As an administrator, you can use the data sources tool to create and configure a data source.

For more information about the following steps, see the subsequent topics in the section.

1. To access the data sources configuration tool, click Administration > Solution Administration > Configuration Tools > Data Sources.
2. To create a data source, click Create.
3. In the Create Data Source window, enter values for Data source label, and Data source unique text identifier. You cannot reuse the unique text identifier for any other data source.
4. If you want the data source to be a boundary area, select Yes from the Boundary area list.
5. Select a value from the Geometry list. The options that are displayed depend on the value that you selected for Boundary area. Also, the value that you select here affects the options that are displayed in the Acquisition method list.
6. To specify whether you want to either map the properties yourself, or use a predefined mapping, such as CAP, select a value from the Data source definition list. The value that you choose affects the options that are displayed in the Acquisition method list.
7. Choose a value from the Acquisition method list.
   If you chose User defined source to database mapping from the Data source definition list, the following options are displayed:

   Upload a CSV file

   In step 8, you will be prompted to browse to the location of the CSV file that you want to upload. The CSV file that you select is copied to the appropriate directory on the application server.

   Connect to a database

   In step 8, you will be prompted to enter the database type, host name or IP address, port, user ID, password, database name, and database table.

   Acquire data from an Esri server

   This option is displayed only if you have enabled Esri data sources. For more information about enabling Esri data sources, see the related link. In step 8, you will be prompted to enter the ArcGIS feature service URL. The ArcGIS feature service URL is the URL for your ArcGIS feature service.

   If you are using a secured ESRI feature service, for example, a service that must be accessed using either ArcGIS online credentials, or ArcServer credentials, then you must also enter an ArcGIS token service URL, a user ID, and a password. You use the ArcGIS token service URL to acquire the authentication token for accessing the ArcGIS server.

   • For a local ArcGIS server, the token service URL is similar to the following example: your_arcgis_server:port/arcgis/tokens/generateTokens.
   • For ArcGIS Online, the token server URL is similar to the following example: ArcGISOnlineURL/sharing/rest/generateToken.

   If you chose Predefined column mapping from the Data source definition list, one or more of the following options are displayed, depending on the other criteria that you selected:

   Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

   To create a data source that receives CAP messages, select the appropriate option to be able to display the CAP messages either on the geospatial map, or on the location map.

   User interface entry

   To create a data source that can be used to create data items through either the maps, list, or REST API only, select one of these options. If you select one of these options, all the data source properties are preassigned. Use this option to quickly create new data items either on the maps, or in the list.

   • If you want to create data items on the geospatial map, select User interface entry for geospatial maps. The location for each data item is contained in a well-known text (WKT) format string.
   • If you want to create data items on the location map, select User interface entry for location maps. An area property is assigned to the data source.

8. Choose the appropriate option depending on the value that you selected for Data source definition:
   • If you chose Predefined column mapping, click OK to save the data source, and go straight to step 11.
   • If you chose User-defined source to database mapping, click Next to go to Step 2 of 3: Connection Information, and then enter the appropriate information for your chosen acquisition method.
9. Click Next to go to Step 3 of 3: Data Ingestion, and choose which properties you want to be imported into your data source. All the properties are selected by default.
10. Click OK to save the data source.
11. In the list of data sources, click the name of the data source that you created. Icons that are displayed next to the data source indicate whether data flow into the data source has been started.

    Red square

    When the icon is displayed next to the name of a data source, the icon indicates that data flow into the data source has not been started. You must configure one or more settings before data flow into the data source can be started.

    Green triangle

    When the icon is displayed next to the name of a data source, the icon indicates that data flow into the data source has been started. You can view data items from the data source, and add data items to the data source.

12. On the Minimal Properties tab, configure the settings as appropriate. If you used any of the user-defined source to database mappings except for a database view connection, data flow into the data source is not started until you complete the settings on the Minimal Properties tab. However, if you used either a database view connection mapping, or any of the predefined column mappings, data flow is automatically started into the data source.
13. Optional: Configure the settings on the Security, Routing, and Appearance tabs according to your requirements.
    Note: If you do not configure security for your data source, the default is that only you, the wpsadmin user, and the CityWideAdmin group, have access to view the data items.