Create a Group of Groups in ArcGIS Online

Question

Hello-

I'm in the preliminary phase of planning out group configuration for my organization and am thinking about the idea of creating a 'group of groups'. This idea is referenced on page 38 of this document but I can't find any specific reference or examples on how one would go about creating a configuration like this.

What I'm thinking is something like this, Department of Public Works would be the main group highlighting production level/view only maps/apps. Underneath this group would be a series of nested groups both for working with data and developing maps/apps and sharing production level maps/apps organized by divisions inside public works.

I imagine something like this:

* Department of Public Works (view only)* Department Public Works - Storm Water Division (view only)
* Department Public Works - Storm Water Division (working group)
* Department Public Works - Roads Division (view only)
* Department Public Works - Roads Division (working group)

In this example all divisions would be members of the Department of Public Works group but members of the Department Public Works - Storm Water Division group might not be part of the Department Public Works - Roads Division group and vice versa.

I understand how to configure this conceptually with AGOL, what I'm wondering if there is something in the AGOL interface that lets a user create a group then add another group to the previously created one i.e. creating a 'group of groups'.

Would love to hear other users insights.

Thanks!

ZacharyStanley · Answer

Thanks for the reply @BernSzukalski . If we had  multiple Category Gallery apps shared to a single group, would we be able to limit access to a subset of users within main group to one Category Gallery app? Seems not likely...

BernSzukalski · Answer

I have used the "group of groups" in the past to organize content, and there have been a couple of Fed gov agencies that have implemented similar as well as educational institutions. Unfortunately, a group is not an item natively, so you cannot add it directly to another group. The workflow would be to add the group as an item - web application would do. Once you have a "group item" you can add it to another group. That's a bit of a work-around, but definitely works.

I've got an old blog somewhere that I will try to resurrect and will post here if I can find it.

Fundamentally you can create a "group of groups" using Category Gallery and categorized group items. Just share all the content you want to use into a larger group and apply categories - they can be filtered by category for discovery. Blog here: https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-online/mapping/category-gallery/

Other ways to create a destination that has many "groups of content" would be using Hub - everybody has Hub Basic, you do not need Premium. And this could be implemented using a site where rows of could be displayed and opened from the main Hub page. You would have to either add your groups as items as described above, or use categories to do this.