Latest Contributions by Andy-Green

This article was originally posted to the Esri blog website. The newest feature available in Esri Vector Basemaps is a tile set of contour lines. We’re including contours in a new multisource tile layer, as part of a web map named Topographic (with Contours). This detailed content covering the globe is available as a beta release for viewing through the new ArcGIS Online Map Viewer Beta, ArcGIS Pro 2.5 and newer, and Runtime apps built on 100.5 and newer. Users on older versions of the clients will only see the topographic map layers, not the additional contour layers. Topographic (with Contours) web map Esri Vector Basemaps provide users with a rich collection of map styles to choose from. The vector tile format allows for a nearly unlimited amount of customization of styles. Although available in ArcGIS Online for the past few years, we continue to roll out new features to enhance the experience. These vectorized contours are published as their own hosted tile layer (World_Contours_v2). You can add them to any map, including your own custom style by using the World Contours tile layer. In our new Topographic (with Contours) web map, the contours are not just draped on top of the map. In fact, the contours are not even added to this web map as a separate layer. The contours are included within a single topographic vector tile layer, integrated with the rest of the basemap features. The contours start displaying at LOD 11/1:~144K scale. The new World Topographic Map (with Contours) vector tile layer has a root.json file that includes two vector tile sources. This tile layer with multiple sources is an example of a multisource tile layer. Displaying two or more vector tile sources in a single tile layer, i.e. as a multisource tile layer, is possible when using the new Map Viewer Beta. Open the web map in Map Viewer Beta, or open the Map Viewer Beta and add the layer or web map. The JSON code in a multisource tile layer includes paths to two or more vector tile services. In our World Topographic Map (with Contours) layer style, the two sources are named esri and contours. The esri source includes all the features drawing the topographic map. This includes land color, water fill, park polygons, roads, and map labels. The contours source includes features that draw the contour lines and contour labels. The benefit of a multisource tile layer is that the features in the map are drawn from both sources and displayed in the proper display order. This is achieved by including the JSON layers from both set’s vector tiles. Layers to draw contour lines are ordered in their proper position of the code, above the land tints and below the water lines. Layers for the contour labels are ordered with other map labels near the end of the root.json code. Single source root.json style file (basemap source = esri) Multisource root.json style file (basemap source = esri, contours source = contours) Topographic web map without contours (top) | Topographic (with Contours) (bottom) We encourage users to migrate and use the Esri vector basemaps. The addition of contours brings parity between the vector topographic map and raster topo version in terms of map content. Review our plan for moving many Esri raster basemap services into mature support in the next year. How else can users take advantage of multisource tile layers?  Users can create a VTPK in Pro from their own data and publish it as a hosted tile layer. It can be combined with any of the Esri Vector Basemap styles, much like our contours. By editing the style JSON and adding the additional source and feature layer code, user-generated tiles can be integrated in the map display at any level of the map stack. For example, users could position the code for their content below other map labels without having to use separate base and reference layers. Using a multisource tile layer, there is only one map layer rendering all the content. Users can create their own tiles in Pro and combine any multiple number of layers in the same coordinate system and tiling scheme. In addition to the new Map Viewer Beta in ArcGIS Online and Enterprise 10.8.1, multisource tile layers can be viewed in ArcGIS Pro version 2.5 or newer, apps using Runtime version 100.5 or newer, & StoryMaps. Users on older versions of the Esri clients will only see the topographic map layers, not the addition of the contour layer. What’s next for the Esri Vector Basemaps? A vectorized hillshade layer to replace the current raster service that’s included in vector maps such as Topographic or Street Map (with Relief). The multisource Topographic (with Contours) tile layer will include three vector sources: esri, contours, and hillshade, providing a full vector map solution. Multisource tile layers are a new addition to the display and use of vector basemaps in ArcGIS Online. The ability to combine these multiple layers into one single vector tile layer allows a better representation of basemaps, especially in the case of our Topographic map with Contours, with the addition of our vectorized contour layer. Bookmark this Esri blog link to keep current on vector basemap releases. ... View more

