High resolution basemaps not loading?

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01-14-2018 12:55 PM
AdamWebster
New Contributor II

In the last week, the high resolution basemaps from World Imagery are noticeably less detailed. Is there a reason this is happening?

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10 Replies
AdrianWelsh
MVP Honored Contributor

Adam,

Can you give examples of where these maps were not loading? What parts of the world, what basemaps were you using, can you supply screenshots, etc.?

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AdamWebster
New Contributor II

These maps are not loading for Jefferson County West Virginia. Previously-- the imagery adjusted to high resolution when I zoomed closer to a feature. The basemaps I was adding are the World imagery files that are accessible from Add Data--> Basemaps.

It's been very frustrating because I previously created maps using this imagery and it suddenly changed-- now shapefiles I digitized aren't even lining up to features on the ground, regardless of of how they are projected or the Data Frame projection.

Attached are an example of the reduced quality of the aerial imagery. This is not just on my computer, I have asked colleagues and they also have noticed the difference. I've tried moving closer to the modem, using different WiFi connections, etc. 

Before: Map with higher resolution aerial imagery After: Lower resolution imagery regardless of extent

Lake_Worth_BeachAdmin
Occasional Contributor III

I've seen a thread on gis.stackexchange regarding this issue as well.

arcgis desktop - ESRI Basemap No High Resolution - Geographic Information Systems Stack Exchange 

AdrianWelsh
MVP Honored Contributor

This is an issue but I am thinking that it is likely out of anyone's control except for Esri. Digitzing off of a basemap should always come with the caveat that basemaps are rarely perfect and can change (like you have seen). 

This issue might be better served in a place like Imagery and Remote Sensing‌. 

This website might offer a place to leave feedback on such issues as these: How To: Provide feedback on basemaps in www.ArcGIS.com 

ChrisSmith7
Frequent Contributor

Here's one of the tiles I pulled:

https://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/World_Imagery/MapServer/tile/19/199917/148656 

39.241869, -77.925607

Here's the service desc:

World_Imagery (MapServer) 

According to the description, the continental US should have 1 foot resolution (0.3 m):

World Imagery provides one meter or better satellite and aerial imagery in many parts of the world and lower resolution satellite imagery worldwide. The map includes 15m TerraColor imagery at small and mid-scales (591M down to 72k) and 2.5m SPOT Imagery (288k to 72k) for the world, and USGS 15m Landsat imagery for Antarctica. The map features 0.3m resolution imagery in the continental United States and 0.6m resolution imagery in parts of Western Europe from Digital Globe. Recent 1m USDA NAIP imagery is available in select states of the US. In other parts of the world, 1 meter resolution imagery is available from GeoEye IKONOS, AeroGRID, and IGN Spain. Additionally, imagery at different resolutions has been contributed by the GIS User Community. For more information on this map, including the terms of use, visit us online. 

That sure doesn't look like sub meter resolution! The source text lists:

Commonwealth of Virginia, County of Loudoun, Microsoft

AdamWebster
New Contributor II

My digitization was ground-truthed, so it's more a frustration with presentation quality than accuracy, or dependence on the basemap. I can get other high resolution aerials, but on the the property I am dealing with, the buildings were recently built and I haven't been able to find another layer that shows them in place.  We pay for the basemap service as part of the subscription and as noted in Chris' comment, it's supposed to be there. I'm curious what happened and if it will return. If not, I need to find another solution. I appreciate the link, I have submitted my issue to ESRI and will update once they respond. Thanks!

RobertWaterman
Esri Contributor

I wanted to share a blog post regarding the recent US updates to the World Imagery basemap.  The post contains some of the reasoning behind the update as well links to additional/alternative services where hopefully you can find a solution.

What’s New in World Imagery Basemap (January 2018) | ArcGIS Blog 

I hope this helps!

PaulLefebvre
New Contributor II

I am also having trouble with the imagery basemap - working in central Brazil, in a place I've used this layer many times before. Yesterday and today when I zoom in closer than 1:4,000, the layer may or may not display completely, but then all the vector layers above it fail to render, and the 'Cancelled' message shows up in the lower left corner of ArcMap 10.6. This is a new issue that I have not had in years of using this same basemap at these same locations and same high resolutions... has something changed with my latest update to 10.6.0.8321? Or have they monkeyed with the database?

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by Anonymous User
Not applicable

I am having this problem also, only I'm seeing it with the World Terrain Base map. The resolution is awful when zoomed in to about 1:4000. I'm using arcgis desktop 10.5.1.

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