Map data access from ArcGIS Online?

[PeterLen]

Hello - As an ArcDesktop user, I have been playing around with Arc Pro.  I created an ArcPro project and have a map that contains data from two local file-geodatabases (one from the default project file-geodatabase and one from some other directory).  I was then able to share my map on my ArcGIS online site.  When I opened the browser and found the map, I can see that each layer of the map has its own service endpoint where I can query the data as well the layer data can be turned on or off in the map view.

My question is this....How is ArcGIS Online accessing the data from the two local (my laptop) file-geodatabases?  In ArcDesktop for example, if I wanted to publish a map (MXD) as a service, I first had to register the database in the ArcServer where the service would be published and then I could publish the map.  The ArcServer would save off all of the necessary map info but it did not save off the data.  It just knew how to make a connection to the data.  So how does ArcGIS Online get the data my my laptop's two file-geodatabases?  I can't believe that all of the data would be somehow be exported from my laptop to some ArcGIS Online data repository. 

Can someone elaborate on how the data is accessed?

Thanks - Peter

[George_Thompson]

If you published straight from ArcGIS Pro to ArcGIS Online it would have copied all the local data needed for the web map as hosted layers. It is not referencing your local data anymore.

You can also see the settings that you used during the sharing process; Share a web map—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation 

[PeterLen]

George - Thanks for the reply.  I was reading through the docs with respect to sharing web maps and web layers but couldn't find the specific configuration property concerning the data when sharing.  I did find another Esri document that mentioned the following:

Depending on your active portal, different configurations are available. If you share to an ArcGIS Enterprise portal, there are configurations that reference registered data and configurations that copy data to the server. If you share to ArcGIS Online, there are only configurations that copy data to the server.

So it looks like because I was sharing to ArcGIS Online, the default behavior (and non-configurable) is that it will copy the data.  That would explain it.  I couldn't imagine making a map with a huge amount of data (millions of points, for example) and then trying to share it.  Where is Esri putting all of the data (rhetorical).

Thanks again - Peter

[George_Thompson]

There are many people who use ArcGIS Online as their system of record and for sharing data.

As for the location of the data, it is distributed within the ArcGIS Online ecosystem (in the cloud). I like to think of it as using Data Store for each organization for the hosted content. The best part it you have no overhead for management, backups, security, etc. related to data stored within ArcGIS Online.

If you have any technical issues, please reach out to Technical Support staff for assistance.