General
This guide is for new and experienced ArcGIS Location Platform
The table below shows the account types you can use and limitations:
| ArcGIS Location Platform account | ArcGIS Online account | ArcGIS Enterprise account | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portal | 1 | ||
| Portal service | 1 | ||
| Data services | 2 |
- 1. Single-user organization. Limited user, group, and administration functionality available.
- 2. Supports creating hosted layers for feature services, vector tile services, and map tile services only.
The following table provides an overview of the functionality available with each type of authentication:
| API key authentication | User authentication | App authentication | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ArcGIS Location Services | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Data services (Item access) | 2 | ||
| Spatial analysis services | 1 | 1 | |
| Portal service (General privileges) | |||
| Portal service (Admin privileges) |
- 1. Supported with ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Location Platform.
- 2. Supported, but not recommended due to security risks.
The cost of storing content and accessing data services depends on the type of account you have:
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ArcGIS Location Platform: Uses a pay-as-you-go
Pay-as-you-go refers to a type of billing where services are metered and you pay only for the services you use. billing model with a monthly free tier for data storage and usage (bandwidth). To learn more, go to ArcGIS Location Platform > Pricing. -
ArcGIS Online: Uses a credit
Credits 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. consumption model to store content and access services. To learn more, 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:
Portal service
A portal
There are two types of portals:
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ArcGIS Location Platform and ArcGIS Online: The portal is created dynamically when a new user signs up for ArcGIS Location Platform or ArcGIS Online (subscription). It is hosted in Esri's infrastructure and accessed by signing into ArcGIS.com.
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ArcGIS Enterprise: The portal is created by installing ArcGIS Enterprise
ArcGIS 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. and Portal for ArcGIS. It is hosted in your own infrastructure and accessed by signing in to the domain you assign.
The portal service
There are two types of portal services:
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ArcGIS Location Platform and ArcGIS Online services: A portal service created and hosted in Esri's infrastructure when a new user signs up for ArcGIS Location Platform
ArcGIS 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. 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. . The service is available to developers who have an ArcGIS Location Platform accountAn ArcGIS Location Platform account, formerly known as an ArcGIS Developer account, is an identity associated with an ArcGIS Location Platform subscription. or ArcGIS Online accountAn ArcGIS Online account, also known as an ArcGIS Organization account, is an identity associated with an ArcGIS Online subscription. It can be used to access ArcGIS tools and develop applications with ArcGIS location services for an organization. associated with the organization. -
ArcGIS Enterprise portal services: A portal service you can host in your own infrastructure with ArcGIS Enterprise
ArcGIS 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. and Portal for ArcGIS. The service is available to developers who have an ArcGIS Enterprise account associated with the organization.
A portal
To access your portal
- API key authentication (ArcGIS Location Platform only)
- User authentication
- App authentication
Different authentication types result in access tokens
To add users to your portal
- Sign into your portal as an administrator.
- Click the Organization tab at the top, then click Members tab.
- Click Invite members to add new users.
- You have two options to add members:
- Review the member details and send invitations or add members directly.
New members will receive an email invitation to join the organization
The following file formats can be added to your portal:
- CSV (Comma Separated Value text files)
- Zipped shapefile (must include a .prj projection file)
- GPS Exchange Format (.gpx) file
- KML or KMZ (Keyhole Markup Language)
- Imagery files (.gif, .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .tif, .tiff)
- 3D tiles package (.3tz)
- 360 VR Experience (.3vr)
- Apache Parquet (.parquet)
- CAD drawing (.zip)
- Deep learning package (.zip or .dlpk)
- Desktop application (.zip)
- Desktop application template (.zip)
Additionally, users can add content to a portal by:
- Uploading files up to 500 GB through the web browser
- Accessing online content from within ArcGIS Desktop
- Dragging and dropping a CSV file directly into a Map window
To share your data with others in your ArcGIS organization
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Add your data as items
An item, also known as a content item, is a resource stored in a portal such as a web map, hosted layer, style, script tool, file, or notebook. to your portalArcGIS portal, also known as a portal, is a website with applications and tools that can be used to create, manage, access, and share geospatial content and data. It supports security and authentication, developer credentials, content and data service management, user and group management, and site administration. A portal can be hosted in Esri's infrastructure or your own infrastructure. . This could be mapsA map is a collection of layers that are displayed in 2D. It is typically composed of a basemap layer and data layers. , layersA layer is a reference to a collection of geographic data that is used to access and display data. The data for layers are typically provided by the basemap layer service and data services. , scenesA scene is a collection of layers that are displayed in 3D. It is typically composed of a basemap layer, data layers, and 3D data. , apps, or other content you want to share. -
Refine the item details by including a summary, description, tags, and a custom thumbnail to make your content stand out.
