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.

If the analysis layer in the project is deleted or becomes inaccessible, the project is not usable until a new analysis layer is set. If you open the project, a warning will appear: The analysis layer for this project is inaccessible. Clicking Continue will direct you to the project details where you will be able to set a new analysis layer on the Analysis Layer tab.

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.

If the project web map is deleted or becomes inaccessible, the project is unusable until a new project web map is set. If you are the project owner or administrator and open the project, a warning dialog appears: The web map for this project is inaccessible. In the dialog choose to Create a new project web map or Navigate to the project details to browse additional web maps. Clicking Continue will proceed with the selected option.

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 you open the canvas or a project that contains a time-enabled Imagery Layer, Tiled Imagery Layer, Map Image Layer, OGC service such as a WCS layer, or Feature layer, a time slider is available on the Time Slider tab. Each time-enabled 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 layer and an end date that goes through the current time plus an additional six hours or the most recent layer. This will allow you to collect and view observations you make during the current 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.

Adjust the time slider

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 to set intervals to filter a view based on the desired time extent. You can also use the date and time inputs to set a custom range.

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.

   Alternatively, you can manually enter a start date and time using Start Date and Time.

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

   Alternatively, you can manually enter an end date and time using End Date and Time.

3. Click and drag in the middle of the time slider control 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 time-enabled layers dynamically update 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 time-enabled layers dynamically update based on the defined start and end time.

Change the time display

Change how the large of a time window the time slider visualizes in the time-enabled layers by choosing the slider time interval size, and the starting and ending datetime.

1. Click options .
2. Click Time Display .
3. Choose a time display method:
   • Show data within interval—Show data that is within a set time range.
   • Show data progressively— Progressively show data that is within a set time range. Layers are accumulated in the view as the end of the time interval moves forward.
   • Show data at a time instant—Show data that falls on a single instance in time, where the beginning and end of the interval are the same.
4. Set the Start Date and Time.
5. Set the End Date and Time
6. Next use playback buttons or time slider controls to visualize temporal change with the enabled layers.

Playback position

Open the time slider options , select the Playback Position option to choose Play from start time at the beginning of the time span or Play from position saved with map.

Play rate

Open the time slider options to select the Play Rate option to set the speed at which the time interval plays. You can move the slider between Fast, to increase the speed, and Slow to decrease the speed.

Apply 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. Selecting the Apply Muted Effect option will fade any layers or features outside your defined time extent and highlight only those layers or features within the defined range. In the time slider options , select the Apply Muted Effect option to do this.

Disable the time filter

If you do not want a time filter on the time-enabled layers, you can disable this filter. This results in viewing all features and layers regardless if they include time information. To disable the time filter, open the time slider options and select Disable Time Filter . Select the option again to re-enable the time slider.

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 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.

   ArcGIS Knowledge 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 deselected.

6. Click Clear to deselect all features.