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How dataset access works in MangoMap

How public access, group access, and account roles decide who can view, download, and edit a dataset. A new dataset starts private to its creator.

A dataset is an item in your account’s data library. Its access settings control who can view or edit it and whether anyone on the web can open it. Dataset access is separate from map access: a public map can use a private dataset as a layer, and editing a layer’s data still depends on dataset access, not map access.

Default access on import

When you import data, the new dataset is private to you.

  • Public access is off, so the dataset is not available outside your workspace.
  • No groups have access, so other users in your workspace cannot view or edit it.
  • The dataset creator and the account owner can always view, edit, share, and delete the dataset, regardless of group access.

Grant access through Public access or groups when other people need to work with the dataset.

The two access models

Dataset access has two independent settings:

  • Public access makes the dataset publicly viewable and downloadable. Anyone on the web who reaches the dataset can open it.
  • Internal Access lets you grant View or Edit access to specific user groups in your workspace. Group access is for signed-in users only.

You can use either setting, both, or neither. Public access does not replace group access; it adds to it.

View vs. Edit

Group access has two switches per group:

  • View lets group members open the dataset and see its data.
  • Edit lets group members change the dataset.

Edit includes View. A group with Edit enabled can also view the dataset, even if View is off.

One Edit switch covers every kind of dataset change. A user with group Edit access can:

  • Edit feature attributes and geometry on any map that uses the dataset as a layer (see Editing features).
  • Update the dataset from a new file (see Importing data).
  • Change dataset sync settings.
  • Change dataset properties in Configuration > Data details.

Separate switches do not exist. Edit grants all of these actions.

How dataset access combines with account roles

Group access is one part of what a user can do. The other is the user’s account role: Viewer, Editor, Admin, or Owner. The account owner is the user with the Owner role — at the top of the role hierarchy.

  • Viewing a dataset only requires View (or Edit) on a group the user belongs to. A Viewer role is enough.
  • Editing a dataset requires Edit on a group the user belongs to and an account role of Editor or higher. A Viewer with Edit access through a group still cannot edit the dataset.
  • Managing access for a dataset (changing the toggles in Access) requires Edit on a group the user belongs to and an account role of Admin, or being the dataset creator or the account owner. A non-admin with Edit access can edit the dataset but cannot change who else has access.

The dataset creator and account owner can always view, edit, share, and delete it. Group access is the only way to extend those rights to other workspace users.

Follow the checks from the top to see what one user can do with a dataset:

What a user can do with a dataset Flowchart: the dataset creator and the account owner can view, edit and manage access; a user in a group with Edit can view, edit and manage access as an Admin, view and edit as an Editor, or only view as a Viewer; anyone else can only view if Public access is on or one of their groups has View, and otherwise cannot open the dataset. YES NO YES ADMIN EDITOR VIEWER NO YES NO Someone opens a dataset Its creator or theaccount owner? One of their groupshas Edit? Accountrole? Public access on, ora group with View? View, edit and manage access View and editcan’t manage access View only Can’t open it

How dataset access relates to map access

Dataset access and map access are independent.

  • A user who can view a map can see its layers, but the underlying dataset is only accessible to them through that map. Map access does not grant any rights on the dataset itself.
  • A user who can open a map and use feature editing tools still cannot change the data unless they have Edit access on the dataset behind that layer. Editing tools are gated by dataset access, not by map access.
  • Making a map public does not make its layers’ datasets public. Map viewers can read the data through the map but cannot download or open the dataset directly.
  • The exception is a map tool that exports results. Download results in Advanced Search, the Query tool, and Proximity Analysis gives anyone who can open the map a file of the features they find, whatever the dataset access.

A public map can show a private dataset, but it does not open the dataset to its viewers:

A public map over a private dataset Layer stack: a private dataset feeds a layer on a public map, so a map viewer can open the map and see the data through it, but cannot download the dataset or open it on its own, because that needs dataset access. OPENS DOWNLOAD AS A LAYER Map viewercan open the map MAP ACCESSPublic mapAllow public access on DATASET ACCESSPrivate datasetPublic access off Sees the datain layers and popups Can’t download itor open it on its own

If you want viewers to be able to download a dataset or open it on its own, turn on Public access for the dataset, not for the map.

The View-follows-Edit and View-follows-Public rules

The Access UI links View to other settings to keep them consistent.

  • When a group has Edit enabled, the group’s View switch is forced on and disabled.
  • When Public access is on, every group’s View switch is forced on and disabled. The dataset is publicly viewable, so signed-in groups can view it as well. Group Edit switches stay independent.
Access section of a public dataset: Public access on with the Public chip, and each group (Engineers, Team, Editors) with View on and greyed out and Edit off

To change a group’s view access while these rules are active, turn off Edit for that group, or turn off Public access for the dataset.