Elevation

Elevation can help with 3D visualizations by creating relief in your 3D scene. Elevation surfaces define height values across the extent of a map or scene. Other layers are usually draped on top of the elevation. In most cases, data for an elevation layer comes from an elevation service. Currently, tiled elevation layers are supported in the LERC format.

The following types of source URLs can be used to add an elevation layer and create relief in your ArcGIS Map:

Item page URL
Elevation service URL

Elevation tiles can also access data from LERC encoded tile packages stored locally.

A tile package is a single .tpk (or .tpkx) file containing 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. The spatial reference of the elevation should match with the basemap and image tile layers. See Spatial references for more information about coordinate systems.

When you have multiple elevation sources, the last item added to the collection takes precedence and is displayed topmost in the Modes Panel 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 + 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.
Enter 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 Delete.
To disable elevation, uncheck Enable All.
To use a privately hosted elevation layer, select the matching configuration from the Authentication drop-down list in the Add New Elevation Layer pop-up window. For more information about using private content, see user authentication.

Click the ArcGIS Map Actor in the Outliner panel.
Expand the Elevation section in the Details panel.
Click the + icon in the Elevation Sources row to add new array element.
Expand the newly added item row.
Enter a name for the elevation source by replacing New Elevation Source.
Enter the online service URL for the elevation service or a local file package path in the Elevation Source field.
Check the Is Enabled checkbox.

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.

To change the elevation source priority order, drag it to a new order position.
The elevation source at the bottom of the list has the highest priority.
To change an elevation source name, enter a new name in the Name field.
To replace an elevation source URL or file path, enter a new value in the Source field.
To hide an elevation source, uncheck the Is Enabled checkbox.
To remove all elevation sources, click the trash icon in the Elevation Sources row.
To remove an elevation source, click the v icon in the index row and select Delete.

Use ArcGISImageElevationSource for the tiled elevation layer.

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

To disable an elevation source:

Use dark colors for code blocksCopy
arcGISMap->GetElevation()->GetElevationSources()->At(arcGISMap->GetElevation()->GetElevationSources()->IndexOf(Elevation_2))->SetIsEnabled(false);

To remove an elevation source:

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arcGISMap->GetElevation()->GetElevationSources()->Remove(arcGISMap->GetElevation()->GetElevationSources()->IndexOf(Elevation_2));

You can find the sample code to set elevation with an elevation layer service URL by using in the SampleAPIMapCreator.cpp file. The sample script file is in:

Plugins/ArcGISMapsSDK/Source/ArcGISSamples/Private

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 FAQ to troubleshoot data loading issues.