Problem with the GRAY basemap?

Question

This may be a question for the ArcGIS Server team (not JS API) but I'll ask it here anyway.

There seems to be a problem with the gray basemap at the moment. I'm getting loads of NetworkError: 404 Not Found - http://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Canvas/World_Light_Gray_Reference/MapServer/tile/1/1/1

messages. You can reproduce this using the sandbox sample http://developers.arcgis.com/en/javascript/sandbox/sandbox.html?sample=map_simple with options:
map = new Map("map", {
  basemap: "gray",
  zoom: 1
});

StephenLead · Answer

Hi Shreyas,

Thanks for the response.You can see the 404's because there is no labels at those scales, as you go deeper you will not notice these errors.

I have to say that this sounds like a bug. If a layer is outside its scale range, it shouldn't be throwing a 404.

While I could add the reference and background layers separately, the API gives us the option of adding the "gray layer" on map initiation using the "gray" keyword. No other layer type gives an error message at certain scales.

Cheers,
Steve

ShreyasVakil · Answer

The gray basemap is a web map that uses the light gray base as the basemap and also includes the reference map service. The reference map service is used to display place labels. See more about the map here:

http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=8b3d38c0819547faa83f7b7aca80bd76

If you want the light gray basemap without the reference labels they can add it directly as a tiled map service layer instead of using the map's basemap constructor option. 
http://services.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Canvas/World_Light_Gray_Base/MapServer

You can see the 404's because there is no labels at those scales, as you go deeper you will not notice these errors.