As a publisher or portal administrator, you need to manage the hosted layers published to your portal.
Some management is specific to the type of hosted layer. See Manage hosted feature layers, Manage hosted tile layers, Manage hosted scene layers, and Set hosted feature layer view definition for information on settings and management tasks specific to those layer types.
The following list and sections describe settings that hosted layer owners and administrators control for all hosted layer types:
- Who can access the hosted layers—When you first publish hosted layers, they are visible only to you and administrators unless you share them.
- The details stored with your hosted layers, such as the name, summary, or thumbnail.
- Whether the hosted layer can be deleted.
- Delete layers that are no longer needed.
- Set the layer extent.
- Enable pop-ups.
Manage delete operations
If you no longer need a hosted layer, you may want to delete it. Before you do, you should understand the dependencies between layers and data.
If you published the hosted layer directly to your portal, deleting the hosted layer deletes the underlying data the layer represents. If you created the layer from an existing hosted feature layer instead, the existing hosted feature layer is the primary layer and is considered the data source. Deleting the dependent layers you created from the hosted feature layer does not delete the data.
The presence of dependent layers prevents you from deleting the hosted feature layer from which the dependent layer was created. When you attempt to delete a file or hosted feature layer that has dependent layers using the Delete button on the item's detail page, a message appears that lists the dependent layers. This message provides links to view and delete each dependent layer. Once you delete all dependent layers, you can delete the hosted feature layer or file.
If you delete the file from which a hosted layer was published, you'll receive a message warning you there are dependent layers. You will not be prevented from deleting the file, but if you do delete it, certain functionality may no longer be available. For example, if you delete the service definition file created when you published a hosted feature layer from an ArcGIS Desktop client, you won't be able to overwrite the hosted feature layer from ArcMap. Similarly, if you delete the tile package from which a hosted tile package was published, maps that contain the hosted tile layer cannot be taken offline.
The following apply to dependent hosted layers:
- If you published a hosted tile layer or hosted WFS layer from a hosted feature layer, you must delete the tile or WFS layer before you can delete the hosted feature layer.
- If you created a hosted feature layer view from a hosted feature layer, you must delete the feature layer view before you can delete the hosted feature layer.
- If you published a hosted tile layer from a hosted feature layer view, you must delete the hosted tile layer before you can delete the hosted feature layer view.
Tip:
If all the dependent layers are stored in the same folder in My Content, you can delete all the dependent layers at once by checking the box next to each dependent layer and clicking Delete. Delete the dependent layers first. If you also check the box next to the primary hosted feature layer, the delete operation may fail because you cannot control the order in which items are deleted when using this method.
Manage ownership of dependent layers and source files
If you are an administrator of the organization and have privileges to reassign ownership, you are responsible for changing ownership of items in the portal.
A hosted layer and the file from which it was published—such as a shapefile, tile package, or scene layer package file—must have the same owner. To change ownership of the file, change ownership of the hosted layer that was published from it. The file item will be automatically reassigned.
Similarly, dependent layers and the hosted feature layer from which they were created must have the same owner. To change ownership of these layers, change ownership of the primary hosted feature layer. All dependent layers and the item used to create the primary hosted feature layer—such as a service definition file or CSV file—will automatically change ownership too.
For instructions on how to change ownership, see Manage content.
Metadata and hosted layers
As with other items, you can create item-level, standards-based metadata on hosted layers if your portal administrator has enabled metadata. Beginning with ArcGIS Enterprise 10.6.1, item-level metadata is included if the map or service definition file you publish from ArcMap has metadata. You can also add or edit metadata on the hosted layer item after you publish.
When you publish a hosted feature layer from shapefiles with metadata, a file geodatabase containing feature classes that have metadata, or a map in ArcGIS Pro or ArcMap that contains feature classes that have metadata, the metadata for each layer is also published and can be viewed, per layer, in the hosted feature layer item's details page.
The following is true for metadata in hosted feature layers:
- Layer-level metadata is currently read-only.
- A metadata link appears for each layer that has metadata; anyone who can access the hosted feature layer can view the layer metadata.
- Layer metadata appears in the metadata style configured for the portal by the portal administrator.
- When you create a hosted feature layer view or publish a WFS layer from a hosted feature layer, the item-level metadata is copied from the primary hosted feature layer to the dependent layer.
- When you create a hosted feature layer view from a hosted feature layer that contains layer-level metadata, the view inherits the layer metadata.
- If you export a layer that has metadata to a file geodatabase or shapefile, the metadata is also exported. If you export the entire feature layer, layer metadata is exported for all layers that contain metadata.
- To update layer-level metadata at this release, you must overwrite the hosted feature layer.