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ArcGIS Hub is Esri’s cloud-based platform for publishing curated content, including open data, to the public and to partners. This guide is for researchers, data stewards and administrators who need to know what Hub holds, who operates it, how access works and where it fits next to other ways of sharing spatial data. It is written from Esri’s own documentation, read on 2026-11-08.
What ArcGIS Hub is
Esri describes ArcGIS Hub as a cloud-based community engagement platform for sharing trusted, curated content, usable by organizations of any type or size. An organization uses it to build public or private websites (“sites”) from templates and drag-and-drop editing, with its own branding and little or no code. Hub is not a dataset repository run by one institution: each Hub site belongs to whichever organization publishes it, so the data you find depends entirely on that publisher.
Esri lists these uses on its product page: sharing open data (including combining content from several agencies in support of spatial data infrastructure), creating unlimited sites, organizing projects around shared goals and tracking progress, and collecting public feedback. Sites named by Esri as examples include the Kansas Geoportal, the Virginia State Parks GIS Portal, an Oklahoma City urban heat health site and SDG Data Hubs from the SDG Data Alliance.
Who runs it and what it covers
Esri operates the platform. Hub runs on ArcGIS Online infrastructure, and Esri’s FAQ states that Hub is available with all ArcGIS Online subscriptions. A separate option, ArcGIS Enterprise Sites, offers a subset of Hub features on infrastructure the organization controls.
Scope is set by publishers, not by Esri. There is no single catalogue size to quote; a government agency, a university or a nonprofit each decides what its site shows. Esri’s documentation does not state a total number of datasets, so none is given here.
How to find and use Hub content
Esri’s documentation is organized for site builders, and it does not publish a numbered dataset-search procedure for end users. What it does document:
- Public sites are open to anyone. Private content is limited to people the item is shared with, who must sign in to view it. Look for the sign-in on the site itself.
- You do not need an account to download open (publicly shared) data, according to the Hub FAQ.
- Find a publisher’s Hub site from the organization’s own web presence, then use the site’s own navigation and search.
- Where an organization offers community accounts, members can view content shared with them, follow sites and, if privileges allow, create events.
For site owners
The documentation’s “Essential tasks” cover creating a site, publishing its layout and sharing it to grant access. Under “Extend” it lists Hub Premium, AI in Hub, community accounts and projects; under “Develop” it lists developer guides and a REST API reference.
Basic and Premium
Hub Premium needs an additional license beyond the ArcGIS Online subscription, and existing content is not affected by upgrading. Per the FAQ, Premium adds initiatives, projects, events and discussion boards. Enterprise Sites cannot be upgraded to Premium.
Strengths and limits for researchers
- Strength: public download of open data without an account, and branded sites that combine content from several agencies.
- Strength: a documented REST API, which gives a programmatic route to Hub content.
- Limit: quality, licensing terms and update frequency are set by each publisher, so check the dataset’s own description.
- Limit: Esri’s pages read do not describe persistent identifiers or DOIs for Hub datasets. If you need to cite a dataset, take the citation details from the publisher and record the access date.
Hub options compared
| Option | Where it runs | Premium upgrade |
|---|---|---|
| ArcGIS Hub | ArcGIS Online infrastructure | Yes, with an additional license |
| ArcGIS Enterprise Sites | Infrastructure the organization controls; subset of features | No |
For the wider ArcGIS product family see what ArcGIS is used for in research. For analysis once you have downloaded data, see spatial data analysis, kriging and Moran’s I. A comparable public Earth-observation viewer is described in NASA Worldview, and open-source desktop GIS work is covered in georeferencing in QGIS.
FAQ
Is ArcGIS Hub free?
Hub is available with all ArcGIS Online subscriptions; Premium needs an additional license. Viewing and downloading publicly shared data needs no account. Community accounts are free to the public and paid for by the providing organization.
Do I need an account to download data from a Hub site?
Not for open (publicly shared) data, per Esri’s FAQ. Private items require sign-in and sharing.
Who owns the data on a Hub site?
The publishing organization. Esri provides the platform; contact the site’s owner about licensing and citation.
Does Hub have an API?
Yes. Esri’s documentation lists an ArcGIS Hub REST API reference and developer guides.
Sources
- Esri, ArcGIS Hub overview, read 2026-11-08.
- Esri, ArcGIS Hub documentation, read 2026-11-08.
- Esri, ArcGIS Hub frequently asked questions, read 2026-11-08.
