Share a web scene

You can share a scene from ArcGIS AllSource to your active portal as a web scene. Web scenes are interactive displays of geographic information that allow you to visualize and analyze data in 3D. You can view and interact with web scenes using ArcGIS AllSource and Scene Viewer.

Global scenes and local scenes that use a projected coordinate system with a well-known ID (WKID) can be shared as a web scene. New web layers created when you share the scene have the coordinate system of the scene. If your scene contains existing web layers, such as basemap and elevation layers, these are included in the web scene if their tiling scheme meets specific requirements. To learn more about web scene authoring requirements, see Author a web scene.

If your scene contains scene layer packages, they are published as web scene layers when the scene is shared. In most cases, the coordinate system of the scene layer package must match the scene’s coordinate system.

Note:

Scene layer packages that use the WGS 1984 coordinate system can be published in a local scene that uses the WGS 1984 Web Mercator (Auxiliary Sphere) coordinate system when sharing to ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise 11.0 or later. However, for voxel scene layer packages, which cannot be reprojected, the coordinate system of the scene and package must match.

If your scene contains a scene layer package and you are sharing to ArcGIS Online, the .slpk file will not be added as an item in your organization if it is larger than 100 GB.

To share a web scene, you must have the following:

  • An account that is part of an ArcGIS organization with the privilege to create content.
  • An active scene.
  • If your scene contains feature layers, raster layers, or multipatch layers, new web layers are created when you share your scene. In this case, your account must also have privileges to publish web layers.

You can continue to work with ArcGIS AllSource while your sharing job is processing. You can even close ArcGIS AllSource. You can monitor the status of your sharing job in the Job Status pane.

Share a web scene using the default configuration

This workflow explains how to share a web scene using default settings. To change the default configuration of new web layers, see Configure a web scene.

  1. Open a scene.
  2. On the ribbon, click the Share tab. In the Share As group, click Web Scene 3D Scene View.

    The Share Web Scene pane appears.

  3. Accept the default name or provide a new name for the web scene.

    The default name is the name of your ArcGIS AllSource scene.

  4. Optionally, complete the Summary and Tags fields.

    A summary and tags are required when sharing to an ArcGIS Enterprise 10.9 or earlier portal.

    You can enter a maximum of 128 tags.

  5. Optionally, click the Folder drop-down arrow and choose a folder in your portal content to store the web scene.

    By default, the web scene and new web layers are stored at the root level of your portal content.

    Note:

    If you share to an ArcGIS Enterprise portal, some web layer types can also be configured to specify a server and folder. This allows you to specify the federated server where the web layer's underlying service is published and the server folder where it is stored.

  6. Under Sharing Level, specify how the web scene will be shared:
    • Owner—Only the owner (and organization members with privileges to view content owned by other members) can access the item. This is the default option.
    • Organization—Share your content with all authenticated users in your organization. This option is available when you are signed in with an organizational account.
    • Everyone (public)—Share your content with the public. Anyone can access and see it.
    1. Optionally, under Groups, select groups to which you belong to share your content with their members.
    Tip:

    If your scene includes existing web layers, ensure the Sharing Level settings for those layers are as inclusive as the Sharing Level setting of the web scene. Otherwise, the existing web layers may not be accessible when the web scene is opened in Scene Viewer. The sharing properties of existing web layers can be viewed and changed in your portal.

  7. Optionally, to see the new web layers that will be created when you share the scene or change their configuration, click the Content tab at the top of the pane.

    See Configure a web scene for more information.

    If you enabled the Allow assignment of unique numeric IDs for sharing web layers option on the Map Properties dialog box, assigned IDs may appear for each sublayer. To change an ID, click the number next to the layer or table. On the Layer Properties or Standalone Table Properties dialog box, on the General tab, type a custom integer ID in the Layer ID or Table ID text box. For more information, see Assign layer IDs.

  8. Under Finish Sharing, click Analyze Identify potential performance bottlenecks and errors to review for potential problems.

    Errors and warnings are listed on the Messages tab. Right-click a message to open its help topic or take corrective action in the software. Errors Error must be resolved before you can share your GIS resource. Resolving warnings Warning is recommended but not required.

    Learn more about analyzing GIS resources

  9. After you have resolved errors and optionally resolved warnings, click Share Share to share the web scene.

    If the sharing settings have changed, the Update Sharing dialog box may appear where you can ensure that the layers are visible to your intended viewers.

    1. On the Update Sharing dialog box, click Update to adjust the layer sharing settings to make the layers visible in the web scene.

      A message appears if one or more editable web feature layers cannot be shared with everyone. You must approve public data collection from the layer's item page on the portal. For more information, see Allow or prevent editing on public layers.

  10. Once the web scene has been successfully shared, click the Manage web scene link at the bottom of the pane to manage the web scene in your portal.

    If the web scene is composed of web layers cached automatically on the server, the layers may not be viewable while cache generation is in progress. Click Jobs Open Job Status Pane to view the cache status in the Job Status pane.

Considerations when sharing to older portals

Although web scenes can be shared to any portal, not all functionality is supported when sharing to each version of Portal for ArcGIS. Limitations when sharing to older versions are below.

ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3 and earlier

3D tiles layers and catalog layers are not supported.

ArcGIS Enterprise 11.1 and earlier

3D basemap layers are not supported.

ArcGIS Enterprise 10.9.1 and earlier

Existing web scene layers and scene layer packages using WGS 1984 cannot be shared in a local web scene using WGS 1984 Web Mercator (Auxiliary Sphere).

Portal for ArcGIS 10.3.1

Point layers are shared as web feature layers, not web scene layers.

Portal for ArcGIS 10.3 and earlier

Multipatch and point layers are shared as web feature layers, not web scene layers.