Chapter 1, Foundation for the API, endeavors to lay a firm foundation for the topics dealt with throughout the book. The basic environment needed to follow the explained topics further as well as to develop professional-looking code is set in this chapter. An introduction to dojo and the modular pattern of JavaScript coding is provided along with an explanation of basic ArcGIS concepts. Users are shown brief explanations with code snippets or diagrams about basic concepts wherever needed.

Chapter 2, Layers and Widgets, deals with the different types of layers used in the API along with the ideal context where each type is used. We will also be introduced to some of the most commonly used in-built widgets provided by Esri to use in our application.

Chapter 3, Writing Queries, will have an in-depth look into writing different types of queries, retrieving the results and displaying it. We will be developing a Wildfire app to understand how the types of query operations such as Identify, Find and Query task. We will also learn how to display a tabular information using a FeatureTable widget and format popup content using Infotemplates.

Chapter 4, Building Custom Widgets, will explain how to organize all the code into modularized widgets, and use it in our application. We will discuss how to configure dojo globally and how to provide support for internationalization. We will be extending the Wildfire app we developed in the previous chapter by constructing a spatial query that involves using the Draw toolbar.

Chapter 5, Working with Renderers, gives an in-depth treatment on the topic of colors, symbols, renderers, and the situations where each can be used effectively. This chapter will also deal with the nuances of data visualization techniques along with tips and tricks to create symbols and picture marker symbols easily. We will demonstrate the utility of three basic renderers: simple renderer, unique value renderer, and class breaks renderer by developing a Stream Gauge app.

Chapter 6, Working with Real-Time Data, will cover in detail what constitutes the real-time data, and it will also cover how to visualize data and get the most recently updated data. We will be building a hurricane tracking app to demonstrate this and will be adding a Global wind data gauge and a weather widget using geometry engine capability provided by the API and the geolocation feature provided by modern browsers.

Chapter 7, Map Analytics and Visualization Techniques, will take you a step closer toward becoming a map data scientist. We will cover a lot of ground in this chapter starting with a brush up of a few introductory statistics concepts. We will see the code in action and understand how statistics definition and feature layer statistics module can give us invaluable statistic measures, which can be used to render the map data meaningfully. We will then evaluate how to use the visual variables, such as colorInfo, opacityInfo, rotationInfo, and sizeInfo effectively in a renderer. We will use the knowledge gained to start building a demographics analytic portal.

Chapter 8, Advanced Map Visualization and Charting Libraries, will be using three different charting libraries such as dojo, D3.js and Cedar to extend the Demographics portal we started building in the previous chapter and more provide visual-analytical information to the users.

Chapter 9, Visualization with Time Aware Layers, will explain how to visualize spatiotemporal data using TimeSlider dijit, a custom D3.js timeslider as well a custom Time series Histogram by incorporating these on a Time-aware US Drought data.

For this book, we'll need NotePad++/Brackets Editor, Google Chrome/Mozilla Firefox or any modern browser, Visual Studio Community Edition 2015, and Node.js for Windows.

This book is for JavaScript developers who wish to develop amazing mapping applications using the rich set of features provided by the ArcGIS JavaScript API, but more than this, a spatial frame of mind will help the user go a long way.

In this book, you will find a number of text styles that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: "After installing IIS, you can find the executables in the IIS Express folder inside the Program Files folder "

A block of code is set as follows:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://js.arcgis.com/3.15/esri/css/esri.css">

<script src="http://js.arcgis.com/3.15/"></script>

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

on(map, "layers-add-result", function (evt) {
console.log("1.", earthQuakeLayer.id);
...
console.log("5.", worldCities.layerInfos);
});

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

1. Earthquake Layer
2. [Object,
Object,
. . .
Object]
 3. esriGeometryPoint
4. 1000
5. [Object, Object, Object]

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, for example, in menus or dialog boxes, appear in the text like this: "Click on the Add button against the IIS Express application name, and then click on the Install button."

Feedback from our readers is always welcome. Let us know what you think about this book—what you liked or disliked. Reader feedback is important for us as it helps us develop titles that you will really get the most out of.

To send us general feedback, simply e-mail <[email protected]>, and mention the book's title in the subject of your message.

If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you are interested in either writing or contributing to a book, see our author guide at www.packtpub.com/authors.

Now that you are the proud owner of a Packt book, we have a number of things to help you to get the most from your purchase.