About editing in web applications

Web-based editing allows a larger group of people to add and improve on your data. These include field-workers, analysts in other departments of your company, or perhaps even crowd-sourced volunteers who may be able to make valuable contributions to your data given a simple editing interface.

Web editing requires some coordination of client-side actions (such as moving the vertices of a polygon on the screen) with actions on the server (such as committing the edit to the database). If you're a novice programmer, you'll find it easier to start with a premade editing widget (or task). The ArcGIS.com map viewer, the ArcGIS APIs, and the Flex and Silverlight viewers for ArcGIS all provide ways for you to get started with editing. This is often done through preconfigured "widgets" that you can add to your applications. If you want more custom editing functionality, you can add to the widgets' code or develop your own editing solution that employs the same lower-level components used by the widgets.

To learn more about how to implement web editing in your applications, see the following topics:

The role of the feature service

Web editing in the ArcGIS APIs and ArcGIS Viewer for Flex works with feature services, which originate from map services that have the Feature Access capability enabled. You can define feature templates in the map, which represent predefined feature types that might be most often created by editors. For example, to prepare for editing roads, you might configure templates called Controlled Access Freeway, Other Divided Highway, State Highway, and Local Road. Users of your application can then select from one of the template choices instead of configuring the attributes themselves. This results in a simpler editing experience and less opportunity for error.

The role of the geometry service

The ArcGIS APIs and ArcGIS Viewer for Flex also use the geometry service to support editing. The geometry service can create, cut, and reshape features. It can also perform integrity checks, such as making sure polygon boundaries do not cross themselves.

9/1/2015