Michael Gaigg

Search this area WHAT The search this area pattern allows the user to search various points of an area, giving the user control over when to update features in the map. Search this area avoids updating features in …

Ever moved the map and wondered...
“Why didn’t the results update?”

That’s why Search This Area exists.

Let users control when a new search happens after panning the map.

Explore the UI pattern:
mapuipatterns.com/search-this-...

#UX #Maps #GIS

The interesting design challenge here is how to select the building. The floor selector must reflect the floors available for a building. In other words, if I select the third floor then suddenly half of my buildings turn gray because they don't have floor 3

Web AppBuilder in #ArcGISOnline retirement timeline. #esri

Floor selector WHAT The floor selector pattern lets the user switch between floors or levels in a 2D indoor map. The floor selector, sometimes also referred to as level selector, floor picker, or floor filter, be…

Maps don’t always stop at street level.

Hospitals, malls, airports, campuses…
sometimes the real navigation challenge is vertical.

Let users switch levels and keep their orientation.

Explore the UI pattern: mapuipatterns.com/floor-select...

#UX #Maps #GIS

Locate me WHAT The locate me pattern helps users quickly find their current location in the map. It is a crucial mechanism for providing meaningful context about the user’s location and surroundings. WHY Use…

Lost on a map? Tap Locate Me

Center the map on the user and show the classic blue dot - one of the simplest but most powerful map UX patterns.

Explore the pattern: mapuipatterns.com/locate-me/

Flare Cluster WHAT A Flare Cluster is a spatial visualization pattern used to reveal individual or categorized map points within dense clusters—without losing sight of the overall distribution. Instead of mergin…

Too many points on a map?

Flare Cluster gives users quick access to what’s inside a cluster - without losing context.

Learn more:
mapuipatterns.com/flare-cluster/

I love this dashboard. 100% skipped videos? Sounds like epic fail, but the basic bar chart by type is fantastic, maybe add average or mean so I know how I fare up

Dude, I wish I understood what you just said

Yep

Imagine paying people for dead cobras.
Now imagine paying teams for rising KPIs.

The Cobra Effect explains why smart teams accidentally optimize themselves into chaos.

New chapter:
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/37-cobr...

Confession time:
What metric has bitten you before?

Flow map WHAT Data visualization with straight or geodesic lines have visual limitations. WHY Studying and analyzing relationships between objects is a common task. Visualizing existing, missing or broken c…

Flow Map #UIpattern: Solves data visualizations with straight or geodesic lines that have visual limitations.
mapuipatterns.com/flowmap/
#UX #UXDesign #UI #UIDesign #maps #apps #GIS #esri #esridev #MapUIPattern #dataviz

What's new in #ArcGIS Experience Builder (Feb 2026) doc.arcgis.com/en/experienc...
#ExperienceBuilder #esri #mapping #GISchat #geospatial #ArcGISOnline #geosky

Legend WHAT The meaning of symbols and the symbolic presentation of data is not clear until explained and correlated to a key. WHY The essence of maps is to present features (points, lines, polygons) or p…

Legend #UIpattern: Explains the meaning of symbols through their key. mapuipatterns.com/legend/
#UX #UXDesign #UI #UIDesign #maps #apps #GIS #esri #esridev #MapUIPattern

Heat map WHAT Heatmap is a technique to analyze data based on their magnitude. WHY Identify areas of interest that can or need to be acted upon. Popular usages include analyses of crime, infrastructure, wea…

Heat map #UIpattern: analyze data based on their magnitude.
mapuipatterns.com/heatmap/

Choropleth map WHAT Visualize how a measurement varies across a geographic area. WHY Choropleth maps provide an easy way to visualize how a measurement varies across a geographic area or show the level of variabi…

Choropleth map #UIpattern: Visualize how a measurement varies across a geographic area. mapuipatterns.com/choropleth-m...

Finally skiing

Recently I spoke about Building Engaging User Experiences as a guest speaker on the The Engagement Matters Podcast
www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/... #UXDesign #UX

Layer list WHAT Users need to show or hide map content WHY Interactive maps are structured such that different geographic datasets are added to the map displayed on top of each other. This stacking works well…

Layer list #UIpattern: Show or hide information in a map.
mapuipatterns.com/layer-list/

Theme toggle WHAT The map is overloaded with layers and users struggle to reduce the clutter WHY Interactive maps are collections of layers and each layer that is turned on adds to visual information to the map…

Theme toggle #UIpattern: Turn groups of related layers on and off. mapuipatterns.com/theme-toggle/

Tap into #AI in the #ArcGIS System tinyurl.com/4wjfc7kb

#GIS #spatial #analysis #location #intelligence #GISchat #geospatial #esri #mapping #maps #TheScienceOfWhere #geosky

Data dimming WHAT The map contains too many features so that it is difficult to identify them, distinguish them, pick out relationships, see patterns in the distribution. WHY The same location might be occupied…

Data dimming #UIpattern: Highlight related features that are otherwise difficult to distinguish.
mapuipatterns.com/data-dimming/
#UX #UXDesign #UI #UIDesign #maps #apps #GIS #esri #esridev #MapUIPattern

Buffer WHAT Analyze an area surrounding an object or point of interest. WHY It is difficult and sometimes even misleading to rely on visual analysis on the map to identify relevant features. Calculating d…

Buffer #UIpattern: Analyze an area surrounding an object or point of interest. mapuipatterns.com/buffer/
#UX #UXDesign #UI #UIDesign #maps #apps #GIS #esri #esridev #MapUIPattern

Announcement: ArcGIS Web AppBuilder retirement deadline extended www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/...
#ArcGIS #WAB #Esri

Chart marker WHAT The chart marker pattern uses charts to enrich aggregated data or to visualize a second attribute of clustered data. Adding tiny charts to the map is a powerful visualization technique to comm…

Chart Marker #UIpattern: Adding tiny charts to the map is a powerful visualization technique to communicate additional aspects of the data.
mapuipatterns.com/chart-marker/
#UX #UXDesign #UI #UIDesign #maps #apps #GIS #esri #esridev #MapUIPattern

I know this post is older, but I hope you were in the clear. Also wanted to offer my help if you ever wanted to talk maps (this is not a sales pitch, just an offer from a fellow designer)

Cluster marker WHAT The cluster marker pattern is a common method to avoid visual clutter by grouping points together, and many apps that display point data benefit from this pattern. Cluster marker differentiate…

Cluster Marker #UIpattern: Avoid visual clutter by grouping points together. mapuipatterns.com/cluster-mark...
#UX #UXDesign #UI #UIDesign #maps #apps #GIS #esri #esridev #MapUIPattern

Feature selection WHAT The feature selection pattern uses selected features on the map to create a subset from all the available features. It helps shift the focus from the whole collection of features to the ones t…

Feature selection #UIpattern: Shift the focus from the whole collection of features to the ones that are relevant.
mapuipatterns.com/feature-sele...
#UX #UXDesign #UI #UIDesign #maps #apps #GIS #esri #esridev #MapUIPattern

🥇🥇🥇

Must-read for all classical music fans: #Mozart - My Life as I (Mostly) Remember It.
www.amazon.com/Mozart-My-Li...