topic Re: Problem: ArcGIS Pro 2.1 Basemap poor quality when exporting layout to PDF in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Problem: ArcGIS Pro 2.1 Basemap poor quality when exporting layout to PDF

GISTeam4 — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 10:51:15 GMT

In ArcGIS Pro 2.1.1 the quality of the basemap after exporting the layout to a pdf file is very poor and seems be to converted into tiles (which sometimes are even rendered individually at different quality). Everything but the basemap is in a very fine quality, it's basically just the basemap.

When I create a complete new project, with a fresh basemap and a new layout file, the quality of the basemaps (any arcgis online basemap) after exporting is very poor. When I export the image from the map view, however, the quality is fine (just as displayed on the screen). The quality on screen in the layout view is fine, it's the pdf file where the problems occurs.

I have tried multiple basemaps and nearly all possible combinations in export settings, but the problem persists. The issue started to happen just a few days ago, before this I've never had this problem before.

Has anyone had similar issues and/or could anyone suggest a solution?

Re: Problem: ArcGIS Pro 2.1 Basemap poor quality when exporting layout to PDF

ThomasColson — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 12:19:14 GMT

What are the exact steps you are executing to export to PDF? Screen shots and exact steps to reproduce would help. There are many, many, many settings in Pro -> Share -> PDF that could cause this. By not compressing graphics, when I export to PDF, basemap looks perfect.

Re: Problem: ArcGIS Pro 2.1 Basemap poor quality when exporting layout to PDF

XanderBakker — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 12:32:27 GMT

Hi Liedeke Reitsma ,

Some questions to start with:

What scale are you using?
What base map are you using?
What settings are you using for the export to PDF?
What are the settings of the layers yo display on top? Do they have transparency?

Perhaps for these type of problems it is best to contact Esri Nederland (http://www.esri.nl/ ) directly.

Re: Problem: ArcGIS Pro 2.1 Basemap poor quality when exporting layout to PDF

GISTeam4 — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 12:35:31 GMT

I've basicly used a large range of basemaps (all have the same problem). Export options, i've used basicly every checkbox combination possible at 100, 300, 600 and 1200 dpi. And, as stated in my question, have tried to make a clean and fresh map without any layers whatsoever.

Re: Problem: ArcGIS Pro 2.1 Basemap poor quality when exporting layout to PDF

XanderBakker — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 12:52:23 GMT

I would recommend you two things.

Report this to Esri Nederland, since I do notice a difference in quality between exporting the layout and exporting the map frame
Use the Topographic Vector Tile basemap

Using a vector tile base map really gives a much better quality of the output PDF (here zoomed in to 200% or the PDF):

Re: Problem: ArcGIS Pro 2.1 Basemap poor quality when exporting layout to PDF

GISTeam4 — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 13:10:07 GMT

As I suspected it had something to do with settings and/or files related to ArcGIS Pro. The solution for me was to do the following:

Unauthorize offline use for ArcGIS Pro on the computer.
Uninstall ArcGIS Pro using Windows 10
Delete the following (if not already gone):

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\ESRI\ArcGISPro and every other ArcGIS Pro folder:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\ESRI\ArcGISPro
C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Pro

Remove these folders in the registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ESRI\ArcGISPro
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ESRI\ArcGISPro1.0

Reboot the PC and re-install ArcGIS Pro.

In this new, fresh, installation the problem does not occur. I hope it might help anyone else with this problem.

Re: Problem: ArcGIS Pro 2.1 Basemap poor quality when exporting layout to PDF

SterlingLoetz5 — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 02:44:33 GMT

I am having the same exact very frustrating problem. Exporting a layout to PDF results in very poor quality basemaps in the PDF. I have exported with various basemaps, both raster and vector, with varying dpi and image quality with no success. I have attached screenshots of what I am seeing below. Exporting with "Best" image quality results in a better quality PDF but increases the size of the PDF to from 1,843 KB (Normal) to 10,844 KB (Best).

I am using ArcGIS Pro 2.2.4

300dpi & Best Image Quality with Raster Basemap

600dpi & Normal Image Quality with Raster Basemap

600dpi & Best Image Quality with Raster Basemap

600dpi & Normal Image Quality with Vector Basemap

File Sizes

I have read the above suggestion from Liedeke Reitsma but I recently had to reinstall windows on my computer and install a clean version of ArcGIS Pro so I don't think this would solve the problem.

Please help!

