Managing KML network links
All map services you publish with ArcGIS Server have the Keyhole Markup Language (KML) capability enabled by default. Network links are an effective way to expose that KML to others. A KML network link is a way of making dynamic KML available on your server in a format that is easy to consume. The network link uses KMZ, a compressed form of KML.
KML network links can be consumed by clients such as ArcGIS Explorer or Google Earth. KML network links are useful because they reference dynamic KML rather than static KML that never changes or updates.
In ArcGIS Server Manager, you can use the Services tab to view the current list of network links available on your server. To add network links to your server, you have two options:
- Create a network link from an existing ArcGIS Server map service.
- Publish to your server an existing network link you created using ArcGIS Explorer or Google Earth.
Create a network link from an existing ArcGIS Server map service
ArcGIS Server supports creating KML network links from an existing map service if the service's KML capability is enabled. By default, the KML capability is enabled on all new map services.
Learn more about the KML capability
You can create KML network links that include both vector and raster layers contained in the map service. Vector layers can be rasterized or returned as folders of placemarks within the KML.
A network link has several properties that you can define. These include the following:
- Name
- Snippet (short description)
- Description
- Layers
- Drawing options
- Refresh and view parameters
- Hostname (for use when using in a Reverse Proxy environment)
- Snippet behavior
Manager only provides support for creating network links that are based directly on content from published map services. If you want to create a network link containing multiple KML services, you can use Google Earth. Once you've created the network link in Google Earth, you can save it as KMZ, then use Manager to publish it back to your server.
For instructions, see Creating a KML network link from a map service.
Publish to your server an existing network link you created using ArcGIS Explorer or Google Earth
In addition to creating a new KML network link, you can publish an existing network link file that was created externally, for example, in Google Earth.
Publishing an existing link in this way copies the KMZ file to the server. The original, local copy of the KMZ file is not affected. It is possible to simply copy a KMZ file directly into the http://myserver/arcgis/KML folder. Manager will automatically list the file.
For instructions, see Publishing an existing KML network link to ArcGIS Server.