Set up location sharing

Available with the ArcGIS Indoors Maps extension.

The Location Sharing service is an ArcGIS organization-wide capability that records where members are and where they have been. The sections below describe how to set up location sharing in your ArcGIS organization.

Enable location sharing

As an administrator of your ArcGIS organization on ArcGIS Online, you can enable location sharing for your members by completing the following steps:

  1. Sign in as an administrator.
  2. At the top of the site, click the Organization tab and click Settings.
  3. Click Organization extensions.
  4. Click Enable Location Sharing.
Note:

ArcGIS Online organizations licensed with the Indoors extension do not require additional configuration for location sharing.

Learn more about configuring location sharing

Manage location sharing

Once location sharing is enabled in your ArcGIS Online organization, it is set for 30 days and can't be changed.

The location sharing service can also be paused or disabled after it's enabled.

Learn more about managing location sharing in your ArcGIS organization in ArcGIS Online

Create a viewer custom role

Only administrators can review data in the location sharing service by default. To allow members to find the current location of others who are sharing their device location, assign them a custom role with the privilege to view location data.

To create a custom role, complete the following steps:

  1. Sign in as an administrator.
  2. At the top of the site, click the Organization tab and click Settings.
  3. Click Member Roles on the side of the page.
  4. Click Create Role.
  5. Provide a name and description for the role.
  6. Set the appropriate privilege compatibility.
  7. Turn on the View location tracks privilege in the Content group in the General Privileges section.
  8. Click Save role.

Create views and add members

You can create views using the Track Viewer app. Administrators can add members to allow them to post track locations and control who can view them.

  1. Sign in as an administrator.
  2. At the top of the site, click the Organization tab and click Settings.
  3. Click Organization extensions.
  4. Click Open Track Viewer to open the Track Viewer for ArcGIS web app.
  5. In the app, click Create view and provide a name.
  6. Click Create view.
  7. To allow members to share locations, add them to the Mobile Users tab.
  8. To allow members to view shared locations, add them to the Track Viewers tab.
    Note:

    Only members who were assigned the custom role created in the previous section can be added to this group.

View device location and tracks

You can view location information with the following apps:

  • Indoor Viewer
  • Track Viewer
  • Map Viewer
  • ArcGIS Indoors for iOS
  • ArcGIS Indoors for Android

Viewer

With Viewer, you can take advantage of the last known location information provided by the Location Sharing service, if enabled on both the ArcGIS organization and individual devices, in both browser and kiosk modes of Viewer. Location information in Viewer is limited to those signing into the app using an ArcGIS organization named user account that has been granted permissions to view device location tracks.

If a user who is sharing their device location is found in Viewer through search, explore, or related items, the info panel includes an option to identify that user’s last known location.

To view a user’s last known location, complete the following steps:

  1. Find the user using the Search, Explore, or Related Items functionality.

    In the info panel that opens for that user, the last known location is shown as an option.

  2. Click the See location option at the top of the panel to view the user’s location.

    The See location option includes the date and time of the last known location.

    Options appear in the info panel to route or recenter the map to the last known location.

Track Viewer

The historic tracks and last known locations are available in the Track Viewer app in your ArcGIS organization. To access the Track Viewer app from your ArcGIS organization, click Organization, click the Settings tab, and click Organization extensions.

ArcGIS Indoors for iOS and ArcGIS Indoors for Android

The current location (if a member is actively sharing their location) or last known location (if a member has stopped sharing their location or is offline or outside the tracking zone) can be viewed in the Indoors mobile app by other members if they have the required permissions and are part of the appropriate views and groups.

Learn more about app settings and usage for Indoors for iOS and Indoors for Android.