How can I securely share an ArcGIS.com online map or web app with clients?

[BenChaney]

Hello,

Our organization is just getting started with ArcGIS.com for sharing interactive online maps and web apps.  We'd love to use the service to share information with our clients, be we can't have the map shared with "everyone" and searchable for the whole arcgis.com community.  We also don't want to require clients to log in using one of our arcgis.com organizational accounts, and the clients don't have their own arcgis.com organizational accounts either

I can't seem to figure out how to securely share the web maps with our clients.  Is there any way we can create a map using arcgis.com that's accessible ONLY from a link we distribute? We're currently using google maps and would love to move away from that, but without this basic feature it's impossible. I'm aware that one way to approach this would be to run our own arcgis server / portal, but currently that's not an option for us.

Any advice or assistance would be greatly appreciated.

[SamBrown2]

I'll let you know how I get on - still talking with our local distributor.

Other products are an option but Esri wrap it all up nicely if I can just make it work with licencing. These are users who wouldn't buy any type of named user and if I can put them against my organisation as a freelance consultant that's one extra named user Esri wouldn't normally have - plus one org would prob look at eventually registering as an org in their own right if I can show them the use cases through initial consulting.

Failing that I'll look at other products which would then prob also push my desktop use to QGIS as it's really the AGOL part of Esri that is a big benefit to me at the moment.

It's a shame as this is the really simple but powerful quick ad-hoc type work that AGOL has enabled - licencing is getting better with single seats and different user types but this one last tweak would make things really easy to roll out to so many more uninitiated spatial users.

Cheers,

Sam

[SamBrown2]

Hi Kelly Gerrow - see there's a few here with similar issues. Am talking with our local dist. but last was no they would need to create their own AGOL account. Not really what a farmer is going to do - that's whythey have me working for them.

 Understand the need to buy a viewer licence or similar just can't ask a farmer to buy a Creator licence and setup and AGOL organisation just to view results of my work.

Any suggestions of a different approach that fits with normal Esri licencing? Even if they are approaches I can suggest to our distributors.

Cheers,

S.

[ThomasFair1]

Hello Sam,

Thank you for your comment. If you want to sell a solution to customers which includes ArcGIS products or capabilities, then your organization needs to become a partner. Esri offers partners multiple ways to go to market with solutions.

https://www.esri.com/en-us/about/esri-partner-network/partner-esri/go-to-market

If you want to discuss a possible partnership with Esri please email partnerresourcecenter@esri.com and we will setup a meeting.

https://www.esri.com/en-us/about/esri-partner-network/partner-esri/become-partner

[SamBrown2]

Not really what we are looking at but thanks Thomas. Don't think the partner network really fits the small business model.

Anyone else in this thread looked at that path?

[MatthewKing]

I agree, this would be a very helpful feature.  I have a map that I would like to share with the first responders in our County (there are thousands of them) but I can't see having all of them signup for an AGOL account and I don't want the info to be readily available to the public.  This request has been put on the ESRI Ideas page...please vote it up.  

For those familiar with Google Docs they have this feature....so it is possible, but it probably doesn't fit in with the ESRI business model.

[SamBrown2]

That request is a good start but doesn't secure the data - just makes it not searchable. I'd prefer to be able to add users to my organisation that are not strictly members - knowing I'd have to cover another named user licence of the approapriate level.

This on selling of named users is not allowed from what I've found.

[JeffClough]

Hi Sam,

Maybe I'm not fully understanding the issue here, but as far as I have been told, there is nothing wrong with purchasing Viewer named users and sharing them with those doing work for/with you.  Of course, you will be responsible for ensuring that everyone using your licenses adheres to Esri's T&Cs.  Esri may have an issue with the way you recoup the cost of doing so, but you just need to be sure that you aren't 'on selling' the licenses (i.e. no direct charge for them).

[SamBrown2]

Thanks Jeff - slightly different as in this case I doing the work for other people (not other people doing work for my org) and I want to buy a licence for them. I would have to be making some kind of charge to cover this cost so I think would techniclly be on-selling the licence (even though it's only to work with me). At least that's what I understand.

I have been told yes I can to do what you suggest - get them to buy a creator licence and give to me to use although this means setting up and maintaining another organisation and working between that and my own 'organisation'.

That could work for one of the people I am doing work for but then I do other work with many separate farmowners - they are not each going to run an AGOL org. and a creator licence just to view what I make them is prob also not really feasible.

Cheers,

S.

[MalcolmMeyer2]

This idea of needing a named user to access web services is the #1 problem we are faced with in using Esri and  AGOL. I have 50+ users that want to use a secure map service (including one-off users where making them a named user makes no sense, and users that constantly change). This would mean mean purchasing 50 named users, and then updating those users on a monthly if not weekly basis. To be fair, I have found that other web service companies also charge $$ for securing map data or web pages in general. I supposed money needs to be made somewhere, but as a developer when I know it only takes a few lines of code to secure a webpage it makes it very frustrating. To that end we are looking at publishing our own map services to enable secure sharing for only the cost of a webserver, as it is unlikely I can increase my budget by over 500%.

[SamBrown2]

Any changes on this use case in 2020 Thomas Fair‌ Kelly Gerrow‌?

Ie can I share data and analysis results securely and easily via AGOL using my AGOO with individuals and small organisations I am doing contracted work for without them needing to jump through the hoops of setting up their own AGOO.

Happy to pay a fair fee for the privilege (an idea would be allowing me to purchase viewer seats in my organisation for presentation of results to my clients)