Limit/remove public layers in search results

[SarahBarks]

We have some data that is published for the use in a public web app, but has licence restrictions and therefore we do not want people to be able to find and use the layers/data elsewhere. We have used the linked workflow below which helps in some cases, but does not work in native apps (even using the Esri SDK). 

How To: Limit Access to Secured Hosted Services or Map Services in ArcGIS Online for Publi

[MattFrow]

We have the same issue, @SarahBarks. It would be great to see ESRI find a solution to this.

[SimonSchütte_ct]

The official implementation pattern would be using supported Types of authentication | Documentation | Esri Developer and secure the services by setting the sharing level to non-public.

I think the How To you shared is intended for narrow use cases, where data needs to be shared publicly (because it is meant for the general public), but should not be used outside the intended application. (Layers for public data collection)

[SarahBarks]

Hi @SimonSchütte_ct and thank you for your reply. We were actually recommended the How To workflow by Esri support, and when we hit issues with the app, they have suggested a proxy, which isn't looking like the right option for us. They seem to suggest that others are experiencing this issue too so I'm hopeful that by suggesting the idea here, it's something that could be looked at. Appreciate your API suggestion though and I will look into that also.

Thank you again for your reply 🙂

[JenniferBorlick]

I can think of another use case for this...

We publish a lot of images publicly for use in our various applications because the only way we can add them to said applications is through a URL. Those images then show up in the search results for our organization. Yes, the end user can filter the results to not see them, but why should they have to?

[steffinjack4]

Makes sense limiting discoverability while keeping public access is tricky. Maybe restricting item visibility in the portal or using group-based sharing could help tighten things up How To: Restrict Members from Sharing Content Publicly in ArcGIS Online [Link replaced by mod].

[JenniferBorlick]

Did you mean to post that link @steffinjack4 ?