Browse content on a GIS server

You can browse the map, image, and feature services on any ArcGIS Server you have access to, and add them to the map. You can also browse and add services published using the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) standard, and directly add KML or KMZ data by URL.

To add a service from a GIS Server, click the Add Content button on the toolbar to open the Add Content drop-down panel. Type or paste the URL to the appropriate end point of your GIS server into the Service or URL box, and press ENTER or click the Find button.

For an ArcGIS Server, use the REST endpoint, typically ending in /ArcGIS/rest/services. For example, to search for content on the Esri sampleserver3 GIS server, type http://sampleserver3.arcgisonline.com/arcgis/rest/services into the Find box.

For a WMS server, use the URL of the WMS service. URLs for WMS services do not follow a specific pattern, although they may include the term WMS. For example, to search for services on the British Geological Survey server, type http://ogc.bgs.ac.uk/cgi-bin/BGS_Bedrock_and_Superficial_Geology/wms into the Find box.

For a KML or KMZ file, use the full URL of the file. You cannot browse KML files by URL.

The root-level services and any folders found on the server are listed below the search box. You can click a folder to see the services it contains. When viewing the contents of a folder, click the Back button to return to the root-level list of folders and services.

Click the Add link next to a service to add the service to your map.

You can find out more information about the service before you add it to the map by hovering the mouse over the service in the list. For map services, you can add sublayers to the map as if they were feature services.

Learn more about viewing service information and adding services

If you know the full URL to a specific service endpoint that you'd like to add to your map, type or paste the full URL in the search box, for example, http://sampleserver3.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Earthquakes/EarthquakesFromLastSevenDays/MapServer. The single service at that URL will be listed below the search box.

To see a list of recent searches, click the Recent button in the search box, and click one of the searches listed to reexecute the search.

If you are unable to access the services for a GIS Server, refer to the Troubleshooting section.