Sharing maps with individual users?

[UriGilad]

Hello,

Can I share my maps with individual users / invite individual users to see certain maps (on ArcGIS Online)?

I would like to upload property maps, and give viewing permissions only to the property owners. I want all the maps to be on my group's page, but when a property owner logs in with their account I want to have only their property's map visible and accessible to them.

As far as I can see, when I choose 'Sharing' in the Service Editor window I can only share with groups, and not individuals.

Any way around this?

Thanks,

JM

[MikeMinami · Accepted solution]

There is only group sharing.  I suppose if you instead wrote your own web applications that implemented their own security, you would be able to achieve  your desired result, sort of.  However, you would still need to share the data with the group, thus anyone in the group would technically be able to view it.

Thanks,

Mike

[AllenRisley]

JM,

I would also like to be able to have the capability to share maps with one other person.  I support faculty who use AGOL in their classes.  Students have AGOL accounts and create maps as part of an assignment.  Instructors would like to have the students turn in their maps by sharing the map only with the instructor.  No can do.

One way to get this to work is to create a group that only has 2 members: you and the person you want to share with.  Of course, if you have 40 students, creating 40 2-person groups seems a bit silly.

But maybe the 2-person group strategy will work for your situation.

Good luck!

Allen Risley
Academic Technology Support
California State University San Marcos

[UriGilad]

JM,

I would also like to be able to have the capability to share maps with one other person.  I support faculty who use AGOL in their classes.  Students have AGOL accounts and create maps as part of an assignment.  Instructors would like to have the students turn in their maps by sharing the map only with the instructor.  No can do.

One way to get this to work is to create a group that only has 2 members: you and the person you want to share with.  Of course, if you have 40 students, creating 40 2-person groups seems a bit silly.

But maybe the 2-person group strategy will work for your situation.

Good luck!

Allen Risley
Academic Technology Support
California State University San Marcos

Hi Allen
The best solution that I can see for both our cases is that the individual user (in your case the students) would open a group with their name. Then they invite you to their group. When they publish, they can check your group in their 'sharing' window and then send you the link to their work. This way only you and them can see the work, and their work is one click away for you.
Cheers
JM

[UriGilad]

There is only group sharing.  I suppose if you instead wrote your own web applications that implemented their own security, you would be able to achieve  your desired result, sort of.  However, you would still need to share the data with the group, thus anyone in the group would technically be able to view it.

Thanks,

Mike

Thanks Mike

[AllenRisley]

Hi Allen
The best solution that I can see for both our cases is that the individual user (in your case the students) would open a group with their name. Then they invite you to their group. When they publish, they can check your group in their 'sharing' window and then send you the link to their work. This way only you and them can see the work, and their work is one click away for you.
Cheers
JM

I agree, JM.  But it isn't very efficient (or elegant) to have to set up/manage 40 separate groups for a 40-student class.  It would be much easier if you could simply search for a user and share with them individually.

Thanks,

Allen

[MichaelLohr]

I think JM's intent was to make it the students responsibility to create the Map Group and invite the instructor, minimizing administering the groups by school IT or instructor. Good thought as the student experience is a little deeper for it.

Beyond that, this has been an issue for me also, not with students but with clients. The whole idea is to promote using the online maps, and this is problematic as some map contents may be sensitive and not suitable to public posting.

Trying to get non-GIS people to create an ESRI Global Account is not very fruitful, let alone Map Groups or anything else. This is the domain of us GIS nerds. We end up jumping through hoops and setting up accounts for clients, which they can then transfer to their email.

Map Groups are a workable answer if the number of groups needed is not too many at one time. But it is limited and not conducive to easily sharing sensitive maps.

Good discussion. Thanks to all.

[BrianHaren]

My sense from attending the workshops on AGOL at the UC back in July is that ESRI clearly understands they have a lot of work left to do to 'tighten up' the AGOL security & user role management model. 

I know for a fact that potential customers are holding back on buying into AGOL subscription services because of these issues, and nothing motivates like lost revenue!