Troubleshooting

Problems with services

Problems using ArcGIS Explorer Online

Problems opening ArcGIS Explorer Online

I cannot add services from my ArcGIS Server. In the Add Content Search panel the message is 'No services or folders'.

There are a number of things you can check to help find out where the problem is.

  • If you access ArcGIS Server services, make sure that the ArcGIS Services Directory is set up and functioning. Navigate to http://<yourhost>/arcgis/rest/services in a browser. You should see the Services Directory main page. In some cases, service directory browsing may have been disabled, but you should still be able to access a page that indicates this.
  • Make sure the REST endpoint for the service you are trying to add is available. Copy and paste the URL into a browser. For example http://<yourhost>/arcgis/rest/services/USA/MapServer.
  • When specifying the URL of an internal server at your organization as the source for adding map service content, include the domain name in the server URL. For example, reference http://myserver.esri.com/arcgis/rest/services/USA/MapServer rather than http://myserver/arcgis/rest/services/USA/MapServer.
  • In order for ArcGIS Explorer Online to access the services on a local ArcGIS server (one that is not publicly accessible), it must have a clientaccesspolicy.xml file in the web server's root directory. If you can access services in the ArcGIS.com map viewer but not in Explorer Online, then it is likely that there is a problem with the clientaccesspolicy.xml file on your server.

    For security reasons, a web browser is not allowed to access data that resides outside the exact web domain where a Silverlight application (in this case ArcGIS Explorer Online) originated. However, permission to access data across domains can be granted by a server by having a small clientaccesspolicy.xml file on the server. This permits Explorer Online to connect to services on that server. For additional information, including the structure and function of a clientaccesspolicy.xml file, refer to Network Security Access Restrictions in Silverlight article on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) website.

    As an example, view the policy file used by ArcGIS.com at http://services.arcgisonline.com/clientaccesspolicy.xml. You can view the contents of this file by entering this address into a web browser or opening it in a text viewer such as Notepad.

    Check that your browser can access the clientaccesspolicy.xml file on the server containing the data you are trying to access by viewing it directly in a browser or opening it in a text viewer, for example http://<yourhost>.<yourdomain>/clientaccesspolicy.xml. If you cannot view or open the file, then Explorer Online will not have the security permission to access data across domains.

  • You may find it useful to monitor HTTP traffic in your browser by using a web debugging tool, such as Fiddler. Web debugging tools show what HTTP requests are made by a browser, if the request was successful, and the response received. For example, if a request is made for a clientaccesspolicy.xml file, but the response is the HTTP code 404, this means the clientaccesspolicy.xml file could not be found.

I cannot add services from ArcGIS Online. Message is 'The map service reference is invalid. The service could not be added to the map.'

When attempting to add services from the Add Content panel, or from the home screen, adding the service may fail with the message above. The Add link may become disabled after the message is shown.

This error may stem from a variety of sources. For example, while the item may be in ArcGIS Online, the actual service may be on an external GIS Server that is no longer valid. Make sure the REST endpoint for the service you are trying to add is available. Copy and paste the URL into a browser. For example: http://<host>/arcgis/rest/services/<path>/MapServer.

Alternatively, the service may be a tiled map service published using a spatial reference (coordinate system) which does not match the current map, and therefore cannot be added to the current map. This message may also be shown if the service is a WMS service which does not support an appropriate coordinate system to match that of the basemap. In this case, you may be able to create the map using the ArcGIS.com map viewer, and then open the map in Explorer Online.

I can't see some of my content items in ArcGIS Online in the home screen or the Add Content panel, so can't add them to my map

ArcGIS Explorer Online is an online application that displays online data from web services. If you have added content to ArcGIS Online that does not appear in the home screen or the Add Content panel, then that content cannot be displayed in a map in Explorer Online. For example, ArcGIS layer packages (.pkg) can be uploaded and shared in ArcGIS Online and then downloaded to a local machine and opened in desktop applications such as ArcMap and ArcGIS Explorer Desktop, but are not supported in Explorer Online.

If you have an ArcGIS layer file (.lyr) that references a service, then try adding the service directly to Explorer Online by URL. You can also upload some types of local data to ArcGIS Online.

Learn more about adding data to ArcGIS Online

Why can't I find a map, group, or service item that has been shared publicly, or share my map, group or service publicly?

If your account is associated with an organization in ArcGIS Online, your organization administrator may have configured your account so that public items are not accessible, and so that you cannot share your own items publicly. Use a different ArcGIS Online account to sign in to ArcGIS Explorer Online, or speak to your organization administrator about sharing permissions.

Why does my KML layer not display as expected?

Explorer Online supports placemarks, ground overlays, time-enabled KML layers, network links, and refreshing by interval (using the RefreshMode value of OnInterval) and after navigation stops (using the ViewRefreshMode value of OnStop). If your KML file contains other types of content, Explorer Online may not display those elements as expected; for example, Explorer Online does not display screen overlays, and images included in pop-up windows must have Width and Height attributes defined in order o be displayed.

You will see a spinner icon in the Layers and Layer Details panels when KML is being added to the map, and when network links are being downloaded.

When I import a CSV or GPX file, why do I see strange characters instead of the text I expected?

If your data contains non-English characters, for example characters specific to the French, Russian, Greek, Japanese, or Arabic alphabets, the file you import must be encoded as Unicode or UTF-8, and not ASCII. If you import an ASCII encoded file containing non-English characters, it may display attribute values using unexpected characters. You can simply save a text file as UTF-8 or Unicode in Windows. Open the file in Notepad and choose File, then Save As, and choose UTF-8 or Unicode from the Encoding drop-down list shown at the bottom of the Save As dialog box. If you are importing a GPX file, additionally ensure that the encoding attribute of the XML declaration at the beginning of the file correctly identifies the encoding used.

