Overview

A global scene provides an interactive display of geographic data that enables you to visualize and explore patterns, answer questions, and share insight in three dimensions (3D). Global scenes can be opened, edited, and shared across the ArcGIS system and beyond. They are typically used to display data that spans a large area where viewing the curvature of the earth is important and is spatially referenced using a geographic coordinate system.

You can use a global scene and SceneView to:

• Display a basemap layer such as streets or satellite imagery.
• Access and display data layers based on files or services, including data you have authored.
• Display terrain with an elevation layer.
• Display real-world objects such as buildings, cars, and trees.
• Display 3D visualizations of 2D objects.
• Perform 3D analysis, such as line-of-sight, visibility, and 3D measurements.
• Provide context for temporary points, lines, polygons, or text displayed as graphics.
• Measure distance and explore spatial relationships between geometries.
• Inspect data layers and display information from attributes.

Scene

The introduction explained the concept of a scene and how it works. The Scene is your entry point into the API when working with three dimensional data. However, when working with global scenes you connect them with SceneView in order to display the data within an application. Remember that when you are working with global scenes, the SceneViewingMode is set to global. When creating a scene programmatically, the viewing mode needs to be set. If consuming a global web scene item from a portal, this information is gathered from the item's definition for you. For cases when the SceneViewingMode is set to local, consult the local scene overview topic for details as it is different from working with a global scene. Logically, when programmatically building a global scene, the next step is to add data layers to your scene.

Layer

Each layer in a scene references geographic data, either from an online service or from a local dataset. There are a variety of layers that can be added to a scene, each designed to display a particular type of data. Some layers display images, such as satellite photos or aerial photography, others are composed of a collection of features to represent real-world entities using point, line, or polygon geometries. In addition to geometry, features have attributes that provide details about the entity the feature represents.

Scenes can also contain scene layers that enable you to create advanced 3D visualizations. Scene layers can contain one of four data types: points, point clouds, 3D objects, or integrated meshes.

The Layer class is the base class for all types of layers used in ArcGIS Maps SDK for Swift. The type of layer you create depends on the type of data you want to display. For example, to display feature data you can create a FeatureLayer that references an online service (such as a feature service) or a supported local dataset. Some layers cannot be displayed in a scene, such as ArcGISVectorTiledLayer and AnnotationLayer. Similarly, 3D layers cannot be displayed in Map, such as ArcGISSceneLayer.

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        // Set your API key during app initialization.
        // ArcGISEnvironment.apiKey = APIKey("<#YOUR-ACCESS-TOKEN#>")

        let scene = Scene(
            basemapStyle: .arcGISTopographic
        )

        let trailheadsLayer = FeatureLayer(
            featureTable: ServiceFeatureTable(
                url:
                    URL(string: "https://services3.arcgis.com/GVgbJbqm8hXASVYi/arcgis/rest/services/Trailheads_Styled/FeatureServer/0")!
            )
        )
        let trailsLayer = FeatureLayer(
            featureTable: ServiceFeatureTable(
                url:
                    URL(string: "https://services3.arcgis.com/GVgbJbqm8hXASVYi/arcgis/rest/services/Trails_Styled/FeatureServer/0")!
            )
        )

        let openSpaceLayer = FeatureLayer(
            featureTable: ServiceFeatureTable(
                url:
                    URL(string: "https://services3.arcgis.com/GVgbJbqm8hXASVYi/arcgis/rest/services/Parks_and_Open_Space_Styled/FeatureServer/0")!
            )
        )

        scene.addOperationalLayers([trailheadsLayer, trailsLayer, openSpaceLayer])

Camera

Global scenes and global scene views extend the concept of two dimensional viewpoints with a camera that represents the observer's position and perspective within three dimensions.

The following properties define the camera position:

• Geographic location on the surface (longitude and latitude)
• Altitude (height, in meters, above sea level)
• Heading (angle about the z axis the camera is rotated, in degrees)
• Pitch (angle the camera is rotated up or down, in degrees)
• Roll (angle the camera is rotated side-to-side, in degrees)

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        let point = Point(x: -118.804, y: 34.027, z: 5330.0, spatialReference: .wgs84)
        let camera = Camera(location: point, heading: 355.0, pitch: 72.0, roll: 0)
        scene.initialViewpoint = Viewpoint(boundingGeometry: point, camera: camera)

SceneView has an associated controller that manages the camera for the global scene. Each type of camera controller is designed to provide a specific user experience for interacting with the scene display. The camera controller and its properties can be changed at run time, enabling you to provide the scene view interaction experience best suited for the current context.

When a camera controller other than the default GlobeCameraController is active, the scene view's viewpoint cannot be assigned. Attempts to do so do not raise an exception, but they are ignored.

