Contributing to Living Atlas of the World

ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World is the location for ArcGIS users looking to find high quality, ready-to-use layers, maps, and apps to support their GIS workflows.  Living Atlas  includes content from Esri, Esri Partners, and the GIS user community.

Do you have a story map, web app, web map or data layer that you would like to contribute to Living Atlas? 

By sharing your layers and maps, you’re helping to build a global GIS, allowing people from around the world to have easy access to data and information, and accelerate the progress of mapping, analysis, and decision making. 

Nominating your content to Living Atlas can be done in a few simple clicks. We've created this Storymap to give an overview of some requirements and considerations to make the process all the more seamless!

A variety of ArcGIS Online item types can be contributed to Living Atlas:

Explore this Storymap to learn more about the requirements and best practices when nominating your content to Living Atlas.

Check out the rest of the Storymap Collection for Living Atlas contribution considerations for specific item types alongside some examples - including data layers, web maps and web apps.

Now you've been given an overview of the requirements when nominating your content to Living Atlas, there are some additional best practices worth keeping in mind to ensure that your submission is as accurate, detailed and accessible as possible.

• Turn on delete protection for your nominated ArcGIS item to prevent it from being accidently deleted. This can be configured via your item's Settings tab.

• Use clear and simple Field Alias names for your attributes and pop-ups.

• Configure pop-ups rather than the default list of attributes. Only include the information you think will be of most relevance to your users.

Tip: Charts, images and text can also be configured within pop-ups!

• Make adjustments to the visible range of layers to ensure that the layer is being displayed at the appropriate scale.

• Configure the symbology of layers beyond the default settings to ease understanding and accessibility of your nominated content. Emphasise what is most important for the future users of your content!

• Select an appropriate basemap that compliments your content's subject matter and your layers' symbology.

• Optimise the performance of your content through the likes of generalised boundaries, simplifying geographies, setting visible ranges and scales and removing unnecessary layers. Also consider which layers require attribute information access, while which layers are used for background reference only, and make configuration adjustments accordingly.

Once you have run through the above checklist and deem your content ready for submission, items can be nominated via the  Living Atlas website. 

Select the 'My Contributions' tab and sign in with your organisational ArcGIS account.

Use the link below to nominate your content, keep track of active nominations by seeing how your items are scored, make edits and view suggestions for additional guidance!