Introduction to GXW and Web Designer

Geocortex Web (GXW) is a next-generation framework for creating sleek and effective GIS applications for a wide variety of browsers. Apps allow users to view and interact with web-based maps and associated data. GXW can seamlessly display both 2D and 3D map data. GXW is part of the Geocortex Essentials 5-series suite of products.

GXW apps are created, configured and deployed with Geocortex Web Designer. Web Designer is an intuitive web application that displays a live preview of GXW apps as they are being configured.

In GXW, an application consists of two types of configuration: an app and a layout. An app defines the behavior of components and includes map services, layers, reports, and other features—the map-related content—in a technology-neutral way. A layout defines the structure and position of components in the user interface.

Why Geocortex?

Geocortex Web helps organizations to overcome the following difficulties when planning a new web GIS application:

• Software is difficult and expensive to develop and maintain.

• Out-of-the-box solutions tend to be limited either in functionality or customization, and are often misaligned with desired business cases.

• Other solutions usually require an on-premises server.

GXW is designed to be an extensible configuration framework, providing nearly limitless configurability and customization. It is designed to be fast, visually-appealing and strives to conform to Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. GXW also has a built-in mechanism to allow for internationalization so you can easily translate the app into other languages.

Not only can you include multiple instances of the same component, for example, multiple maps, you can also import and export individual components from other apps.

How to Access Geocortex Web Designer?

To access Web Designer, you can:

• Use the SaaS Web Designer: Create apps you can deploy.

• Use the on-premises installer to install Web Designer on your own server.

For information about licensing, see Licensing.

Your data is stored and accessed using ArcGIS Online or Portal for ArcGIS.

New Technology Stack

GXW and Web Designer are built on a completely new set of technologies from the ground up. They take advantage of the ArcGIS API for JavaScript 4.x and ReactJS to provide features that make it possible to separate UI components in order to create very flexible apps. Rebranding becomes simple, quick, and easy.

Geocortex Web will one day replace the Geocortex Viewer for HTML5 when the features are at parity.

Integration with Esri Portal

Web Designer works closely with the Esri portal you use. Whether you are using ArcGIS Online or Portal for ArcGIS, you use the portal to create web maps that are then used by Web Designer to create your app.

Development Phases

As you move your GXW app through different deployment phases within the Web Designer—Development, Testing, Staging, or Production—a copy of its web map is created and given a new ID in the Esri portal.

Changes made to the app itself are made only in the Development stage and then pushed to Testing, Staging or Production - in that order. At each stage, a copy of the app is created and given a unique ID in both the portal and Web Designer.

Once an app reaches the Production stage, it is given a unique and permanent ID that stays with the app from that point onwards. This is the ID that is shared with end users.