Note:  This blog was originally published on the Esri Blog site. The Esri vector basemaps were updated this week with new content from our commercial data provider and community contributions. The content below details how you can influence map content and styling. Additionally, we’re sharing details on new and expanded map features. Check in on the Vector Basemaps blogs for related information. Data Contributions and Community Map Editor The Community Maps Program for Basemaps uses the best available data sources to produce a wide variety of multi-scale, online basemaps. These maps serve as a foundation for almost any GIS task. Provide your organization’s authoritative data to enhance the map. If you don’t have a collection of data layers to provide, but still want to contribute, consider adding content through the Community Maps Editor app. Edit parts of the Esri Community Maps basemap to add detailed features for universities, schools, parks, landmarks, and other special areas of interest. Style Editor A key benefit using Esri Vector Basemaps is custom cartographic styling. Through the Vector Tile Style Editor, put a unique touch on your map’s look. The Quick Editor feature single click color changes across the map. Don’t like the results? Click again. Fine tune the map style through layer control changes. Turn features off. Change colors. Replace typefaces. Adjust line widths. These are the tip of what can be done to make your mark on your design. The editor is accessible through this app or from the “change style” icon in the map viewer. See supporting documentation. Localization Esri Vector Basemaps are now available in 24 localized languages. Another expansion in the Localization efforts is the map styles available. Our creative vector styles (Charted Territory, Modern Antique, Nova, etc.) are now included in the language/regional basemap galleries. Refer to this FAQ answer for the list of available languages of the Esri vector basemaps. Places As reported earlier this year, our collection of Beta layers include extended points of interest. We initially included millions of places in the United States using SafeGraph Places as the data source. In this week’s release, we expanded our global reach outside the U.S. Millions more restaurants, stores, businesses, and other POIs are in the map from HERE Places Extract data.We’ll continue to improve the Beta items before a production release. Esri User Conference This year’s Esri User Conference is a virtual event on July 13 – 16, 2020. Many sessions related to the ArcGIS Living Atlas are available this year. Basemaps, the Style Editor, and Community Maps are a few of the topics covered. The U.C. event also provides an opportunity to connect with Esri cartographers and other staff. Navigate to the Basemap & Community Maps page. We’re part of the Living Atlas and Location & Data Services area. Register today and check us out. Feedback Need to make a correction to one of our maps? Our Feedback Services are built for this purpose. Mark up the map and enter the details. We’ll review and publish the edit to the basemaps. GeoNet | The Esri Community Visit the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World product page on GeoNet. Ask questions, share custom styles, and browse for the information you need! ... View more

This was originally posted to the Esri blog website. The latest updates to the Esri Vector Basemaps deployed to ArcGIS.com late last week. New data from our commercial provider HERE, open sources, and community contributors provide refreshed content across all our vector styles. See the Living Atlas of the World for our variety of vector basemap styles. To use vector maps in the basemap gallery, your administrator can set your organization to use default Esri vector basemaps. New organizations get the vector basemap gallery as default. Contribute Content There are several ways to contribute content to the Esri Vector Basemaps. If you have data to improve the map, your organization can contribute its local, authoritative content through the Community Maps Program. Your data is integrated with data from other providers. It gets published and hosted by Esri as part of ArcGIS Online reference and thematic basemap layers. Want to add detail for a special area of interest? Use our Community Maps Editor. Do you see inaccurate or missing content? Mark up the map in our Feedback Service and tell us what to fix. Customize Styles One of the biggest benefits of the Esri Vector Basemaps is the user ability to customize styles. Change colors. Replace fonts. Turn off layers. Even simple changes can make a big impact. Access the Vector Tile Style Editor app from the Change Style icon under any Esri Vector Basemap layer (see image, ArcGIS Online log-in required). The Style Editor app is also accessible from the Esri Developers site. See this documentation page for information on using this app along with additional links. For more involved changes, such as revising disputed boundary lines, see the Reference Document for how to make more involved changes. Coming attractions in 2020 A few coming attractions for the Esri Vector Basemaps. As noted in this recent blog, we addded places (points of interest) for shops, restaurants, medical facilities, and more in the USA in a set of beta map styles. Wider expansion of places worldwide is also planned. We’re expanding our localization effort with more styles with translated content. To keep up-to-date on these and other changes to the Esri Vector Basemaps, bookmark this collection of blogs. If you haven’t migrated to vector basemaps, be aware of the Lifecycle updates for our raster basemaps. ... View more

This blog was originally published on January 21, 2020 on the Esri ArcGIS Blog web page.  by Deane Kensok‌ Last year at the Esri User Conference, we announced plans to introduce an expanded set of point-of-interest (POI) and other places data into our ArcGIS location services. This includes integration of places data in our maps, geocoding, and directions services. This month, we are releasing (in beta) the first set of this places data in the Esri Vector Basemaps. With the first update of the Esri Vector Basemaps in 2020 released this month, we now include a “Places” layer that displays the locations of restaurants, stores, businesses, and other POIs. The initial release includes several million places in the United States, using SafeGraph Places as the data source. The Places layer will be available in many of the styles available for the Esri Vector Basemaps, and has first been added to our popular Streets and Imagery Hybrid maps. New Places layer in the Streets style vector basemap. Click to explore. The Places layer displays at medium-to-large scales, with increasing numbers of places displayed as you zoom in to the larger scales. The places are symbolized by category (e.g. shop, school, theater, etc.), with