topic Re: Is there any way to prevent others from using a layer available to 'everyone' in ArcGIS Online Questions

Is there any way to prevent others from using a layer available to 'everyone'

MappyIan — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 10:04:29 GMT

I think I know the answer to this question already, but if I make a layer available to 'everyone', is there any way to prevent other users from finding it and using it?

I want the layer to be available to everyone in the maps/apps that I publish, but I don't want others using it as they may use it for something it wasn't intended for. I know I can add information to the metadata but that's very easy to miss/deliberately ignore. It's a read-only View of the data that I'm making available to 'everyone' and I've disabled the 'export data' option, but I really don't want the data listed in ArcGIS Online for others to find and use.

Is there any way to do this?

Re: Is there any way to prevent others from using a layer available to 'everyone'

jcarlson — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 12:38:40 GMT

Not easily.

Some orgs use a proxy or a map service so that what the user sees is being rendered by an intermediary software, and clicks on the map canvas are not actually accessing features directly.

But in general, if you make a layer public, you really can't control whether or how someone uses it beyond putting the right notices on the layer info and metadata, and hoping that other uses behave ethically.

Also: the "export data" option won't actually prevent anyone from downloading your data. If you can see it, you can save it. When I open a layer in a map viewer, my browser literally downloads those features into its memory, and I could copy that to a local file if I wanted to.

Re: Is there any way to prevent others from using a layer available to 'everyone'

MappyIan — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 13:13:53 GMT

Thanks @jcarlson, that's what I thought, but wanted to check.