Share maps

You can share maps you create in Map Viewer with your organization, specific groups, or the public. Share a map from Map Viewer, as described below, or share the map from its item page.

Share a map

You can share a map that you own while you're creating or editing it in Map Viewer.

To share a map while you have it open, complete the following steps:

1. Verify that you are signed in to your organization.

   Your account must be a member of the default administrator role or a custom role assigned the set of privileges to share content.

2. With the map open in Map Viewer, click Share map on the Contents (dark) toolbar, and click Manage sharing.
3. Choose a sharing level for the map.
4. Optionally, click Edit group sharing to share the map with one or more groups, and click Apply.
5. Click Save.

If the map has layers that are not shared with the correct audience, the Review sharing dialog box appears with messages for each layer indicating its accessibility status. Click the messages to view additional details for each layer.

If you are the layer owner or an organization administrator, you can click Update sharing to synchronize the layer's sharing configuration with the map. Alternatively, you can click View full details to open a layer's item page and update its sharing level in the Share section of the Overview tab. If you cannot update the sharing configuration for a layer, take note of the layer owner—which is displayed below the item summary—and contact the owner to ask whether they can alter the sharing level for the layer.

Share a link to a map

In Map Viewer, you can share a link to a map at its current extent.

To share a link to a map, complete the following steps:

1. With the map open in Map Viewer, click Share map on the Contents (dark) toolbar, and click Copy link to map.

   A short URL for the map at its current extent is generated and copied to the clipboard.

2. Paste the URL into an email, text message, blog, website, or social media post.

For those recipients with whom the map has been shared, clicking the URL opens the map in Map Viewer. If the map has not been shared with a recipient, the recipient will not have access to the map.

Create a custom link to a map

In Map Viewer, you can create a link to a map and configure how it will appear when opened using the link.

To create a custom link to a map, complete the following steps:

1. With the map open in Map Viewer, click Share map on the Contents (dark) toolbar, and click Create custom link.
2. Do any of the following to change how the map will display when opened using the link:
   • Define the map extent that will be included.

     Tip:

     Use keyboard shortcuts to help you set the extent of the map. Press Shift and drag a box on the map to draw a preview area. Press Esc to reset the preview area. To view the full list of keyboard shortcuts in Map Viewer, press Alt+? on Microsoft Windows or Option+? on Mac.

   • Under Mode, choose Light or Dark.
   • Under Map elements, check the check box next to any of the map elements to include them in the shared map.
   • Under Available actions, turn on the Open in Map Viewer toggle button to allow users to open the embedded map in Map Viewer when using the link.
   • Under Map view, turn on the Preserve map scale toggle button to have the map open at the saved scale, preserving the relative size of features across devices.

     Note:

     If the Preserve map scale toggle button is turned off, the scale will vary to show features in the preview's extent.

   • Check the check box next to Shorten URL to shorten the URL that will be copied.

   Note:

   If there are layers in the map that are not public, viewers must sign in with appropriate credentials to see the map and its contents. Click Update permissions to change the map sharing settings or follow the steps in the Share a map workflow above.

3. Click Copy Link.

   A URL for the map is generated and copied to the clipboard.

4. Paste the URL into an email, text message, blog, website, or social media post.

For those recipients with whom the map has been shared, clicking the URL opens the map with the customized configuration.

Embed a map

To embed a map you've opened in Map Viewer using ready-to-use HTML code, do the following:

1. Verify that you are signed in to your organization.

   Your account must be a member of the default administrator role or a custom role assigned the set of privileges to share content.

2. In Map Viewer, open a saved map.
3. Verify that the map is shared with everyone (public).

   Note:

   If the map is not shared publicly, clicking Embed map will automatically open the map sharing settings.

   See the Considerations for sharing maps section below for more information.

4. On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Embed map .
5. Optionally, in the Embed window, do any of the following to change how the embedded map will display:
   • Define the map extent that will be included.

     Tip:

     Use keyboard shortcuts to help you set the extent of the map. Press Shift and drag a box on the map to draw a preview area. Press Esc to reset the preview area. To view the full list of keyboard shortcuts in Map Viewer, press Alt+? on Microsoft Windows or Option+? on Mac.

   • Under Mode, choose Light or Dark.
   • Under Map elements, check the check box next to any of the map elements to include them in the embedded map.
   • Under Available actions, turn on the Open in Map Viewer toggle button to allow users to open the embedded map in Map Viewer.

     Note:

     Under Map view, the Preserve map scale and Disable scroll zoom toggle buttons are turned on by default. If the Preserve map scale toggle button is turned on, the map will open at the preview scale, preserving the relative size of features across devices. Otherwise, the scale varies to show the features in the preview extent. If the Disable scroll zoom toggle button is turned on, zooming in and out using the mouse and wheel button will be disabled when navigating the embedded map.

6. Choose Script embed or iFrame embed from the embed code drop-down arrow and click Copy HTML to copy the HTML code provided.

   Note:

   The Script embed option uses web components, meaning that your website does not need to load an entire application for each embedded web map. Some web sites do not support embedding content without iFrames, so the iFrame embed option may be more appropriate. Both embed options provide the same configurable view of your map for sharing.

7. Paste the code into the web page where you want the map to appear.

   Note:

   For the Script embed option, the HTML code contains a script tag and the custom element with the map to embed. Paste the script tag into the <head> of the web page. Add the custom element to the <body> of the web page where you want the map to appear. For best performance, you should keep the script version in the source URL current. For the most current version, see Embeddable Components from ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript.

Considerations for sharing maps

Keep the following in mind when you share maps:

• The layers in the map must also be shared. For example, if you share the map with your organization, but the map contains layers that are only shared with specific groups, members outside those groups will not have access to the layers when they open the map, and the map will appear empty.

  A list of the layers used in the map is displayed in the Map section of the Overview tab on the map's item page. If any of the layers are not shared with the same audience as the map, you will see a notification banner. Click Review sharing to synchronize sharing of the layers you have permission to update.

• For a map to be accessible to the public, you must share it with everyone. Ensure that the layers in the map are also shared with everyone. Sharing public items through an organization’s website can result in accessibility issues for anonymous users if the organization does not allow for anonymous access.

  Note:

  When linking to publicly shared items, it is best practice to use the public URL to ensure those outside your organization can view your items. Short URLs are generated from the public URL.

• You can create an app with a map from the My content tab of the Content page or from Map Viewer using Create app .
• To share a map publicly that contains subscriber content or premium content, you can create a map-based app and configure it to allow access to the content through your organizational subscription. (Your subscription will incur any credit costs.)