This Week's Picks - ArcGIS Online #10
When an ArcGIS Online update is slated for the near future, I tend to reflect on functionality that has been recently added to the platform. With an update planned for later in March (see this post to participate in the Beta), I realized that there have been a couple of key updates to vector tile layers within the last year. In case you are new to ArcGIS Online within the last couple of months or weren't using vector tiles when the updates went out, the picks for this week showcase some of my go-to vector tile layer resources. I hope you enjoy!
Vector Tile Layer Style Editor (Native in Map Viewer)
This feature was released in June 2019. Without leaving the Map Viewer, create and save your very own custom style. Zara Matheson's excellent blog will walk you through exactly how: Edit Vector Tiles in Style from Map Viewer
Additional Resources:
Replace Vector Tile Layers
Replacing a vector tile layer with updated data, from the Graphic User Interface (GUI), with minimal downtime, came to ArcGIS Online in October 2019. Garima Tiwari's blog describes in a succinct fashion how to accomplish this: Update hosted vector tile layer content using Replace Layer
Additional Resources:
- Manage hosted tile layers—ArcGIS Online Help | Documentation
- Replace Service programatically: arcgis.gis module — arcgis 1.7.1 documentation
- Replace a vector tile layer—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation
Understand the Root Tile
When creating vector tile packages in local tiling schemes, it is important to understand the root tile. This Esri Support knowledge base article, written by senior analyst Adam Eversole, sums it up nicely then goes deeper: "If a tile cache were a pyramid, the root tile would be its peak. It is the tile that represents the largest area of the map and the lowest level of detail." This is required reading for those wanting to publish hosted vector tile layers in a local projection.
Additional Resources:
- Deep dive knowledge base article on vector tile layer labels: How To: Display multiple labels per feature in vector tile layers.
- Problem: Root tile errors are returned when creating a vector tile package using a custom tiling sch...
- Problem: The Download style button does not appear in the vector tile layer item details page
I hope the above picks provided some guidance and inspiration for working with vector tile layers! Let me know in the comments below if there are any questions, comments, or if there is any content you want to see in the future. Don't forget to keep an eye out for installments of This Week's Picks - ArcGIS Enterprise & This Week's Picks - ArcGIS Pro, coming later this week. Thanks for reading and see you again on 3/17.
Cheers,
-Peter
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