unique symbols for over 100 types of places. Why Now The Esri basemaps have always included a limited number of POIs, such as transportation stations, but we have limited that because many of our users intend to overlay their own POIs or other point data on our basemaps. With the Esri Vector Basemaps, we now have the option to include a much more comprehensive set of places as a separate layer that can easily be turned on or off in the style. You will be able to choose from various ‘ready-to-use’ styles in which places are displayed by default, and you will be able to customize other styles to display the places layer in your map. You will also be able to filter the categories of places that are included (e.g. select restaurants and cafés) to display just the types of places that are relevant for your map. Data Updates One of the challenges of including places in a basemap is that the data is often changing. Businesses open and close each week, or move to new locations. Our partner SafeGraph is keeping up with these changes in various ways to provide the most accurate POI data available for the United States. We are actively updating the places layer in the Esri Vector Basemaps with the latest monthly updates of SafeGraph Places data to ensure we offer the latest data with each basemap release. And, if you see something that is wrong or missing in the places data, you will be able to help fix it using our Community Maps Editor app so it is reviewed and updated in a subsequent release. What’s Next The new Places layer will be added to additional basemap styles over the coming weeks. You will be able to find all of the currently available styles in this Places group. Over the next few months, we will be updating the Places layer to include data for many other countries around the world. At that point, we’ll end the beta release and you’ll be free to use the places in your public maps and apps. These places will also be added to our Geocoding service so that you can also find them in your searches. In the future, the places will be added to our Routing and Directions service so they can be used as landmarks in directions. We’ll keep you updated as new capabilities become available! ... View more

blog by Andy Skinner This blog was originally posted on Oct. 4, 2019 on the Esri ArcGIS Blog site by Andy Skinner.  It's been replicated here on GeoNet in its entirety. The Esri Vector Tile Style Editor makes the customizing of vector tile maps a relatively simple process. More so now that the Editor is available through the map viewer. The easiest to work with are base layers like the Canvas Maps. The reduced content and the blank ‘canvas’ provided by the gray palette makes them very adaptable. However, that does not mean that the more complex basemaps are out of reach for restyling. I’m going to work with the National Geographic Style basemap as an example of this Arguably it has the richest palette of our core basemaps, it has a lot of content, and only part of the information can be restyled. So how do you start with a map like this?  (If you want to jump ahead to the final result, the new map is here). Planning A bright and intricate map like the National Geographic Style does not lend itself to sweeping change, so don’t be over ambitious when you are planning out what you want to do.  Let the new style evolve, and you might be surprised by the result. In this example, I’ve decided my starting point is to give the basemap an autumnal feel, then see where the process takes me. I want to make some broad changes to the palette. Starting out Raster layers I need to give myself some room to maneuver. The strong background layer incorporating the water and land colors defines the look of the map at small scales, but it is raster-based, and therefore not customizable. What I can do is use a transparency setting to fade it back. I’ve set it to about 45% of the full saturation. At larger scales the background is the ‘’World Hillshade’ raster layer, so I’ve made the same adjustment to that to tone it back Vector layers Now I can switch to the vector tile layer, which carries the rest of the information. I’ve saved a copy of the original and called it ‘National Geographic Style Autumn’. This IS customizable using the Vector Style Editor. I need to find some features that will overlay the background so that I can shift the overall color of the map. The Reference Document can help me with that. The basemap has a land polygon limited on the current map to larger scales only. But the reference document (starting on p14) tells me that it is available at levels 0-18. In the Style Editor I can adjust it to the full scale range (it resamples at zoom levels beyond 18). Similarly, the ‘Marine Area’ layer is available at all of my required scales. These polygons now overlay the background at smaller scales. Now I can use a combination of color and opacity on the overlying polygons to change the feel of the base. By lowering the opacity level (increasing the transparency), I can set colors that work with the background layer to create the new look. I keep a graphics app alongside my work to try things out (in my case it is Adobe Illustrator), and I’ve used it to calculate these new color values. The results are a bit startling in the Style Editor (right) – yellow and pink! But when set over the muted background (left) they are giving me that Autumnal feel. Boundaries The distinctive ‘Tint Band’ effects used along the boundaries on the National Geographic Style map are tricky, because there are many layers to deal with, and on this paler background they need to be less pronounced. I could work out a new palette to suit this map, then use the ‘Edit by Color’ option in the Style Editor to apply the new values, but I decided on a different approach. Instead I have kept the existing colors and lowered the opacity value on all of the layers (increased the transparency). The new ‘land’ color blends into the adjusted tint bands giving them a much more complementary feel. Next steps The overall