Managing your data effectively in the cloud is crucial, and understanding the costs associated with Online Storage is a key part of that. If you’re using ArcGIS Online, you might be wondering how feature storage credits are calculated. Let’s break down the essentials to give you a clear picture.
Feature storage in ArcGIS Online is charged based on a credit system, calculated hourly from a monthly rate. While you don’t need to become a math expert to manage your storage, knowing the basics can help you understand your credit consumption. If you ever notice unexpected charges, ArcGIS Online provides excellent reporting tools to investigate.
To get a detailed view of your feature storage, ArcGIS Online offers comprehensive storage reports. These reports allow you to see the storage size of each of your feature layers, helping you pinpoint where your credits are being used. Esri’s ArcGIS Blog has a helpful article, “Understanding Feature Storage Reports“, which dives deeper into interpreting these reports. (Alt text: A screenshot of an ArcGIS Online Feature Storage Report showing different feature layers and their storage sizes, highlighting the importance of monitoring online storage usage.)
For those who want to delve further into the credit calculation, the Learn ArcGIS course “Monitor member activity—Set Up an ArcGIS Organization” includes a section on credit math. This resource can be valuable if you’re aiming for a more granular understanding of credit consumption related to your online storage.
Breaking Down the Credit Math for Online Storage
Let’s illustrate with a simplified example to understand how hourly storage costs are derived from a monthly rate.
Imagine you are storing 10 MB of feature data throughout an entire month. This amount of storage would cost approximately 2.4 credits for the complete month. This is a rounded figure for illustrative purposes, but it gives a good approximation.
The hourly calculation comes into play when you publish and delete feature storage during the month. The credit charges are dynamically adjusted based on the size of your feature storage each hour. This ensures you are only charged for the storage you are actually using.
For instance, if you hosted a 10 MB service on ArcGIS Online for just 6 hours, the calculation would look something like this:
First, we determine the hourly credit rate:
2.4 credits per month ÷ 744 hours (average hours in a month, using March as an example) = approximately 0.00322 credits per hour.
Then, we calculate the cost for 6 hours of storage:
0.00322 credits/hour * 6 hours = approximately 0.019 credits for those six hours.
This calculation is based on the total storage within your ArcGIS Online organization, which you can monitor through the view status dashboards within your organizational account. Regularly checking these dashboards, like the example shown, is a best practice for managing your online storage effectively. (Alt text: An example of an ArcGIS Online View Status Dashboard, visualizing credit consumption and storage usage, emphasizing the transparency of online storage monitoring.)
Need Further Assistance?
ArcGIS Online provides robust tools and resources to help you understand and manage your online storage costs. By utilizing the storage reports and understanding the basic credit calculation, you can effectively monitor your usage.
However, if you encounter anything that seems unclear or if you require more detailed insights beyond the reporting tools, don’t hesitate to reach out. Your account representative or Esri Support Services are readily available to review your reports with you and answer any specific questions you might have about your online storage and associated costs. They can provide tailored guidance to ensure you’re optimizing your online storage within ArcGIS Online.
