Layers
A layer can access data from a data source. You can use an ArcGIS Map as a container for layers to display geographic data in an Unreal Engine level.
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.
A layer's data source can either be a data service or a data file stored locally.
Basemap Layers
You can use one or more basemap layers to provide a background of geographical context for the data layers displayed in your Unreal Engine level.
Basemap layer types
In ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine, basemap layers are currently limited to image tile layers. Image tile layers can use an online image tile service or a local image tile package as a data source. See Image tile layers below for more information.
Basemaps
Basemap layers are collected together in a basemap and you use the Basemap property of the ArcGIS Map to control the basemap in your level.
ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine provides a number of preset basemaps.
There are three ways to create a Basemap to use in your ArcGIS Map:
- Use one of the preset basemaps.
- Provide a URL to an image tile service or a local image tile package.
- Provide a URL to a web map's JSON.
Basemaps from web maps
As mentioned above, you can create a basemap from a URL that references web map JSON, typically read from an item of type Web Map which is stored in an ArcGIS Portal. If the web map contains image tile layers, they will be used in the basemap.
Set a basemap
In the Basemap panel, you have a list of preset basemaps that you can select from. You can also set a custom basemap with a basemap service URL, image tile service URL, or from a local file package. If you don't want to set a basemap, do not select any checkbox in the Basemap panel.
The preset basemaps are the following:
To set a custom basemap:
Click on the Basemap tab to see the panel content if you are in another panel.
Select Custom Basemap option at the bottom of the list.
In the Source field, enter a service URL or a local file path.
- If you enter a basemap service URL, select Basemap from the Type drop-down list.
- If you enter a image tile layer service URL, select Image Layer for the Type.
- To use a
.tpkor.tpkxfile package as a basemap source, click on ··· to select the local file package, then select Image Layer for the Type. - To use a private hosted image tile layer, select the matching configuration from the Authentication drop-down list. For more information about using private content, see ArcGIS identity.
Click on the ArcGISMap in the Outliner panel.
Expand the Basemap Component in the Details panel.
Introduce the online service URL for the basemap layer service, or image tile layer service, or a local file package path in the Basemap field.
- If you introduce a basemap layer service URL select Basemap from the Type drop-down list.
- If you introduce a image tile layer service URL or a local file path, select Image Layer for the Type.
- To use a private hosted image tile layer, select the matching configuration from the Authentication drop-down list. For more information about using private content, see ArcGIS identity.
- To set up a basemap, use nodes in ArcGIS Maps SDK > ArcGIS Basemap.
- To create a basemap from a webmap, select Create ArcGIS Basemap with Basemap Source to create a basemap and introduce the URL for a webmap in the source field.
- To create a basemap from an image tile service or image tile package, select Create ArcGIS Basemap with Layer Source and Type, and introduce an online service URL or a local file package path in the source field.
- To use a preset basemap, use Create Imagery or Create Oceans.
- Connect API key variable to the API Key pin.
- Use the Set Basemap node to set a basemap for the ArcGIS Map.
Set a basemap with ArcGISBasemap. If you want to use an image tile layer or a local file package as the basemap, specify the layer type in the constructor.
Use Create or Create for preset basemap that are listed on the Modes Panel UI.
You can find the sample code to set a Basemap by using the Create method in the SampleAPIMapCreator.cpp file. The sample script file is in:
Plugins/ArcGISMapsSDK/Source/ArcGISSamples/Private
Data layers
Data layers bring additional geographic data into your Unreal Engine level 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 level. The following types of layer are supported:
- Image tile layers
- Scene layers (version 1.7 or higher)
- 3D object scene layers
- Integrated mesh scene layers
To find the scene layers version, open the service JSON and look for "serviceVersion".
In global scenes, we support data in any geographic coordinate system; for projected coordinate systems, we support Web Mercator when the spatial reference is set to WGS84.
In local scenes, we support any projected coordinate systems; for geographic coordinate systems, we support WGS84 when the spatial reference is set to CGCS 2000.
Refer to Spatial references for more information.
Image tile layers
An image tile layer is a data layer that can access and display image tile data provided by an image tile service or an image tile package.
The spatial reference of the image tile layers should match with the spatial reference of the basemap.
Image tile services
An image tile service is a data service that provides static pre-rendered image tiles to be displayed at different scales. You can learn more about image tile services in the Mapping APIs and location services guide.
Local image tile packages
Image tile layers can also access data from image tile packages stored locally.
An image tile package is a single .tpk (or .tpkx) file containing image tiles, and you can share the file as you would with any file. Compared with .tpk files, .tpkx files provide better performance on network shares and cloud store directories.
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 packages, as defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium's Indexed 3D Scene Layer (I3S) specification.
ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine currently supports 3D object scene layers and integrated mesh scene layers from the I3S specification:
- 3D object scene layer: A 3D object scene layer represents objects such as buildings that are explicitly modeled in 3D. You can visualize a 3D object scene layer with textures embedded into the 3D features. A 3D object scene layer is automatically thinned to improve performance and visibility at different scale ranges. With a 3D object scene layer, you can change the rendering by filtering by attributes. See 3D attributes filtering for more details.
