This is the second part of my blog on publishing hosted feature layers. For tips on publishing from ArcGIS Online see: Pro or Online? Part 1: Publishing Hosted Feature Layers from ArcGIS Online
ArcGIS Pro
ArcGIS Pro is a powerful tool for publishing hosted feature layers with complex symbology such as pattern fills or symbology that uses two or more fields. For example, when we published the USA Protected Areas – Federal Management Agencies hosted feature layer we wanted to use a patterned fill for marine areas. We wanted to maintain the standard symbology designed by the dataset’s creator, the U.S. Geological Survey, and familiar to many users which required publishing from ArcGIS Pro.
This application below uses the USA Protected Areas – Federal Management Agencies hosted feature layer. The layer is published from ArcGIS Pro and updates are expected to be infrequent. A patterned fill is used for marine areas and a definition query is applied to the dataset prior to publication. Symbology is defined in the ArcGIS Pro project and pop-ups are configured and saved in the layers item online.
Federal Management Agency
Note that when overwriting hosted feature services from ArcGIS Pro symbology, pop-up configuration, and other settings saved after the layer was published will be lost. This can be a consideration for complicated configurations or layers that require frequent updates. Publishing and updating from ArcGIS Online may be a better choice in these situations.
As with ArcGIS Online, when publishing from Pro care should be taken to ensure that the new data’s schema matches the layer being overwritten.
Automation
Publishing and updating hosted feature layers can be automated using Python. For an example of using Python to automate updates see the blog post Don’t Let Your Content Go Stale!.
Either way you choose to publish and manage your hosted feature services they are an excellent way to build useful information products. You can find many great examples of feature layers in the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World.
For more tips on publishing large, complex feature layers see our blog post Flooded by Features.
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