Elevation | ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unity

Elevation adds terrain relief to 3D scenes by defining height values across the map or scene. Other layers, such as imagery and vector tiles, are typically draped over the elevation surface. In most workflows, elevation data comes from an elevation service or from LERC-encoded elevation tile packages stored locally.

Currently, the SDK supports tiled elevation layers using LERC compression.

An elevation surface can be created from any of the following:

Item page URLs
Web elevation services (image tile layers / cached elevation services)
Local LERC-encoded tile packages (.tpk or .tpkx)

The spatial reference of the elevation should match the basemap and image tile layers. See Spatial references for more information about coordinate systems.

To learn how to create LERC-encoded tile packages for elevation, see the ArcGIS Pro documentation: Share a tile package.

When you have multiple elevation sources, the last item added to the collection takes precedence and is displayed topmost in the Map Creator UI. You can apply mesh modification to remove or change the altitude of specified polygon areas to the elevation surface that is defined by elevation sources.

Tip

You can use the Terrain 3D elevation layer URL from Esri as a global elevation layer source.
You can find curated, up-to-date, ready-to-use map tile services on ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World.
You can also find map tile services that are publicly shared or shared by your own organization on ArcGIS Online. Refer to the ArcGIS Online documentation to learn more about searching in ArcGIS Online.
You can filter the search result on ArcGIS Living Atlas and ArcGIS Online by using advanced search. To filter elevation layers, use the following search condition: type:"Image Service" AND typekeywords:"Elevation 3d Layer". All elevation layers have this icon .
You can share web elevation layers in ArcGIS Pro.
You can create a tile package for a web elevation layer in ArcGIS Pro to create a LERC encoded map tile package for the elevation source.

Set elevation

The Terrain 3D from ArcGIS Online and its spatial reference is Web Mercator (Auxiliary Sphere).

To use the default elevation source, click the Elevation tab, and select Terrain 3D.

To use custom elevation sources:

Click the Elevation tab, and select the Default Elevation or select Custom Elevation to set a custom elevation source in the panel.

Click + Add New at the bottom right in the Elevation panel to open the pop-up window.
Enter the online service URL for the elevation service or a local file package path in the Source field.
Add the name of the source in the Name field.
Click Add.
Find the newly added elevation source in the Elevation panel.

To use a .tpk or .tpkx file package as an elevation source, use the absolute file path for the Source.
To change the elevation source order, click ⋮ and select Move up or Move down.
The elevation source at the top of the list has the highest priority.
To change an additional elevation source name, click ⋮ and select Rename.
To zoom the Scene view camera to the extent of an additional elevation source, click ⋮ and select Zoom To.
To delete an additional elevation source, click ⋮ and select Remove.
To disable elevation, remove the checkmark from Enable All.
To use a privately hosted elevation layer, select the matching configuration from the Authentication drop-down list. For more information about using private content, see user authentication.

Use ArcGISImageElevationSource for the tiled elevation layer as elevation sources.

To set one elevation source, set the elevation directly to ArcGISMapElevation. To use multiple elevation sources, register each elevation source to ElevationSources.

To disable an elevation source:

Use dark colors for code blocksCopy
arcGISMap.Elevation.ElevationSources.At(arcGISMap.Elevation.ElevationSources.IndexOf(Elevation_2)).IsEnabled = false;

To remove an elevation source:

Use dark colors for code blocksCopy
arcGISMap.Elevation.ElevationSources.Remove(arcGISMap.Elevation.ElevationSources.IndexOf(Elevation_2));

You can find the sample code to set an elevation source using a layer service URL in the SampleAPIMapCreator.cs file. The sample script file is in:

Assets/Samples/ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unity/[version]/Sample Content/Scenes/Scripts/APISample/

Elevation exaggeration

Elevation exaggeration is used to make subtle changes to a surface. This can be useful when creating visualizations of terrain where the horizontal extent (or flat terrain) of the surface is significantly greater than the amount of vertical change (like hills and valleys).

The altitude values of the surface data are multiplied by the exaggeration factor. You can also make fractional elevation exaggeration changes to flatten, or reduce, surfaces or features that have extreme vertical variation.

To set up the elevation exaggeration:

Click the Elevation tab.
Click the gear button below the elevation source list to display the properties window.
Drag the slider to view the elevation exaggeration scale between 0 and 100. You can also type a number in the text box.

In the ArcGISMapElevation, you can set the Elevation exaggeration using the ExaggerationFactor.

Refer to the FAQ to troubleshoot data loading issues.