You can use the 3D visualization capabilities of ArcGIS if you do not have 3D data. You can bring your 2D data such as points, lines, and polygons into a 3D scene and use attributes to set feature elevation, extrude features by a height attribute, and use symbols to display physical objects.
For example, you have a point dataset of trees with base elevation, trunk width, height, and canopy sizes as attributes. Or you have building footprints with building height as an attribute. You can use attributes to style the 2D features to look like 3D objects or create new 3D objects from the 2D features using geoprocessing tools.
There are two requirements to draw 3D vector objects in a scene: its XYZ position in 3D space, and its volumetric shape or symbol.
For example, to draw a tree in a scene, you need its position on the ground elevation surface, and you need a 3D model of the tree species to draw. With additional attributes, the size and shape of the tree model can be adjusted so it more closely represents the tree's height and crown width. For building footprints, the polygon geometry defines its location on the ground, and you can use extrusion to vertically lift the sides of the polygon to make a 3D block shape. For a weather balloon, the object must know its XY position and height above sea level, and reference a 3D model of a balloon to render at that location in the air.
Workflows
The first step in this workflow is to check whether your points, lines, and polygons have 3D coordinates. Does the geometry already contain the object's Z-values? You can check by right-clicking the layer in ArcGIS Pro, go to properties and click the source tab.
If the feature coordinates do not have Z-values, or these values are incorrect, you can define the elevation characteristics for the layer in ArcGIS Pro or set the elevation mode in the layer style in Scene Viewer to use an elevation surface, such as the ground, or define an absolute elevation using feature attributes. When referencing an elevation surface, the feature can be directly on the surface, like a tree feature, or it can be at a height relative to the surface, like a security camera. When using feature attributes to set an absolute height in the scene, the values are offset from mean sea level (MSL) and you will need to set the vertical units.
Once you have your features at the correct position (XY) and elevation (Z), the second step is to define how to represent them as 3D volumetric shapes. The two most common methods are extrusion and 3D symbols.
Extrusion is the process of stretching a flat, 2D shape vertically to create a 3D object in a scene. Only points, lines, and polygons support extrusion. To extrude features in ArcGIS Pro, select the layer you want to extrude in the Contents pane, go to the Feature Layer tab in the ribbon, set the extrusion type, and define which feature attribute or expression will drive extrusion height. To extrude features in Scene Viewer, you set feature size to be attribute driven in the 3D object styling options. You can also configure the styling in other applications such as ArcGIS Earth, and in custom applications built on ArcGIS Maps SDKs.
3D symbols start with the feature's core geometry and use 3D models or shape rendering options to create a representative 3D volumetric shape in that geographic location. For example, a point feature can be replaced with a 3D model of a light pole, and a 3D line feature can be rendered as a tube of a given thickness. There is a wide array of symbology options in ArcGIS Pro and Scene Viewer, and both applications provide a searchable gallery of symbols to choose from.
As the number of features being displayed increases, you may run into performance issues using extrusion and 3D symbols. If this happens, you need to convert the 2D data to 3D data using the 3D Analyst geoprocessing tools, which means the scene will no longer process the symbology as part of the drawing process but instead locks it into place as stored 3D objects. If you need to work with large volumes of 3D content on the web, we recommend caching and sharing them as scene layers to maximize performance.
Considerations
Having correct elevation values for your data is an important part of displaying them in 3D. Check whether your points, lines, and polygons have explicit and correct 3D coordinates. Sometimes the feature class has Z-coordinates, but they are all set to zero. If the layer has a vertical coordinate system defined, the default extrusion unit is the vertical unit of the data source. Otherwise, the default extrusion unit is meters. For data without useful Z-coordinates stored with the features' geometry, either look for feature attributes that store elevation values (and know their units), or consider using an elevation surface to define the vertical position.
Required software
You'll need ArcGIS Pro to set 3D symbology on 2D features. To convert 2D data to 3D data, you will need the ArcGIS 3D Analyst extension. You'll need an ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise account to work 3D styling in the scene viewer.
Explore the following resources to learn more about using attributes to set object elevation and height in ArcGIS.
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