What are Vector Tiles, and how to use them

[mpboyle]

I've heard about vector tiles quite a bit recently but am not sure I understand how they work, how to create them, or how to host them...so I was hoping someone could clue me in to the following questions I have below...

1) How do vector tiles differ from traditional tile caches?

2) How do you create / author vector tiles?

3) How do you update vector tiles?

4) Can vector tiles be hosted on a local ArcGIS Server?

5) Do vector tiles create a map service similar to a cached map service?

6) Are there obvious advantages / disadvantages to vector tiles over a traditional map cache?

[KellyGerrow]

Hey Doug,

Check out my response in this geonet post about SD files: Re: Keep Service Definition Files?‌

The same concept applies to VTPKs. The reasoning and potential impacts of deleting and its impact on related items is is outlined in this post.

If you don't need the dependency then it is possible to delete the source data from your content without deleting your service. To do this you will need to delete more than one piece of content, so do this when you need to delete multiple items or create a web map for deleting.  Navigate to your content and select more then one item, then hit delete. This will successfully delete content with a relationship to other content.

This workflow isn't ideal, but will allow you to remove the VTPK if you don't need/want to store it.

-Kelly