Portal not able to remove ESRI basemap in a webmap

Question

We have portal 10.8.1.  I'm trying to remove ESRI World Topo Map from the basemap, but I'm not able to.  The picture below, shows remove, move up, or move down is greyed out.  In the past, I was able to remove it.  I don't know what happened.  Please help.  Thanks!

ChienGeo · Answer

Here is the solution from an ESRI support rep.  The reason why you are not able to remove the original ESRI  basemap is because it was design that way, when you open a blank web map.  But below are the steps to remove the ESRI basemap.

Method 1 :

Step 1: Copy the basemap service URL.

Step 2: Open a new web map

Step 3:Add layer from Web.

Step 4: Check "Use as basemap"

Then the "Remove" option will be available for you to remove the original ESRI basemap.

Method 2 :

Step 1: Copy the service URL.

Step 2: Open a new web map > Add > Search for layers > click on required basemap > "Use as basemap"

ChienGeo · Answer

Thanks for the tip Josh!  I will try the workaround.  It is a mosaic from fgdb, I just used it as an example because  I was able to remove ESRI world topo in the past with "2017 ArMarTul Imagery".

-Chien

jcarlson · Answer

What kind of layer is "2017ArMarTul Imagery"? I've had it happen where my intended basemap layer didn't meet the requirements for being the sole basemap, though I forget what caused it.

If you really can't get it to work, a decent workaround is to use John Nelson's excellent Blank White Vector Basemap and then just put your layer on top of it. That way you're not getting major performance hits loading the World Topo, even if it's transparent.