Explore content

You can find public content by visiting any public site.

Note:

To find private content, ensure that you are signed in and have access to view the item.

Depending on a site's purpose, content can be discovered in various ways.

• Links and pages—Click to open links to pages and other items on a site's header or layout.
• Search bar—Search via global navigation, a search card, or by exploring (searching) site contents.
• Discussions—Have private content-based discussions within groups (requires ArcGIS Hub Premium license). Learn how discussions work.
• Gallery (layout card)—Displays individual items using their thumbnail image and description.
• Categories (layout card)—Displays groups of related content to help narrow search results by using organization categories, item tags, or organization groups. Click on a category's icon to view its items.
• Apps and maps (layout cards)—Displays a single app, such as an app or map. Depending on its configuration, clicking the item may open in a new browser tab or its content view.
• Events (layout cards)—Displays an event with details, or upcoming events as a calendar or list. Click on an event to view details.

Explore and download data and documents

Use a site's search bar to find content that's available to explore and download. You can also search for public (open) data at hub.arcgis.com/search.

Note:

You do not need an account to download public data.

1. Open the item's preview page for an item you've found through a site's search results, links, or layout cards.

   Note:

   If someone has shared a URL to an item's preview page with you, open the URL in a new browser window. If the data is filtered by a given attribute, the page will automatically open to this filtered view. If necessary, adjust filters before downloading the data for your own use.

   If you haven't found the item you're looking for, the item may be private. Ensure that you are signed in and that the item is shared with you.

2. When using spatial content in the explore view, use the Select tool to click on and see attributes for a particular map feature. Use the Draw point, Line, or Area tools to draw a feature on the map.
3. To create an enlarged area around a drawn feature and contain data of interest, choose Filter to this point (line, or area). Filters by area will include features that are inside or intersect the polygon. In the Location Filter, enter a Distance (radius) and select Units.
4. You can download filtered versions of spatial or tabular data by clicking the Filter button on the side panel (shows number of features for download). You can also select attributes in table view or on map view to filter specific data.

   Note:

   You can download filtered data for items that are backed by a service and shared publicly.

5. Services with Time Info enabled in ArcGIS Online will automatically display a Time slider which allows the user to animate and filter the service's data by the time attribute.
6. Click the Download button on the side panel to download a file or view download options. Click Toggle Filters for your subset of features.

   Note:

   If Hosted Downloads is enabled for an item backed by a feature service, only features displayed (based on geographic or other filters) will be downloaded. Otherwise, all features within the bounding rectangle of the filtered area will be downloaded.

   Note:

   For public content, ArcGIS Hub caches downloadable files. If a cached file isn't up to date and ready for download, an alert appears explaining the file status. When a user selects Generate a new file, Hub begins to create a new file. This can take some time. Once downloaded, the file is cached for others to download. Depending on the complexity and number of records, requesting a new download file for spatial datasets can take up to a few hours. If a cached file is available, you can download the available file or request a newly cached file. For more information, see File generation.

Create a map

Users can create a basic map or a more advanced map in ArcGIS Map Viewer, for a public feature layer or feature layer they can access.

1. Open the explore view for a feature layer.
2. Click the Information button to open the side panel.
3. Click I want to use this.
4. Click Create a Map and select Start Simple.

   Note:

   To create a map in the ArcGIS Online Map Viewer, click Advanced Mapping.

5. Optionally, add one or more layers by clicking Add Layer.
6. The basic map maker has the following controls for adding notes and annotations to the map:
   • Pin —Mark a location.
   • Freehand —Draw a line.
   • Area —Draw a polygon.
7. Add notes to a point or drawing by clicking on it and clicking the Add Text button.
8. On the side panel, click the Settings button on a layer and click Style to adjust color, line style and stroke, and transparency.

   You can also use this button to remove or hide the layer.

9. On the side panel, click the About Map button to modify the layer’s name and summary.
10. Click Save to save the map to your account.
    If you aren't signed in, you will be prompted to sign in with an ArcGIS Online account or create a community account with the organization hosting the data.

Create a storymap

You can create a story that incorporates different kinds of content with ArcGIS StoryMaps.

1. Open the explore view for an item.
2. Click the Information button to open the side panel.
3. Click I want to use this and select Create a Story.
   If you are not signed in, you will be prompted to sign in with an ArcGIS Online account or create a community account with the organization hosting the data. The story is saved to this account.

Access the API explorer

For service-backed items, ArcGIS Hub provides shortcuts on a content view page to the underlying service REST API serving the data. These services reflect updates in near real-time.

1. Open the explore page for an item.
2. Click the Information button to open the side panel.
3. Click I want to use this and select View API Resources.
4. Click Open in API Explorer.
5. Adjust your query such as filtering by attribute on the "Where" parameter and selecting Get Response.