When searching for items using the website search or the focused search on any of the content page tabs, you can perform advanced keyword searches to narrow your results. Advanced keyword search is also available when you search for layers to add in Map Viewer and Scene Viewer. You can use any of the following in your advanced search: fields, range searches, boosting, Boolean operators, and grouping. These are described in the following sections.
Fields
When performing a search for content or groups on the website or in Map Viewer or Scene Viewer, you can either specify a field or use the default fields. For items, the default fields are title, tags, snippet, description, type, and typekeywords. For groups, the default fields are id, title, description, snippet, tags, and owner. The best match is always returned. See the tables below for descriptions of these fields.
You can search a specific field by typing the field name followed by a colon and the term you are looking for—for example, type:geojson. For a term with multiple words, use double quotation marks. For example, "map services" returns items with the term map services in a field, whereas map services returns items with either maps or services in a field.
If you do not use a field indicator, the default fields are searched. For example, if you want to add a layer to your map and know the name of the owner, you can enter owner: followed by the owner's user name in the search to narrow a potentially long list of results.
Tip:
You can create a search string by linking fields together with the AND operator—for example, owner:esri AND tags:streets.
Item fields
You can refine your item searches using specific fields in your search string. These fields include the following:
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
id | ID of the item; for example, id:4e770315ad9049e7950b552aa1e40869 returns the item for that ID. |
owner | Owner of the item; for example, owner:esri returns all content published by Esri. Field and value are case sensitive. |
created | The date, expressed in UNIX time, that items were created; for example, created: [0000001249084800000 TO 0000001249548000000] returns all items published between August 1, 2009, 12:00 a.m., and August 6, 2009, 8:40 a.m. |
title | Item title; for example, title:"Southern California" returns items with Southern California in the title. |
type | Type returns the type of item and is a predefined field. For example, type:KML returns items with KML as the type and type:"Geocoding Service" returns items with Geocoding Service as the type. Use quotation marks for more precise results, especially for types that include a space. |
description | Item description; for example, description:California finds all items with the term California in the description. |
tags | The tag field; for example, tags:"San Francisco" returns items tagged with the term San Francisco. |
snippet | Summary; for example, snippet:"natural resources" returns items with natural resources in the summary. |
spatialreference | The spatial reference; for example, spatialreference:102100 returns items in the Web Mercator auxiliary sphere projection. |
accessinformation | Access information, for example, accessinformation:esri returns items with esri as the source credit. |
access | The access field; for example, access:public returns public items. This field is predefined, and the options are public, private, or shared. You will only see private or shared items that you have access to. |
group | The ID of the group; for example, group:1652a410f59c4d8f98fb87b25e0a2669 returns items within the given group. |
numratings | Number of ratings; for example, numratings:6 returns items with six ratings. |
numcomments | Number of comments; for example, numcomments:[1 TO 3] returns items that have one to three comments. |
avgrating | Average rating; for example, avgrating:3.5 returns items with 3.5 as the average rating. |
orgid |
The ID of the organization, for example, orgid:5uh3wwYLNzBuU0Ef returns items within the given organization. |
modified | The date, expressed in UNIX time, that items were last modified; for example, modified:[0000001249084800000 TO 0000001249548000000] returns all items modified between August 1, 2009, 12:00 a.m., and August 6, 2009, 8:40 a.m. |
categories | Organization content categories; for example, categories: "Historical Maps" returns items that are categorized in the portal as historical maps. |
Group fields
You can filter your searches on groups using specific fields in your search string. Only public groups or groups that you have access to will be searched. These fields include the following:
| Group field | Details |
|---|---|
id | Group ID; for example, id:1db70a32f5f84ea9a88f5f460f22557b returns the group for that ID. |
title | Group title; for example, title:redlands returns groups with Redlands in the title. |
owner | Group owner; for example, owner:esri returns groups owned by Esri. |
description | Description; for example, description:"street maps" returns groups with street maps in the description field. |
snippet | Summary; for example, snippet:transportation returns groups with transportation in the group summary. |
tags | The tags field; for example, tags:"bike lanes" returns groups tagged with the term bike lanes. |
phone | Contact information; for example, phone:jsmith33@esri.com returns groups with jsmith33@esri.com as the contact. |
created | The date, expressed in UNIX time, that groups were created; for example, created:0000001247085176000 returns groups created on July 8, 2009. |
modified | The date, expressed in UNIX time, that groups were last modified; for example, modified:0000001247085176000 returns groups modified on July 8, 2009. |
access | The access level of the group. Values are private and public. Private is the default; for example, access:private returns private groups. |
isinvitationonly | The isinvitationonly field returns groups that require an invitation to join. For example, isinvitationonly:false returns groups that do not require an invitation to join. This field is predefined with the options true or false. |
orgid | The ID of the organization, for example, orgid:5uh3wwYLNzBuU0Ef returns groups within the given organization. |
Range searches
Range searches allow you to match on-field values between the lower and upper bounds. Range queries can be inclusive or exclusive of the upper and lower bounds. Inclusive range queries are denoted by brackets ([]). Exclusive range queries are denoted by braces ({}).
For example, to find all items created between December 1, 2009, and December 9, 2009, use created:[0000001259692864000 TO 0000001260384065000].
The created field contains the date and time an item is created in UNIX time. UNIX time, also used for the modified field, is defined as the number of seconds that have elapsed since midnight January 1, 1970. The website stores time in milliseconds, so you need to add three zeros to the end of the UNIX time. Additionally, you need to add six zeros to the front of the number. This is because the number is stored as a string in the database.
Range searches are not restricted to date fields. You can also use range queries with nondate fields, for example, owner:[arcgis_explorer TO esri]. This will find all items from the owners between arcgis_explorer and esri, including arcgis_explorer and esri.
Boost a term
Boosting allows you to control the relevance of an item. To boost a term, use the caret symbol (^) with a boost factor (a number) at the end of the term you are searching. The higher the boost factor, the more relevant the term will be. For example, if you are searching for recent fires and want fires to be more relevant, create the expression recent fires^5.
Boolean operators
Boolean operators allow terms to be combined through logic operators. The website supports AND, plus sign (+), OR, NOT, and minus sign (-) as Boolean operators. Boolean operators must be uppercase.
| Boolean operator | Details |
|---|---|
AND | The AND operator is the default conjunction. This means that if there is no Boolean operator between two terms, the AND operator is used. The AND operator performs matching where both terms exist in either the given field or the default fields. This is equivalent to an intersection using sets. |
OR | The OR operator links two terms and finds a match if either of the terms exists. This is equivalent to a union using sets. To search for an item that contains either the term recent fires or just fires, use the query "recent fires" OR fires. |
+ | The plus sign, or the required operator, requires that the term after the symbol exist somewhere in the given field or the default fields. To search for items that must contain fires and may contain recent, use the query recent +fires. |
NOT | The NOT operator excludes items that contain the term after NOT. This is equivalent to a difference using sets. To search for documents that contain California but not imagery, use the query California NOT Imagery. The NOT operator cannot be used with a single term. |
- | The minus sign, or the prohibit operator, excludes items that contain the term after the symbol. To search for documents that contain California but not imagery, use the query California -Imagery. |
Grouping
You can create subqueries using parentheses to group clauses. This can be very useful if you want to control the Boolean logic for a query.
To search for either California or recent and fires, create the expression (California OR recent) AND fires.
You can group multiple clauses to a single field using parentheses.
To search for a title that contains both the phrase population change and the word recent, use the query title:(+"population change" +recent).