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Tutorial: Getting Started with ArcGIS Online and Portal

Sienna Emery
Sienna Emery
  • Updated

As of FME 2024.0, support for Esri ArcGIS Online (AGOL), ArcGIS Enterprise Portal, and ArcGIS Server Feature Service formats has transitioned to a unified approach using the new Esri ArcGIS Feature Service (Format). This format replaces the legacy reader/writer formats for each of the three services.

Starting in FME 2026.1, the legacy formats will be hidden in the Quick Add menu. Instead, equivalent functionality is now provided by the downloadable Esri ArcGIS Connector package, available on FME Hub. The package also includes new web services and key transformers such as the ArcGISOnlineConnector, ArcGISAttachmentConnector, and ArcGISBranchVersionManager. The package can be installed directly through the Quick Add menu in FME Workbench. Once installed, the new Esri Feature Service format will appear in the Gallery as a unified method for interacting with all three types of Esri ArcGIS Feature Services.

For details on this transition, including guidance on updating existing workspaces, please refer to the article: Working with Esri ArcGIS Feature Services in FME.

Introduction

In FME, there are many ways to connect to Esri ArcGIS Online and Portal. Depending on your requirements, there are feature service readers and writers, ArcGIS APIs that can be called with the HTTPCaller, and webhooks that can capture events as they occur using FME Flow (formerly FME Server) automations. We also have an ArcGISOnlineConnector to manage other files stored in ArcGIS Online and Portal.

Connecting

ArcGIS Online and Portal each support different types of authentication.

ArcGIS Online 

In ArcGIS Online, a web connection is used to authenticate access. While FME has template web services to quickly connect to ArcGIS Online, these should not be used in production. You should instead create a new Esri ArcGIS Online web service that uses your own app credentials. Please see the article How to Create an ArcGIS Online Web Connection (OAuth 2.0) for detailed steps.

ArcGIS Portal

In ArcGIS Portal, there are many methods that can be used to authenticate.

The ArcGIS Portal Feature Service documentation provides an overview of the authentication methods available in FME. Web connections are recommended, as they are secure and reusable. As with ArcGIS Online, you should create a new Esri ArcGIS Portal web service that uses your own app credentials. Please see How to Create an ArcGIS Enterprise Portal Web Connection (OAuth 2.0) for detailed steps.

Read, Write, and Transform Data

FME Workbench lets you read, write, update and remove features in ArcGIS Online and Portal. Once data is read from ArcGIS Online or Portal, it can be transformed and written out to hundreds of different formats. To learn more, please visit the articles below.

ArcGIS Online

ArcGIS Portal

Trigger Workflows When Changes Occur

FME Flow can run your workspaces when an event happens in ArcGIS Online or Portal. The technology to enable this is called webhooks. Using FME Flow Automations and webhooks, you can sync data between ArcGIS Online, Survey123, Field Maps, and non-Esri applications. You can also accomplish tasks like sending email notifications when a layer has changed or been shared externally. To learn more, please visit the articles below,

ArcGIS Online

ArcGIS Portal

Troubleshooting

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As of January 14th, 2026, comments on knowledge base articles have been closed. To make sure questions don’t get missed and to enable more community support, we’ve moved discussions to the FME Community. If you have a question or a comment about this article, please create a new post or create a support ticket.