Display a web scene

Learn how to create and display a scene from a web scene stored in ArcGIS.

This tutorial shows you how to create and display a scene from a web scene. All web scenes are stored in ArcGIS with a unique item ID. You will access an existing web scene by item ID and display its layers. The web scene contains feature layers for the Santa Monica Mountains in California.

Prerequisites

Before starting this tutorial:

  1. You need an ArcGIS Location Platform or ArcGIS Online account.

  2. Your system meets the system requirements.

  3. The ArcGIS Maps SDK for Qt, version 200.6.0 or later is installed.

  4. The Qt 6.5.6 software development framework is installed.

Develop or Download

You have two options for completing this tutorial:

  1. Option 1: Develop the code or
  2. Option 2: Download the completed solution

Option 1: Develop the code

To start the tutorial, complete the Display a scene tutorial. This creates a scene to display an area of the Santa Monica Mountains in a scene view.

Open a Qt Creator project

  1. Open the project you created by completing the Display a scene tutorial.
  2. Continue with the following instructions to display a scene from a web scene stored in ArcGIS.

Get the web scene item ID

You can use ArcGIS tools to create and view web scenes. Use the Scene Viewer to identify the web scene item ID. This item ID will be used later in the tutorial.

  1. Go to the LA Trails and Parks web scene in the Scene Viewer in ArcGIS Online. This web scene displays trails, trailheads and parks in the Santa Monica Mountains.
  2. Make a note of the item ID at the end of the browser's URL. The item ID should be 579f97b2f3b94d4a8e48a5f140a6639b.

Remove unneeded code

A web scene can define all of the content created in this code, such as the basemap, elevation layer, and initial viewpoint. Accordingly, the following code needs to be removed or changed.

  1. In Projects, double-click Sources > Display_a_scene.cpp to open the file.

  2. Remove the unnecessary #include statements for: ArcGISTiledElevationSource.h, Camera.h, ElevationSourceListModel.h, MapTypes.h, and Surface.h. Removing these lines of code will keep you from having compiler warnings.

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    #include "Display_a_scene.h"
    
    
    #include "ArcGISTiledElevationSource.h"
    
    #include "Camera.h"
    
    #include "ElevationSourceListModel.h"
    #include "MapTypes.h"
    
    #include "Scene.h"
    #include "SceneQuickView.h"
    
    #include "Surface.h"
    
    
    #include <QUrl>
    
  3. Change the constructor to remove the 2nd argument. This means the full syntax for the current multi-line statement will become just QObject(parent).

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    Display_a_scene::Display_a_scene(QObject* parent /* = nullptr */):
    
        QObject(parent),
    
        m_scene(new Scene(BasemapStyle::ArcGISImagery, this))
    
  4. Remove the following lines since you will not be using an ArGISTiledElevationSource from a QUrl and applying it to the Scene.

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        // create a new elevation source from Terrain3D rest service
        ArcGISTiledElevationSource* elevationSource = new ArcGISTiledElevationSource(
                    QUrl("https://elevation3d.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/WorldElevation3D/Terrain3D/ImageServer"), this);
    
        // add the elevation source to the scene to display elevation
        m_scene->baseSurface()->elevationSources()->append(elevationSource);
    
  5. Remove the following lines to remove the Camera object and all of its arguments.

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    // Set the view (created in QML)
    void Display_a_scene::setSceneView(SceneQuickView* sceneView)
    {
        if (!sceneView || sceneView == m_sceneView)
        {
            return;
        }
    
        m_sceneView = sceneView;
        m_sceneView->setArcGISScene(m_scene);
    
        constexpr double latitude = 33.909;
        constexpr double longitude = -118.805;
        constexpr double altitude = 5330.0;
        constexpr double heading = 355.0;
        constexpr double pitch = 72.0;
        constexpr double roll = 0.0;
        const Camera sceneCamera(latitude, longitude, altitude, heading, pitch, roll);
        m_sceneView->setViewpointCameraAndWait(sceneCamera);
    
  6. Remove all of the existing code from the setupScene method.

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    void Display_a_scene::setupScene()
    {
    
      ArcGISTiledElevationSource* elevationSource = new ArcGISTiledElevationSource(QUrl("https://elevation3d.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/WorldElevation3D/Terrain3D/ImageServer"), this);
    
      Surface* elevationSurface = new Surface(this);
      elevationSurface->elevationSources()->append(elevationSource);
    
      elevationSurface->setElevationExaggeration(2.5);
      m_scene->setBaseSurface(elevationSurface);
    
    }

    Loading a scene from a web scene usually requires less code and makes it easier to update a scene used by several apps. Furthermore, web scenes can provide a more consistent experience for your user.

Display a web scene using its portal item URL

You can display a web scene using the web scene's item ID. Create a scene from the web scene portal item, and display it in your app.

  1. Add code to the setupScene method to create the web scene portal URL. Concatenate the web scene's unique item ID and the URL for ArcGIS Online.

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    void Display_a_scene::setupScene()
    {
    
        // Create an item_id to reference an item at a web server
        const QString item_id("579f97b2f3b94d4a8e48a5f140a6639b");
    
        // Create a QUrl from the web scene server URL and the item_id
        const QUrl portal_url(QString("https://arcgis.com/sharing/rest/content/items/" + item_id));
    
    
  2. Create the Scene using the web scene's URL.

    Display_a_scene.cpp
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    void Display_a_scene::setupScene()
    {
    
        // Create an item_id to reference an item at a web server
        const QString item_id("579f97b2f3b94d4a8e48a5f140a6639b");
    
        // Create a QUrl from the web scene server URL and the item_id
        const QUrl portal_url(QString("https://arcgis.com/sharing/rest/content/items/" + item_id));
    
        // Create the scene, referencing the QUrl
        m_scene = new Scene(portal_url, this);
    
    Expand
  3. Press Ctrl + R to run the app.

Your app displays the scene that you viewed earlier in the Scene Viewer.

Alternatively, you can download the tutorial solution, as follows.

Option 2: Download the solution

  1. Click the Download solution link under Solution and unzip the file to a location on your machine.

  2. Open the project in Qt Creator.

Since the downloaded solution does not contain authentication credentials, you must set up authentication to create the developer credentials and add them to the project.

Set up authentication

To access the secure ArcGIS location services used in this tutorial, you must implement API key authentication using an ArcGIS Location Platform or an ArcGIS Online account.

Create a new API key access token with privileges to access the secure resources used in this tutorial.

  1. Complete the Create an API key tutorial and create an API key with the following privilege(s):

    • Privileges
      • Location services > Basemaps
  2. Copy and paste the API key access token into a safe location. It will be used in a later step.

Set developer credentials in the solution

To allow your app users to access ArcGIS location services, use the developer credentials that you created in the Set up authentication step to authenticate requests for resources.

  1. In the Projects window, go to the Sources folder

  2. Open the main.cpp file.

  3. Modify the code to set the accessToken using your API key access token.

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        // 2. API key authentication: Get a long-lived access token that gives your application access to
        // ArcGIS location services. Go to the tutorial at https://links.esri.com/create-an-api-key.
        // Copy the API Key access token.
    
        const QString accessToken = QString("");
    
  4. Save and close the file.

Best Practice: The access token is stored directly in the code as a convenience for this tutorial. Do not store credentials directly in source code in a production environment.

Run the solution

Press Ctrl + R to run the app.

Your app displays the scene that you viewed earlier in the Scene Viewer.

What's Next?

Learn how to use additional API features, ArcGIS location services, and ArcGIS tools in these tutorials:

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