Maps use a collection of layers to display geographic data from a variety of data sources and formats. These can include several basemap layers and data layers from online or local sources. You can use an ArcGIS Map as a container for layers to display geographic data in a scene.
Each layer in a map references geographic data, either from a data service or from a data file. There are a variety of layers that can be added to a map, each designed to display a particular type of data.
There are two groups of layers that an ArcGIS Map contains:
- Basemap layers, used for geographic context.
- Data layers, used to display geographic data within the context of the basemap.
Key concepts
Basemap Layers
You can use one or more basemap layers to provide a background of geographic context for the data layers displayed in your scene.
The basemap layer service provides several vector tile and image tile basemap layers that you can use for your applications. Basemap layers are collected together in a basemap and you use the Basemap property of the ArcGIS Map.
Data layers
Data layers bring additional geographic data into your scene to be displayed in the context of the basemap. You use the Layers property of the ArcGIS Map to control the data layers in your scene. The following types of layers are supported:
Global scenes support data in any geographic coordinate system. Local scenes support any projected coordinate system. Refer to global or local for more information.
Image tile layers
An image tile layer is a data layer that can access and display image tile data provided by a map tile service or a map tile package.
The tile layer format is fast to transmit over the Internet. Raster tiles are cached at various scales instead of dynamically generating map images at the request of the client application.
Vector tile layers
A vector tile layer contains vector representations of data across a range of scales that is provided by a vector tile service or vector tile package.
Vector tile layers are similar to image tile layers except they store a vector representation of the data. In other words, this format represents geographic features as points, lines, and polygons.
Scene layers
A scene layer is a type of data layer that is optimized for displaying large amounts of 3D data from a scene service or a local scene layer package, as defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Indexed 3D Scene Layer (I3S) specification.
Visualizing your information in 3D makes it easier to intuitively understand and experience geographic information. ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unity currently supports 3D object scene layers, integrated mesh scene layers, and building scene layers.
3D Tiles layers
A 3D Tiles layer references a tileset that defines spatial data in a hierarchical data structure following the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) 3D Tiles specification.
3D Tiles are an OGC standard enabling visualization of 3D content. A 3D tile layer can display data from online services, a tileset (.json), or a 3D tile archive format (.3tz).
Group layers
A Group layer is a collection of layers organized as a group in the map. Layers within a group layer are called sublayers and can be of the same type or different types. For example, an integrated mesh scene layer and a 3D object scene layer can be organized together in a group layer.
Set data layers
- Click the Layers tab.
- Click the + Add New button located on the lower right to open an Add New Layer pop-up window.
- Select a layer type from the Type drop-down list.
- In the Source field, enter an online service URL. To use a local file package, click ··· and select the file.
- Enter a name in the Name field.
- Click Add.
When you click Add, the layer is added to the Layers list.
To use private content, select the matching configuration from the Authentication drop-down list in the Layers section. For more information about using private content, see user authentication.
Refer to the FAQ to troubleshoot data loading issues.
Layer management
You can toggle layer visibility on and off, change layer opacity, remove, and reorder layers. When you have multiple layer sources, the last item added to the collection takes precedence and is displayed topmost in the Map Creator UI.
You can perform the following layer management operations from the Layers tab:
- To change the layer order, click ⋮ and select Move Up or Move Down. The layer at the top of the layer list has the highest priority.
- To change a layer name, click the layer name or click ⋮ and select Rename.
- To delete a layer, click ⋮ and select Remove.
- To copy a layer URL, click ⋮ and select Copy URL.
- To change layer visibility, check or uncheck the check box.
- To see a layer's properties, expand the layer registry (triangle icon at the left).
- To set layer opacity, enter a value between
0.0and1.0or use the slider. - Click the Type drop-down list to change the layer type.
- Click the gear icon in scene layers properties to configure additional filters or modifications for the layer.
- To zoom the Scene view camera to the extent of the layer, click ⋮ and select Zoom To.