Why do I get an error when I try to import a CSV, GPX, or shapefile?

There are a number of different issues that can cause problems when importing data. Refer to the tips section shown at the bottom of the help topics below:

When I try to open a map, why do I the error message 'Unsupported webmap version number'?

You may sometimes see this error message when Esri updates the types of information that can be stored in a web map and has updated the ArcGIS.com website and the ArcGIS Explorer Online application, but your browser is using an out of date cached version of the ArcGIS Explorer Online application. To solve this problem, refresh your browser cache to make sure you are loading the very latest version of ArcGIS Explorer Online. Refreshing your browser cache will vary depending on the browser you are using.

If you connect to the internet through a proxy which caches information, and this is providing an out of date cached version of ArcGIS Explorer Online, contact your network administrator for help.

When I share a map, why are there some features, services, or pop-up windows that other users cannot see?

When sharing maps, you must make sure that all the items in the shared map are also available to the users of the map. If you share a map with a specific group, then all the items in the map must be available to the members of that group; similarly if you share a map publically with everyone, all of the items in the map must be available publically to everyone. Any map, feature and image services in the map must be available to the users; also note if you have added a service item from ArcGIS Online, for example a feature service which you added to ArcGIS Online and then configured pop-up windows on, the service item must be available to the appropriate users. An editable layer stored in the map, for example a Map Notes layer, is automatically available to all users of the map because the information is stored within in the map.

Why do I see a red x symbol instead of an image in my pop-up window?

Explorer Online supports JPEG and PNG images, which must be accessed over HTTP. If the image is a different format, or the URL begins with HTTPS instead of HTTP, then the image cannot be displayed, and a red cross is shown to indicate this.

Some of my features or pop-up windows look different when I open a map saved by the previous version of ArcGIS Explorer Online

You can generally continue to open and use maps created by previous versions of ArcGIS Explorer Online; however, there are some small incompatibilities which may affect how the map displays; refer to the question 'Can I open maps saved by older versions of ArcGIS Explorer Online?' in the Frequently asked questions topic for more information on these incompatibilities.

I cannot zoom to any of the records found with a query

Verify that the geometry field is included in the service definition for the layer. Without the shape value, ArcGIS Explorer Online can't draw or zoom to the shape. In the Layers panel, click the arrow to open the Layer Details view of the layer that the query is based on, click Service Details, then navigate to the sublayer the query is running against and check the Fields list contains a geometry field.

To check which layer and sublayer a query is running against, refer to the Data tab of the Query Definition dialog box.

Learn more about changing the properties of a query

I cannot see my map notes if I open my map in the ArcGIS.com map viewer

If you have a map created by an older version of ArcGIS Explorer Online, it can contain map notes which cannot be viewed by the ArcGIS.com map viewer. If you open the same map in the current version of ArcGIS Explorer Online, you will see all of the notes in a new editable layer called Map Notes. To solve the problem, save the map from the current version of ArcGIS Explorer Online, and then re-open the map in the ArcGIS.com map viewer and the new Map Notes layer will be visible.

When I open a map, why is one of the layers broken (displaying a red exclamation point icon)?

If a layer that references a service is no longer accessible or responding correctly, the layer will be shown as broken. This applies to ArcGIS map, image and feature services, and also to WMS services, KML referenced by URL. For example, a map service may have been renamed after it was included in a map, a GIS server may have been renamed, or a service may have failed. Alternatively, security to a location on the internet or your network may have changed to make the location used inaccessible with your current credentials.

Check that you can still access the location of the item you are having problems with by opening the location in a browser. For ArcGIS map, image and feature services, and WMS services, find the location of the service by clicking Service Details in the Layer Details panel. For a KML or CSV file added by reference to a URL, you may need to open the item details in the ArcGIS.com homepage to find out the location of the referenced data.

Why is some content or part of the application cut off or missing from some of the panels?

You may find some of the content of a panel in Explorer Online appears to be missing, for example the Reset Properties from Service and Upload Properties to Service buttons that sometimes appear at the bottom of the Layer Details panel.

This problem can arise when not all the content can fit within the panel due to the web browser's zoom setting being too high. To correct the issue you need to reduce the zoom setting and the approach to do this depends on the browser you are using. For example, in Internet Explorer you can click on the Tools button then select the Zoom menu and choose an appropriate setting.

When I go to http://www.arcgis.com/explorer in my web browser, I don't see the Explorer Online application. Why is this?

ArcGIS Explorer Online requires the Silverlight platform from Microsoft in order to run. If you don't have Silverlight already installed, then you will see a link saying Install Microsoft Silverlight; click the link and run the Silverlight exe that is downloaded from Microsoft, and then choose to install the Silverlight runtime. After the installation is complete, you will be able to run Explorer Online.

Explorer Online currently requires version 4 of the Silverlight runtime, specifically a minimum of release number 4.0.60310.0. If you have an earlier version of the Silverlight runtime installed, you will be informed when you try to open ArcGIS Explorer Online, and a link to install the correct runtime will be displayed.

You must use Explorer Online in a browser which supports Silverlight; for example, current versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer or Google Chrome browsers on the Microsoft Windows platform, or the Safari browser on the Macintosh platform. More specific details on supported browsers can be found at the Esri support website.

Learn more about Esri web API browser support


3/11/2013