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As you work with ArcGIS Explorer, you'll have occasion to specify and use files located on servers or your local machine or network. This topic describes the various forms of pathnames used to access these files.

##### Path and pathname

A path is a slash-separated list of directory names followed by either a directory name or a file name. A directory is the same as a folder.

    E:\Data\MyStuff            (path terminating in a directory name)
    E:\Data\MyStuff\roads.shp  (path terminating in a file name)

In everyday usage, path and pathname are synonymous. Pathname is sometimes spelled path name.

##### UNC pathnames

UNC stands for Universal (or Uniform, or Unified) Naming Convention and is a syntax for accessing folders and files on a network of computers. The syntax is:

    \\<computer name>\<shared directory>\

followed by any number of directories and terminated with a directory or file name.

For example:

    \\e2server\public\studyarea.gdb
    \\tilia\shared\tools

The computer name is always preceded by a double backward-slash (\\).

In UNC, the computer name is also known as the host name or server name.

A few rules for UNC pathnames are

- UNC paths cannot contain a drive letter (such as D:).
- You cannot navigate to directories above the shared directory.
- The Store relative pathnames option for documents and tools has no affect on UNC pathnames.

In ArcGIS Explorer, you can use a UNC pathname anywhere a pathname is requested. This is particularly advantageous for shared data on a local area network of computers. Data can be stored on one computer and everyone with access to the computer can use the data.

There are two issues with sending documents or tools that contain UNC paths.

- The recipient doesn't have access to your computer, either because of security settings on the shared directory, or they don't have access to your network.
- The computer or its shared folder is removed from the network.

In Windows, you can share a folder so that other users on your local area network can access it. In Windows Explorer, right-click a folder, click Sharing and Security, then follow the instructions on the dialog box that opens.

##### URLs

URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator, and uniquely specifies the address of any document on the Internet. The components of a URL are:

- The protocol used to access the resource, such as http (HyperText Transfer Protocol) or ftp (File Transfer Protocol)
- The host (server) to communicate with
- The path to the file on the host

For example:

    http://www.esri.com/products.html

Windows Internet Explorer allows you to type "www.esri.com" in the Internet Explorer address bar, and it will add http://. It's more correct, however, to specify the protocol, such as http. Other protocols include https (Secure HyperText Transfer Protocol), ftp (File Transfer Protocol), mailto (E-mail address), and news (Usenet newsgroups), among others.

In ArcGIS Explorer, you can only use URLs where permitted. In general, the user interface will tell you whether a URL is permitted or needed. In geoprocessing, URLs can be used in the Documentation Editor when creating links, or in labels within ModelBuilder. When using URLs in ArcGIS Explorer, it's recommended that you include the protocol, as in

    http://www.esri.com

rather than

    www.esri.com