Curate Partner Content Effectively with ArcGIS Online Sharing Groups

ArcGIS Online offers powerful sharing functionalities that empower users to enhance collaboration and bridge the gaps in our interconnected world. One such feature is sharing content within groups. Groups serve as organized collections of items centered around specific interests, or in this context, dedicated partners. Sharing content to a group ensures that only designated group members have access to those items, providing a secure and focused collaboration environment.

Note:

Throughout this guide, please consider “OneMap” as a placeholder representing your community GIS branding. Examples include Ireland GeoHive, NC OneMap, IndianaMap, HIFLD Open Data, and UAE 1Map.

Step-by-Step Guide: Creating a Partner Content Sharing Group

This section will walk you through the process of creating a dedicated partner content sharing group in ArcGIS Online. This group will later be integrated into your OneMap hub site, streamlining content curation from your partners.

1. Access your ArcGIS Online Account: Begin by opening your web browser and logging into your ArcGIS Online account using your credentials.

2. Navigate to the Groups Tab: Once logged in, locate the ribbon at the top of the ArcGIS Online interface. Click on the “Groups” tab.

   This action will display the “Groups” page. If you have previously created any groups, they will be listed here.

3. Initiate Group Creation: On the “Groups” page, click the “Create Group” button to start the process of setting up a new group.

   Note:

   For optimal organization, it’s highly recommended to create a unique sharing group for each partner contributing content to your hub site. This practice ensures clarity and simplifies content management.

4. Define Group Details: In the “Create a group” window, you will need to provide essential information for your partner sharing group:

   • Name: In the “Name” field, enter “OneMap Partner Shared Content”. Choose a name that clearly indicates the group’s purpose.
   • Summary: For the “Summary,” type or paste the following description: “This group enables partners of OneMap to share content and easily work together in a common collaboration space. The group was created for the tutorial Curate partner content with a sharing group.” This summary clarifies the group’s objective for members.
   • Tags: In the “Tags” field, type “SDI” and press the Tab key. Then, type “data space” and press Tab. Finally, type “collaboration” and press Tab. Tags enhance searchability and categorization within ArcGIS Online.

   Next, you will configure the group membership settings to control access and contribution permissions.

5. Configure Group Membership Settings: In the “Group membership” section, specify the following settings to manage who can interact with the group:

   • Who can view this group: Select “Everyone (public)”. This setting allows anyone to see the group’s overview and discover its purpose, even without being a member.
   • Who can be in this group: Choose “Any organization’s members”. This is crucial for partner collaboration. It permits partners from different ArcGIS Online organizations to join and share data without requiring them to be members of your specific ArcGIS Online organization. They maintain their data in their own environments and share it into the group.
   • How can people join this group: Select “By invitation”. This method gives you control over group membership. You will send invitations to specific partners whose data you intend to feature in your hub site. Alternatively, you could choose “By request” to allow partners to request membership via a group link. However, “By adding themselves” is not recommended for partner content curation, as it removes your control over data contributors.
   • Who can contribute content: Choose “All group members”. Since you are inviting partners specifically to contribute data, granting all members content contribution rights simplifies the workflow.
   • Who can see the full list of members on the group’s Members tab: Select “Anyone who can view the group”. Transparency in membership can foster trust and collaboration.

6. Enable Open Data Access: Under “Group designations,” locate “Open data” and click the toggle button to enable it.

   Enabling open data allows the content shared within this group to be accessible through open data sites, increasing data discoverability and accessibility.

7. Finalize Group Creation: After entering all the necessary information and configuring settings, click the “Save” button.

   The group is now created, and you will be redirected to its “Overview” page. Here, you can further customize the group by adding a more detailed description and other relevant information.

8. Enhance Group Description: On the “Overview” page, find the “Description” section and click the “Edit” button to add more context and guidance for group members.

9. Add Detailed Description and Link: For the “Description,” copy and paste the following text: “Good practices for shared content – see the Good Practices for Authoritative Data Providers story for guidance about managing your shared content. This group is a space for sharing and collaboration. Shared content automatically flows from the group and automatically appears in the Hub catalog.”

   Note:

   Including your contact information in the description is a beneficial practice to facilitate communication and support for group members.

10. Create Link to Best Practices: Within the description paragraph, select the text “Good Practices for Authoritative Data Providers” and click the “Create Link” button (usually represented by a chain icon).

11. Insert Best Practices URL: In the “URL” field, paste the following link: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/480c3a6b4bfd4f2984c3698558ca3549?item=4 and click “Update”. This links to a valuable resource for data providers.

12. Save Description Changes: Click “Save” to finalize the updated group description.

    As a final security measure, you will enable delete protection to prevent accidental group deletion.

13. Enable Delete Protection: Navigate to the “Settings” tab on the group’s ribbon.

14. Activate Delete Protection: Find the “Delete protection” option and click the toggle button to enable it.

    The change is automatically saved.

Your partner content sharing group is now successfully created and configured. This group serves as a central hub for you and your partners to curate and share specific content for your OneMap initiative. Currently, the group is empty, so the next step is to invite partners to join.

Inviting Partners to Your Sharing Group

With the group established, you can now invite your organization’s partners to become members. This will enable them to share their valuable content into the group, making it accessible for integration into your hub site and broader initiatives.

1. Go to the Members Tab: On the group’s ribbon, click on the “Members” tab to manage group membership.

2. Initiate Member Invitation: Click the “Invite members” button to begin the process of inviting partners to join your group.

3. Enable External Organization Search (if needed): In the “Invite members” window, under “Filters,” locate “Search all ArcGIS Online organization members” and click the toggle button to enable it. This ensures you can search for users outside your immediate ArcGIS Online organization.

4. Disable Collaboration Coordinators Filter (if needed): Ensure that “Collaboration coordinators only” is disabled unless you specifically want to filter by collaboration coordinators.

   You can invite partners using their email addresses or ArcGIS Online usernames. In this example, we will use a username.

5. Search for Partner User: In the search box, type “ivan_toshare”. You should see the profile for this user appear in the search results.

   Note:

   “Ivan Toshare” is used as a placeholder persona to represent a typical data-providing partner in this tutorial.

6. Select User and Send Invitation: Click on the “ivan_toshare” user to select them as a group member. Then, click the “Invite members” button to send the invitation.

The invited partner, Ivan Toshare, will receive a notification in their ArcGIS Online account (indicated by the bell icon next to their username in the ribbon). They must accept the invitation to officially join the group and begin contributing content. For the purposes of this tutorial, it is not necessary for the invited member to accept the invitation to proceed with subsequent steps in a larger workflow. Once accepted, partners can seamlessly share their ArcGIS Online content into this curated group, streamlining the process of building and maintaining a collaborative hub site.