Feature services allow you to serve feature data and nonspatial tables over the internet or your intranet. This makes your data available for use in web clients, desktop apps, and field apps.
As the publisher of a feature service, you determine the functionality that is available to the people who use the feature service, define the styling used when displaying the features, and define templates for editing data. When people access a feature service, they access the data and the data associated with it through relationship classes. They can use the feature service in the maps and apps they create, they can run analysis on the layers in the service, and, if you allow it, they can edit the data in the feature service.
Feature services run on ArcGIS GIS Server sites.
License:
For information about the functionality that is available in feature services based on the ArcGIS Enterprise license or server role, see the functionality matrix.
Feature service creation
To publish a feature service, you must prepare the data and publish it. The specific steps you take to do so depend on the functionality you require for the feature service.
| Required functionality | Summary of steps to create | What you get |
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| If you are using one of the databases listed in User-managed data stores in ArcGIS Enterprise portals, do the following to create a database data store item in a portal and bulk publish ArcGIS Server map and feature services (map services with feature access enabled):
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Tip:To access the data in an enterprise geodatabase or database as read-only features, you can alternatively publish a map service. |
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In addition to the previous requirements, I also want people to edit data through the feature service, and I want to see the changes in the data source when accessed through other clients. | Complete the previous three steps, and enable editing capabilities on the feature service when you publish. |
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People need to edit the feature service when disconnected from the network, but I want the edits they make while offline to be synchronized with my system of record. |
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To complete the workflow, create a web map containing the feature layer and configure styling and other settings. Configure the web map so it has the same sharing settings as the feature layer, and configure the web map to be taken offline. If people will use the web map offline in apps such as ArcGIS Field Maps, you also need to configure the basemap in the web map so it can be taken offline. |
I have file data sources—such as CSV, Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, and shapefiles—from which I want to create feature services. |
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I have data in a geodatabase or database, but I want to create a copy of the data to share with the public for community input. |
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To complete the workflow, create a web map containing the hosted feature layer and configure styling and other settings. Share the web map with everyone (public). Add the web map to a web app and configure the app with the tools the public will need to provide input. Share the web app with everyone (public). |
I have data in a geodatabase or database, but I want to create a copy of the data to share with my organization or a subset of the members of my organization. |
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I use ArcGIS GeoEvent Server to stream live data, but I want to archive some of that data locally. |
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My data is stored in an enterprise geodatabase and it is registered for branch versioning. |
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Feature services created as a result of running a tool or app
You also create hosted feature layers as a result of running certain tools or apps, such as the following:
- Certain standard feature analysis tools in an Enterprise or ArcGIS Online portal create hosted feature layers as output.
- Some of the GeoAnalytics Tools you run in an Enterprise portal or ArcGIS Pro create hosted feature layers or hosted spatiotemporal feature layers as output.
- The analyses you run in ArcGIS Insights may result in new hosted feature layers.
- When you create a survey in ArcGIS Survey123, an editable hosted feature layer is created to record survey input.
- When you create a ArcGIS Workforce project, a hosted feature layer is created for data collection.
- Location sharing uses a hosted spatiotemporal feature layer. The organization administrator can create hosted feature layer views from this feature layer.
- ArcGIS Mission Manager creates a hosted feature layer each time you create a mission.
- When you publish a Reservations layer that conforms to the ArcGIS Indoors information model to an ArcGIS Enterprise organization that is licensed for ArcGIS Indoors Spaces, a hosted Indoors Spaces feature layer is created.