topic Re: Manage tile cache, anti-aliasing in ArcGIS Enterprise Questions

Manage tile cache, anti-aliasing

RyanKelso — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 23:20:07 GMT

I am working on creating a tile cache that I will publish with ArcGIS Server, but I am using Desktop (version 10.3.1) to create the tile cache. I've used the Generate Tile Cache Tiling Scheme and Manage Tile Cache tools for this, but I don't see any options for controlling the anti-aliasing. I want to force text anti-aliasing and have the map AA set to "best". I can go into the tiling scheme xml file and enable antialiasing, but I don't know how to set it to "best". I am assuming that it is using a setting other than "best" because I don't think the tiles come out looking as good as they should. Anyone figured this out?

Re: Manage tile cache, anti-aliasing

RobertScheitlin__GISP — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 15:11:44 GMT

Ryan,

You only have an option for

None
Normal
Force

When choosing Text Anti-Aliasing:

Re: Manage tile cache, anti-aliasing

RyanKelso — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 00:41:51 GMT

I worded my original post poorly I think. Anti-aliasing for the map, which is directly above Text Anti-Aliasing in your screenshot, has the options of: Fastest, Fast, Normal, Best. I want to generate my tile cache using the "Manage Tile Cache" geoprocessing tool in ArcMap, and I want it to use "Best" for the map anti-aliasing. I don't know if this is possible, because that option is not available in the geoprocessing tool. I was hoping there is a way to enable it inside the tiling scheme .xml file.

Re: Manage tile cache, anti-aliasing

RobertScheitlin__GISP — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 13:51:41 GMT

Ryan,

The "Manage Tile Cache" / ArcGIS Server caching service use the map services settings to build the cache. So the AA setting you make in the map service are what is used when making the cache tiles. So bottom line is no there is no best option for text.

Re: Manage tile cache, anti-aliasing

RyanKelso — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 00:42:38 GMT

Check out a few things:

1) I did mention text anti-aliasing also, but I'm primarily asking about anti-aliasing of the map. See here, where it says "Best", this is what I'm after:

2) I'm using "Manage Tile Cache" in Desktop, which is done completely independent of ArcGIS Server. It does not use map service settings, it uses the settings in the geoprocessing tool and settings in the tiling scheme .xml file. The "Anti-Aliasing: Best" setting that I reference in the above image is nowhere to be found here.

3) The tiling scheme xml file has the following section:

<TileImageInfo xsi:type='typens:TileImageInfo'>
  <CacheTileFormat>MIXED</CacheTileFormat>
  <CompressionQuality>90</CompressionQuality>
  <Antialiasing>true</Antialiasing>
  <BandCount>1</BandCount>
  <LERCError>0</LERCError>
</TileImageInfo>‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

So in there I can set anti-aliasing to "true", but there is nothing in there to set the quality of AA (Faster, Fast, Normal, Best) like you can when publishing a map service. I was hoping there was maybe another parameter I could add in there to accomplish this.

Re: Manage tile cache, anti-aliasing

RobertScheitlin__GISP — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 18:56:51 GMT

Ryan,

Sounds like you should place a tech support call to see what is available. When I look at the help docs for 10.3.1 and 10.4.1 covering creating a tiling scheme there is no mention at all about antialiasing or band count. All the other thing you mention from the xml are covered but there is no Antialiasing or BandCount mentioned.

Re: Manage tile cache, anti-aliasing

MikeBrouillette — Thu, 10 May 2018 13:59:43 GMT

Ryan, I have the exact same dilemma as you needing to cache over 13 million 1' contour features for the state of Vermont on my local workstation - publishing cached service on 50 sq.mi. prototype extent on ArcGIS server would have taken ~ 40 hrs, whereas, on workstation is only took 4 min 30 sec ....but comes at the price of losing anti-aliasing options.

Did you ever come up with a solution?

Thanks, Mike

Re: Manage tile cache, anti-aliasing

RyanKelso — Thu, 10 May 2018 17:55:03 GMT

Hmm 40 hours VS. 4 minutes 30 seconds... so you're saying it's a little faster when done on your workstation?

Unfortunately I didn't find any solution to this. I just accepted that some anti-aliasing is better than no anti-aliasing.

Re: Manage tile cache, anti-aliasing

MikeBrouillette — Thu, 10 May 2018 19:24:58 GMT

Ryan,

Thanks for getting back to me. I had just called tech support prior to your email and their reply is below - in short you can’t do it outside of the service editor/creating cache on server as you already know, but at least they confirmed it…

So you did get some anti-aliasing effect with your hack of the xml index file input? Did you compare the hack vs non-hack outputs and confirm? Was the hacked on a big improvement? Would be good intel.

Cheers,

Mike

Re: Manage tile cache, anti-aliasing

RyanKelso — Thu, 10 May 2018 21:57:47 GMT

Yes I have tested and compared tiles using <Antialiasing> as true and false. Setting it to true definitely enforces some degree of AA. It may be in the eye of the beholder, but to me it is a significant improvement over no AA at all. I think it could be better though, hence the point of this thread.

Re: Manage tile cache, anti-aliasing

MikeBrouillette — Mon, 14 May 2018 13:18:12 GMT

Hey Ryan a couple more follow ups - is your service public so I can review it and share with the team? Finally, did you assess how much larger the AA cache was vs non-AA? ..or did it have any affect at all? The test cache I created over the weekend on the current coverage of 1’ contours resulted in 165Gb so I have to be mindful of disk space given our limited resources.

Thanks

Re: Manage tile cache, anti-aliasing

RyanKelso — Mon, 14 May 2018 23:34:03 GMT

I can message the url to you so you can check it out. I think you have to follow me to allow private messages though. I didn't assess the file size difference. Running your own test on a small area would probably do a better job of answering your questions

Re: Manage tile cache, anti-aliasing

MikeBrouillette — Tue, 15 May 2018 12:38:41 GMT

Hey Ryan

I'm running those tests now as prbbly best to see results of my own data. I've combined xml hack w switch from maplex to standard label engine - big jump in cache creation time. Will run another test w just xml hack

Thanks for your help

Cheers

Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef>

Re: Manage tile cache, anti-aliasing

JimJohansen — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 21:50:07 GMT

I like to create hosted tile layers in ArcGIS Online (Share As Web Layer, Tiles, Cache Locally) using ArcGIS Pro (2.4.1). Whenever I update I have to create a new layer and update the URLs in my web maps. I do this because the default Share As Web Layer settings use the local machine's high graphics settings (pic below). If I run the geoprocessing tools to create and replace the hosted tiles, then I get to utilize many cores and the URL stays the same, but the line/text rendering is poor (even with <Antialiasing>true</Antialiasing>).

It would be fantastic if I could adjust graphics settings when using the geoprocessing tool, or if the tool would default to the machine's local settings.

Re: Manage tile cache, anti-aliasing

MaximeDemers — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 13:47:55 GMT

Hi,

Since this post is a little bit old, is there a new way to enforce Good AA with the ManageTileCache geoprocessing tool in arcpy?

In Pro 2.9 they added the support of the display option for exporting to pdf from arcpy: https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-pro-ideas/control-antialiasing-for-export-to-tiff-pdf-in/idi-p/1019601

Is something similar is possible for ManageTileCache?

Thank you