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Data downloads and interoperability are cornerstones of ArcGIS Hub's open data principles. To better support user workflows and reduce headaches by content manangers, the ArcGIS Hub team is pleased to announce an upgraded downlaod experience starting with hosted Features Services. In this article, we will explain what is changing, how you can take advantage of these features today, and what download features are coming next.  We would love to hear from you, so please share your feedback in the comments and let us know what download and reuse features you would like to see next for ArcGIS Hub.       _________________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents _________________________________________________________________________________   What's new with the upgraded download experience? On February 27th, 2024, Hub’s improved download experience for hosted feature services,  in beta during 2023, will become the default download experience for all users. Visitors to the content view of an item that uses a hosted feature service will automatically see the upgraded download experience. For details on what's changing and steps you can take to use the upgraded experience, keep reading.  Once released, users will see: Additional download formats including File Geodatabase (FGDB), Feature Collection, Excel, SQLite Geodatabase, GeoPackage.  A progress indicator that tells users when the system is "processing" a request to generate or update a file, and the percentage completed.  Download speed increases for items with a large number of records and/or complex geometry.  Download reliability improvements for fewer errors and generic messages.  Filtering support for public and private content; use the attribute table filters or precise on-map draw tools to download the exact records you need.   How can you tell if your item is already using the upgraded download system? In the top right corner of the download panel, you will see a "Hosted Downloads" badge and additional formats. Figure 1. Hosted download badge is visible in the top right corner of the download panel.   How can I use the upgraded download experience? At this time the upgraded experience is only available on items that 1. reference a feature service, and 2. that feature service is hosted. These items most commonly created either through the ArcGIS Online "Content" tab > "New Item" action or through a workflow when publishing a hosted service from ArcGIS Pro.  We encourage all content managers to try the upgraded download experience (in beta) today. Start by visiting an item's edit route in ArcGIS Hub by selecting the edit pencil. Then, select the download tab and enable both settings for 1. "Extract Capabilities" and 2. "Hosted Downloads."   If neither the download tab or those settings are available then the item is not a hosted feature service. Also, if the "Export data" setting is already enabled on the item within the ArcGIS Online home application, then extract capability is already enabled for the hosted service. Once completed, simply select the 'X' in the top left to view the content; open the download panel to see the upgraded download experience.   Figure 2. Try out the upgraded download experience today by enabling "Extract Capabilities" and "Hosted Downloads" within an item's Content Details in ArcGIS Hub. What else should I know? As mentioned previously, the upgraded download experience is only available for hosted feature services. Due to faster update cycles and increased reliability and performance, we strongly encourage content managers to shift existing non-hosted services over to hosted services when possible. However, we recognize that this is not an easy process and may not be feasible for all customers. We're working closely with the ArcGIS Enterprise team to expand support for downloads so that in a future release non-hosted services will also benefit from the upgraded download experience. What else has changed? Technically hosted downloads use the "create replica" operation on a hosted feature service. As noted above, create replica offers more download formats as well as reliability and speed improvements. However, several features are no longer supported including: option to download a previous version, download file size metadata, and file names that match the item name. We're working with the feature service team to re-introduce these features. _________________________________________________________________________________ What's coming next? We know how important reuse and downloads are to you and your end users, which is why in the first half of 2024 the Hub team is focused on improvements to the download features. Here's what we're considering:  Scheduled download updates will allow content managers to set an update schedule and simply forget about manually checking for updated download files. Scheduled download updates are ideal if you have items that are updated very infrequently and so Hub shouldn't check the service for updates. Conversely, if you have frequently updated data, schedule a daily download update and your users won't have to wait for files to generate. Improved error messaging will give simple explainations to end users and detailed actions to content managers when a download error occurs.  Rearrangeable download formats will let customers showcase the most valuable formats at the top whether they are out-of-the-box supported formats like CSV or Shapefile, or the custom links you've added to your metadata distributions.  Excited for more? Again we would love to hear from you, so please share your feedback in the comments on the experience and let us know what download and reuse feature's you would like to see next for ArcGIS Hub.  ... View more