look of the map is established, but now I need to review the details. This is where much of the time is spent. All of the information, at all zoom levels, needs to be examined to see if it is still working with the new palette. Symbol conflicts must be addressed, but beyond that you may want to make changes for aesthetic reasons. In this case I’ve decided that boundary lines and roads are okay, but some other features do need to be adjusted. For example, enclosed water polygons (lakes, etc.) are on separate layers, and they need to be changed to match the new aggregated color of the open water areas. I’ve sampled the combined color, captured the value in my graphics app, then applied it to the water polygons. There are other features at various scales that either require or would look better with some adjustment. The fun part Once the basic look is nailed down you can start to play! One change that can be dramatic is to switch the font treatment. I’ve decided I want a simpler look, so I’ve used Josefina Sans and Josefina Slab (These fonts are available as options in our basemaps). Not all labels need to be switched (I left streets alone for example), but I’ve gone through level by level and changed those that make a significant difference. I’ve also introduced a ‘fall trees’ pattern for parks and forests at larger scales (See ‘The Basics 5: Sprites’ for more information on how to do this). I’ve used transparency settings to blend them into the solid color at smaller scales. The result Here is the link to my final basemap again. I think you’ll agree that it looks very different to the source. Below are before and after images: The impactful changes I’ve made in customizing this basemap are limited: Reducing the strength of the background and the boundary tint bands. Two color adjustments to affect the overall look. A change of font. A new pattern fill. It’s not all I’ve done – I’ve made a lot of subtle adjustments to the symbolization at all scales, but these four are the ones that define the new basemap (Compare it to the original National Geographic Style basemap and work through the scales if you want to see what the other changes are). The level of work you want to put into this sort of project is up to you, and even with a map as distinctive as this it doesn’t need much to change its appearance. Be careful though! It’s very easy to underestimate the amount of effort involved in the details, and to lose yourself in them. Depending on how you intend to use it, and how diligent you want to be, the work involved in finishing such a transformation can be as little or as much as you want. ... View more

Esri Vector Basemaps Mid-August Status The latest updates to the Esri Vector Basemaps deployed to ArcGIS.com last week. New data from our commercial provider, open sources, and community contributors provide refreshed content across all our vector styles. If you missed the announcement at this year’s User Conference, we released a new vector National Geographic Style map along with the Navigation (Dark Mode) map and Watercolour creative style. See the Living Atlas of the World for our variety of vector basemap styles. To get vector maps in the basemap gallery, your administrator can set your organization to use default Esri vector basemaps. National Geographic Style map is expected to be included in the default basemap gallery in the next Online release. National Geographic Style map Navigation (Dark Mode) Watercolour creative style Community Maps Challenge Some of the newest content comes from our many participants in the Community Maps Program. There are several ways users can provide information and data to improve our maps. First option is to provide feedback. See a problem – report it on the appropriate map. We have feedback services where you can make notations right on the map. The second way is to share data. Register to become a data steward and submit authoritative feature classes through our Community Maps data prep tools. The third way is editing features with our Community Maps Editor app. This interactive app allows you to draw the features directly on the map. After our review, they’ll get incorporated into the basemaps. Ideal features to add include special areas of interest and other large scale features for your building complex, campus, school, or park. In fact, our latest Map Challenge is to enhance the most iconic city parks around the world. For more details, see the challenge page to participate. Map Challenge: Iconic City Parks | Golden Gate Park, San Francisco Customization Updates One of the biggest benefits of the Esri Vector Basemaps is the user ability to customize these maps. Changes can be as simple as switching colors, replacing fonts, removing unneeded features, or similar. The change can also be more involved, such as changing the presentation of a disputed boundary lines for a specific world view. DisputeID See our Reference Document and Web Map for all the DisputeID codes. These control the dashed boundary line display and alternate naming of select features. Editing your copy of the root.json style file in a text editor is required (e.g. Brackets or Notepad++). One specific change this release expands the options to display boundary lines of the West Bank and Gaza Strip separately.  There is a segment of boundary line at Jerusalem that changed from DisputeID=45 to DisputeID=157. Additionally, the Gaza Strip boundary is now DisputeID=145 (it was also 45). Esri Vector Tile Style Editor Another way to customize vector maps is through the Style Editor. It was released as part of the ArcGIS.com Online Map Viewer update right before the User Conference. Access the app from the Change Style icon under any Esri Vector Basemap layer (icon circled in image). Log-in required. It is also accessible from the Esri Developer’s site. See this documentation page for information on using this app along with additional links. Access style editor from vector tile layer See the collection of ArcGIS blogs related to Esri Vector Basemaps. ... View more