FAQ

This guide is for new and experienced ArcGIS Location PlatformArcGIS Location Platform, formerly known as ArcGIS Platform, is a Platform as a Service (PaaS) product that gives developers access to location services, APIs, and tools to build mapping and spatial analysis applications. It is subscription-based and requires an ArcGIS Location Platform account.Learn more and ArcGIS OnlineArcGIS Online is a GIS mapping, analytics, data hosting, and content management software as a service (SaaS) product. It includes applications, tools, APIs, and location services for users and developers. It is subscription-based and requires an ArcGIS Online account.Learn more developers who want to learn how to build applications by using location servicesArcGIS Location Services, also referred to as Location Services, are services hosted by Esri that provide geospatial functionality for developing mapping applications. They include the ArcGIS Basemap Styles service, ArcGIS Static Basemap Tiles service, ArcGIS Places service, ArcGIS Geocoding service, ArcGIS Routing service, ArcGIS GeoEnrichment service, and ArcGIS Elevation service. An ArcGIS Location Platform or ArcGIS Online account is required to use the services.Learn more with different SDKs and APIs. However, many of the topics, programming patterns, and code examples apply to ArcGIS EnterpriseArcGIS Enterprise is a GIS mapping, analytics, data hosting, and content management product that can be hosted on-premise or in a cloud infrastructure. It includes software, applications, tools, APIs, and services for users and developers.Learn more developers who want to use their own ArcGIS Enterprise services hosted in their infrastructure such as the geocoding serviceA geocoding service is a service that can search for addresses, place addresses, businesses, reverse geocode coordinates to addresses, provide suggestions for places, and perform bulk geocoding. It is hosted by Esri as the ArcGIS Geocoding service and can also be hosted in ArcGIS Enterprise.Learn more or routing serviceA routing service is a service that uses network analysis and streets data to calculate the most effective path and turn-by-turn directions on a street network, optimize fleet routing and deliveries, find the closest facilities, calculate service areas, and more. It is hosted by Esri as the ArcGIS Routing service and can also be hosted in ArcGIS Enterprise.Learn more. For these services, the REST API is the same and the base URLs can be substituted in the code examples. In most cases, the client APIs and programming patterns used to access both ArcGIS location services and ArcGIS Enterprise services are also the same.

You need ArcGIS Location PlatformArcGIS Location Platform, formerly known as ArcGIS Platform, is a Platform as a Service (PaaS) product that gives developers access to location services, APIs, and tools to build mapping and spatial analysis applications. It is subscription-based and requires an ArcGIS Location Platform account.Learn more or ArcGIS OnlineArcGIS Online is a GIS mapping, analytics, data hosting, and content management software as a service (SaaS) product. It includes applications, tools, APIs, and location services for users and developers. It is subscription-based and requires an ArcGIS Online account.Learn more to build applications with location services. The table below shows the account types you can use to access each service:

The following table provides an overview of the functionality available with each type of authentication:

The cost of using location services depends on the type of account you have:

• ArcGIS Location Platform: Uses a pay-as-you-goPay-as-you-go refers to a type of billing where services are metered and you pay only for the services you use.Learn more billing model with a monthly free tier for select services. To learn more, go to ArcGIS Location Platform > Pricing.

• ArcGIS Online: Uses a creditCredits are the currency used by ArcGIS Online Organization accounts to account for data storage and location service consumption. Credits are consumed for specific transactions, such as accessing location services, and types of storage, such as storing features, performing analytics, and using premium content.Learn more consumption model to access services. To learn about the cost per transaction, go to ArcGIS Online > Credits by capability.

Esri's Terms of Use documents include legal guidelines for the use of Esri products, services, and data.

