With the June 2024 update of ArcGIS Online, the ArcGIS Business Analyst web app is also getting an update with new features, enhancements, and data that will enhance your analysis workflows. You may have read about some of the new enhancements on the ArcGIS Community, so now let’s take a look at these new enhancements in the ArcGIS Business Analyst web app.
Business Analyst Assistant (Beta)
Perhaps the most exciting new introduction in this release is the Business Analyst Assistant, an AI-powered tool to help you quickly generate maps using simple prompts. Available from the Header menu, the Assistant allows you to generate maps or reports, search points of interest, or learn how to perform various workflows in ArcGIS Business Analyst.
Once you have entered a prompt, the Assistant will provide a list of suggestions on a map to create with your prompt keywords, along with recommended Tips and resources that may be relevant.
Using the prompt ‘Generate a hexagon map of Fast Food consumption in Redlands, CA’, the following map was generated as an output.
Some interesting prompts that you can use within the AI tool to familiarise yourself with its potential:
- Generate a Community Profile for Australia
- Create a Dot Density map of 2021 Occupied Private Dwellings in Queensland, Australia
- How do I access the Guided tours?
This tool is currently in Beta, and the Assistant provides you with the option to upvote or downvote outputs depending on how well it was able to generate information from your prompt. Providing feedback when using this tool will help Esri improve this tool’s accuracy in future releases.
You can read more about the Business Analyst Assistant (Beta) from the product documentation: Business Analyst Assistant (Beta) reference—ArcGIS Business Analyst help | Documentation
Data Browser Enhancements
Navigation within the Data Browser has been significantly overhauled, with the introduction of a new vertical sidebar to be able to navigate to different variables without having to go back to the home screen.
Previous Data Browser (Main Screen)
New Data Browser (Main Screen)
Below the Search bar, there are new options to automatically filter down on Popular variables and New and noteworthy variables.
Within the Data Browser groups, popular variables are now included as a group at the top of the list to easily identify commonly used variables within the category. Contextual bubbles also highlight where new variables have been included, and these can be clicked on to automatically filter these new variables for selection.
A welcome improvement in the Data Browser is the ability to filter by category, keyword, calculation, year, dataset, and other variables.
User Interface Enhancements
The June 2024 update includes several User Interface enhancements the refine the user experience.
The Points of Interest (POI) search is now contained in one step within the side panel – once your data source and search information (keywords, categories, or codes) is searched, you can append the Style and Legend below the search criteria (previously you needed to progress to a separate page with a Next button). Searches can now be saved in the June 2024 release and recalled at a later time. Results summaries, charts, and tables appear below the map once a search is completed.
The Help button has also been changed to an icon and now includes the Guided tours link (which was previously under the Profile dropdown)
Reports and Infographics Improvements
Esri has added State of the Community to the list of available infographics which summarises key population, housing, income, employment, health, and community participation statistics in a single page. Below is an example of a report for a hexagonal block located in Redlands, California.
Reports have also been improved. Previously, exported charts were captured as images in Excel. Now, they are exported as data which can be used to create new charts and reports within Excel or in other applications.
Below is an infographic of the same hexagonal area in Redlands, California summarising community statistics:
When exporting the same inforgraphic to Excel, the chart data is listed as values.
Improvements in Other ArcGIS Web Applications
ArcGIS Business Analyst is available as a widget in ArcGIS Experience Builder. Simply add the Business Analyst widget from the Widget gallery to access ArcGIS Business Analyst projects.
The Business Analyst mobile app also has several improvements, namely additional support for Gallery infographics along with bug fixes and performance improvements.
For a full list of updates, enhancements, and deprecation notices, please refer to the Esri Community post: What’s coming in ArcGIS Business Analyst Web App (… – Esri Community
Originally published 28 June 2024. User interface elements and workflow steps may be different in future versions.
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