Overlay layers

An overlay analysis resulting in a new layer with properties (and partial property areas) that intersect flood zones.

What is an overlay analysis?

An overlay analysis is the process of combining two or more feature datasets using either intersect, union, or erase methods. To execute the analysis, use the spatial analysis service and the OverlayLayers operation.

overlay layers

The overlay methods you can use depends on whether the input and overlay feature layers are points, polylines, or polygons.

When using the Erase overlay method, the input features must be of the same or lesser order feature type of the overlay layer. The following erase options are supported:

A point feature can be erased by point, line, or area features.
A line feature can be erased by line or area features.
An area feature can be erased by area features.

The table below outlines each overlay method:

Overlay method	Input features	Overlay features	Description
Intersect	Points, Polylines, or Polygons	Points, Polylines, or Polygons	The input features (or portions of features) that overlap with the overlay features are kept.
Union	Polygons	Polygons	The input and overlay areas are combined.
Erase	Points	Points, Polylines, or Polygons	The input features (or portions of features) that do not overlap with the areas in the overlay layer are erased.
	Polylines	Polylines, or Polygons
	Polygons	Polygons

The type of result features will depend on the overlay method and inputs. All of the attributes from the input and overlay feature data will be carried over to the result feature data.

Real-world examples of this analysis include the following:

Determining which parcels are within the 100-year floodplain.
Finding what types of roads are within a county.
Locating the wells that are within an abandoned military base.

How to perform an overlay analysis

The general steps to performing an overlay analysis are as follows:

Review the parameters for the OverlayLayers operation.
Send a request to get the spatial analysis service URL.
Execute a job request with the following URL and parameters:
- URL: https://<YOUR_ANALYSIS_SERVICE>/arcgis/rest/services/tasks/GPServer/OverlayLayers/submitJob
- Parameters:
  - inputLayer: Your hosted featurelayer dataset or feature collection.
  - overlayLayer: The features that will be overlaid with the inputLayer parameter features.
  - overlayType: The type of overlay to be performed.
  - outputName: The name of the resulting feature layer.
Check the status.
Get the output layer results.

To see examples using ArcGIS API for Python, ArcGIS REST JS, and the ArcGIS REST API, go to Examples below.

URL request

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http://<YOUR_ANALYSIS_SERVICE>/arcgis/rest/services/tasks/GPServer/OverlayLayers/submitJob?<parameters>

Required parameters

Name	Description	Examples
`f`	The format of the data returned	`f=json` `f=pjson`
`token`	An OAuth 2.0 access token. Learn how to get an access token in Security and authentication.	`token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>`
`inputLayer`	The point, line, or polygon features that will be overlayed with the `overlayLayer` parameter.	`{"url": <SERVICE_URL>, "filter": <where clause>}`
`overlayLayer`	The features that will be overlaid with the inputLayer parameter features.	`{"url": <SERVICE_URL>, "filter": <where clause>}`

Key parameters

Name	Description	Examples
`overlayType`	The type of overlay to be performed. [Intersect, Union, Erase]	`"overlayType": "Union"`
`outputType`	The type of intersection to be found. This parameter is only valid when the overlayType parameter value is `Intersect`. [Input,Line,Point]	`"outputType":"Line"`
`outputName`	A string representing the name of the hosted feature layer to return with the results. NOTE: If you do not include this parameter, the results are returned as a feature collection (JSON).	`{"serviceProperties": {"name": "<SERVICE_NAME>"}}`

Example

Overlay parks with bike paths

This example uses the OverlayLayers operation to find areas of parks that are within 500 feet of bike routes.

In the analysis, the inputLayer value is the Park polygons hosted feature layer. The overlayLayer value is the 500 foot Buffer of bike routes. The overlayType value uses the default intersect method.

To learn how to generate buffers, go to Create buffers.

Overlay analysis of buffered bike paths (500 ft) that intersect park polygons.