Some of the key documents you will find are the:

1. Master Agreements
2. Product-specific Terms of Use
3. ArcGIS Location Platform Agreements
4. Data attributions and Terms of Use
5. Copyrights and Trademarks

ArcGIS Location Services hosted by Esri include the following:

• Basemap Styles serviceThe ArcGIS Basemap Styles service, also referred to as the Basemap Styles service, is a location service that provides basemap styles and data for the world. It returns styles as Mapbox styles and web maps, and data as vector tiles and/or map tiles. It supports all of the styles in the ArcGIS Basemap style and Open Basemap style family. An ArcGIS Location Platform or ArcGIS Online account is required to use the service.Learn more
• Places serviceThe places service, also known as ArcGIS Places service, is a location service hosted by Esri that can search for businesses and geographic locations around the world and return detailed information about each place.Learn more
• Geocoding serviceA geocoding service is a service that can search for addresses, place addresses, businesses, reverse geocode coordinates to addresses, provide suggestions for places, and perform bulk geocoding. It is hosted by Esri as the ArcGIS Geocoding service and can also be hosted in ArcGIS Enterprise.Learn more
• Routing serviceA routing service is a service that uses network analysis and streets data to calculate the most effective path and turn-by-turn directions on a street network, optimize fleet routing and deliveries, find the closest facilities, calculate service areas, and more. It is hosted by Esri as the ArcGIS Routing service and can also be hosted in ArcGIS Enterprise.Learn more
• GeoEnrichment serviceA GeoEnrichment service is a service that aggregates demographic data and local facts for locations around the world. It is used to provide insight about the people and places near a location. It is hosted by Esri as the ArcGIS GeoEnrichment service and can also be hosted in ArcGIS Enterprise.Learn more
• Static Basemap Tiles serviceThe ArcGIS Static Basemap Tiles service, also known as the Static Basemap Tiles service, is a location service that provides basemap data as pre-rendered and pre-styled map tiles for the world. It supports key styles in the ArcGIS Basemap style family. An ArcGIS Location Platform account is required to use the services.Learn more
• Elevation serviceThe elevation service, also known as ArcGIS Elevation service, is a location service hosted by Esri that returns TopoBathy elevation values for a single location or multiple locations.Learn more

You can use ArcGIS Maps SDKs, open source libraries, and scripting APIs to access location services. To learn more about each, go to the SDKs and APIs documentation.

Basemap attribution is required when building and deploying mapping applications that use basemap servicesArcGIS Basemap services, also referred to as Basemap services, are location services hosted by Esri that provide data sources for building mapping applications. It includes the ArcGIS Basemap Styles service and ArcGIS Static Basemap Tiles service. Each service provides a specific type of basemap data and set of styles.Learn more and data servicesData services, also known as hosted data services, are services created dynamically to store and provide access to your data in ArcGIS. Examples are feature services, vector tile services, map tile services, image services, and scene services.Learn more. There are two types of attribution that you need to display:

1. Powered by Esri.
2. Attribution for the data source providers.

To learn more, go to Esri and data attribution.

Standard endpoints: Standard endpoints are hosted in a global cloud infrastructure, including the United States. The services are high-performance and optimized to use cloud resources closest to your geographic region.

Enhanced endpoints: Enhanced endpoints are hosted in a cloud infrastructure in the United States. The services are high performance and provide more functionality than standard services and offer specific regulatory compliance.

To learn more, go to Service endpoints.

To find the REST API specification for each service, go to the REST API documentation.

ArcGIS Location Services are services with geospatial functionality and data hosted by Esri for developers. They include the ArcGIS Basemap Styles service, ArcGIS Places service, ArcGIS Geocoding service, ArcGIS Routing service, and ArcGIS GeoEnrichment service. All service operations and parameters are defined by the ArcGIS REST APIs. Some services support both standard endpoint and enhanced endpoints. An access token is required to use the services.

Location services are available to developers with an ArcGIS Location Platform or ArcGIS Online account.

ArcGIS Enterprise services are services an organization can host in ArcGIS Enterprise. Most services require user data and are typically created and managed with administration tools. There are many different types of services that can be hosted such as the map service, feature service, image tile service, geometry service, and spatial analysis service. All service operations and parameters are defined by the ArcGIS REST APIs. To develop with Enterprise services, you need an ArcGIS Enterprise account. An access token is required to use the services.

You can monitor the usage of location services at the following locations:

• ArcGIS Location Platform: Location Platform dashboard
• ArcGIS Online: Portal > Organization