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Get started using an ArcGIS Enterprise portal

ArcGIS Enterprise portals allow you to store and share data, maps, scenes, and apps in your organization and between organizations through a website. On the website, you'll find content published by your organization, a gallery of featured maps and apps, a search engine, map and scene viewers, groups you can join and create, and a personal workspace for storing and organizing your content.

Access the portal

You need the following information from your organization administrator to get started using an Enterprise portal:

  • The URL for the portal website

    The URL is in the form https://webadaptorhost.domain.com/webadaptorname/home/. For example, a portal with Web Adaptor installed on a server named mywebserver.mynetwork.com using a Web Adaptor named arcgis has the URL https://mywebserver.mynetwork.com/arcgis/home/.

    Open the URL in a supported browser.

  • A portal account

    Your organization administrator may have created a portal account for you or configured the portal to use your network login; or you may need to create a portal account the first time you connect to the portal. Ask your administrator which authentication method your portal uses.

    • If an account was created for you, click the Sign In link at the top of the portal website home page, sign in with your account, and update your profile with a new password and security questions.
    • You may not need to sign in if your administrator has configured the portal to use your Microsoft Windows login. This depends on your web browser and its settings; you may be prompted to provide your network login and password to sign in to the portal.
    • If you need to create your account the first time you connect to the portal, click the Sign In link at the top of the portal website home page and click Create an account. Once you provide the required information and click Create my account, you will be signed in to the portal with that account.

    Once you are signed in or authenticated, you can begin using the portal website.

Get familiar with the portal website

Your administrator may have customized the look and functionality of your portal website, but all websites have the following functionality available:

  • A gallery of maps and apps available for you to use
  • A map viewer that allows you to create maps and share them with others
  • Scene Viewer, which allows you to display 3D and 2D layers in a web scene, and share it with others
  • A way to create and manage groups to control access to the maps, apps, scenes, and other geographic information you store in the portal
  • A central location for sharing items with others in your organization
  • A search function to help you locate geographic information, maps, apps, and scenes

Use the functions on the main navigation bar in the portal website to browse the following locations:

Gallery

The gallery is a place to browse featured maps, web mapping apps, and mobile apps. Your organization's administrator selects which items appear in the gallery and can pick items important for your work projects and show useful examples, including content from ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World.

Map

Click Map to open your default viewer: either Map Viewer or Map Viewer Classic. Use the viewer to build interactive web maps and share them with others in your organization. Choose or add a basemap, define an area of interest, and add information layers to the map.

See the information for the viewer you're using:

Tip:

The organization administrator sets the default viewer for the organization, but you can set a different viewer for your profile. When opening a web map from its item page, you have to option to open the map in either viewer no matter what your default is.

If the portal role you're in allows you to create and share content, you can save your map to your personal workspace (My Content) and share the map with others.

Scene

Click Scene to open Scene Viewer. From here, you can build web scenes. Web scenes allow you to display and edit 3D and 2D informational layers.

If the portal role you're in allows you to create and share content, you can save your scene to your personal workspace (My Content) and share the scene with others.

Groups

Groups are a collection of items usually related to a specific area of interest. Create groups to organize and share items. As a group owner, you decide who can find the group, if others can request to join, and who can contribute content.

The Groups page includes the following three tabs:

  • My Groups—This tab displays the groups you belong to and the groups you own.
  • Featured Groups—Groups that the organization administrator wants to highlight or promote in the organization appear on this tab.
  • My Organization's Groups—All groups in the organization that you can access appear on this tab. That means you'll see all groups you own, groups shared to the organization, and groups shared to the public.

If your portal role grants you privileges to create groups, you'll see the option to create groups on the My Groups and My Organization's Groups tabs.

Content

The Content page allows you to see all the content in the portal to which you have access, and it also allows you to open details for individual items. Access all the content available to you in the portal by using one the following tabs:

  • My Content—This tab displays all the items you own in the portal. You can organize these items in folders, add items to the portal, and mark items you own as favorites to make them easier to find.

    If your portal role does not allow you to create content, you will not see this tab.

  • My Favorites—Any item you've added to your list of favorites appears on this tab.
  • My Groups—The items available to groups to which you belong appear on this tab.
  • My Organization—All items in the portal organization that you can access appear on this tab. That means all items you own, all items shared with the public, and all items shared with the organization.
  • Living Atlas—By default, ArcGIS Enterprise portals access ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World content curated by Esri from ArcGIS Online. You can access that content from the Living Atlas tab.

    If your organization administrator has disabled access to this content, you will not see this tab.

You can change how items appear on the different tabs in Content by choosing either a list, table, or grid view. Filter the content on each tab by item type, creation date, last modified date, or sharing level to help find what you need. From each of these tabs, you can access the items' details pages.

Organization

The Organization page of the website is used primarily by the organization administrator to manage the portal website and members. This page may not be available to you if you are not an administrator. If it is available, Organization allows you to view the items and groups owned by each portal member and view each member's profile.

Search

The site has a powerful search function that allows you to quickly find specific maps or apps you need for your work. The search results help you determine the usefulness of each item and find related items. It also allows you to open the item where you want, for example, to open a map in Map Viewer or ArcGIS Pro.

Get started using the portal

Now that you can access the portal and know what pages are available in the website, you need to know what you can do with the portal. Use the following topics to get started using your portal: