you're opening and its corresponding resources.

Images and video from a web service

All Excalibur projects have an image, a set of images, an imagery layer, or a video layer from which the Excalibur project was created. The image or images may be available in the supported focus view based on the type of imagery. If an editable collection layer exists in the project, it will use the metadata from the defined image or images to automatically populate the required attribute fields to associate any collected observations with the current image.

Bookmarks tool

A bookmark is a navigation shortcut to a position on a map or perspective in the map to return to later. When you create a bookmark, it references the map it was created from. You can save a project bookmark through an Excalibur project in the canvas and use web map bookmarks if the web map being used in the project has bookmarks saved to it.

The Bookmarks menu lists all the bookmarks in the associated project and in the web map being used within the project. You can click the Zoom to bookmark extent button on a bookmark as a shortcut to navigate to a position in the project.

Create a bookmark

Create bookmarks by clicking Create Bookmark from the Bookmarks menu. To save a bookmark, complete the following steps:

1. In the project, navigate to the location or perspective you want to bookmark.
2. Provide the following:
   • Name—A memorable name for the bookmark
   • Description—A summary of the bookmark
3. Click Create.

   The bookmark appears in the Project Bookmarks menu.

Edit a project bookmark

To edit a bookmark, complete the following steps:

1. In the project, click Bookmarks.
2. Locate the bookmark on the Project tab and click Edit Bookmark.
3. Edit the Name and Description of the bookmark.
4. Optionally, adjust the extent of the map.
5. Click Save to update your changes. Click Cancel to return to the Project Bookmarks menu.

Delete a project bookmark

To delete a bookmark, complete the following steps:

1. In the project, click Bookmarks.
2. Locate the bookmark on the Project tab and click Delete Bookmark.

   The bookmark is removed from the project bookmarks.

Use web map bookmarks

To use a web map bookmark, the web map being used within the project must have bookmarks saved to it. Bookmarks can be saved to web maps when they are created in Map Viewer in Portal for ArcGIS, ArcGIS Online, or ArcGIS Pro. To use a web map bookmark in an Excalibur project, complete the following steps:

1. In the project, click the More menu and click Project Details.
2. On the Web Map tab, click Browse Web Maps.
3. Select a web map that has bookmarks saved to it.
4. Once the project web map is changed, open the project by clicking Open Project.
5. In the project, click Bookmarks.
6. Locate the web map bookmarks on the Web Map tab.
7. Click the Zoom to bookmark extent button on the web map bookmark as a shortcut to navigate to the position of that bookmark in the project.

To edit or delete a web map bookmark, this must be done within the web map in Map Viewer in Portal for ArcGIS, or ArcGIS Online, or ArcGIS Pro.

View project instructions

View project instructions to read the directions added when the project was created.

Edit project instructions

Edit project instructions to modify the project instructions.

Project web map

When an Excalibur project is created, a web map is created also and set as the project web map. Any Excalibur project can include an existing web map that contains layers to provide context for an Excalibur project.

When you open a project, the web map appears in the Map Panel. If the web map contains layers, the layers are overlaid on top of the image in both the map panel and the Focus Panel if an image service is being used as the focus layer. These layers can be turned on or off, or you can interact with them, to view additional information.

Turn layers on and off

To turn the layers on and off in each view from the layers list, complete the following steps:

1. In an Excalibur project, click Layers.
2. Click the view button to turn individual layers on or off.

Editable collection layers

When you open an Excalibur project with observation layers, a time slider, a feature table, and set of observation tools are included as part of the Excalibur project. The time slider and observation tools are directly associated with the editable collection layers that were defined when the project was created. If the observation layer is not time-enabled, you can manage the system fields to add the capability.

Note:

The editable collection layer must contain the fields required to create observations.

Time slider

When an Excalibur project with observation layers is opened, a time slider is available through the Time Slider tab and is tied directly to any observation layers in a project. Each observation layer has a time element that can be used to filter the layer using the interactive time slider. The initial time extent of the slider has a start date that is set to the oldest dated observation within the observation layers and an end date that goes through the current time you opened the project plus an additional six hours. This will allow you to collect and view observations you make during the current project session.

Note:

If the Excalibur project contains observation layers with no features, the initial extent of the slider is automatically set to the time you open the project as the start date and adds an additional six hours as the end time. This is common when opening an Excalibur project that contains new observation layers.

Use time intervals or a continuous timeline

The time slider will have two handles representing start and end times and, by default, will be set to the full extent of the time slider. You can adjust these handles along set intervals to filter a view based on the desired time extent. You can also disable these set intervals, allowing you to move the handles continuously along the time slider. You can also use the date and time inputs to set a custom range. Whether you use time intervals or a continuous timeline, you can adjust the time.

To adjust the time, complete the following steps:

1. Click to grab the start time handle and drag it along the timeline to the desired start time.

   Additionally, you can manually enter a start date and time using the Date and Time inputs.

2. Click to grab the end time handle and drag it along the timeline to the desired end time.

   Additionally, you can manually enter an end date and time using the Date and Time inputs.

3. Click and drag in the middle of the time slider to manually move the desired time extent.
4. To automatically loop through your desired time extent, click Play to loop through the timeline.

   You can also click Pause to stop at a desired point in time.

   The observation layer dynamically updates based on the defined start and end time.

5. To manually step through your desired time extent, do the following:

   • Click Previous to step back to the previous time interval.

   • Click Next to move forward to the next time interval.

   The observation layer dynamically updates based on the defined start and end time.

Show muted effect

There may be times when you want to view all features in the observation layer or layers at one time but only keep visual focus on the ones within your desired time range. Turning on the Show Muted Effect option will fade any features outside your defined time extent and highlight only those features within the defined range.

Disable time filter

If you do not want a time filter on the observation layers, you can disable this filter. This results in viewing all features within the observation layers regardless if they include time information.

Use the feature table

The feature table provides an interactive tabular view of any context or observation layers in the Excalibur project. You can use the table to select or deselect a row and view the corresponding features highlighted on the map.

To use the feature table, complete the following steps:

1. In an Excalibur project, click the Resize Panel to expand the feature table.

   The table expands and displays the attributes and details of the selected layer. The total feature count and total selected feature count are displayed above the table.

2. Use the Display Layer drop-down menu to select the layer you want to view.

   Knowledge Graph spatial entity observation layers are not currently supported with the Feature table, so only Feature Layer observation layers appear here.

   The table dynamically updates with the selected layer.

3. Click each column or the Options menu to sort the field in ascending or descending order.
4. Optionally, click and drag the column headers to reorder the columns to the preferred order.
5. Check the check box next to each feature to select the desired features.

   The corresponding features are highlighted on the map. The total selected features dynamically update every time a feature is selected or unselected.

6. Click Clear to deselect all features.