Deprecation Notice for Event Editor: Transition to a Modern Workflow

[ShreeRajagopalan]

This deprecation announcement is regarding the Event Editor web application included with ArcGIS Roads and Highways.

Summary of Changes

Event Editor is a map-centric web app developed by Esri’s Location Referencing team. It supports linear referencing system (LRS) event management tasks for transportation customers. As the ArcGIS API for JavaScript 3.x is scheduled for retirement on July 1st, 2024, the final release of Event Editor will be with ArcGIS Pro 3.3 and ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3. This deprecation is part of our efforts to modernize customer workflows and mitigate risks associated with the retirement of ArcGIS API for JavaScript 3.x.

Deprecation date: Final release of Event Editor is with ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3 release (Q2 2024).

Retirement date: Event Editor follows the same product life cycle support as ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3.

Transition Recommendations

ArcGIS Pro provides LRS event editing tools geared towards experienced GIS professionals. This functionality not only encompasses but also provides additional capabilities than what was available in the Event Editor app. For example, GIS professionals who do a majority of their work in ArcGIS Pro may find the event editing tools in ArcGIS Pro to be a better option over ArcGIS Experience Builder.

For non-GIS professionals, the Location Referencing team is developing a series of LRS-based widgets in ArcGIS Experience Builder. These widgets support event editing along with additional capabilities for query, search, and analysis of LRS data, and they provide the flexibility to combine what you want into a custom application. The first group of widgets will be released as part of the ArcGIS Pro 3.3 and ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3 releases in Q2 2024.

Whether it’s transitioning to the LRS tools in ArcGIS Pro or to the widgets, we encourage you to begin planning this process as soon as possible.

Impact and Actions

If you are an ArcGIS Roads and Highways customer currently using the ArcMap-based extension, we recommend migrating to ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Enterprise. This is because ArcMap has entered mature support on March 1, 2024.

During your migration, we encourage you to evaluate the below options for your LRS event management workflows.

• Event editing tools in ArcGIS Pro 3.0 and later that offer enhanced capabilities and may be a better fit for GIS professionals who primarily work in ArcGIS Pro.
• LRS-based widgets in ArcGIS Experience Builder to support event editing and other functionalities such as query, search, and analysis. These may be a better fit for non-GIS professionals within your organization.

For ArcGIS Roads and Highways customers currently using ArcGIS Pro-enabled services workflows, we recommend planning your upgrade to ArcGIS Pro 3.3 and ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3 (or later) to deploy the ArcGIS Experience Builder-based template application. Before upgrading, please evaluate if event management capabilities in ArcGIS Pro that fulfill the same functions as the Event Editor app.

To ensure a smooth transition for your organization detailed instructions for deploying the ArcGIS Experience Builder widgets will be provided.

Frequently Asked Questions

To address any concerns or queries you may have, we have provided answers to a few commonly asked questions. These cover topics such as the impact on Event Editor, the availability of fixes, the road map for Experience Builder widgets, and more. We encourage you to review this section for further clarification.

Will I still be able to run the Event Editor app after July 1, 2024? 

Yes, all released versions of Event Editor will continue to work after July 1. While JavaScript 3.x API will be retired, they will continue to work with the versions of supported browsers released on July 1st. Event Editor follows the same product lifecycle as the version of ArcGIS Enterprise it was released with.

After July 1, 2024, will any defects found in Event Editor be fixed? 

If a defect is found within Event Editor for functionality built by the Location Referencing team, the normal process to identify and fix the defect will be utilized and a patch can be created. For a defect found within JavaScript 3.x API, no fix to the issue will be made.

Note that Event Editor defects that can be fixed will continue to be addressed only in supported versions (https://support.esri.com/en-us/products/arcgis-enterprise/life-cycle).

Will all functionality in Event Editor be available in the new Experience Builder widgets? 

The initial set of widgets planned for release in Q2 2024 will focus on event editing workflows, including LRS search (by route/measure, coordinate, and offset), LRS Identify, Add Point Event (single or multiple), Add Line Event (single or multiple), Split Event, and Merge Events. Combining these LRS widgets with other widgets provided by the Experience Builder team will allow you to deploy custom event editing applications for a complete event editing experience. More widgets are planned for subsequent ArcGIS Enterprise releases to support additional functions such as query, editing, and analysis of LRS data.

Additionally, you can develop your own custom widgets using the ArcGIS Experience Builder Developer Edition and deploy them side by side with the above-mentioned widgets.

What is the near-term roadmap for the widgets? 

At the next release scheduled for Q4 2024, we will be enhancing existing widgets and adding new widgets for lock/edit session management, upload events in bulk, editable dynamic segmentation table, and straight line diagram generation.

Will Event Editor be supported in future releases of ArcGIS Enterprise? 

The last supported release of Event Editor is ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3. Esri will not support Event Editor in future releases of ArcGIS Enterprise.

What if I want LRS capabilities that are not yet available in the Experience Builder widgets? 

Esri will continue to add new features and enhancements in future releases of ArcGIS Enterprise. In the meantime, you can continue using Event Editor for features not yet available in the widgets. You can also submit ideas for new features/enhancements via the ArcGIS Ideas site in the Esri Community.

• ArcGIS Roads and Highways Ideas

Will Esri provide resources or templates to help me deploy an editing app? 

In addition to the templates provided by the ArcGIS Experience Builder team, the Location Referencing team will provide LRS search and LRS event editing templates. These will include widgets that support common workflows to complete query and event editing so that applications can be deployed out of the box. You can utilize these templates as a starting point, then add or remove widgets and rearrange them as desired.

Demonstration videos will be available in May 2024 and the widgets will be added to the ArcGIS Experience Builder widgets gallery. For more information about ArcGIS Experience Builder, review the list of widgets available as well as training opportunities.

Conclusion

We understand that this deprecation may require some adjustments to your workflows, but we believe that the transition to the new ArcGIS Experience Builder widgets will provide a more modern and efficient event management solution. We are committed to supporting you throughout this process and will continue to add new features and enhancements in future releases.

If you have any further questions or need assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.