This integration pattern relies an external or remote application or process making requests to specific REST APIs hosted by an ArcGIS system. In this scenario, the primary business system may include workflows that rely on making a specific call to an ArcGIS service endpoint, for example:
These requests can be triggered through a user workflow, where their client app or experience makes the request directly to an ArcGIS service, or through a backend or system-to-system workflow, where some type of automation or scheduled task makes requests as part of a data processing workflow.
Examples of this integration pattern may include the following technical approaches:
A frontend JavaScript application that uses an input address from a user, sends a request to the ArcGIS World Geocoding Service, and saves the resulting location into the business system
A mobile application for package delivery that re-solves a route to a destination using a route solve request every 30 seconds based on the user’s current location
A civic engagement or planning application that asks for a user location, then queries a set of standard feature layers to get information about the user’s political district or ward, then presents the information back to a user in an interface
Across these patterns, the common thread is direct queries to ArcGIS REST endpoints from the remote application. This pattern frequently uses API keys or app authentication, rather than the more common user authentication pattern when an app interacts more deeply with the ArcGIS REST API.
ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Enterprise, and ArcGIS Location Platform can all be used to create web services that are useful for this pattern. ArcGIS Enterprise can create additional service types that are not available in ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Location Platform, see the choosing architecture components for additional details.
| Capability | ArcGIS Online | ArcGIS Enterprise | ArcGIS Location Platform | ArcGIS Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct REST API integration | N/A |
Full support
Partial support
With direct REST integration, proper use of authentication is important. Many of these integration make use of ArcGIS API keys, with narrowly-scoped privileges, to send requests to these services. Depending on whether the service is hosted with ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Enterprise or ArcGIS Location Platform, the business model and use of API keys may differ, refer to product documentation for details.
For integrations that can make use of JavaScript, such as a NodeJS process or a frontend JavaScript application built without the ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript, the ArcGIS REST JS library provides extensive functionality for interacting with ArcGIS REST services.
For integrations that can make use of Python modules, the ArcGIS API for Python can be used, which includes extensive functionality for working with all types of ArcGIS REST services.