Open a map

You can start Explorer Online by opening an existing map, either directly from the ArcGIS.com website or a link on a web page. If you are already viewing the home screen, you can click Open next to the map summary.

To open a map from the home screen

1. If you are not viewing the home screen, click Home at the left of the toolbar to go to the home screen.
2. In the home screen, find the map that you want to open by using the tabs at the top of the screen.

   

   • Click the Featured tab to see public maps from Esri and the wider ArcGIS community which the editors of the site have selected to show important, popular, and exciting information and cartography, for example new basemaps from Esri, or public content created for current events.
   • Click My Content to see maps that you have saved. You may need to click a Folder on the left side of the screen to find the map you want.
   • Click Recent to see maps that you have opened recently in this browser.
   • Click Groups to see the groups that you are a member of, then click a group name in the My Groups list on the left of the screen to see maps in that group.
   • Alternatively, you can search for a map using the Find Maps and Groups box at the top right of the screen.

     Learn more about searching for maps

3. Click the Open link next to the map you wish to view.
   Caution:

   If you have made changes to an open map, and have not saved those changes prior to opening another map, you will be prompted to save the map. If you have an open map with unsaved changes and you close your web browser, there will be no opportunity to save the changes, and the unsaved changes will be lost.

You can go back to the home screen at any point by clicking Home on the left of the toolbar and the map will remain open; you can return to the map by clicking the name of the map, also shown at the left of the toolbar.

Maps are shown by default in the home screen; to see supported services instead of maps in either the My Content, Groups, or Search tab, click Services in the second row of tabs at the top of the screen.