Updated December 5th, 2023  Effective search and discovery tools help users browse, discover, and explore relevant catalog content. Over the past year, the ArcGIS Hub team has worked hard to develop an upgraded search experience. Changes are designed to offer a simplified user experience (UX), feature enhancements, bug fixes, and removal of low usage features.  This article highlights enhancements and steps you can take today to try out the new experience. You can find additional information in the "What's New on ArcGIS Hub Search" blog. We would love to hear from you, so please leave us feedback on the experience or let us know what you'd like to see next for ArcGIS Hub search. _________________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents _________________________________________________________________________________   What's going to change and how do I prepare? On January 9th, 2024, Hub’s improved search experience, which has been in beta during 2023, will become the default search experience for all users. Any visitors to your ArcGIS Hub site's search page on `{siteURL}/search` will automatically see the upgraded search experience.  We encourage all site managers and collaborators to try the upgraded search view today. If you want to get a head start, you can enable the beta view for all users before the general availability release. At first glance, the search experience will feel familiar but with a few important enhancements. We've also rebuilt the search technology's foundation, making it easier and faster to add enhancements in the future.  Prefer the classic search experience? For a limited time after the general availability release, individual users can select the "Switch to classic view" link to revert to the classic search view. You may find this useful to compare the features between the classic and upgraded search experience, such as how search only return items, not all of an item's layers. Figure 1. Switch between the upgraded and classic search experiences or enable the experience for all users before the general availability release.   What's new on search?   Your thumbnails: front and center Love the look of your gallery but wish that users could search it? With the gallery or "grid" layout on search, your users will see smaller cards, thumbnails, and a summary of your content. In the future, we plan to offer actions directly from search results so that users can download, share, and leverage API tools for content. Figure 2. The "grid" layout switcher lets your users scan and browse in a more graphical way.   Enhanced filters While ensuring parity of popular features and filters, the new experience supports the following: Location filter lets users search and navigate to a place or address, and then filter results that intersect the map. Category filter now allows users to filter content by organization categories based on their hierarchy. Value counts show the popularity of filter values. and more including a sort direction, exporting a CSV of public content, removal of owner username metadata, and simplified auto-suggest.   Keeping layers together Before ArcGIS Open Data transitioned to ArcGIS Hub, the product focused on feature layers, not items. We made the decision to split layers into individual search results. However, as the ArcGIS Online ecosystem grew and users needed a better way to manage and showcase content, ArcGIS Hub began to focus on building support for item types. This makes layers search results difficult to understand for content managers and collaborators who are used to managing items, not layers. In some cases, one item may have dozens of layers. Based on substantial user feedback, the upgraded search experience only returns items. If you'd prefer to keep each layer as its own search result , we recommend publishing new items for each of your layers. Depending on your workflow, this may include 1. selecting each individual layer in ArcGIS Pro and publishing individually to your ArcGIS Server instance (see ArcGIS Server web help) or 2. publish individual layers directly from ArcGIS Pro to ArcGIS Online as a hosted web feature layer (see ArcGIS Pro web help). Looking foward, in Q2/Q3 of 2024, the ArcGIS Hub team is considering how to best match user searches against layer metadata, layer statistics, field names, and more. The team will work on showing matching layer(s) directly below the parent item search result. Figure 3. A comparison of search results and counts between the classic search and upgraded search experience. Users will only see items in search results. _________________________________________________________________________________ What's coming next? We know how much effort you put into curating a catalog, which is why we're using this upgraded search experience as a launch pad for easier, more powerful search configuration. Starting in Q1 2024, ArcGIS Hub will expand search to other features and focus on giving you more control. Here is what we're considering: Map search will bring geospatial data exploration to life. Global search bar will show content relevant to the current view but still let users navigate or expand their search from any page. Configurable collections will let you organize your content based on your needs. For example, define a "Healthcare" collection using a combination of type, tag, category, and other filters. Configurable search will let you hide, show, and rearrange filters, change the default layout, and more. Enriched search will let users search against more metadata and find relevant data faster. Excited for more? We welcome your input, so please leave us feedback or let us know what you'd like to see next for ArcGIS Hub search. Take a survey to give us feedback ... View more

Source is important metadata that helps users understand who created or owns content. On the current search and beta search views, for public content, ArcGIS Hub displays a source value and the username on search result cards. Users can also filter public content by "Source". Documented in the ArcGIS Hub FAQ,  the source value follows a hierarchy that can be confusing to end users. Based on customer feedback, this week ArcGIS Hub is releasing a change to the beta search view to simplify this logic. This change will primarily 1. remove the owner username, and 2. remove the owner username in the source hierarchy. Change                   Today                                                                     Tuesday                                                   Public content `{source} | {owner} ` `{source}` Private content `{owner} ` hidden Source value fallback Resource > Citation > Contact > Organization Name Resource > Contact > Organization Name Organization name in ArcGIS Online Item Owner in ArcGIS Online hidden   Resource > Citation > Contact > Organization Name Resource > Contact > Organization Name Organization name in ArcGIS Online Item Owner in ArcGIS Online hidden   In the future, the ArcGIS Hub team plans to centralize the source logic and reduce the hierarchy even further in order to make sure all search experiences show the same source value. The team is also planning on making source values configurable directly through ArcGIS Hub. Once released, customers will be able to select from a list of options for displaying source, owner, badges, and more across search results and content views. The team is actively seeking feedback on metadata displays and metadata configuration. So, please share your thoughts on metadata configuration features you'd like to see in the product! ... View more