Esri's Community Maps Program represents a cooperative effort by the ArcGIS community to build fast, authoritative web maps compiled from premier GIS data sources that are provided and maintained by the ArcGIS user community and authored at multiple levels of detail, including map scales as large as 1:1,000.
Through the program, you can access prebuilt templates, tools, and workflows to efficiently assemble, author, and cache highly attractive basemaps from your authoritative data. These basemaps may then be shared with Esri to publish online as a part of a multiscaled, global basemap. Since the maps are published as cached tiles, you retain control of your data.
Organizations of all sizes benefit by integrating accurate, up-to-date information into these high-quality online world maps. Using these web maps reduces the cost for making your data widely available and offers a reliable way for your users to access critical information for a host of online GIS applications. These shared community maps also establish a valuable resource for citizens and businesses that are available all day, every day. They help you to bring your GIS to life for the benefit of your users.
Visit the Community Maps Dashboard to see who is contributing content!
The Community Maps Program currently has four basemaps:
All of these community basemaps are available on ArcGIS Online.
- Collaborative
- Multiple, authoritative sources
- Template-based
- Multiscale
- Many participants
- Available on the web and accessible via free API's (JavaScript, Flex, and Silverlight)
- A free community service
- Authoritative crowd-sourcing by the ArcGIS community
Watch the short video Community Maps Program Overview and get more details and hear about the benefits of joining the program. For a complete explanation of the program and to hear how the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, benefits from being a Community Maps contributor, watch the Community Maps Webinar.