Introducing the ArcGIS Maps SDKs

Today at the Esri European Developer Summit we announced that, starting in December, we will begin delivering our client SDKs and APIs under one name as the ArcGIS Maps SDKs.

This change reflects the common purpose and capabilities of these SDKs and will help to bring them to a broader audience.

New names, same great SDKs

In December, the names of the ArcGIS API for JavaScript and the ArcGIS Runtime SDKs will be changed. The name changes will look like this:

When we roll out the name changes, the suite of ArcGIS Maps SDKs will look like this (note that the ArcGIS Runtime SDKs for iOS and Android are being superseded by the new ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Swift and Kotlin respectively):

• ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript 4.25
• ArcGIS Maps SDK for .NET 200.0
• ArcGIS Maps SDK for Java 200.0
• ArcGIS Maps SDK for Qt 200.0
• ArcGIS Maps SDK for Swift 200.0 (beta)
• ArcGIS Maps SDK for Kotlin 200.0 (beta)
• ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unity 1.1
• ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine 1.1

There are a few reasons we’re doing this…

Common capabilities

The ArcGIS API for JavaScript, ArcGIS Runtime SDKs, and ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Game Engines all have a great deal in common:

• Sophisticated APIs for easy data access, visualization, and editing.
• Support for multiple data formats and services.
• High-performance, powerful visualization of geospatial data.
• High-precision geospatial data support at global and local scale.
• Support for multiple projections and coordinate systems.
• Client-side geometry engine for in-memory analysis and processing of spatial data.
• Support for place search, geocoding and routing.
• Seamless integration with the ArcGIS system: ArcGIS Platform, ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Enterprise, and ArcGIS Pro.
• Integration with the ArcGIS system’s security model, including OAuth and API Keys.

And of course, each is already a world-class SDK with conceptual guides, an API reference, tutorials, samples, and community forums, and is backed by Esri Support.

Combining these SDKs under one name better reflects these common underpinnings.

Reaching a broader audience

We are proud to deliver some of the best SDKs available, and we want to make it as easy as possible to discover them. Whether searching the web or exploring package managers, the hard truth is that “ArcGIS” and “Runtime” often don’t mean much to a new audience. By including the word “Maps” in the SDK product name, we’ll make it much easier for developers to discover our SDKs when they’re searching for and evaluating location and mapping technologies for their projects.

One suite of SDKs, three groups

Although the ArcGIS Maps SDKs share many common capabilities, they do fall into three distinct groups, each of which is used to build specific kinds of solutions:

• Web SDKs: for building apps that run in web browsers.
• Native SDKs: for building apps that run directly on mobile, desktop, and embedded devices, using .NET, Java, Qt, Swift or Kotlin, either online or offline.
• Game Engine SDKs: for building apps for AR, VR, mobile, and desktop devices using Unity or Unreal Engine, that can work either online or offline.

Here are a few notes on how we’ll refer to these SDK groups:

• ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps will be used as a convenient shorthand for the ArcGIS Maps SDKs for .NET, Java, Qt, Swift, and Kotlin.
• ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Game Engines will continue to be used as shorthand for the ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Unity and Unreal Engine.
• ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript is the only web SDK in the ArcGIS Maps SDK family, so we’ll just refer to it by name whenever we’re talking about web development using ArcGIS Maps SDKs.

What will change?

This is a name change only, so while you might see the new name reflected on the surface (for example, in package manager listings, documentation, or the Esri Support site), the technology you work with won’t be changing.

Furthermore, the name will only change for new releases of the SDKs (see below).

What won’t change?

Even though only the name will change, it’s worth reiterating some of the things that won’t:

• Capabilities of the APIs/SDKs will remain the same.
• Namespaces, class names, methods, properties, include statements, etc. will all stay the same.
• If you use a package manager, you’ll continue to reference the same packages. If you’re linking to ArcGIS Runtime SDK binaries, nothing will change. In short, you won’t need to change how you reference our APIs or SDKs.
• Coding patterns aren’t changing; since the APIs aren’t changing, the way you use them won’t change either.
  • Note that if you are migrating your projects to the new Swift and Kotlin SDKs, that migration will involve code changes (see this blog post).
• Product support levels and product lifecycles remain unchanged.
  • For example, the 100.15 release of all ArcGIS Runtime SDKs will remain in General Availability until August 2024 and won’t retire until September 2027.
• Release frequency will remain unchanged.
• Existing ArcGIS Runtime license strings will continue to be valid for ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps. Likewise, users of ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise who have ArcGIS Runtime capabilities assigned to them will be able to use apps built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps.

How does this affect versions of the APIs and SDKs that have already been released?

This is a forward-looking name change. Existing releases will not adopt the name change.

• For ArcGIS API for JavaScript, version 4.x will adopt the new name. ArcGIS API for JavaScript 3.x releases will not adopt the name change.
• For ArcGIS Runtime SDKs, 100.0 – 100.15 releases of the ArcGIS Runtime SDKs will not adopt the new naming (this includes any future patch releases of 100.x SDKs). Starting with the 200.0 release, the SDKs will adopt the ArcGIS Maps SDK name.
  • The ArcGIS Runtime SDK for iOS and the ArcGIS Runtime SDK for Android will not adopt the new names. The last release of these two SDKs was the 100.15 long-term support release, and they will be superseded by the new ArcGIS Maps SDK for Swift and ArcGIS Maps SDK for Kotlin at version 200.0 (see this blog post for more details).

When will the change happen?

The ArcGIS Developers website will be updated in December when the next versions of the ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps and ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Game Engines are released.

Esri Support, the Esri Community, and other web pages, products, dashboards, and documentation will be updated to reflect the new name throughout 2023.

What do I need to do?

Just continue building amazing apps. When we roll out the name change in December, you can choose to reference the latest version of the SDK and continue to build and deploy your applications as before.

This blog post was updated to state that all 4.x versions of the ArcGIS API for JavaScript will adopt the new name, not just 4.25 and later.