Explore a scene—3D Workflows

A scene in ArcGIS can be explored in several ways. You can use various navigation options to move around in the scene and look at features from different angles and viewpoints. Bookmarks are useful to direct the user to specific locations and show different views of a scene. You can use interactive tools such as the building explorer, measure tool, or the exploratory analysis tools to investigate your data.

Navigation

All ArcGIS applications that support scenes provide a similar navigation experience. You navigate with the mouse, keyboard, or on-screen controls. Keyboard shortcuts for navigation provide access to many functions, minimizing the need to change tools. Support for navigation with devices other than a standard mouse depends on the application, operating system, browser, and device.

Underground navigation is disabled by default for the ground surface in a scene to avoid navigating underground accidently. If a scene contains underground data such as geology or pipelines, you can enable this capability on the Elevation Surface Layer tab in ArcGIS Pro or by using configure ground in Scene Viewer.

Bookmarks

Bookmarks in ArcGIS Pro are a navigation shortcut to return to a particular geographic location. They capture spatial location, the view extent and camera perspectives, as well as enabled temporal and range components, which means you can return to a location not only in space but also display data at a particular time and at a certain range value.

Bookmarks in ArcGIS Earth, slides in Scene Viewer, and web apps built on the ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript can be used to tell an interactive story with the information. They show different views of a scene and can have different basemaps and layers visible, daylight settings, scene effects, and extents.

Interactive tools

You can interact with your scene in many ways in ArcGIS Pro. You can use search to find locations such as addresses, places, or points of interest. When there are configured layers in the scene, you can also search for specific features.

Exploratory analysis tools allow you to investigate your data interactively in the scene. You can measure objects in 3D, use the slice tool to reveal hidden content, create elevation profiles, and analyze visibility in various ways.

Pop-ups can be configured to display attribute information when the user clicks features in the scene. In the Scene Viewer in ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise, you can use the dimensions tool to communicate critical information about the dimensions of objects in a scene. The Scene Viewer also supports the building explorer tool, which allows you to explore building scene layers that contain details of structures, including building walls, bridge abutments, lighting fixtures, and mechanical systems.

Immersive experiences

You can share scenes with stakeholders and decision makers through a variety of applications. Explore the immersive experience workflows to see how you can create engaging experiences for your target audience.

ArcGIS help documentation

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