- Integrated mesh scene layer: An integrated mesh scene layers is generally created for citywide 3D mapping. It is often captured by drones and structure from motion mapping.
Scene layers will be reprojected to the spatial reference of the ArcGIS Map when they don't match in both global and local scenes. Therefore, you can use scene layers that are in any geographic and projected coordinate system.
Scene services
A scene service is a data service that provides I3S Scene Layer content. It is optimized for streaming large amounts of 3D data to client applications considering the client's 3D view of the data.
Local scene layer packages
Scene layers can also access data from scene layer packages (.slpk files) stored locally.
ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine currently supports two types of .slpk files: integrated mesh scene layer package and 3D object scene layer package. SLPK files can be created by using different tools depending on the original data files.
Set data layers
- Click on the Layers tab.
- In the Add New Data section, select a layer type from the Layer Type drop-down list.
- In the Layer Source field, introduce an online service URL. If you want to use a local file package, click on ··· and select the file.
- Introduce a name in the Layer Name field.
- Click on the Add button.
When you click on the Add button, the layer will be listed under the Layers section.
To use a private content, select the matching configuration from the Authentication drop-down list in the Layers section. For more information about using private content, see ArcGIS identity.
- Click on the ArcGIS Map Actor in the Outliner panel.
- Expand the ArcGIS Map Component, then Layers section in the Details panel.
- Click on the + icon on the right side in the section to add a new array element.
- Set a Name and select a layer type from Type drop-down list.
- Introduce a online service URL or a local file path in the Source field.
To use a private content, select the matching configuration from the Authentication drop-down list. For more information about using private content, see ArcGIS identity.
- To get layer collection and add it to the ArcGIS Map, find ArcGIS Maps SDK > ArcGIS Map and select Get Layers and add it to the graph.
- Use the Set Map node to create a layer collection
- To add an image tile layer, use the Create nodes under ArcGIS Image Layer.
- To add a 3D object scene layer, use the Create nodes under ArcGIS 3DObject Scene Layer.
- To add an integrated mesh layer, use the Create nodes under ArcGIS Integrated Mesh Layer.
- To set properties to set the layer name, toggle the visibility, and set the opacity for the layer, select the Create node with Properties in their name.
- Connect API key variable to the API Key pin.
- Use the Add node to add the custom layer to the layer collection.
Use ArcGISImage, ArcGIS3DObject or ArcGISIntegrated according to the layer you add to the level and register them to the ArcGISMap. Specify the source URL or file path, layer name, opacity value (between 0.0f and 1.0f), visibility, and API key in the constructor.
You can find the sample code to add ArcGISImage and ArcGIS3DObject in the SampleAPIMapCreator.cpp file. The sample script file is in:
Plugins/ArcGISMapsSDK/Source/ArcGISSamples/Private
Layer management
You can toggle layers on and off, change layer opacity, delete and reorder layers.
You can make the following layer management operation under the Layers tab.
- Change the layer order by dragging it to a new order position.
- Change a layer name by typing a new name under the Name field.
- Add a new layer by clicking the + icon.
- Delete a layer by clicking on the v icon in the layer name row and select Delete.
- Delete all layers at once by clicking the trashcan icon.
- Add a layer source by directly pasting the URL to the Source field or loading a file package via the ... icon.
- Set a value between
0.0and1.0or use the slider to set the layer opacity. - Hide a layer by marking the checkbox next to the layer name.
- Click on the triangle icon on the left to expand a layer registry and see the layer properties.
- Change the layer type by clicking on the Type drop-down list.
- Replace the layer source URL or file path.
- Select matching authentication configuration.
- Zoom to a specific layer's extent by clicking on the Zoom To Layer button.
You can make the following layer management operation under the Layers section in the Details panel.
- Change the layer order by dragging it to a new order position.
- Change a layer name by typing a new name under the Name field.
- Add a new layer by clicking the + icon.
- Delete a layer by clicking on the v icon in the index row and select Delete.
- Delete all layers at once by clicking the trashcan icon.
- Add a layer source by directly pasting the URL to the Source field.
- Set a value between
0.0and1.0or use the slider to set the layer opacity. - Hide a layer by marking the Is Visible checkbox.
- Click on the triangle icon on the left to expand a layer registry and see the layer properties.
- Change the layer type by clicking on the Type drop-down list.
- Replace the layer source URL or file path.
- Select matching authentication configuration.
When you use the Create node with Properties in their name to add a layer with Blueprints, you can set opacity and visibility in the node (e.g. Create ArcGIS Image Layer with Properties)
For layer management and other layer operations during the play mode, please refer to the nodes under ArcGIS Maps SDK > ArcGIS Layer or ArcGIS Maps SDK > ArcGIS Layer Collections.
For instance:
- To remove a layer, use the Remove node under ArcGIS Layer Collections.
- To change layer opacity, use the Set Opacity node under ArcGIS Layer.
The ArcGISLayer base class has properties that you can use to layer management during the runtime.
To remove a layer:
You can update layer's name, opacity, and visibility without needing to rebuild the map.
To change the opacity of a layer:
You can find the sample code to remove a layer and change opacity of layers in the SampleAPIMapCreator.cs file. The sample script file is in:
Plugins/ArcGISMapsSDK/Source/ArcGISSamples/Private