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Identify your target audience within your organization. You can share your items with your entire organization, specific groups you belong to, or a combination of the two.
For example, you can share data with all members
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To share with your organization, you can select the items, click Share, and choose to share with your organization.
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To share with a specific group, you can create a group and invite the relevant members, then share the items with that group.
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You can also share items with both your organization and a specific group if you want to make the content available to all members but also highlight it for a particular audience.
The level of security is controlled by the sharing level you set for the data service. To set the sharing level, you use a hosted layer
The sharing levels available for different products are listed below:
| ArcGIS Location Platform | ArcGIS Online | ArcGIS Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner (private) | |||
| Group | |||
| Organization | |||
| Everyone (public) |
You can set whether a user can see an item
The following is a list of the sharing levels available for the different types of ArcGIS products:
- Owner (private): Only the owner has access. The hosted layer (item) and data service are private and will not be visible or accessible to others. A valid access token or scoped API key is required. Learn more about scoping items to an API key in API keys.
Yes, in portal
You can use groups in portal
- Categorize content by topic or project.
- Control access and collaboration.
- Improve sharing and discovery of items.
Here are some ways to use groups to organize your content:
- Create a private group in your organization to collaborate internally with your team during the development process.
- Create a public group to share your finished products to the public.
- Use group categories or tags to categorize related groups by topic or project.
Yes. Your portal
Data services
Data services
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Feature services
A feature service is a data service that provides access to spatial and non-spatial data in feature layers, feature layer views, and tables. -
Vector tile services
A vector tile service is a data service that provides access to vector tile data and a style definition. -
Map tile services
A map tile service, formerly known as image tile service, is a data service that provides access to static, pre-rendered mao tiles. The tiles are typical in PNG format. Map tiles are typically retrieved by specifying a specific level, row, and column value. -
Image services
An image service is a data service that can store, process, analyze, and share raster data.
Data services are typically created by importing data with the data management tools
Yes, Esri offers data hosting through ArcGIS Location Platform
Several key points:
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ArcGIS Online
ArcGIS 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. allows you to publish your data as hosted layersA hosted layer is an item in a portal that contains the properties and settings for a hosted data service or a layer in a hosted data service. , which are hosted and managed by Esri's cloud infrastructure. This includes hosted feature layersA hosted feature layer is a hosted layer (item) in a portal that is used to manage the properties and settings of a spatially-enabled feature layer in a feature service. , vector tile layersA vector tile layer is a data layer used to access and display tiled data and its corresponding styles. , and map tile layers. -
With ArcGIS Enterprise
ArcGIS 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. , you can host data services in your own portal'sArcGIS portal, also known as a portal, is a website with applications and tools that can be used to create, manage, access, and share geospatial content and data. It supports security and authentication, developer credentials, content and data service management, user and group management, and site administration. A portal can be hosted in Esri's infrastructure or your own infrastructure. infrastructure and managed database. This gives you more control but requires maintaining your own servers. -
Hosted feature layers support vector data visualization, querying, and editing. You can create hosted feature layer views with different settings like editing capabilities or sharing permissions.
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Both ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise allow you to control user permissions and roles for accessing and editing the hosted data.
The type of data service you use depends on the product you have, the format of your existing data, storage and output data format requirements, the size and complexity of the data, and the service functionality required.
Below is an overview of the main services and the data type each supports.
| Data service | Data type | Data output | Use cases |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feature service | Feature (geometry and/or attributes) | JSON, PBF, GeoJSON | Display, visualization, editing, updating, accessing geometry, accessing attributes |
| Vector tile service | Vector tile | PBF | Display, styling, accessing attributes |
| Map tile service | Map tile | PNG32 | Display |
| Image service | Static and dynamic tiles | JPEG, PNG, LERC | Display, visualization, anlaysis, mosaicking images |
You can use many different ArcGIS Maps SDKs, open source libraries, and scripting APIs to access data services. You can also access the services directly with ArcGIS REST APIs.
The ArcGIS Maps SDKs
A hosted feature layer, also referred to as a hosted feature layer (item), is an item in a portal
No, your data is your data. You retain complete ownership of your content.
