GeoPlatform’s NGDA Theme Community Hub Site Editor and Publisher Process

This document outlines the steps for becoming an NGDA Theme Community Hub Site Editor or Publisher.

Editors and publishers must be a member of GeoPlatform ArcGIS Online (AGOL).

All NGDA theme lead-approved editors will be assigned the role of “GeoPlatform Site/Initiative Manager” and will be added to the 3 groups associated with each Hub site: Core Team, Content, and Followers.

Membership in the Core Team group should only be those individuals that have been approved as editors of the hub site.

All NGDA Theme Community publishers will be assigned the “NGDA Theme Community Publisher” role and added to the NGDA Theme’s Content group only.

GeoPlatform Site/Initiative Managers and NGDA Theme Community Publishers can both publish content i.e. share content with the public. Both must read, sign, and return the GeoPlatform Rules of Behavior document before being granted the appropriate role/privileges.

All groups that an individual is a member of will be listed under the “Groups” tab at the top of the screen after the individual signs in to GeoPlatform ArcGIS Online.

Publishers from a non-GeoPlatform ArcGIS Online abide by their agency’s publishing processes.

Steps for NGDA Theme Hub Site Editors

  1. The NGDA Theme Lead sends an email to servicedesk@geoplatform.gov and requests that the designated editor be assigned the role of “GeoPlatform Site/Initiative Manager” and added to the appropriate theme’s hub site groups. This is to ensure that the theme lead is aware of all editors for the hub site.

  2. The designated editor must have an account (member of) for GeoPlatform ArcGIS Online (AGOL).

  3. The designated editor must read and sign the “GeoPlatform Rules of Behavior – Privileged Account” document. The rules of behavior document can be retrieved here. Digital signatures are accepted.

  4. The designated editor sends the signed Rules of Behavior document to servicedesk@geoplatform.gov. Please include username in the email. The username can be found at the top right of the screen after signing in to GeoPlatform AGOL.

  5. A GeoPlatform administrator assigned to the ticket will complete the following:

    • Update the designated editor’s account role to “GeoPlatform Site/Initiative Manager”.

    • Add the designated editor to the NGDA Theme’s Core Team, Content, and Followers groups.

    • Notify the NGDA Theme Lead and the designated editor via email that the request has been completed.

    • Update the ArcGIS Hub – Community Rules of Behavior Tracking spreadsheet and upload the signed document to the ArcGIS Hub Signed Rules of Behavior folder.

Steps for Publishers with a GeoPlatform Account who will NOT be editing the Hub Site

If the individual is to publish content using their GeoPlatform AGOL account:

  1. The NGDA Theme Lead and/or hub site editor, sends an email to the servicedesk@geoplatform.gov and requests that an individual become a publisher for the NGDA Theme Hub Site. The publisher will be assigned the role of “NGDA Theme Community Publisher” and added to the appropriate theme hub site’s Content group ONLY.

    • If the designated publisher sends the request instead of the Theme Lead or hub site editor, the Theme Lead must be copied on the email for their awareness.

  2. The designated publisher must have an account (member of) for GeoPlatform ArcGIS Online (AGOL).

  3. The designated publisher must read and sign the “GeoPlatform Rules of Behavior – Privileged Account” document. The rules of behavior document can be retrieved here. Digital signatures are accepted.

  4. The designated publisher sends the signed Rules of Behavior document to servicedesk@geoplatform.gov. Please include username in the email. The username can be found at the top right of the screen after signing in to GeoPlatform AGOL.

  5. A GeoPlatform administrator assigned to the ticket will complete the following:

    • Update the designated publisher’s account role to “NGDA Theme Community Publisher”.

    • Add the designated publisher to the NGDA Theme’s “Content” group. DO NOT add to the “Core Team” group.

    • Emails the NGDA Theme Lead and the designated publisher and notify them that the request has been completed.

    • Update the ArcGIS Hub – Community Rules of Behavior Tracking spreadsheet and upload the signed document to the ArcGIS Hub Signed Rules of Behavior folder.

Steps for Publishers from other agencies who will publish data using their agency ArcGIS Online account

Publishers who plan to use this option to share content to the NGDA Theme Hub Site from their agency’s site i.e. agency ArcGIS Online are not required to have a GeoPlatform account unless they wish to do so.

The agency’s publisher must ensure that the role assigned to their agency ArcGIS Online account allows them to join external groups. The external group in this case would be any group in GeoPlatform AGOL to include all NGDA Theme Hub site groups. For example, if the publisher is publishing/sharing content or datasets from USDA’s ArcGIS Online/Hub using their USDA account, they must make sure that their account role in USDA ArcGIS Online allows them to join the “Content” group in GeoPlatform AGOL. GeoPlatform cannot update privileges for non-GeoPlatform accounts.

  1. The agency publisher contacts the NGDA Theme Hub Site’s “Content” group owner or a designated Group Manager and requests to be added to the hub site’s “Content” group. The agency publisher must provide their agency ArcGIS Online username. The current owner for all NGDA Theme Community groups is James Irvine.

  2. The “Content” group owner or group manager clicks the “Invite Members” button and:

    • Turns on the toggle switch on the left side of the window to “Search all ArcGIS Online organization members”

    • Enter username in the “Search users” bar, selects the username from the search results, and then click “Add members to group”.

  3. The Content group owner or group manager notifies the agency publisher to sign in to their agency ArcGIS Online organization and accept the invitation by first clicking on the bell icon located at the top right of the screen after they sign in. For example, if the publisher is from the Department of Transportation (DOT), the publisher must sign in to DOT’s ArcGIS Online organization to accept the invitation

  4. The agency publisher abides by their agency’s rules of behavior for publishing to ArcGIS Online.

Additional information

  • Designating an individual as a “Group Manager” DOES NOT grant the individual the privileges to edit the hub site.

    • A Core Team group manager can only invite other GeoPlatform AGOL members to the group, approve or deny membership requests, remove content shared with the group, remove members from the group, and edit group properties.

    • A Content group manager can invite GeoPlatform AGOL members and members from another agency’s ArcGIS Online if the group manager is provided with the individual’s username and the member is allowed to join external groups.

    • The group owner can designate a member of the group as a Group Manager. It is not necessary to contact the GeoPlatform Service Desk unless the group owner is not available to do so.

  • GeoPlatform Site/Initiative Managers and NGDA Theme Community Publishers are required to read and sign a new form annually.

  • Should an editor no longer need to be a hub site editor, the editor or the NGDA Theme Lead must contact servicedesk@geoplatform.gov to have the account removed from all hub site groups and their account role downgraded accordingly. Note to GeoPlatform AGOL administrators – downgrade to “Constituent Named User”.