Supported item types

There are five basic kinds of items you can work with: maps, data layers, data files, applications, and tools. In Esri's cloud, you'll find hundreds of thousands of web maps, map layers, web applications, and other items published by the GIS community, including Esri and local governments and agencies around the world. Use this content to create maps and embed them in your own sites, download data files, and develop your own applications that use address locators and other tools. You can also share your items on the site and even web-enable your large feature collections and map tiles and have them securely hosted in Esri's cloud, choosing to share them only if you want.

Items in can be static or dynamic. Static items do not change and need to be web-enabled before they can be viewed in a web browser. Dynamic items can be viewed in a web browser and change automatically when information is updated. For example, a dynamic traffic map might show different road hazards each time you view the map because the traffic information is updated every few minutes. Dynamic items are also known as live items. In the lists below, static items are represented by gray icons (for example, Map) and dynamic items are represented by colored icons (for example, Map).

Maps

Maps are visual presentations of useful information. They typically contain a basemap, data layers, an extent, and a legend. Interactive maps that you find on the web also contain navigation tools such as zoom, pan, place finders, and bookmarks and let you change the basemap, for example, from streets to imagery. The most compelling maps tell stories about trends and patterns over geographic space. For example, they may explain where people are buying homes, where sea surface temperature is changing, or where elephants travel in the summer. When you make a map, you overlay the data that best tells your story. For example, you might choose a topographic basemap and add layers of business data (such as available stands of timber) and reference information (such as boundaries or labels). These maps share information for a purpose; they don't just display data.

The maps you find in ArcGIS Online are interactive resources that can be opened and used in a standard web browser, mobile device app, or desktop map viewer. They can also be used as components in applications created with configurable templates or developer APIs. Web maps are constructed using data layers from services and files to communicate a specific message or provide specific map-based capabilities.

The web map is the most common type of map in ArcGIS Online. Web maps reference shared data items in Esri's cloud and also contain features added directly to the map or layers referenced externally. Some web maps contain a series of slides, each showing a specific view into the map with associated text and graphics. These are known as presentations. Other types of maps include those that can be opened in ArcGIS applications such as map packages.

Supported types of maps

  • Map Web map
  • Map CityEngine Web Scene (.3ws)
  • Map Map package (.mpk)
  • Map ArcMap document (.mxd, .msd)
  • Map ArcGlobe document (.3dd)
  • Map ArcScene document (.sxd)
  • Map ArcReader document (.pmf)
  • Map ArcGIS Explorer document (.nmf)
  • Map Tile package (.tpk)

Data layers

Data layers are a specific collection of information such as boundary lines and historical fire perimeters that are used in web maps and applications. They can be hosted on a GIS server and registered to Esri's cloud, hosted directly in Esri's cloud, or externally referenced in a map or application. Data layers are directly consumable in web maps and applications. There are two types: feature layers and map layers.

Feature layers

A feature layer is a collection of geographic features. Each feature in the collection has a location, set of properties, map symbology, and pop-up window. Feature layers allow you to execute queries on the features and perform live edits on the features using templates for an enhanced editing experience. A feature layer can be managed as a part of your content or referenced in a web map or application. The contents of some feature layers can be downloaded.

Supported types of feature layers

  • Data layer Feature service (from ArcGIS for Server or hosted on ArcGIS Online)
  • Data layer KML (.kml and .kmz)
  • Data layer OGC WMS
NoteNote:

You can add GeoRSS as a feature layer to a web map; you cannot add it as an item to ArcGIS Online.

Map layers

A map layer is a prerendered collection of map cartography organized by location and scale. Map layers can be dynamic or cached as tilesets.

Dynamic map layers generate map images when requested by the layer. As you navigate the map, new map images are displayed. Dynamic map layers include image services. Image services are based on raster data, which is essentially a grid of cells. Rasters are commonly used to store imagery and other information captured by satellite sensors.

A tileset is an organized collection of raster map caches combining terrain data, imagery, symbolized map features, and labels. Tilesets are created for specific geographic extents, projections, and levels of detail and support fast visualization of complex maps using a collection of predrawn map tiles. These map layers are created and stored on the server after you upload your data and are appropriate for basemaps that give your web maps geographic context.

Map layers can be managed as part of your content or referenced in a web map or application.

Supported types of map layers

  • Data layer Map service (Dynamic or tileset from ArcGIS for Server or hosted tileset on ArcGIS Online)
  • Data layer Image service
  • Data layer Layer file (.lyr)
  • Data layer ArcGIS Explorer layer (.nmc)
NoteNote:

You can add tile layers and OGC WMTS as map layers to a web map; you cannot add them as items to ArcGIS Online.

Data files

Data files are a specific collection of information such as customer lists that can be stored, managed, and shared within the system but need to be web enabled before they can be added as layers to a web map. Some small files are automatically web enabled by importing the data directly onto the map. For example, you can drag and drop a .csv file onto your web map and the data is embedded within the map as a feature layer. Organizational accounts with a publisher or administrator role can web-enable large datasets by publishing the files as hosted services to ArcGIS Online.

Supported types of data files

  • Data file Comma-separated value file (.csv)
  • Data file Shapefile (.zip)
  • Data file Service definition (.sd)
  • Data file Document link (URL)
  • Data file Layer package (.lpk)
  • Data file ArcGIS Windows Mobile package (.wmpk)
  • Data file Map template (.zip)
  • Data file Desktop application template (.zip)
  • Data file ArcGIS Explorer application configuration (.ncgf)
  • Data file Code sample (.zip)
  • Data file Workflow package (.wpk)
  • Data file Microsoft Office file (.doc, .docx, .ppt, .pptx, .vsd, .xls, .xlsx). Requires an organizational account to add to ArcGIS Online.
  • Data file Image file (.jpg, .jpeg, .png, .tif, .tiff). Requires an organizational account to add to ArcGIS Online.
  • Data file Portable Document Format (.pdf). Requires an organizational account to add to ArcGIS Online.
NoteNote:

You can import GPS files (.gpx) and delimited text files (.txt) into a web map; you cannot add them to ArcGIS Online.

Applications

An application combines maps, data, and tools for a targeted use such as a polling stations mobile app or an Arctic ice flows web application. Applications can be based on standard templates, which are configured using web maps and other properties and developed with APIs. In general, applications are constructed from information in web maps, supplemented with additional application-specific configuration and customization. Applications can be hosted as a part of your content or they can be managed independently and registered with the system. Applications include add-ins, a customization file that plugs into a desktop application to provide supplemental functionality for accomplishing custom tasks.

Supported types of applications

  • Application Web application
  • Application Mobile application
  • Application Operation View
  • Application Operations Dashboard Add In (.opdashboardaddin)
  • Application ArcGIS Desktop Add In (.esriaddin)
  • Application ArcGIS Explorer Add In (.eaz)

Tools

A tool performs a function in a map or application, such as finding a place or accessing a geodatabase.

Supported types of tools

  • Tool ArcGIS Server geocode service
  • Tool ArcGIS Server network analysis service
  • Tool ArcGIS Server geoprocessing service
  • Tool Geoprocessing Sample (.zip)
  • Tool ArcGIS Server geodata service
  • Tool ArcGIS geometry service
  • Tool Locator package (.gcpk)
  • Tool Geoprocessing package (.gpk)
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5/16/2013