Has the vector basemap made raster basemaps obsolete?

ScottStopyak

I'm actively working on updating our raster basemaps like I do every year. It's a time consuming task but it seems like it's still the only way to get authoritative data out there. I know esri is putting it's raster basemaps out to pasture. Is there a path forward to move to vector basemaps of our own short of creating vector tiles for every layer in the basemap? I've seen where you can edit the esri basemaps but how can I replace the esri data with my own authoritative data? Are raster tile cache basemaps on the verge of extinction?

Andy_Green

If you can - you can contribute to the Esri Community Maps Program where your data would be integrated into the Esri Vector Basemaps. From here you can use the style that best suits your needs, or you can customize it through the Vector Style Editor.

We just published a blog about multisource tile layers.  If you are creating your own set of tiles (VTPK published as a hosted tile layer), you can combine your vector layers with the Esri Vector Basemap layers -- through JSON editing you can have a single tile layer point to multiple tile sets (Esri's and your own).  If you'd rather use your own feature data, you can turn off that corresponding layer provided by Esri and use yours instead.  Yours and Esri's tiles need to be in the same coordinate system and tiling scheme for this to work.

Note:  To view mutisource maps, you'll need to use the new map viewer Beta (ArcGIS Online or Enterprise 10.8.1), Pro 2.5+, or Runtime 100.5+.