Layers | ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine v1

A layerA layer is a reference to a collection of geographic data that is used to access and display data. The data for layers are typically provided by the basemap layer service and data services.Learn more can access data from a data sourceA data source is a service or file containing geographic data that is accessed by a data layer.Learn more. You can use an ArcGIS Map as a container for layers to display geographic data in a Unity scene.

There are two groups of layers that an ArcGIS Map contains:

Basemap layersA basemap layer is the layer in a map or scene that displays basemap data. The data source for a basemap layer is typically a basemap service.Learn more, used for geographic context.
Data layersA data layer is a layer that references geographic data from a file or a service and is used to visualize the data in a map or scene.Learn more, used to display geographic data within the context of the basemap.

A layer'sA layer is a reference to a collection of geographic data that is used to access and display data. The data for layers are typically provided by the basemap layer service and data services.Learn more data sourceA data source is a service or file containing geographic data that is accessed by a data layer.Learn more can either be a data serviceData services, also known as hosted data services, are services created dynamically to store and provide access to your data in ArcGIS. Examples are feature services, vector tile services, map tile services, image services, and scene services.Learn more or a data fileA data file is a stand-alone file containing geographic data that can be sideloaded on to a device. It is typically used in offline applications that never connect to a network.Learn more stored locally.

Key concepts

Basemap Layers

You can use one or more basemap layersA basemap layer is the layer in a map or scene that displays basemap data. The data source for a basemap layer is typically a basemap service.Learn more to provide a background of geographical context for the data layersA data layer is a layer that references geographic data from a file or a service and is used to visualize the data in a map or scene.Learn more displayed in your Unity scene.

The basemap layer serviceThe ArcGIS Basemap Styles service, also referred to as the Basemap Styles service, is a location service that provides basemap styles and data for the world. It returns styles as Mapbox styles and web maps, and data as vector tiles and/or map tiles. It supports all of the styles in the ArcGIS Basemap style and Open Basemap style family. An ArcGIS Location Platform or ArcGIS Online account is required to use the service.Learn more provides several vector tile and image tile basemap layers that you can use for your applications. Basemap layers are collected together in a basemapA basemap is the foundational layer and data that provides the overall visual and geographic context for a map or scene. It typically includes geographic features and labels for land, water, roads, buildings, cities, places, and administrative boundaries, but can also include raster data such as satellite and areal images.Learn more and you use the Basemap property of the ArcGIS Map.

Learn more about basemap layers

Data layers

Data layersA data layer is a layer that references geographic data from a file or a service and is used to visualize the data in a map or scene.Learn more bring additional geographic data into your Unity 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. For projected coordinate systems, Web Mercator is supported when the spatial referenceA spatial reference is a set of parameters, typically defined by a WKID, that define the coordinate system and spatial properties for geographic data. Applications use a spatial reference to correctly display the position of geographic data in a map or scene.Learn more is set to WGS84.

Local scenes support any projected coordinate systems. For geographic coordinate systems, WGS84 is supported when the spatial reference is set to CGCS 2000.

Refer to Spatial references for more information.

Image tile layers

An image tile layerAn image tile layer is a data layer that can access and display raster tile data provided by an image layer service.Learn more is a data layerA data layer is a layer that references geographic data from a file or a service and is used to visualize the data in a map or scene.Learn more that can access and display image tile data provided by an map tile serviceA map tile service, formerly known as image tile service, is a data service that provides access to static, pre-rendered mao tiles. The tiles are typical in PNG format. Map tiles are typically retrieved by specifying a specific level, row, and column value.Learn more or an map tile packageAn map tile package, formerly known as image tile package, is a read-only data file containing static, pre-rendered map tiles.Learn more.

The tile layerA tile layer is a data layer that can access and display tiles (rectangular sections) into a continuous layer. The tiles are either raster image tiles or vector tiles that are generated into a tile cache before being made available for use.Learn more 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.

Learn more about image tile layers

Vector tile layers

A vector tile layerA vector tile layer is a data layer used to access and display tiled data and its corresponding styles.Learn more contains vector representations of data across a range of scales that is provided by a vector tile serviceA vector tile service is a data service that provides access to vector tile data and a style definition.Learn more or vector tile packageA vector tile package, also known as a VTPK, is a read-only data file containing static tiles of vector data.Learn more.

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.

Learn more about vector tile layers

Scene layers

A scene layerA scene layer is a data layer is used to access and display 3D data from a scene service.Learn more is a type of data layerA data layer is a layer that references geographic data from a file or a service and is used to visualize the data in a map or scene.Learn more that is optimized for displaying large amounts of 3D data from a scene serviceA scene service is a data service that provides access to large 3D datasets for scenes.Learn more or a local scene layer package, as defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium's 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 Unreal Engine currently supports 3D object scene layers, integrated mesh scene layers, and building scene layers.

Learn more about scene layers

Group layers

A Group layerA group layer is a container for other layers and group layers.Learn more is a collection of layers organized as a group in the map. Layers within a group layer are called sublayersA sublayer is a classification, or member, of a group layer, and there can be many different kinds of sublayer. For example, a map service layer is a type of group layer that can contain one or more sub image layers.Learn more 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 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 the Add button, the layer is listed under the Layers section.

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.

Use ArcGISImageLayer, ArcGISVectorTileLayer, ArcGIS3DObjectSceneLayer, ArcGISIntegratedMeshLayer, or ArcGISBuildingSceneLayer 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. Refer to ArcGISGroupLayer for group layer API.

You can find the sample code to add ArcGISImageLayer and ArcGIS3DObjectSceneLayer in the SampleAPIMapCreator.cpp file. The sample script file is located in:

Plugins/ArcGISMapsSDK/Source/ArcGISSamples/Private

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 Modes Panel UI.

You can make the following layer management operations under the Layers tab.

Change the layer order by dragging it to a new order position. The layer at top of the layer list has the highest priority.
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 the v icon in the layer name row and selecting 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 0.0 and 1.0 or 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.
Click the Type drop-down list to change the layer type.
Replace the layer source URL or file path.
Select matching authentication configuration.
Click the gear icon in scene layers properties to configure additional filters or modifications for the layer.
Click Zoom To Layer to zoom to a specific layer's extent.

You can make the following layer management operations under the Layers section in the Details panel.

Change the layer order by dragging it to a new order position. The layer at top of the layer list has the highest priority.
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 the v icon in the index row and selecting 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 0.0 and 1.0 or 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.

The ArcGISLayer base class has properties that you can use to layer management during the runtime.

To remove a layer:

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auto index = arcGISMap->GetLayers()->IndexOf(layer_3);
arcGISMap->GetLayers()->Remove(index);

You can update a layer's name, opacity, and visibility without needing to rebuild the map.

To change the opacity of a layer:

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layer_1->SetOpacity(0.9f);

You can find the sample code to remove a layer and change the opacity of layers in the SampleAPIMapCreator.cs file. The sample script file is in:

Plugins/ArcGISMapsSDK/Source/ArcGISSamples/Private