Accessing Data Services in ArcGIS Online

Once an organisation has purchased Data Services through Esri UK to be delivered directly into ArcGIS Online, the organisation will be provided with an additional ArcGIS Online Creator license, solely for use by Esri UK Data Services to create and update data services within ArcGIS Online accounts. The Administrator of the ArcGIS Online account will need to ensure that the new Esri UK Services member has at least 50 credits allocated to host and publish Data Services.

The Administrator of the ArcGIS Online account will need to add the new Esri UK Data Services member with the appropriate user type and custom member role privileges. If an organisation has existing services that they would like to be updated by the new Esri UK Data Services member so that there is no change in item IDs then they will need to change the owner of these services to the new Esri UK Data Services user.

Create a Member Role

Firstly, the Administrator will need to create the custom member role which will restrict the Esri UK Data Services member to just creating and updating the data services.

1. Verify that you are signed in to your organisation as an Administrator

2. Navigate to Settings and click on Member Roles

3.Click on Create Role and fill in the Role name and Description information below:

Role name: EsriUKDataServicesRole

Description: This role is solely for use by Esri UK Data Services to create and update data services within ArcGIS Online accounts

4. Navigate down to Content and expand to Enable just the following 10 Role Privileges

• Create, update, and delete
• Publish hosted feature layers
• Publish hosted tile layers
• Publish hosted scene layers
• Publish hosted tiled imagery layers
• Publish hosted dynamic imagery layers
• View content shared with organization
• Create and edit notebooks
• Reassign Content
• Receive Content

5. Click Save to save the Role

Add the Esri UK Data Services Member

Next, the Organisation Administrator will need to add the Esri UK Data Services Member

1. Verify that you are signed in to your organisation as an Administrator

2. At the top of the site, click Organization, click the Members tab, and click Invite members.

3. Select Add members and notify them via email and click Next.

4. To add member information, click New member.

5. Fill in the following fields with the information below. Please note that the Email address must be dataservices@esriuk.com and the Username must be unique following the following naming convention: organisationname_esriukdata where organisationname is your Organisation name. 

• First name: esriuk
• Last name: dataservices
• Email address: dataservices@esriuk.com
• Username: organisationname_esriukdata

6. To assign the user type, select from the Creator user type drop-down list

7. Select the EsriUKDataServicesRole that was created previously

8. Click Next.

9. Click Next. No need to change anything on this page. Click Next

10. Check the Summary page

11. Optionally, for Email settings, modify the email message Esri UK Data Services will see as part of the email invitation.

12. Click Add members when you are finished.

Ensure that the new Esri UK Services member has at least 50 credits allocated to host and publish Data Services.

An email invitation will be sent to dataservices@esriuk.com who will accept access and publish Data Services into ArcGIS Online. Once publishing is successful Esri UK Data services will notify the organisation to confirm that the data is ready to be consumed in ArcGIS Online

Consuming Esri UK Data services in ArcGIS Online

Keeping your GIS data current, accurate, and accessible is essential for effective decision-making. At Esri UK, we’ve designed our data publishing and update process to ensure that Ordnance Survey datasets are delivered with minimal disruption and maximum reliability.

When new data is published, it’s automatically added to your ArcGIS Online organisation in a dedicated folder. From there, your Organisation Administrator can easily share the data with relevant users or groups, making it available for use across your maps and applications.

Each dataset is deployed as two hosted feature layers, typically named with _A and _B suffixes.

To ensure data quality and service continuity, updates follow a structured process:

• New data is published to the inactive layer (_A or _B) as a staging service.
• Our team performs manual QA on the staging data to verify accuracy and completeness.
• Once approved, the live view is seamlessly switched to the updated layer—without changing the service URL or item ID.
• To enable the data to be updated both the _A and _B services are required. This results in the data being stored twice, which will incur additional credit usage.

This approach ensures zero downtime and no disruption to your existing maps, apps, or workflows. It also reduces the risk of errors by allowing updates to be validated before going live.

Removal of Esri UK Data Services Member

If an Organisation does not renew their data licence the additional ArcGIS Online Creator license will be revoked and the Administrator will be required to remove the Esri UK Data Services member, the custom Member Role and all data services created by Esri UK Data services.

1.Verify that you are signed in to your organisation as an Administrator

2. At the top of the site, click Organization, click the Members tab, select the EsriUK_Data Member, click the … on the right hand side to open the Drop down and click Delete member

3. The member should now be deleted and no longer listed in the Members page

4. Finally, to remove the Member Role, navigate to Settings and click on Member Roles

5. Find the EsriUKDataServicesRole, click on the … on the right hand side to open the drop down and click Delete

Both the Esri UK Data Services member and the custom Member Role will now be deleted. Check that all data services created by Esri UK Data services are now deleted.