ArcGIS Online basics

Before we cover the basics of ArcGIS Online, let's discuss your access to ArcGIS Online. Some readers will have employers with organizational accounts. From Esri:

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If you are not a member of an ArcGIS Online organization, you can create a public account to access ArcGIS Online. A public account is available for individuals to create and share content with limits on usage. If you already have an Esri Account, it is automatically a public account and you can use it to sign in.

That is one potential path. Another is to take advantage of Esri's free developer ArcGIS Online account. This is a limited usage account, which comes with 50 credits per month. It is an excellent way to take your first steps with ArcGIS Online.

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Find out more about the ArcGIS Online developer account at: https://developers.arcgis.com/en/

There are three key ArcGIS Online concepts which are important to cover: Named Users, web maps, and OAuth authentication.

Named Users and Groups

The concept of...