topic Re: How do I access the enhanced contrast basemap via API? in ArcGIS Location Platform Developers Ques.

How do I access the enhanced contrast basemap via API?

Kelly_G — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 15:27:39 GMT

Hello,

We are trying to add the enhanced contrast basemap to our application for better accessibility in our maps:

https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=4dd826e83b044acfb519a26fc9b20f80

When trying to access this via rest API, there doesn't appear to be an Enhanced Contrast Basemap style:

https://developers.arcgis.com/rest/basemap-styles/

Is this basemap style unavailable for developers or is there a secret that we are missing?

@KarlFrantz @AndySkinner @JessicaMccall

Re: How do I access the enhanced contrast basemap via API?

Andy-Green — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 17:37:32 GMT

Thank you for your question. Currently the Enhanced Contrast basemaps (both the "light" & dark versions) are not included in the Basemap Styles Service. Not all of our Esri Vector Basemaps from the gallery are included in the Styles API, and the Enhanced Contrast maps are two of those not included. I reached out to our Developers team and logged an enhancement request. We will review and if approved, the styles could be added to an upcoming release. We can follow up on this post if/when it occurs.

Re: How do I access the enhanced contrast basemap via API?

Kelly_G — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 18:51:37 GMT

Thanks Andy!

Is there a work around for the time being?

I was poking around at the data structure and was able to find the styles sheet under the item:

arcgis.com/sharing/rest/content/items/4dd826e83b044acfb519a26fc9b20f80/resources/styles/root.json?f=pjson

It seems like I could reference this or download it for now.

Many of the blogs suggest making a copy using VTSE and then saving as a custom group, but it seems like referencing the styles item information may be a bit more straight forward as we don't need this in our organization.

Re: How do I access the enhanced contrast basemap via API?

Andy-Green — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:18:10 GMT

Yes, there is documented support https://developers.arcgis.com/rest/basemap-styles/ under the "Requests" > Custom basemap styles where you can use the portal item's id in the request.
Note that this is for the individual layer -- the Enhanced Contrast map has a base and reference layer so you'd need separate calls to both items for a complete map.
If Esri adds support for this style, we would provide the composite layers in one request, like we do for the Canvas maps which also have a base and reference layer.