Government

Including Online Demographic Maps in Your Public Maps and Apps

In earlier posts, we provided information on how to enable public access to ArcGIS Online premium content such as routing and traffic maps and other live feeds. This workflow for sharing works well with most ArcGIS Online premium content (such as Landsat 8 and NAIP imagery, various landscape analysis layers, and historical maps), but it is not a solution for our demographic maps, which have all of the map rendering properties built into the map layers and not the underlying services. However, there is now a workflow available that will let you include demographic map layers in your public maps and apps!

Perhaps you would like to include a demographic map layer as part of a map that you publish on your public facing website, without requiring the end users of the map to have their own ArcGIS account. You can create a map that references the demographic map layer using your ArcGIS account. Keep in mind that demographic maps do consume credits so your account will consume credits for the maps that are requested. However, the credit cost of using these maps is small so you can support thousands of map requests for only a few dollars in credit fees. Below is an example of a demographic map that is set up for public access on a website, this blog.

Median Household Income in the Washington, DC Area
[iframe width=”800″ height=”500″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” marginheight=”0″ marginwidth=”0″ src=”http://esri.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Embed/index.html?webmap=2825c76f96164ccfb6f1b204dbe7ef27&extent=-77.2068,38.783,-76.8271,38.9975&scale=true&legend=true&theme=light”][/iframe]

Let’s review how this map was created and shared. There are four main steps to create and share demographic maps with the public.

  1. Create a map layer with your stored credentials and share with everyone
  2. Create a web map using a demographic map layer that you can update
  3. Update the URL for the demographic map layer to use URL for your layer and share map with everyone
  4. Use the web map in your website or application

Sounds simple, right? Well, there is a bit more involved so let’s go through the details for each step.

1. Create a map layer with your stored credentials and share with everyone

You will first need to create a new map layer with your stored credentials and share with everyone. Here are the specific steps:

Map Service URL in the Item Description for 2015 Median Household Income Layer
Map Service URL in the Item Description for 2015 Median Household Income Layer
Create Map Image Layer with Stored Credentials
Create Map Image Layer with Stored Credentials
Limit Usage from Authorized Websites to Control Credit Costs
Limit Usage from Authorized Websites to Control Credit Costs

2. Create a web map using a demographic map layer that you can update

The next step is to create a web map using the demographic map layer you want to feature and then make a copy that you can update later.

3. Update the URL for the demographic map layer to use URL for your layer and share map with everyone

You now have the web map that you want to share with the public but you need to update the Map Service URL for the demographic map layer to use the URL for the Map Image Layer with your stored credentials that you created in Step 1. To do this, there are a couple different tools you can use, such as the ArcGIS Online Assistant app, which I will use here.

ArcGIS Online Assistant
Use ArcGIS Online Assistant to Update the URL for Demographic Map Layer in Your Web Map
Update URL for the Demographic Layer
Update URL for the Demographic Layer with the URL of Your Map Image Layer with Stored Credentials.

4. Use the web map in your website or application

The last step is to use the web map you just created in an application or simply embed it in a website.  Applications like the Public Information or Basic Viewer configurable app can be shared publicly with the web map you just created since the credentials are embedded in the web map.

Select the Configuration Options and then Copy and Paste HTML into Your Website
Select the Configuration Options and then Copy and Paste HTML into Your Website

I hope this information helps you take fuller advantage of the premium demographic map layers that are available to you with your ArcGIS Online subscription. You can also use this workflow to publicly share several other premium content layers (such as World Traffic or Current Wind and Weather Conditions) where you want to preserve the map rendering and pop-ups configured in the map layers published by Esri.  You can discover these layers in the Esri Map Layers group; look for the Premium Content icon.

About the author

Deane Kensok has been with Esri since 1990 and is currently the ArcGIS Content CTO and a member of the Living Atlas team. For the past twenty years, Deane has worked on a variety of Internet mapping and data publishing products and projects, which have led to his current work with ArcGIS Online and the Living Atlas.

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