Re: Problem: ArcGIS Pro 2.1 Basemap poor quality when exporting layout to PDF

GISTeam4 — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 09:57:00 GMT

The above suggestion doesn't always work, you could try but as you say, with a fresh installation it seems very unlikely. I still have this problem on and off. It is not about scale, which base map, settings to export to pdf or transparency of layers or anything like that; i have been producing pdf maps for over ten years with esri software and i know about these. I honestly don't know the reason and I suspect nobody at ESRI knows. It is freak happenings like this that frustrate the workflow. You tell ESRI about it but it's hard to pinpoint and repeat the problem so you rarely get an answer. (Works fine with us, can't repeat your problem... Then frustrated you try again, honestly exactly the same way, and this time it works Until the next time it again doesn't work...)

They (ESRI and ICT experts) always say that internet connection/speed is not of any effect but I really do suspect otherwise. I can't think of any other explanation as to why sometimes things work and at other times not with exactly the same settings/workflow and that it happens only with online data. Could be your own internet connection but also the connection with de data centers from which services are hosted. I'm not an ICT expert or anything mind you, but at the same time no one has ever given me a satisfying explanation as to why the data connection cannot be responsible. The saying is always that it 'should' not give any problems.

One hopefully helpful thing I can tell is to clean up your Pro projects. When you are just starting out on Pro trying to migrate and get your workflow sorted again (like us) it's very easy to clog up projects with views, maps, layouts and random tables. I don't think there is a clean up tool in Pro as there was for your geodatabases in ArcMAP, so you'll have to do it yourself as best you can. Pro can easily become sluggish with too many maps and views.

Re: Problem: ArcGIS Pro 2.1 Basemap poor quality when exporting layout to PDF

SterlingLoetz2 — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 22:31:36 GMT

Thanks. This particular Pro project only has one map, no layouts, and only a few feature classes in the geodatabase, so Pro should be able to handle this.

I feel like maybe there aren't many people experiencing this same problem or I think there would be many more people chiming in with this issue. So maybe it's a hardware/graphics issue with my particular setup but don't really know how to troubleshoot that other than to to compare my setup with the the hardware requirements suggested by ESRI to run ArcGIS Pro. In my case my setup meets or exceeds these requirements so I'm at loss there too.

Re: Problem: ArcGIS Pro 2.1 Basemap poor quality when exporting layout to PDF

GISTeam4 — Thu, 31 Jan 2019 12:34:21 GMT

Hi Xander,

The vector basemap (only world topographic one) works a treat, very true. It's a shame that the beautiful topographic one combined with height for Holland (RD, ESRINL) does not. I tried searching basemap, vector. This RD one pops up but doesn't load, i suspect there are a few around. This last map is very useful when mapping terrain, which is what we do most. So it seems that despite al the fun and beautiful developments we still can't use the basemaps we want to on a regular and steady basis. Which is a real shame. But ah well, thanks for your tip on vectors!

Re: Problem: ArcGIS Pro 2.1 Basemap poor quality when exporting layout to PDF

XanderBakker — Thu, 31 Jan 2019 18:37:52 GMT

I would reach out to Esri Nederland directly. Since they are the owner of the data, they may have additional recommendations to use them or other sources that you can use as alternative.

Re: Problem: ArcGIS Pro 2.1 Basemap poor quality when exporting layout to PDF

GISTeam4 — Mon, 04 Feb 2019 09:12:10 GMT

Thanks Xander for your reply, you have been kindly helpful!

Liedeke

Re: Problem: ArcGIS Pro 2.1 Basemap poor quality when exporting layout to PDF

DevinRoth — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 16:35:13 GMT

I see this is marked as "Solved" but the solution is quite convoluted.

I was able to solve this problem without uninstalling, by selecting different settings in the "Image Qualilty" dropdown menu of the Export Layout screen. The only difference I notice selecting Normal>Better>Best options is the label text size and resolution of the Esri basemap layer. It does affect file size, but not drastically (at least in my case).

This setting could definitely use a tool tip describing what it does.

Re: Problem: ArcGIS Pro 2.1 Basemap poor quality when exporting layout to PDF

GISTeam4 — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 06:29:10 GMT

It is no real solution, you're right. But it appears to be a bug which can not be resolved by changing the settings. I have tried your sollutions, along with any possible combination in settings but it did not resolve the problem.

Furthermore, you appear to be using an old version of ArcGIS Pro. The options and the way you can export has changed quite alot. In the newer versions of ArcGIS Pro the problem did not occur for me.

Re: Problem: ArcGIS Pro 2.1 Basemap poor quality when exporting layout to PDF

George_Thompson — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 11:33:33 GMT

Here is another thread with similar questions: https://community.esri.com/thread/257061-imagery-basemap-does-not-show-in-pdf-when-exporting-at-600-dpi-pro-251