Dark tiles near Pole problem.

[MartijnPallandt]

When using the World Imagery (Firefly) basemap in a global scene with a view of the north pole, the tiles around the north pole are darker than the rest of the map. There is a very clear boundary visible which looks pretty bad. The further I zoom in the further north this boundary is moved. Is there a way to have all tiles the same lightness or at least make the boundary less distinct?

(p.s. Is there a way to add a screen shot, that would probably make it easier)

When using the World Imagery (Firefly) basemap in a global scene with a view of the north pole, the tiles around the north pole are darker than the rest of the map. There is a very clear boundary visible which looks pretty bad. The further I zoom in the further north this boundary is moved. Is there a way to have all tiles the same lightness or at least make the boundary less distinct?

(p.s. Is there a way to add a screen shot, that would probably make it easier) (answered)

[Luke_Pinner]

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@MartijnPallandt wrote:

...
(p.s. Is there a way to add a screen shot, that would probably make it easier)

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Yes, either take a screenshot (copy to clipboard) and paste it in, or just click the insert photo button:

[Robert_LeClair]

So it appears that this darkening/circular area is by design in the Firefly Imagery basemap.  In this ArcGIS Blog article - Firefly Imagery Updates - it mentions "The previous version of Firefly had a vignette, darkening the poles. This newest version still has the vignette, which is an important aesthetic of Firefly cartography, but it is greatly reduced to better accommodate near-polar applications."  I have not heard the term "vignette" before so found an article by John Nelson (Esri) where he talks about this cartographic technique.  You may reference the blog article here - Steal These Vignettes Please

Hope this helps!