topic Re: How to create tile images for tiled map using ArcGIS Online? in ArcGIS Online Questions

How to create tile images for tiled map using ArcGIS Online?

ronykooskow — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 11:22:38 GMT

I am a newbie to ArcGIS Online. I have to create a temperature tile map based on my own custom data. I have found that a tile layer can be added using the below link:

http://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-online/reference/tile-layers.htm

Adding a new tile layer uses a service request like (http://{subDomain}.tile.opencyclemap.org/cycle/{level}/{col}/{row}.png) to get specific images from service for specific zoom levels, the question is how and where these images will be created based on our own data?

Is there any tool that creates such images for storage purpose and later to utilize using service call?

Can we create these images dynamically at run time based on our own data and how?

We want to create the end product like http://maps.google.com/gallery/details?id=zttWLnOPAlrs.kQBKSYw5ok5U&hl=en

Thanks in advance, your urgent help will be highly appreciated.

- Rony.

Re: How to create tile images for tiled map using ArcGIS Online?

JakeSkinner — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 12:50:27 GMT

Hi Rony,

How did you create a temperature tile map? Did you using ArcGIS to do this, or other software? What type of data are you using to create the temperature tile map (i.e. TIFFs, JPGs, etc)?

Re: How to create tile images for tiled map using ArcGIS Online?

ronykooskow — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 13:53:10 GMT

Hi Jake, thanks for your quick response.

Yes I was using ArcGIS to create the map. I have tried using the add tile layer as I mentioned in question and related URL. Adding a tile layer requires an image/PNG file via service call.

My question is how this image/PNG will be created with our own data? We have temperature data for different locations in a city/state.

How can we create tile images for this data using ArcGIS so that our final map looks like the one shown in below link?

http://maps.google.com/gallery/details?id=zttWLnOPAlrs.kQBKSYw5ok5U&hl=en

- Thanks, Rony

Re: How to create tile images for tiled map using ArcGIS Online?

JakeSkinner — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 14:35:03 GMT

What you can do is create a cache of your map using the Manage Tile Cache tool. If you want to overlay your map with ArcGIS Online imagery, be sure your data frame is in Web Mercator (auxiliary sphere) projection before create the cache.

Once the cache is created, you can export this to a Tile Package (TPK) using the Export Tile Cache tool.

After the TPK is created, you can upload this to ArcGIS Online using the Share Package tool. Once the tile package is uploaded, you can publish this as a tiled service by going to ArcGIS Online and clicking on the tile package > Publish. You will then have the ability to add the tiled service to you web map.

Re: How to create tile images for tiled map using ArcGIS Online?

ronykooskow — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 16:02:36 GMT

Thanks Jake, Our data updates frequently on weekly bases. Do we need to create the new tiles using Manage Tile Cache tool after every data update or there will be some tool on server that will automatically update the tiles based on new/updated data.

Will Manage Tile Cache tool automatically create tiles by reading our data or we have to manually generate tiles using this tool?

Please guide us.

- Thanks, Rony.

Re: How to create tile images for tiled map using ArcGIS Online?

JakeSkinner — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 17:24:29 GMT

You would have to manually update the tiles for a tiled service. What type of data are you working with? i.e. raster images (TIFF, JPEG, etc) or vector data?

You will most likely want to look into using ArcGIS Server. You can create a dynamic map service that would update as your tiles are updated. The performance is not as a fast as a cached tiled service but you will not have to perform any back-end processing to have the most up-to-date tiles.

If you want fast performance, using a tiled service, you can more easily script the update of a ArcGIS Server service compared to a ArcGIS Online hosted service. For example, you could use python to recreate the cache of your ArcGIS Server service every night.

Re: How to create tile images for tiled map using ArcGIS Online?

ronykooskow — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 15:39:19 GMT

Thanks Jake, As per your question related to format of data, we have temperature data in NetCDF format. Is there a way that we can display this data directly on ArcGIS Online in the form of thematic contour map like following:

http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?url=http%3a%2f%2fsampleserver3.arcgisonline.com%2fArcGIS%2frest%2fservices%2fWorld%2fTemperature%2fImageServer&source=sd

Re: How to create tile images for tiled map using ArcGIS Online?

JakeSkinner — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 17:14:16 GMT

You could convert the NetCDF to a raster layer using the Make NetCDF Raster Layer tool and then create an ArcGIS Server map service from this layer.

Re: How to create tile images for tiled map using ArcGIS Online?

ronykooskow — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 14:22:22 GMT

Thanks Jake for your help so far. We have created a raster layer using "Make NetCDF Raster Layer" tool.

Now we need to provide the following functionality to users.

1. Users should be able to select an area on tile map and download the data for selected area?

2. How can we define any parameters based on which users will be able to filter the data?

Re: How to create tile images for tiled map using ArcGIS Online?

ronykooskow — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 14:22:23 GMT

Thanks Jake for your help so far. We have created a raster layer using "Make NetCDF Raster Layer" tool. Attached is the output of our map.

Now we need to provide the following functionality to users.

1. Users should be able to select an area on tile map and download the data for selected area?

2. How can we define any parameters based on which users will be able to filter the data?

3. How can we control the minimum and maximum zoom level of the complete map so that if user increases/decreases the zoom, map must not exceed our specified zoom levels/limits.

Please provide us a tutorial on how can we accomplish the above mentioned tasks?

Re: How to create tile images for tiled map using ArcGIS Online?

ronykooskow — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 12:56:27 GMT

Dear Jake,

We have gone through the documentation of ArcGIS for server. We are interested in buying this tool. We are professional developers and need to implement tiled maps in one of our projects.

But we have some concerns:

Using ArcGIS for server can we automate the process of tile cache creation from NetCDF files?

i.e.

Raster Layer Creation from NetCDF,
Tile Cache Creation From raster layer,
tile packaging,
publishing it to the service
and using the service in our layer.

And repeat this process to update tiles after every 6 hours ?

How ?

Re: How to create tile images for tiled map using ArcGIS Online?

JakeSkinner — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 13:43:12 GMT

Yes, you would need to publish the raster layer as a cached map service to ArcGIS for Server. Once the raster layer is updated, you can create a python script to execute the Manage Map Server Cache Tiles to update the cache. You can then use Windows Task Scheduler to execute the script at a prescribed time.

Re: How to create tile images for tiled map using ArcGIS Online?

ronykooskow — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 14:43:29 GMT

Thanks for your quick reply Jake. We have a thousand NetCDF files and we cannot manually create tile packages and publish on the server. Is there a possible way to automate the whole process in a good manner?

Re: How to create tile images for tiled map using ArcGIS Online?

JakeSkinner — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 14:50:42 GMT

Yes, you can use modelbuilder and/or python to automate publish the data to ArcGIS for Server and create/update the cache.

Re: How to create tile images for tiled map using ArcGIS Online?

mettegreve — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 12:35:53 GMT

We are trying to do something similar, could anyone provide us with a working example of doing this? Programmatically (python) create tile layers and publish these ArcGIS online. We are having zoom and visibility issues. Depending on how we do it we either have no visual layer at all or loose it when zooming out.

TIA,

Mette