Layer types

You can use different types of data layers to access and display different types of data in your applications. Data layers can access ArcGIS data sources and other types of data sources such as OGC data and files.

Different data layers provide different types of functionality. The functionality available is largely dependent on the capabilities of the data source. For example, a feature layer can access a feature service and perform queries, edits, and data export, whereas a vector tile layer can only access tiles from a vector tile service.

The Layer class is the base class for all types of layers. The type of layer you create depends on the type of data you want to display. To display feature data (point, line, or polygon geometry), for example, you can create a FeatureLayer that points to an online service (such as a feature service) or a supported local dataset. The tables below summarizes common types of layers.

ArcGIS data layers

The following layers work with ArcGIS data sources.

Layer	Data type	Display	Query	Edit	Offline	Data sources
AnnotationLayer	Feature	2D	True	True	True	ArcGIS Enterprise service, mobile map package (.mmpk), mobile geodatabase (.geodatabase)
ArcGISMapImageLayer	Image	2D/3D	False	False	True	Map service
ArcGISSceneLayer	Indexed 3D Scene Layers (I3S)	3D	False	False	True	Scene service, mobile scene package (.mspk), scene layer package (.slpk)
ArcGISTiledLayer	Image Tile	2D/3D	False	False	True	Tile service, tile package (.tpk/.tpkx)
ArcGISVectorTiledLayer	Vector Tile	2D/3D	False	False	True	Vector tile service, vector tile package (.vtpk)
DimensionLayer	Feature	2D	True	False	True	ArcGIS Enterprise service, mobile map package, mobile geodatabase
DynamicEntityLayer	Dynamic entity	2D/3D	False	False	False	ArcGIS stream service
FeatureCollectionLayer	Feature	2D/3D	True	True	True	Portal item, web map, feature set / query result
FeatureLayer	Feature	2D/3D	True	True	True	• Online sources:     — OgcFeatureCollectionTable     — ServiceFeatureTable     — WfsFeatureTable   • Offline sources:     — GeodatabaseFeatureTable     — GeoPackageFeatureTable     — ShapefileFeatureTable
IntegratedMeshLayer	I3S	3D	False	False	True	Scene service, mobile scene package, scene layer package
PointCloudLayer	I3S	3D	False	False	True	Scene service, mobile scene package, scene layer package
RasterLayer	Raster	2D/3D	False	False	True	• Remote ArcGIS Image services,     see ImageServiceRaster.   • Raster files - path to a file on the device,     see Raster Class.   • Raster files within GeoPackages,     see GeoPackageRaster.   • Mosaic datasets,     see MosaicDatasetRaster.

OGC data layers

The following layers work with OGC data sources.

Layer	Data type	Display	Query	Edit	Offline	Data sources
ArcGISSceneLayer	I3S	3D	False	False	True	Scene service, mobile scene package, scene layer package
FeatureLayer	Feature	2D/3D	True	True	True	OGC API - Features, Web Feature Service (WFS), GeoPackage (.gpkg)
IntegratedMeshLayer	I3S	3D	False	False	True	Scene service, mobile scene package, scene layer package
KmlLayer	Feature/Image	2D/3D	True	True	True	KML file (.kml, .kmz)
PointCloudLayer	I3S	3D	False	False	True	Scene service, mobile scene package, scene layer package
RasterLayer	Raster	2D/3D	True	False	True	GeoPackage
WmsLayer	Image	2D/3D	False	False	False	Web Map Service (WMS)
WmtsLayer	Image Tile	2D/3D	False	False	False	Web Map Tile Service (WMTS)

Other data layers

The following layers work with non-ArcGIS data sources.

Layer	Data type	Display	Query	Edit	Offline	Data sources
BingMapsLayer	Image Tile	2D/3D	False	False	False	Bing maps service
EncLayer	Binary (SENC)	2D	False	False	True	ENC exchange set
OpenStreetMapLayer	Image Tile	2D/3D	False	False	True	OpenStreetMap (OSM) image tile service
RasterLayer	Raster	2D/3D	False	False	False	Raster files e.g. GeoTiff (.tiff, .tif), MrSID (.sid)
WebTiledLayer	Image Tile	2D/3D	False	False	False	{level},{row},{col} Image tile service