How to create tile images for tiled map using ArcGIS Online?

[ronykooskow]

I am a newbie to ArcGIS Online. I have to create a temperature tile map based on my own custom data. I have found that a tile layer can be added using the below link:

http://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-online/reference/tile-layers.htm

Adding a new tile layer uses a service request like (http://{subDomain}.tile.opencyclemap.org/cycle/{level}/{col}/{row}.png) to get specific images from service for specific zoom levels, the question is how and where these images will be created based on our own data?

Is there any tool that creates such images for storage purpose and later to utilize using service call?

Can we create these images dynamically at run time based on our own data and how?

We want to create the end product like http://maps.google.com/gallery/details?id=zttWLnOPAlrs.kQBKSYw5ok5U&hl=en

Thanks in advance, your urgent help will be highly appreciated.

- Rony.

[JakeSkinner]

Hi Rony,

How did you create a temperature tile map?  Did you using ArcGIS to do this, or other software?  What type of data are you using to create the temperature tile map (i.e. TIFFs, JPGs, etc)?

[ronykooskow]

Hi Jake, thanks for your quick response.

Yes I was using ArcGIS to create the map. I have tried using the add tile layer as I mentioned in question and related URL. Adding a tile layer requires an image/PNG file via service call.

My question is how this image/PNG will be created with our own data? We have temperature data for different locations in a city/state.

How can we create tile images for this data using ArcGIS so that our final map looks like the one shown in below link?

http://maps.google.com/gallery/details?id=zttWLnOPAlrs.kQBKSYw5ok5U&hl=en

- Thanks, Rony

[JakeSkinner]

What you can do is create a cache of your map using the Manage Tile Cache tool.  If you want to overlay your map with ArcGIS Online imagery, be sure your data frame is in Web Mercator (auxiliary sphere) projection before create the cache.

Once the cache is created, you can export this to a Tile Package (TPK) using the Export Tile Cache tool. 

After the TPK is created, you can upload this to ArcGIS Online using the Share Package tool.  Once the tile package is uploaded, you can publish this as a tiled service by going to ArcGIS Online and clicking on the tile package > Publish.  You will then have the ability to add the tiled service to you web map.

[ronykooskow]

Thanks Jake, Our data updates frequently on weekly bases. Do we need to create the new tiles using Manage Tile Cache tool after every data update or there will be some tool on server that will automatically update the tiles based on new/updated data.

Will Manage Tile Cache tool automatically create tiles by reading our data or we have to manually generate tiles using this tool?

Please guide us.

- Thanks, Rony.

[JakeSkinner]

You would have to manually update the tiles for a tiled service.  What type of data are you working with?  i.e. raster images (TIFF, JPEG, etc) or vector data?

You will most likely want to look into using ArcGIS Server.  You can create a dynamic map service that would update as your tiles are updated.  The performance is not as a fast as a cached tiled service but you will not have to perform any back-end processing to have the most up-to-date tiles.

If you want fast performance, using a tiled service, you can more easily script the update of a ArcGIS Server service compared to a ArcGIS Online hosted service.  For example, you could use python to recreate the cache of your ArcGIS Server service every night.

[ronykooskow]

Thanks Jake, As per your question related to format of data, we have temperature data in NetCDF format. Is there a way that we can display this data directly on ArcGIS Online in the form of thematic contour map like following:

http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?url=http%3a%2f%2fsampleserver3.arcgisonline.com%2fArcG...

[JakeSkinner · Accepted solution]

You could convert the NetCDF to a raster layer using the Make NetCDF Raster Layer tool and then create an ArcGIS Server map service from this layer.

[ronykooskow]

Thanks Jake for your help so far. We have created a raster layer using "Make NetCDF Raster Layer" tool.

Now we need to provide the following functionality to users.

1. Users should be able to select an area on tile map and download the data for selected area?

2. How can we define any parameters based on which users will be able to filter the data?

[ronykooskow]

Thanks Jake for your help so far. We have created a raster layer using "Make NetCDF Raster Layer" tool. Attached is the output of our map.

Now we need to provide the following functionality to users.

1. Users should be able to select an area on tile map and download the data for selected area?

2. How can we define any parameters based on which users will be able to filter the data?

3. How can we control the minimum and maximum zoom level of the complete map so that if user increases/decreases the zoom, map must not exceed our specified zoom levels/limits.

Please provide us a tutorial on how can we accomplish the above mentioned tasks?