APIs

ArcGIS API for Python

ArcGIS REST JS

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input_layer = "https://services3.arcgis.com/GVgbJbqm8hXASVYi/arcgis/rest/services/Park_Polygons/FeatureServer/0"

overlay_layer = "https://services3.arcgis.com/GVgbJbqm8hXASVYi/arcgis/rest/services/Bike_routes_500_ft_buffer/FeatureServer/0"

results = overlay_layers(
    input_layer=input_layer,
    overlay_layer=overlay_layer,
    overlay_type="intersect",
    output_type="Input",
    # Outputs results as a new hosted feature layer
    output_name="Overlay layers results",
)

result_features = results.layers[0].query()

print(f"overlayer layer result item created {results.itemid}")

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Service requests

Request

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cURL

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POST arcgis.com/sharing/rest/portals/self HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

&f=json
&token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>

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Response (JSON)

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{
  "helperServices": {
    // Other parameters
    "analysis": {
      "url": "https://<YOUR_ANALYSIS_SERVICE>/arcgis/rest/services/tasks/GPServer"
    },
    "geoenrichment": {
      "url": "https://geoenrich.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/World/GeoenrichmentServer"
    }
  }
}

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POST <YOUR_ANALYSIS_SERVICE>/arcgis/rest/services/tasks/GPServer/OverlayLayers/submitJob HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

f=json
&inputLayer={"url":"https://services3.arcgis.com/GVgbJbqm8hXASVYi/arcgis/rest/services/Park_Polygons/FeatureServer/0"}
&overlayLayer={"url":"https://services3.arcgis.com/GVgbJbqm8hXASVYi/arcgis/rest/services/Bike_routes_500_ft_buffer/FeatureServer/0"}
&overlayType=intersect
&outputType=Input
&outputName={"serviceProperties":{"name":Overlay layers result"}}
&token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>

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Response (JSON)

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{
  "jobId": "<JOB_ID>",
  "jobStatus": "esriJobSubmitted",
  "results": {},
  "inputs": {},
  "messages": []
}
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POST <ANALYSIS_SERVICE>/arcgis/rest/services/tasks/GPServer/OverlayLayers/jobs/<JOB_ID> HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

f=json
&token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>

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Response (JSON)

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{
  "jobId": "<JOB_ID>",
  "jobStatus": "esriJobSucceeded",
  "results": {
    "outputLayer": {
      "paramUrl": "results/outputLayer"
    }
  },
  "inputs": {},
  "messages": []
}

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POST <ANALYSIS_SERVICE>/arcgis/rest/services/tasks/GPServer/OverlayLayers/jobs/<JOB_ID>/results/outputLayer HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

f=json
&token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>

Run in Postman

Response (JSON)

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{
  "paramName": "outputLayer",
  "dataType": "GPString",
  "value": {
    "featureSet": {
    }
  }
}

Tutorials

Learn how to perform related analyses interactively with Map Viewer and programmatically with ArcGIS API for Python, ArcGIS REST JS, and ArcGIS REST API.

Combine data

Overlay, join, and dissolve features using combine analysis operations.

Services

Spatial analysis service

Process spatial datasets to discover relationships and patterns.

API support

	Merge layers	Overlay layers	Join features	Dissolve boundaries
ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript	¹	¹	¹	¹
ArcGIS Maps SDK for .NET
ArcGIS Maps SDK for Kotlin
ArcGIS Maps SDK for Swift
ArcGIS Maps SDK for Java
ArcGIS Maps SDK for Qt
ArcGIS API for Python
ArcGIS REST JS	¹	¹	¹	¹
Esri Leaflet	²	²	²	²
MapBox GL JS	²	²	²	²
OpenLayers	²	²	²	²

Full supportPartial supportNo support

1. Access with geoprocessing task
2. Access via ArcGIS REST JS

Tools

Developer dashboard

Manage API keys, service usage, and data with the ArcGIS Developers website.

ArcGIS Online

Create, manage, and share content and data with cloud-based GIS tools.

Map Viewer

Create, explore, and share web maps for 2D applications.

ArcGIS Pro

Explore, visualize, and analyze both 2D and 3D data with desktop GIS tools.

Mapping APIs and location services

Overlay layers

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