Introduction to maps

A map is a collection of layers. You use a map together with a map view to display layers of geographic data in 2D. Most applications contain a basemap layer to display geographic data with streets or satellite imagery. The data for a basemap layer is typically provided by basemap services, such as the basemap styles service or static basemap tiles service.

You can use basemap layers to:

Display different types of geographic data of the world for a map.
Display vector tile styles such as streets, navigation, outdoor, and light gray canvas.
Display map tiles for oceans, satellite, imagery, and hillshade.
Display custom vector basemap styles with your own colors, glyphs, and fonts.

Basemap styles service

The basemap styles service is a location service that provides basemap styles and data for the extent of the world. The service includes ArcGIS and OSM styles. There are default basemap styles such as streets, navigation, light gray canvas, and imagery. The data for each style is provided through vector tile layers and map tile layers hosted in ArcGIS and is stored in a Web Mercator spatial reference.

How to access the basemap styles service

The data format for basemap layers is based on the Mapbox vector tile specification. To access basemap layers, you reference the style URL for the basemap enumeration and set your API key.

Reference the MapLibre CSS and JS libraries.
Set API key and define a basemap style enumeration.
Set the style URL.

Example

This example loads and displays the arcgis/outdoor style from the basemap styles service. To see all of the basemap style enumerations, go to Basemap styles service in the REST API documentation.

Use dark colors for code blocksCopy
<link href="https://unpkg.com/maplibre-gl@5.1.0/dist/maplibre-gl.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<script src="https://unpkg.com/maplibre-gl@5.1.0/dist/maplibre-gl.js"></script>
<script>

  const accessToken = "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN";
  const basemapEnum = "arcgis/outdoor";

  const map = new maplibregl.Map({
    container: "map", // the id of the div element
    style: `https://basemapstyles-api.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/styles/v2/styles/${basemapEnum}?token=${accessToken}`,
    zoom: 12, // starting zoom
    center: [-118.805, 34.027] // starting location [longitude, latitude]
  });

</script>

Static basemap tiles service (beta)

The static basemap tiles service is a location service that provides raster basemap tiles for the extent of the world. The service supports default basemap styles such as streets, navigation, outdoor, and light gray canvas. The tiles are supplied as 512x512 .png files in a Web Mercator spatial reference.

How to access static basemap tiles service

Reference the MapLibre CSS and JS libraries.
Set API key and define a basemap style enumeration.
Instantiate a map and add a tile layer from the style URL.

Example

This example loads and displays the arcgis/outdoor style from the static basemap tiles service (beta). To see all of the basemap style enumerations available, go to the Static basemap tiles service (beta) API reference.

Use dark colors for code blocksCopy
<link href="https://unpkg.com/maplibre-gl@5.1.0/dist/maplibre-gl.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<script src="https://unpkg.com/maplibre-gl@5.1.0/dist/maplibre-gl.js"></script>
<script>

  const accessToken = "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN"
  const basemapEnum = "beta/arcgis/outdoor";
  const baseUrl = `https://static-map-tiles-api.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/static-basemap-tiles-service`;

  const map = new maplibregl.Map({
    container: 'map',
    style: {
      'version': 8,
      'sources': {
        'raster-tiles': {
          'type': 'raster',
          'tiles': [
            `${baseUrl}/${basemapEnum}/static/tile/{z}/{y}/{x}?token=${accessToken}`
          ],
          'tileSize': 512,
        },
      },
      'layers': [
        {
          'id': 'simple-tiles',
          'type': 'raster',
          'source': 'raster-tiles',
          'minzoom': 0,
          'maxzoom': 22
        },
      ]
    },
    zoom: 4,
    center: [-91.2996, 37.1174] // USA (x, y)
  });

</script>