The WACS GIS Map Viewer currently does not have the ability to set preferences or otherwise configure which GIS maps and layers are visible by default on a granular per-user or per-org basis. Default visibility can be controlled globally for the entire WACS user base, but that lacks sufficient granularity as the complexity of an organization increases.
For example, consider a utility with both an Electric and Water division. Each division has its own GIS layers, assets, and attributes that they maintain independently. While there may be occasional need to see the other division's layers for planning purposes, most of the time Electric would not want to see Water's maps / layers / assets and vice-versa. There is no good way to resolve this dilemma using the current WACS global configuration for default layer visibility. We can either display both maps by default (leaving both divisions frustrated by a cluttered map with irrelevant information and potentially reduced load times / performance) or display one map by default (leaving one division happy but the other frustrated by the additional clicks needed every time they open the GIS Map Viewer to change the visible layers). The issues only grow worse as organizational complexity increases, for example a Water + Electric + Gas utility would have even worse clutter and performance if you enabled all maps by default.
To address this scenario, the system could have the ability to configure default map visibility on either on a per-user basis or per-owning org basis. Per-user seems to be the best approach, since then users may have their own unique preferences, for example a scenario where a specific ‘Water’ employee likes to see ‘Electric’ map by default, even though the majority of ‘Water’ employees actively dislike seeing that map by default.