The ArcGIS Spatial Data Server (SDS) REST API provides a simple, open Web interface to
spatial and tabular information in databases, tables, and views hosted in
a relational database, such as SQL Server. Data sources are
created and managed within the SDS to provide connection information for one or
more database instances and access to tables or views within the database
instance. Tables or views may contain spatial information in a
native or standard database format. Feature services are created and hosted by the SDS and
contain feature layers which represent spatially enabled tables or views.
Tables and views without spatial data can also be hosted in a feature service.
Each feature service maintains metadata about layer rendering, field aliases,
types, templates, and capabilities. All resources and operations
exposed by the REST API are accessible through a hierarchy of endpoints or
Uniform Resource Locators (URLs). Administrative resources and operations
enable the creation and discovery of data sources and feature services.
Consumer resources and operations enable end users to discover service and layer metadata and support both query and editing capabilities on
layers.
When administering an SDS using the REST API, you typically start by creating data sources and/or feature services. The administrative root for an SDS instance is:
http://<web server hostname>/arcgis/admin
Once feature services have been created, you can view available services in the services catalog. The service catalog root for an SDS instance is:
http://<web server hostname>/arcgis/rest/services
From this base URL, you can traverse the services and layers they contan, discover information about the layers, and initiate queries and edit operations. Note, "arcgis" is the default virtual directory name for a Spatial Data Server instance. You can change the virtual directory name to suit your needs. You can also install multiple Spatial Data Service instances on the same Web server.
The REST API is stateless, which means that REST does not keep track of transactions from one request to the next. Each request must contain all the information necessary for successful processing.
If you want to learn more about how the Spatial Data Server REST API works, you can start by following the examples in Getting Started.
Each Spatial Data Server includes a Services Directory. Services Directory is a view of the REST API in HTML format. You can browse the contents of feature services and view metadata and operations (e.g. Query, Editing) that are useful in developing applications.
The REST API supports responses in several formats. The format is specified by using the query parameter f in the URL. Two formats are supported: html (HyperText Markup Language) and json (JavaScript Object Notation). For more details, see Output formats.