Maps Engine

Sharing map components and maps

Every asset in the Google Maps Engine catalog (data sources, layers, and maps) has at least one sharing setting that determines who can interact with it.

There are three kinds of sharing settings:

• The Shared with field on data, layers, and maps. This field grants permissions to map editors who use Maps Engine.
   
• The Viewable by field on maps. This field grants permissions to people who can view and interact with a finished map, using a client such as Google Earth, Google Maps, or the Google Earth API.
   
• The Accessible by field on data sources. This field gives permissions to download the original data source by means of a link or an ID that can be used in an API.

This figure shows that development sharing settings apply until a map is published; viewer sharing settings then apply.

When you create a map, its sharing settings supersede the sharing settings of its component layers. If a map includes confidential data sources or layers, be sure that the map-level access supports that confidentiality.