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

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02-10-2015 11:09 AM
BenChaney
New Contributor III

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.

1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
KellyGerrow
Esri Frequent Contributor

Hi Ben,

At this point in time, it is not possible to share a web map with only certain people without requiring the users to login with an ArcGIS Online Account. As the finest grained sharing permissions are to a group level, ArcGIS Online needs to be able to verify the group members in order to determine if they have access to the content, hence requiring a login.

As this isn't currently a feature of ArcGIS Online, please post this idea on the ideas site as many other users may also be interested in this functionality.

Thanks,

Kelly

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40 Replies
KellyGerrow
Esri Frequent Contributor

Hi Ben,

At this point in time, it is not possible to share a web map with only certain people without requiring the users to login with an ArcGIS Online Account. As the finest grained sharing permissions are to a group level, ArcGIS Online needs to be able to verify the group members in order to determine if they have access to the content, hence requiring a login.

As this isn't currently a feature of ArcGIS Online, please post this idea on the ideas site as many other users may also be interested in this functionality.

Thanks,

Kelly

BenChaney
New Contributor III

Hi Kelly,

Thanks for the clarification and confirmation, it's good to have an authoritative answer. I shall post this in the Ideas site as you suggested.

Thanks,
Ben

MichaelLohr
Occasional Contributor II

Ben, welcome to the club! We have been wrestling this issue ever since ESRI converted the initially wide open free service to a subscription based product.

So, you have clients with sensitive mapping info they don't necessarily want open to public access. Pretty normal. We do too. And to get them to go online themselves, set up an ESRI account, buy the minimum 5 seat package for $2500, get all that set up and running, ... well, pretty hard to make all that happen. But that is the business plan for the product. It eliminate most small client applications.

The good news is that there are some other ways to get them set up. If the client has some existing ESRI licenses, the get one named user for ArcGIS Online for each ArcMap seat they own. Most private clients won't have GIS software (that's why they hired you, right?), but some do, and many agency clients do as well. So those people become your target clients, and there is not much you can do for the small client, unless they write the $2500 check. If your map is important enough to them, you could get them to buy a single seat of the basic ArcMap and get the named user account that way, but the licensing doesn't allow for multiple users to use that single seat. And a single seat in even a small company doesn't allow everyone there to benefit from the online mapping. Even for in-house use, you can quickly reach the license limit for your AGOL licenses.

Also, be aware that when publishing data out for others to consume, you can expose your published services for others to consume, if not done properly. Be sure you get some expert help to be sure your client's data is not out there for someone else to snag.

Hope that is helpful.

BenChaney
New Contributor III

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the information and insight into some options!  It's good to hear that we're not the only ones finding these stumbling blocks, and to be honest it does make sense when seen from ESRI's business plan perspective.  It seems like AGOL still doesn't quite fit an obvious use case in our company, but I'm sure we'll keep exploring our options. As you've said, it's pretty hard to get clients to buy a new named user... so I'll be looking into other avenues for sharing web maps with clients. I'll keep in mind your advice on publishing services as well, thanks! 

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Randall_ERaymond
Occasional Contributor III

Michael Lohr and Ben Chaney

If you or your business has their own ArcGIS Online for Organization account then you have many ways that you can set up secure Private Groups that will allow you to share your client's data with only those individuals they allow. You also have several options to control how these data can be uses by the viewers which adds an additional level of security. Additionally, using your AGOO you can increase your business activities by providing this additional secure, online, 24/7 available map data to your clients anywhere they are in the world.

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ChadSutton
New Contributor

Randall,

Care to elaborate, or were you intentionally vague?

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Randall_ERaymond
Occasional Contributor III

Chad, there are 3 different ESRI Virtual Campus courses available that will help you learn all the ways you can create, share, and manage the content of an ArcGIS Online for Organizations account. In an AGOO you, your company and your clients have access to many additional analytic tools and data layers. Additionally, you can manage, configure, and deliver your services and your clients services in the same AGOO. ​You can find the courses at http://training.esri.com search for ArcGIS Online e-learning courses. Let me know if you need anymore information.

JohnPapageorgiou
New Contributor III

I am facing the same difficulties Ben mentioned in his original post.  Have there been any developments in AGOL organizational accounts in the past year that make secure sharing of webmap applications possible with users that do no not have AGOL products?  I've been reading about Authentication options and OAuth 2.0 but am having a difficult time understanding everything.  It seems that any method available puts the organization's data at risk.  Has anybody found a solution to this yet?  I need to create a web map application for a potential client to view our previous work experience locations, and these locations cannot be posted publicly.  Also I don't want to hand out account user logins to members outside of our organization.  Let me know if I need to provide further clarification. 

I've been perusing the following links and links within them:

ArcGIS Security and Authentication | ArcGIS for Developers

What is OAuth 2.0? | ArcGIS for Developers

Am I on the right track or way off?  Any help is welcome.  Thank you.

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KathyKaufman
New Contributor III

Randall E Raymond I have a similar question. I'm exploring the ArcGIS product line and since I work as a volunteer for charitable organizations, I'm wondering if the Nonprofit-Volunteer license will allow me to offer secure map sharing to specific charities. If not, I'd appreciate insight into which product I would need.

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