Managing ArcGIS Explorer maps

ArcGIS Explorer is a lightweight desktop client for ArcGIS Server. You can use ArcGIS Explorer to view and work with different types of geographic data in three dimensions using a rich user interface. When working in ArcGIS Explorer, you can save your maps for further use. ArcGIS Server allows you to make those saved ArcGIS Explorer maps available to others.

How to publish an ArcGIS Explorer map

To publish the ArcGIS Explorer map on your server, follow these steps:

1. Create a map using ArcGIS Explorer.
2. Save the map. It will be saved as an ArcGIS Explorer Map (.nmf) file.
3. Open ArcGIS Server Manager and log in.
4. In Manager, click the Applications tab.
5. In the left column, click ArcGIS Explorer Maps. This page shows a list of all of the ArcGIS Explorer maps currently published to your server.
6. Click Publish Map.
7. Browse to the ArcGIS Explorer map (.nmf) that you want to publish on your server. Optionally, type a description that will appear in Manager.
8. Click Upload.

Once you've published the map, you'll see it appear in the ArcGIS Explorer Maps list. Click on the URL to open a map. This is the URL that users will enter to access the ArcGIS Explorer map from your server. They can either enter the URL from ArcGIS Explorer or from a browser. In both cases they will be asked whether to open or save the file.

If the user enters the URL in a browser and chooses to open the file, the map will open in ArcGIS Explorer. If ArcGIS Explorer is not installed, the .nmf file will open in an XML editor.

If you edit an ArcGIS Explorer map that you have published to your server, you will need to re-publish the map in order for users of your server to see the changes.