You can share maps and geographic information with others through ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise, including maps, map layers, features, imagery, and analytic results. For example, you can publish your maps or layers as GIS web services, package the information into a single file that contains all the necessary information as well as metadata, or load and share your packages using ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise portals.
The following sections cover many of the common tasks used for sharing and exchanging maps, layers, and other geographic information using ArcGIS Online. For more information about connecting, see Sign in to ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise in ArcGIS Desktop applications.
Work with your content in ArcGIS Online
As an ArcGIS Desktop user, you can upload and publicly share GIS maps and data, as well as search for and find others' content. If you are part of an ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise organization, you can access the data shared with members of your organization.
- Sign in to the ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise portal.
- Open the ArcGIS Online window (shown below) by right-clicking the My Hosted Services node in the Catalog tree and clicking one of the following:
- ArcGIS Online
- Portal for ArcGIS
- Click My Maps and Data to view, manage, and share your uploaded content. Content from groups you belong to is found under My Groups. You can also search maps and data to find GIS content that you can then use in your work, or search groups to collaborate with other people.
Load content into a portal
You can create and upload web services, map packages, and layer packages to ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise portals. Packages include not only all the map properties and layer properties but also all the data referenced by the map or layer. When you share content with an ArcGIS public account, your content is available publicly on ArcGIS Online. When you share content when signed in to an organization, you choose whether to share the content with the public, the organization, or only specific groups to which you belong. In addition, ArcGIS Desktop provides tools for sharing map and layer packages using Python and ModelBuilder, which can be used to automate the sharing workflow.
Download maps and layers
When you add a map package or layer package to your ArcGIS Desktop session from a portal, all the content in the package is downloaded and unpacked for use on your desktop.
The package is downloaded to your system's default ArcGIS folder location into the Packages subfolder, for example, <path>\My Documents\ArcGIS\Packages. Each package will be saved in a separate subfolder in the Packages directory, and its contents will be unpacked. This location will be referenced by new layers added to your map document. The contents of your Packages directory can become large over time. It's a good idea to delete unwanted package folders and move content from the geodatabases contained in each package's subfolder into your working geodatabases.
- Sign in to the ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise portal.
- Open the ArcGIS Online window (shown below) by right-clicking the My Hosted Services node in the Catalog tree and clicking one of the following:
- ArcGIS Online
- Portal for ArcGIS
- Browse to the item that you want to work with in your ArcGIS Desktop session. You can find content featured by Esri or your portal administrator or from a group, or you can search for content.
- Select the desired item and click Add or Open to add the item to your desktop.
If you open a map package, its contents are downloaded and unpacked, and the new map document is opened. You may be prompted to save your current map document, which will be closed before the downloaded map package is opened.
What types of geographic information can be shared?
The ArcGIS content types that you can share using a portal include the following:
- Map packages
- Layer packages
- Locator Package
- Geoprocessing Package
- Various services that you can publish
- ArcGIS web maps
- Developer add-ins
When working online, you can choose with whom to share content. One way to manage this is by creating and joining groups. You can create groups and invite other participants to join.
Work with web maps
One of the types of maps that you can open and work with in ArcMap is a web map. You can create a web map by publishing one from ArcGIS Pro, or create one in Map Viewer in an ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise portal. These web maps can be used in ArcGIS clients such as ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Pro, and ArcGIS web and mobile applications.
You can search for and open web maps in ArcGIS Desktop as follows:
- Sign in to the ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise portal.
- To open the ArcGIS Online window, click File > ArcGIS Online or File > Portal for ArcGIS on the main menu.
- Type keywords in the Search field to find web maps that you want to use. Add Web Map to your search string.
- Find the web map you want to use in your search results and click Open to open it in an ArcMap session. Opening the web map closes your current map document and opens the new web map in your ArcMap session. You are prompted to save your current map before the web map opens.