Open ArcGIS Explorer Online from hyperlinks or the command line
Existing maps, services, and supported ArcGIS Online items can be opened with ArcGIS Explorer Online from the command line or from a hyperlink. New default maps can also be created and opened in this way. You can also open a map's presentation directly in a special presenting mode.
Open a new empty map with the default basemap
If you simply want to open Explorer Online with a new default map, use the following syntax:
start http://www.arcgis.com/explorer?map
Open a specific map
To open a web map from the command line use the following syntax, where ID is the ArcGIS Online ID number of the web map content item:
start http://www.arcgis.com/explorer?open=<ID>
For example, to open a map with the ID 224ee2a012154bbf84bcc5b04ea35fb5:
start http://www.arcgis.com/explorer?open=224ee2a012154bbf84bcc5b04ea35fb5
Tip:You can find the ID of a map by looking at the map details.
You can add an extent parameter, to specify the geographical extent at which the map should initially be displayed.
To open a web map from the command line at a specific extent, add an extent parameter to the syntax above, where xmin, ymin, xmax, and ymax are the minimum and maximum x and y coordinate values to be shown in the map, using the coordinate system of the map:
start http://www.arcgis.com/explorer?open=<ID>&extent=<xmin>,<ymin>,<xmax>,<ymax>
Tip:Maps made from the Esri basemaps have the Web Mercator (Auxiliary Sphere) coordinate system. Maps made by using a specific service as the basemap will have the coordinate system of that service.
Open a specific map in presenting mode
You can open a specific map's presentation in a special presenting mode by using the following syntax, where ID is the ArcGIS Online ID number of the web map content item:
start http://www.arcgis.com/explorer?present=<ID>
For example, to open a map with the ID 224ee2a012154bbf84bcc5b04ea35fb5 in presenting mode:
start http://www.arcgis.com/explorer?present=224ee2a012154bbf84bcc5b04ea35fb5
Open a new default map and add a specific service by URL
To add a map, image, feature or WMS service to a new map from the command line use the following syntax:
start http://www.arcgis.com/explorer?url=http://<url>
For example, to add a map service called California_Fire_History from the California government server:
start http://www.arcgis.com/explorer?url=http://atlas.resources.ca.gov/ArcGIS/rest/services/GeoScience/California_Fire_History/MapServer
Open a default map and add a specific ArcGIS Online service item
To open an ArcGIS Online content item that is a map, image, feature or WMS service from the command line use the following syntax, where ID is the ArcGIS Online ID number of the service content item. Note that you can specify multiple services by separating item IDs with commas; items are added in the order specified, with items added last appearing on top of items added first.
start http://www.arcgis.com/explorer?services=<ID>[,<ID>...]
For example, to add ArcGIS Online content provided by Esri of USA population density and federal lands:
start http://www.arcgis.com/explorer?services=302d4e6025ef41fa8d3525b7fc31963a,690e0fe1ceb74ee5b10de1a2cf61ea87
Constructing hyperlinks to Explorer Online
The syntax for opening Explorer Online from a hyperlink is the same for links on a web page, but you should specify the URL in quotes as the parameter for the href property of the <a> tag.
For example, to open a map with the ID 224ee2a012154bbf84bcc5b04ea35fb5 from a hyperlink:
<a href="http://www.arcgis.com/explorer?open=224ee2a012154bbf84bcc5b04ea35fb5" target="_blank">Community Basemaps</a>
You can also use similar syntax to that shown above for opening specific services, or opening a new default map.
For example, the link below will open a new default map: