Define Vector Tile Package Extent

[emmornile1]

Vector tile packages (.vtpk) are a great way to share and view basemaps in PRO and Collector. These basemaps are an amazing way to quickly view millions of vector features. Presently all the vector features in the Map are converted to vtpk in tiles based on the number of points.

The challenge I see is to keep the size as small as possible while still containing the appropriate vectors. I would like to create vtpk files with data constrained to a specific extent like a county, city, region, district, SAR search area, or an emergency response area for a fire or flood.

There are no environment settings for Create Vector Tile Index or Create Vector Tile Package. The request is to add an environment setting for extent to these two commands, any features that fall outside of that extent would not be rendered in the vtpk. This would limit the size of the resulting basemap without having to clip all features in a Map.

 Existing Environments

 Suggested Environments

A work-around is to edit the polygons of the Tile Index to only include the smallest tiles and their parents in the area of interest, but this is a cumbersome approach.

[ScottPrindle]

Hello emmor nile,

Thank you for submitting this idea. Don't forget to vote for it!

I've removed Explorer and Collector from the categories since this is a request for functionality in Pro while creating vector tile packages.

Could you provide a little more information about the types of projects this would be useful in? You mentioned resulting file size, but are there other issues that arise due to the inability to define an extent?

[emmornile1]

Thanks Scott

Presently I have a vtpk that represents 64 million polygons and is 1.4GB in size.

Our field foresters use this layer in the field using Collector and we would like to be able to constrain the extent, and thus the size, to their various service areas.

Another use that we are planning on is for wildfire response mapping.  We will create an incident specific basemap at least twice a day for fire operations personnel to download and use on the line. We do not need to have the mapped area outside of the fire vicinity and the new tiles need to be as compact as possible.

The limitation of 500mb file size for Collector is what we are trying to meet, and smaller is even better.

Another issue related to extent would be the time required to generate the vtpk files. A large geographic extent can take several hours to generate.

Vector tile packages are great and we appreciate the functionality, thanks.

Emmor

[MarkBockenhauer]

The Create Vector Tile Package will honor the specified extent of the map.  So you can define the extent for the map to control the extent of the tiles that get created when you create a vector tile package from the map.

[StefanUseldinger]

Do You know when the tool will respect the 'Clip Layers' settings? Should I submit a new idea?