Branch Versioning Services and Services for Apps - is there a difference?

Question

We just launched our Enterprise and have our data up as services, so we can utilize branch versioning.

Now, we would like to start making maps and apps (my idea is to form a distributed collaboration between AGO and Enterprise - so the data is safe behind a firewall, and I can make public facing apps on AGO with views).

I'm not understanding now though - since it is referenced data, I can't make views.  There is data that I would want hidden from the public - but needs to be in the service for editing purposes.  Do I have to create another service that is specifically for the public to be able to view?  Also, if there is no data that needs to be hidden - is it just the feature layer that stays in a group so it is editable, and the map image layer can be shared publicly?  What are the best practices for keeping our data secure but still viewable to the public?

Thank you!

Sarah_of_Lubbock · Answer

What we ended up doing - is using a Distributed Collaboration and pulling the data over into AGOL using Copies instead of References.  Then I just force sync when I make edits.  From that new hosted layer - I'm keeping that private and making views off of it - and the view is what is public and the apps are built from.

I'm not sure if that is the world's clunkiest way of making things work - but it's working for us right now!

Sarah_of_Lubbock · Answer

I've received some advice the ESRI team - and I thought I would share it:

“The Map Image Layer is the best way to share and possibly even a caching the map at the zoomed out extents if there are a lot of features displayed. A separate layer would be best to avoid exposing specific fields. You could do this in the webmap, but folks could figure out how to use the layers and expose the fields."

I hope this helps others down the road!