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Blurry basemap in Pro layout view

TheodoreF

In ArcGIS Pro layout view, my OS Mastermap WMS layer appears very blurry. I need it at 1:1250 scale but it looks like this:

I need the image to be crisp and sharp. The exported image/pdf also displays blurry basemaps.

Same problem when using the open basemaps supplied in Pro.

When in Data view, these basemaps are nice and clear when zoomed in.

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DanPatterson_Retired

Maybe you are suffering from Pro making things look better than they really are...

http://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/help/projects/drawing-behavior-in-arcgis-pro.htm

check out the image there ( features such as antialiasing to improve appearance). Could be the resolution is not as good as it appears,.

DanPatterson_Retired

did you resolve the resolution issue or was it as suspected?

TheodoreF

No I can't improve it at all. All my display settings are set to highest quality in Pro options. But that shouldn't affect the output PDFs I export anyway.

For reference here is a close up of an exported PDF map:

Same blurriness at 96, 250, or even 500dpi

Here is what the basemap looks like in Data view (albeit zoomed in to 1:500 scale, but this is the crispness I'm after)

DanPatterson_Retired

The printed image is correct... what you see onscreen has been improved by the video drivers as per my link

Shauna-RaeBrown

I'm having the same problem with the World Imagery. The blurriness is TERRIBLE. This issue has NOT been resolved!

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JohnGaiot

I would argue the printed image is not correct. I would say it's more related to the rendering capability of Pro/ArcMap when trying to handle projections and maybe scale. Logic might dictate that images would appear at their best in their native projection, but oddly that's not the case. Using the ESRI World Imagery in its native WGS 84 Web Mercator projection, the image appears blurry exactly like Theodore's example above. The blurry phenomenon happens at various scales. For example, it's blurry at 1:8000 (and coarser scales) and seems best when viewed at 1:6000. However, when I change the map projection to NAD 83 CSRS UTM Zone 17N, it appears clear within a larger range of scales (between 1:3000 and 1:10000). Note I was able to replicate this in traditional ArcMap Desktop 10.3.1 (I know.. ancient!) as well. So this rendering issue does not seem to be platform specific.

Perhaps it could be the graphics card?? My specs are the following although I personally think it's still a pretty good card:

https://www.nvidia.com/content/dam/en-zz/Solutions/design-visualization/documents/75509_DS_NV_Quadro_K620_US_NV_HR.pdf

JosephRigley

"...the printed image is not correct. I would say it's more related to the rendering capability of Pro/ArcMap when trying to handle projections and maybe scale...this rendering issue does not seem to be platform specific."

Agree, and this remains an issue in 2021 for both apps. Setting the map projection to the basemap's native scale and maximizing output resolution do help sometimes, at the cost of a bloated output file that requires post-processing in 3rd party apps to reduce the bloat without dunking the quality. Almost every time I attempt to use ESRI World Topo, end user: 'can we make the background less blurry?'

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ZacharyUhlmann1

This is really bad. Has anybody found a solution? None of the stock basemaps (map --> basemaps) export to PDF to a professional presentation quality. Even taking vector layers from Living Atlas or Portal render well when exporting to PDF. USGS National Map for instance. I thought I'd solved this setting the map to Web Mercator WGS 84, but nope. Any workarounds or solutions? Thanks.

GregoryBalzer

Here's a clue. I had a crystal clear base map. I changed my coordinate system, the map refreshed, and now everything looks "soft". I tried setting things back but no change.

GregoryBalzer

I messed with all the video settings - hardware, software, antialiasing, no change. BUT when I switched my active Portal from our ArcGIS server to arcgis online, the basemaps look beautiful again. Not sure what this all means. Maybe arcgis online has more robust servers and/or higher resolution base maps?

pkorst_coa

Experiencing the same issue. Orthophotography is acceptably clear in the map window but becomes unacceptably blurred in the layout window and when sharing\printing from layout.

ESRI please help. 😩

Robert_LeClair

I did find an ENH-000150703 request - "ArcGIS Pro is drawing the level of detail for the scale of the layout. The users' expectation is that the application should request the highest LOD. That request would be a large number of tiles AND would change the appearance of the map for some services."

This is currently under review by the ArcGIS Pro Development team and has been observed in the "World Imagery", "Imagery Hybrid", and "Firefly Hybrid Imagery" basemaps in ArcGIS Pro 2.9.3 and 3.0. Hopefully more to come in the ArcGIS Pro 3.1 release this year!

