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Use hosted layers

You publish features, tiles, and scenes to be hosted on Portal for ArcGIS so you can share them with others. Once shared, those with access can use your hosted layers in maps in the portal website. Developers can also include the URL to your hosted layers in web and desktop apps they build. Others may use your hosted layers in ArcGIS Desktop to enhance their map or perform analyses.

If you allow it, the people you've shared your hosted features with can export the data from your layer to a CSV, shapefile, GeoJSON, or file geodatabase.

Find URLs

To view the hosted layers you have published and discover their URLs for use in web apps, sign in to your organization and click My Content. This page shows a table listing all the maps, apps, features, and tiles you have added.

The Type column in the table lists the type of item. Most types are self explanatory, but be aware that type Tile Layer (hosted) applies to both hosted tile and vector layers.

For each of your hosted tile layers, you will see a corresponding Service Definition item. A service definition is a zipped file containing the map, its data, and details about how the tiles should be published.

Click any hosted layer item to be taken to a page with the item's description and URL. You can copy the URL and use it in your code when you create an app with the ArcGIS Web or mobile APIs. Alternatively, you can click Open in Map Viewer or Open in Scene Viewer to view the layer. Once opened, you can build a map or scene that you can save and reuse later in a web app.

Use hosted layers in ArcMap

You can use the features and tiles hosted on your portal in ArcMap. To do so, you must first connect ArcGIS Desktop to your portal. See Use ArcMap with your portal for instructions.

Once you have connected to your portal, open the Catalog window in ArcMap and double-click My Hosted Services. If you haven't yet logged in to the portal website, you are prompted to do so. You can then see the list of services available to drag and drop into the ArcMap table of contents.

Use hosted layers in ArcGIS Pro

You can use the features, tiles, and scenes hosted on your portal in ArcGIS Pro. To do so, click Portal in the Catalog pane of your ArcGIS Pro project. You can add layers from My Content, groups to which you belong, or search for publicly available layers. Choose the layer you want to add and drag it onto your map or scene.

You must be signed in to your organization to access hosted layers from the Catalog pane.

Export data from hosted feature layers

You can export CSV files, shapefiles, a file geodatabase, GeoJSON files, or feature collections from a hosted feature layer if one of the following is true:

  • You own the features.
  • You are a portal administrator.
  • You aren't the hosted feature layer owner or the administrator, but the owner or administrator has configured the hosted feature layer to allow others to export the data.

    This setting can be changed on the item page Settings tab by checking the Allow others to export to different formats box under Export Data.

Only nonspatial attributes are exported to a CSV file when you export a line or polygon layer from a hosted feature layer. When you export a point layer to a CSV file, latitude and longitude values for the points are exported.

All exported items are stored in the root folder of My Content.

Follow these steps to export from a hosted feature layer:

  1. Sign in and open the item page for the features you want to export.
    • If you own the features, click My Content and click the item title.
    • If you do not own the features, search for the layer, and click the feature layer name in the search results list.
  2. If you want to export individual layers, find the Layers section of the Overview tab, click Export To under the layer you want to export, and choose the format you want to export. If you want to export all the layers in the hosted feature layer, click the Export Data button on the Overview tab and choose the format you want to export.

    • Export to Shapefile creates a compressed file (.zip) containing a shapefile for each layer of your content that you export. You can download the file and save it to your computer.
    • Export to CSV file creates a comma-separated values file when you export from a layer. You can open the file or save it to your computer. If you export all layers to CSV, a CSV Collection is created, which is a .zip file containing one CSV file per layer. You can download the .zip file and save it to your computer.
    • Export to FGDB creates a .zip file containing a file geodatabase. The file geodatabase contains a feature class. You can download the .zip file and save it to your computer. Note that the .zip file uses the name you specify for the Title, but the geodatabase name is randomly generated, and the feature class has the same name as the layer you exported.

      Note:

      If your portal's hosting server does not use ArcGIS Data Store, only the hosted feature layer owner or portal administrator can export to a file geodatabase.

    • Export to GeoJSON creates a GeoJSON file containing definitions for all layers you export. You can download the file and save it to your computer.

      Note:

      If your portal's hosting server does not use ArcGIS Data Store, only the hosted feature layer owner or portal administrator can export to a GeoJSON file.

    • Export to Feature Collection creates a feature collection you can open in the map viewer.

      Choose Generalize features for web display to optimize the layer for web apps. You can only generalize features from layers published in the WGS 1984 Web Mercator (Auxiliary Sphere) coordinate system. Note that exported feature collections that are generalized for web display do not work in desktop and mobile apps.

      Alternatively, choose Keep original features if you need to maintain all the precision in your data, or if you intend to use the feature collection in desktop or mobile apps.

      Note:

      If your portal's hosting server does not use ArcGIS Data Store, only the hosted feature layer owner or portal administrator can export to a feature collection.

Use hosted WFS layers in a map

When you add a hosted WFS layer to the map viewer, you will be prompted to add individual layers.

Once added to the map viewer, you can configure each individual layer. For example, you can change styles, create labels, and configure pop-ups on each layer you added to the map. You can save the map that contains the layers from the hosted WFS layer, and the configurations will be saved in the map. When saving configurations to each individual layer, you will be prompted to create a new WFS layer. This new WFS layer is a reference to the hosted WFS layer. All configurations are saved to the new layer and not the hosted layer itself.