ArcGIS Online is a website for working with maps and other types of geographic information. ArcGIS Online includes maps, data, applications, and tools (including geoprocessing services) from Esri, its partners, and the GIS community at large. Anyone can access, contribute, and share maps, tools, tasks, and applications via ArcGIS Online. Refer to the ArcGIS Online help to get started with sharing and using content through ArcGIS Online.
Geoprocessing services in ArcGIS Online
You can share your geoprocessing tasks when publishing or add the service and its tasks to your ArcGIS Online content by providing the REST endpoint of the service. Also, you can search ArcGIS Online for geoprocessing services shared by the community. In ArcGIS Online, all content is termed an item, and all items have a type (such as web map or features) and detailed information about the item. A eoprocessing service item in ArcGIS Online provides a brief description and the REST URL for the service. Using the REST URL, you can use the geoprocessing service in ArcGIS Desktop and web applications.
Geoprocessing services in ArcGIS Desktop
In ArcGIS Desktop, you can add geoprocessing services and execute tasks by connecting to an ArcGIS GIS Server site. You must specify a SOAP endpoint (URL) to create an ArcGIS Server connection in ArcGIS Desktop. You can derive SOAP URL from the REST URL provided in the description of the service in ArcGIS Online. For example, if the REST URL is as follows:
http://sampleserver.esri.com/arcgis/rest/services/<mygpservice>/gpserver
The corresponding SOAP URL for creating server connections is as follows:
http://sampleserver.esri.com/arcgis/services
Use the SOAP URL to create a user connection to the server. Once you have created the connection, browse through the server catalog to find geoprocessing services and tasks.
Geoprocessing services in web applications
Web applications are applications that run on a web browser. You can add GIS functionality in web applications using ArcGIS Web APIs. Using the REST URL specified in ArcGIS Online, you can incorporate geoprocessing functionality in your web applications. Visit developers.arcgis.com for more information.