JosephRigley

Glad to hear this is on the table, but the resolution of this issue should not necessarily require any additional tiles and especially should *NOT* change the content of the map. It simply needs to match the resolution of the output (PDF, JPG, etc) to what is displayed in the application.

arcwills

sorry for the bad new guys but this is an email i got. I was one of the "requesters" for ENH-000150703.

Bug fixes are addressed in upcoming releases or general patches, or they may be addressed as ad-hoc fixes. Enhancement requests are implemented in upcoming releases.

Updates have been made to the following defect which you are associated with:
ENH-000150703 - Need improvements in ArcGIS Pro to display a better quality basemaps in its maps and layouts.

Status: Will Not Be Addressed (Learn More)
Additional Information: ArcGIS Pro is drawing the level of detail for the scale of the layout. The user\'s expectation is that the application should request the highest LOD. That request would be a large number of tiles AND would change the appearance of the map for some services.

JessicaMorrissey1

I have also been having this issue for some time now. The only workaround that I have found works for me personally is by adding the basemap in from ArcGIS Online with in Add Data, bringing in one I have saved on my portal, or bringing in outside ortho imagery. It would still be really great to use the provided basemaps and not jump through all these hoops.

arcwills

I'm going to give this a try. This is really frustrating

arcwills

I know this is an old post but i've just exported a PDF and unchecked the box "Output as Image" and now my lines are not blurry. Not sure if this is the fix you are looking for but it worked for me.

JeanetteHarlow1

Boo! This is disappointing!

AliRezaShahvaran

This is really frustrating. This topic was posted nearly 6 years ago, and so far, the issue has not been addressed. Just to complement the previous reply, this reduced quality affects both vector and raster basemaps in the inset maps. I really hope ESRI reconsiders implementing some fixes or solutions in the newer releases.

calebwam

One solution I found that is a bit manual is if you are able to download your aerial locally (eg GeoJPEG or GeoTIFF) and import it into your Pro environment export it as a layout it will come out as high quality when zoomed in.

PatrickDieter

I have tested this out with the following test, and I can confirm it does come out as high quality when zoomed in.

0. Add imagery webservice
1. Make layout in 1:3,800 scale. Zoom in (around 1:300). Image is pixelated compared to map view at 1:300.

0. Download the same imagery
1. Create layout at 1:3,800 scale. Zoom in. Image is identical to image in map view.

The problem I'm having now is the tiles I downloaded are not as nice as what the webservice pulls in. There's a visible seam, the saturation is different, etc... Is there a way to simply export the full resolution from the webservice directly?

DerekMStrout

I came looking for info on the issue of vector basemap resolution in layouts and exports, and it seems to be related to the OP's issue with raster basemaps?

I see the logic of not wanting to burden the system with a ton of tiles, but while the export may look fine (geometry generalizations are imperceptible) at 100%, if the final product is a PDF that can easily be zoomed to 1600%, I'd love it if the features (trails, roads, parks) didn't look all wonky without having to reconstruct a basemap with individual feature layers.

JochenSchubert

Hi All,

As you all know this issue hasn't been resolved and it's been frustrating us all for years now. I've reached out to Esri technical support and they gave me a disappointing answer about this issue. The tech I corresponded with suggested I submit a feature request. Getting kudos on this request may get developers to look at the issue. Are you all willing to give kudos to this request?

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-pro-ideas/sharper-basemaps/idi-p/1534789

Thank you!

JosephRigley

Added my kudo but not holding my breath. Truth is I'm hoping to be out of the ESRI desktop stack completely in the next 5 years. Having to work in Pro is breaking me.

solud

I am confused because I never experienced this issue until recently, and I have been making the same maps with the same layout template for over a year now and I'm just now running into this issue. I am using my organization's own aerial imagery that is shown beautifully in the map view but is very poor quality in the layout view and when exported. I switched to Esri's World Imagery basemap and its slightly better but still not great. And still, what is the issue with using my organization's imagery?

tshafer

I went to create a map this week and this is the first time that I have run into this issue. I am using our own imagery as well. I'm running ArcGIS Pro 3.3. Nothing has changed on my end. I need to look into other maps that I have created to see if they are having the same issue.

Krocha

I cannot believe this issue has not been resolved. Everyone needs to submit a ticket with ESRI so it gets more attention!

CherieBryant

I switched the size to Architectural E (36"x 48") and the resolution is much better. This makes sense from what others have heard from ESRI that it is drawing at the scale of the layout.

It made a massive PDF file size (250M). But I opened in Adobe, selected 'Save as', and clicked the 'Reduce File Size' option. This got it down to 4M and basemap is still clear when zooming in.

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