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Analyze the viewshed for a camera showing the visible and obstructed areas from an observer's vantage point.

Image of show viewshed from camera in scene sample

Use case

A viewshed analysis is a type of visual analysis you can perform on a scene. The viewshed aims to answer the question 'What can I see from a given location?'. The output is an overlay with two different colors - one representing the visible areas (green) and the other representing the obstructed areas (red).

How to use the sample

The sample will start with a viewshed created from the initial camera location, so only the visible (green) portion of the viewshed will be visible. Move around the scene to see the obstructed (red) portions. Tap the 'Viewshed from here' button to update the viewshed to the current camera position.

How it works

  1. Get the current camera.
  2. Create a LocationViewshed, passing in the Camera and a min/max distance.
  3. Update the viewshed from a camera.

Relevant API

  • AnalysisOverlay
  • ArcGISTiledElevationSource
  • Camera
  • IntegratedMeshLayer
  • LocationViewshed
  • Scene
  • SceneView

About the data

The scene shows an integrated mesh layer of Girona, Spain with the World Elevation source image service both hosted on ArcGIS Online.

Tags

3D, integrated mesh, viewshed, visibility analysis

Sample Code

ShowViewshedFromCameraInSceneView.swift
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// Copyright 2025 Esri
//
// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
// You may obtain a copy of the License at
//
//   https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
//
// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
// limitations under the License.

import ArcGIS
import SwiftUI

struct ShowViewshedFromCameraInSceneView: View {
    /// A camera for the scene that determines where the viewshed is set from.
    @State private var camera: Camera?

    /// The viewshed which is updated by the camera.
    @State private var viewshed: LocationViewshed

    /// A 3D Scene setup with imagery basemap, elevation, and mesh layer.
    @State private var scene: ArcGIS.Scene = {
        let scene = Scene(basemapStyle: .arcGISImagery)
        scene.baseSurface.addElevationSource(
            ArcGISTiledElevationSource(
                url: URL(string: "https://elevation3d.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/WorldElevation3D/Terrain3D/ImageServer")!
            )
        )
        scene.addOperationalLayer(
            IntegratedMeshLayer(
                url: URL(string: "https://tiles.arcgis.com/tiles/P3ePLMYs2RVChkJx/arcgis/rest/services/Girona_3D/SceneServer")!
            )
        )
        return scene
    }()

    /// An analysis overlay used to display the viewshed analysis visualization.
    @State private var analysisOverlay = AnalysisOverlay()

    init() {
        let camera = Camera(
            location: Point(
                x: 2.8214,
                y: 41.985,
                z: 200.0,
                spatialReference: .wgs84
            ),
            heading: 332.131,
            pitch: 82.4732,
            roll: 0
        )
        self.camera = camera

        self.viewshed = LocationViewshed(
            camera: camera,
            minDistance: 1.0,
            maxDistance: 1_000.0
        )

        // Set visual appearance of the viewshed.
        Viewshed.visibleColor = .green.withAlphaComponent(0.5)
        Viewshed.obstructedColor = .red.withAlphaComponent(0.5)

        // Add the new viewshed to the overlay.
        analysisOverlay.addAnalysis(viewshed)
    }

    var body: some View {
        SceneView(
            scene: scene,
            camera: $camera,
            analysisOverlays: [analysisOverlay]
        )
        .toolbar {
            ToolbarItem(placement: .bottomBar) {
                Button("Viewshed From Here") {
                    guard let camera else { return }

                    // Update viewshed based on current camera location when button is tapped.
                    viewshed.update(from: camera)
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

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