Working with services

You don't need any specialized GIS software to work with a service; you can consume the service within a web browser or custom application. However, ArcGIS Desktop applications and the ArcGIS Enterprise portal serve as common client applications for services.

When you work with a service hosted by ArcGIS Server, you have, in most cases, the same level of access to the resource that you would have if the resource were located on your machine. A map service, for example, allows client applications to access the contents of a map on the server in much the same way that they would if the map were stored locally.

Publishing a GIS resource as a service is the key to making that resource available to other people. As you deploy ArcGIS Server, follow the common pattern of creating resources in ArcGIS Desktop and publishing the resources as services so that client applications can use them.

Enabling capabilities

When you publish a GIS resource to ArcGIS GIS Server, you can enable capabilities that define the various ways clients can use the service. For example, you might enable the feature access capability on a map service to allow someone to edit features over the web. By enabling capabilities, you can provide the GIS functionality that the users of your applications need.

As an ArcGIS Server administrator, your view of the server focuses on GIS resources and the services you create from them. However, a client's view of the server focuses more on the capabilities that you enabled when you published the resource, since that is what can be consumed. As an administrator, it's possible for you to publish one GIS resource and enable many capabilities for that resource. The person who uses these services views these capabilities as separate services.

The following table details the capabilities you can enable and the GIS resource required to expose each:

What service capability should I enable?

It's important to know which capabilities are available and to choose the ones that best meet your needs. The following examples may help get you thinking about which capabilities you should enable when you publish your GIS resources:

• If you want clients to support data quality assurance and quality control workflows, see the help for ArcGIS Data Reviewer for Server.

• If you want clients to access the vector features of your map and perform editing, publish a map document as a map service with the Feature Access capability enabled. For more information, see the Feature services help topics.

• If you want clients to geocode addresses, create an address locator and publish it as a geocode service. The geocoding capability is always enabled for this type of service. See the Geocode services help topics.

• If you want multiple sites to synchronize information in their geodatabases, publish the geodatabases as a geodata service. The Geodata capability is always enabled for this type of service. See the Geodata services help topics.

• If you want clients to run a model you created, publish the results of the model. See the help for geoprocessing with ArcGIS Server.

• If you have a large collection of raster data that you want to make available on the web, publish it as an image service. The Imaging capability is always enabled for this type of service. See the Image services help topics.

• If you want to create a service accessible from Google Earth, publish a map document with the KML capability enabled. This capability is enabled by default on new map services. See Viewing services as KML.

• If you want to display the contents of a map document in a web app, publish the map document as a map service. The mapping capability is always enabled for this type of service. See the Map services help topics.

• If you have multiple sites that need to perform routing analysis, create a map document with a network analysis layer and publish the map with the Network Analysis capability enabled. See Network analysis services.

• If you want to access your schematic diagrams in a server environment, create a map document with schematic layers related to those diagrams. Publishing the map with the Schematics capability enabled allows you to edit the diagrams (apply schematic algorithms, update) and generate new diagrams. See Schematics services.

• If you want to make your imagery available through an open, recognized standard, you can enable the WCS capability on the image service. You can also enable this capability on a map or geodata service. See WCS services.

• If you want to make geographic feature data available on the web through an open, recognized standard, publish a geodata service or map service and enable the WFS capability. See WFS services.

• If you want to make images of your map available on the web using an open, recognized standard, create a map document and publish it with the WMS capability enabled. See WMS services.

• If you want to make your ArcGIS Server maps run faster on the web using an open, recognized standard, create a cached map service and access it through an OGC WMTS-compliant application. When you create a cached map service using ArcGIS Server, the map service and its tiles are automatically accessible using the WMTS specification. See WMTS services.

• If you want clients to run a model you created using an open, recognized standard, publish the results of a geoprocessing model with the WPS capability enabled. See WPS services.

• If you have a specific piece of functionality you need to make available to client applications, extend the service with your own capability. You can develop custom capabilities for map and image services. See About extending services.

Making services available on the web

When you publish a service to ArcGIS Server, it exposes itself through the common web service technologies SOAP and REST. If you don't want everyone in your organization to see the service, configure ArcGIS Server security to set limits on access. You can also restrict what types of things users are allowed to do with the service by disabling the allowed operations discussed below.