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    let orbitCameraController: OrbitGeoElementCameraController = {
        let plane3D = Graphic()
        let orbitCameraController = OrbitGeoElementCameraController(target: plane3D, distance: 26)
        orbitCameraController.cameraPitchOffset = 75.0
        return orbitCameraController
    }()

    var body: some View {
        SceneView(scene: scene, cameraController: orbitCameraController)
    }

The following camera controllers are provided:

• GlobeCameraController (default)—Provides the default scene view camera behavior. Allows the user to freely move and focus the camera anywhere in the scene.
• OrbitGeoElementCameraController—Locks the scene view's camera to maintain focus relative to a (possibly moving) graphic. The camera can only move relative to the target graphic.
• OrbitLocationCameraController—Locks the scene view's camera to orbit a fixed location (map point). The camera can only move relative to the target map point.
• TransformationMatrixCameraController—Provides navigation by using a TransformationMatrix to control the camera's location and rotation. You need to pass this object to all TransformationMatrixCameraController functions. This can be used with transformation matrices produced by Augmented Reality APIs like ARKit (iOS) and ARCore (Android).

SceneView

A scene view is a user interface control that displays a single global scene in your application. It contains built-in functionality that allows the user to explore the scene by zooming in and out, panning and rotating, or getting additional information about elements in the global scene. Scene views may also contain graphics in one or more graphics overlays.

After creating a scene view, you typically set the scene and the camera position. Unlike a map, a scene uses a camera to define the viewer's perspective and to determine the visible area. The perspective is defined by setting the camera's location, altitude (height), heading, and tilt.

Add a Scene to a SceneView to display it. Changes you make to the scene, such as adding, removing, or reordering layers, will immediately be reflected in the display. The GeoModel.initialViewpoint will determine the area shown when the scene loads.

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    var body: some View {
        SceneView(scene: scene, cameraController: orbitCameraController)
    }

A SceneView also allows you to:

• Adjust light, atmosphere, and space effects.
• Display image overlays on the scene surface.
• Lock the camera to a location or geoelement.
• Add analysis overlays to visualize analysis results.
• Identify and select features using a mouse or tap location.
• Export an image of the current display.
• Apply a time extent to filter the display of features.

View error

The SceneView supports an error that helps to capture different situations and provides useful messages to help troubleshoot related problems that may arise. Ultimately, you decide what you want to do with the error. For example, you may decide to enter the information into a log for further examination as users report problems with your application.

GeoModel error

When working with SceneView there are situations that arise when the view is in a usable state, but nothing is displayed because the GeoModel is not configured correctly.

Examples

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    // Set your API key during app initialization.
    // ArcGISEnvironment.apiKey = APIKey("<#YOUR-ACCESS-TOKEN#>")
    @State private var scene: ArcGIS.Scene = {
        // Creates a scene with a basemap style.
        let scene = Scene(basemapStyle: .arcGISTopographic)
        // Creates an elevation source with a URL.
        let worldElevationServiceURL = URL(string: "https://elevation3d.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/WorldElevation3D/Terrain3D/ImageServer")!
        // Creates and adds the elevation source to the surface.
        let elevationSource = ArcGISTiledElevationSource(url: worldElevationServiceURL)
        let surface = Surface()
        surface.addElevationSource(elevationSource)
        // Adds the surface to the scene.
        scene.baseSurface = surface
        // Creates an initial viewpoint with a point and camera.
        let point = Point(x: -118.804, y: 34.027, z: 5330.0, spatialReference: .wgs84)
        let camera = Camera(location: point, heading: 355.0, pitch: 72.0, roll: 0)
        scene.initialViewpoint = Viewpoint(boundingGeometry: point, camera: camera)
        return scene
    }()

    var body: some View {
        // Displays the model's scene.
        SceneView(scene: scene)
    }

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    // Set your API key during app initialization.
    // ArcGISEnvironment.apiKey = APIKey("<#YOUR-ACCESS-TOKEN#>")
    @State private var scene = Scene()

    func loadMobileScenePackage() async throws {
        // Creates a mobile scene package with a local file.
        let fileURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "Philadelphia", withExtension: "mspk")!
        let scenePackage = MobileScenePackage(fileURL: fileURL)
        try await scenePackage.load()
        // Gets the first map in the mobile map package.
        guard let scene = scenePackage.scenes.first else { return }
        self.scene = scene
    }

    var body: some View {
        SceneView(scene: scene)
            .task {
                do {
                    try await loadMobileScenePackage()
                } catch {
                    // Prints an error message if the map fails to load.
                    print("Error loading mobile map scene package.")
                }
            }
    }