The best practices you should follow largely depend on the data services you are using, the size and complexity of the data, the functionality required, and how many users will access your application, but in general consider the following:
- Use ArcGIS Maps SDKs
ArcGIS Maps SDKs are developer products for building mapping and spatial analysis applications for web browsers, native devices, and game engines. to display and query features - Configure the CDN cache
- Enable drawing optimization
- Configure field and spatial indexes
- Only enable editing on layers that require updates
- Use feature layer views instead of uploading your data more than once
- Search for strings with full-text indexes instead of using the "LIKE" operator
- Consider rebuilding spatial indexes
- Use repeatable queries instead of unique queries
- Use client-side queries instead of server-side queries
- Consider publishing vector tile services or map tile services to display datasets with many features
- Only include the required attributes when publishing vector tile services
- Only build map tile caches for the visible range (zoom levels) required
- Consider manually generating map tile caches for areas that will be frequently visited
- Consider upgrading your feature data store
When using ArcGIS Location Platform
1. Basic Feature Data Store: ArcGIS Location Platform
2. Standard Feature Data Store: ArcGIS Online
3. Premium Feature Data Store: This option is available if you have ArcGIS Online
If you have ArcGIS Online
Data store summary
| Data store option | Max storage | Upgrade | Infrastructure | Regional? | Additional charge? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Feature Data Store | 100 GB | No | Shared | No | Yes |
| Standard Feature Data Store | 500 GB | Yes | Shared | Yes | Yes |
| Premium Feature Data Store M1 | 1 TB | Yes | Dedicated 2X | Yes | No |
| Premium Feature Data Store M2 | 1 TB | Yes | Dedicated 4X | Yes | No |
| Premium Feature Data Store M3 | 1 TB | Yes | Dedicated 8X | Yes | No |
| Premium Feature Data Store M4 | 4 TB | Yes | Dedicated 16X | Yes | No |
Regional data hosting refers to the region where your hosted geospatial data is stored. It allows you to store your content and data in different regions such as United States, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Regional data hosting can reduce network latency and improve the overall performance of accessing data services
Regional data hosting includes the following types of content and data:
- Features (feature services)
- Vector tiles (vector tile services) and map tiles (map tile services)
- Data files (feature attachments
An attachment is a file, such as a photograph (for example, a and document items.pngfile) or a document, that is associated with individual features in a geodatabase or feature layer.An item, also known as a content item, is a resource stored in a portal such as a web map, hosted layer, style, script tool, file, or notebook. ) -
Web maps
A web map is a map stored as a JSON object that defines properties such as the basemap layer, data layers, layer styles, and pop-up styles. Its JSON structure is defined by the web map specification.
All other content and user information — for example, subscriber and subscription information, item metadata, groups and sharing information, and usage accounting — is stored and managed in the United States. In addition, other location services such as geocoding, routing, places, and GeoEnrichment run in the United States.
Regional data hosting is available for Standard Feature Data Store and Premium Feature Data Store. The location is selected when the service is purchased and cannot be changed after purchase. Regions include the United States, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
To enable regional data hosting, please contact us.
Data data storage refers to all of the content items
The two types of data storage you are charged for are:
- Feature storage: The total storage size of the features
A feature is a single record, also known as a row, that represents a real-world entity. It typically contains a geometry (point, multipoint, polyline, or polygon) and attributes but it can also contain just attributes. stored in feature service databases. - Tiles, files and attachments storage: The total storage size of map tiles (map tile services) and vector tiles (vector tile services), items
An item, also known as a content item, is a resource stored in a portal such as a web map, hosted layer, style, script tool, file, or notebook. that represent files such as shapefiles, GeoJSON, and CSVs, and feature attachmentsAn attachment is a file, such as a photograph (for example, a such as images or PDFs. This also includes the size of the item metadata..pngfile) or a document, that is associated with individual features in a geodatabase or feature layer.
When using ArcGIS Platform
1. Basic Feature Data Store: ArcGIS Platform
2. Standard Feature Data Store: ArcGIS Online
3. Premium Feature Data Store: This option is available if you have ArcGIS Online
If you have ArcGIS Online
Data store summary
| Data store option | Max storage | Upgrade | Infrastructure | Regional? | Additional charge? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Feature Data Store | 100 GB | No | Shared | No | Yes |
| Standard Feature Data Store | 500 GB | Yes | Shared | Yes | Yes |
| Premium Feature Data Store M1 | 1 TB | Yes | Dedicated 2X | Yes | No |
| Premium Feature Data Store M2 | 1 TB | Yes | Dedicated 4X | Yes | No |
| Premium Feature Data Store M3 | 1 TB | Yes | Dedicated 8X | Yes | No |
| Premium Feature Data Store M4 | 4 TB | Yes | Dedicated 16X | Yes | No |
The creation, hosting, and management of image services is currently not supported for ArcGIS Location Platform accounts