Types of mapping apps

Broadly speaking, there are the following four types of app that ArcGIS Runtime can be used for:

• Map-centric
• Non map-centric
• Nonmap with analytical tools
• Other

A map-centric app is an app that mostly shows a map with other windows and content focused around the map, such as the following screenshot. Note that the map takes up the entire window. All interface elements are on the map:

Display of a map with content focused around the map

A non map-centric app will contain a map, but it isn't the central focus of the app. The map simply supplements the primary purpose of the map. Refer to the University of Oregon app, where Maps is just one of many parts of a larger app. Finally, there are apps where you don't see a map at all, but it might use geocoding and/or routing in the background and just return a coordinate or directions in the form of a list:

Now, there are new types of map displays, such as the Pufferfish, which is a globe that renders a map on its spherical display, as shown here:

Map with a spherical display