Add an option to create a label/reference-only vector tile style
Please allow any vector tile basemap style to be used as a reference-only layer
ArcGIS already supports reference layers, but the available options are fairly limited. For example, I may want to use the labels and reference information from a style such as Community, but there is no equivalent Community Reference layer available to add separately.
I would like to see an option in the Vector Tile Style Editor to create a reference-only version of any vector tile style by hiding all non-label/reference layers.
Some styles already include a Label visibility control that allows users to hide all labels. It would be extremely useful to have the inverse option as well: hide all non-label layers / show reference layers only.
I have been creating more custom basemap styles recently, and being able to separate a style into:
- the underlying basemap
- the labels and other reference information
would make those styles much more flexible. The reference portion could then be placed above operational or thematic data so that place names, roads, boundaries, and other important labels remain readable.
Ideally, this could either be a “Show reference layers only” option in the Style Editor or a “Split into basemap + reference” function that creates two styles from an existing vector tile style.
Right now, the ability to use reference layers feels unnecessarily restricted by which prebuilt reference styles happen to be available.
For some of us, its really important to have nice base maps where the reference data is actually viewable ABOVE the data being shown on the map, but spending a lot of time changing the base map into one without labels, and then one without a basemap and just labels is a lot of time spent.
For example, like how there is a hide all labels, add a "hide all non-labels button"