ArcGIS Server allows you to apply detailed metadata to your services. If the service is on an ArcGIS Server site that is federated with an ArcGIS Enterprise portal, you can add, edit, and view metadata in the layer item's details page in the portal. For services on stand-alone ArcGIS Server sites, use the ArcGIS Pro metadata editor. In many cases, the metadata that you applied to your map or other resource is applied automatically to the service when you publish the resource. You can then edit the metadata as desired.
Why create metadata?
Metadata on services helps the people who use the services know what's in the services, who created them, and what usage restrictions they might carry. Some organizations require specific items of metadata on any geographic information they publish. Even if you're not required to provide it, including at least some metadata can help ensure that your services are found, used, and attributed correctly.
Creating metadata for services
When you publish a service from ArcGIS Pro, some of the metadata defined on the resources you publish is included in the service. See Introduction to sharing web layers for information on what metadata is included for each type of layer you publish.
Other ways to create metadata on services are as follows:
- Copy or import metadata from another item in the Catalog view in ArcGIS Pro.
- For services on federated ArcGIS Server sites or services you add as items to an ArcGIS Enterprise portal, you can add metadata to the service from the item's detail page if you are the item owner or the organization administrator.
Accessing service metadata
You can view the metadata for a service in the following ways:
- For services on federated ArcGIS Server sites or services you add as items to a portal, you can access metadata for the service or for layers in the service from the service layer's item page in the ArcGIS Enterprise portal or in the Catalog view in ArcGIS Pro.
- For services on stand-alone ArcGIS Server sites, view service metadata in the Catalog view in ArcGIS Pro.
- Developers can append /info/metadata to the end of a service's REST URL to get an XML file containing all the service's metadata. Developers can parse this metadata and present it to the end user of the service in the desired format.
When metadata is requested from a REST endpoint that is based on a service capability (for example, WMS, Feature Access, or Network Analysis), the metadata of the parent service is returned. For example, if you request metadata from a network analysis service that is enabled on map service Seattle, all the metadata for the map service Seattle is returned. If you have any important information to convey about the network analysis service, you should put this in the Seattle map service metadata.