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Clients for map services

Services published to ArcGIS Server are available for consumption by local and web clients. Because of the many capabilities the map service exposes, it can be used in a variety of Esri and third-party client applications. These include Esri clients such as ArcGIS Enterprise, ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS API for JavaScript, ArcGIS Earth, and ArcGIS Desktop, as well as third-party clients such as Google Earth, OGC, and AutoCAD applications.

Esri client applications

The Esri client applications that can use map service capabilities are described below.

ArcGIS Enterprise

In an ArcGIS Enterprise portal, named users and, optionally, anyone on the Internet, can view and work with the GIS content you make available in Map Viewer.

If your ArcGIS Server site is federated with an ArcGIS Enterprise portal, all map services you publish from ArcMap are automatically shared to the portal. ArcGIS Pro users can share web maps, powered by ArcGIS Server map services, directly to the portal.

If you have a stand-alone ArcGIS Server site, you can use map services in an ArcGIS Enterprise portal by adding them as external services. See Connect to secured services for more information.

ArcGIS Online

You can use Map Viewer in ArcGIS Online to build and share web maps and apps that work with the map services hosted on your ArcGIS Server site. You can also use the available basemaps, data, and applications—such as preconfigured templates or Web AppBuilder—to share your content. To learn more, see Create maps and apps

ArcGIS Desktop applications

  • ArcMap
  • ArcGIS Pro

ArcGIS Maps for Office

ArcGIS Maps for Office provides mapping capabilities in Microsoft Office through a Microsoft add-in. You can use this add-in with Microsoft Office components to create maps that reference, display, and interact with map services residing on your GIS Server. You can download ArcGIS Maps for Office from the Esri website.

ArcGIS Maps for SharePoint

ArcGIS Maps for SharePoint offers interactive and configurable mapping components that can give you a geospatial view of your organization's data. ArcGIS Maps for SharePoint includes a Web Map Part component that allows you to reference, display, and interact with map services residing on your GIS server.

For more information, see the introduction to ArcGIS Maps for SharePoint.

ArcGIS Earth

ArcGIS Earth allows you to explore terrains, oceans, and mountains anywhere in the world, visualizing your data in 3D on the globe. ArcGIS Earth works with a variety of 2D and 3D map data formats to display data, create sketches, measure distances and areas, and add annotations to tell your story.

Explorer for ArcGIS

Explorer for ArcGIS allows everyone in your organization find, analyze, and share map services on their devices. You can visualize data, search for places and features on your maps, sketch on the maps to highlight important features, share maps with other Explorer users, and tell stories with interactive map presentations.

ArcGIS API for JavaScript applications

ArcGIS API for JavaScript can help you build Internet applications that use your map services. The ArcGIS API is fully documented with conceptual help, samples, and API reference topics to help you become more comfortable programming. See the ArcGIS API for JavaScript home page for more information.

ArcGIS Runtime SDKs

Developers use ArcGIS Runtime SDK to build and deploy native apps to a variety of popular platforms and devices. See the ArcGIS for Developers site for details.

Third-party client applications

The following third-party clients can use map service capabilities:

  • Google Earth (as KML)
  • Web Coverage Service client applications (as OGC WCS)
  • Web Feature Service client applications (as OGC WFS)
  • Web Map Service client applications (as OGC WMS)
  • Web Map Tile Service client applications (as OGC WMTS)
  • Web Processing Service client applications (as OGC WPS)
  • AutoCAD (as an ArcGIS for AutoCAD plug-in application)