Share a web tile layer

With ArcGIS AllSource, you can share web tile layers to your active portal.

Web tile layers are best used with relatively static maps. When you share a web tile layer, the antialiasing settings in your display options are applied automatically. The default antialiasing mode is Fast. Learn more about web tile layers. You can also replace a web tile layer if it needs to be updated.

The privilege to publish hosted tile layers is required to share a web tile layer.

While in the process of sharing a web tile layer, you may decide to save a service definition instead. A service definition compiles information into a single file, allowing you to share the web tile layer at a later time. Information about saving a service definition is included in the workflow below. To learn more, see Introduction to saving service definitions.

You can also use ArcPy to share a web tile layer to a portal. To learn more, see Introduction to arcpy.sharing.

Share a web tile layer using the default configuration

This workflow explains how to share a web tile layer with default settings. To change the default configuration, see Configure a web tile layer.

1. To share a web tile layer with the default tiling scheme, do one of the following:
   • Share all usable layers in the map as a web layer. On the Share tab, in the Share As group, click the Web Layer drop-down arrow, and click Publish Web Layer .
   • Share selected layers in the map or 2D Layers category of the scene as a web layer. Select the layers in the Contents pane, right-click any selected layer, point to Sharing, and click Share As Web Layer .

   The Share As Web Layer pane appears.

   Note:

   For a web tile layer, the tiling scheme default is ArcGIS Online/Bing Maps/Google Maps.

2. Provide a name for the web layer.
3. 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.

4. If your active portal is ArcGIS Online, for Layer Type, click Tile.
5. If your active portal is an ArcGIS Enterprise portal, click Tile under Copy all data.
6. Under Location, use the Folder menu to choose a folder in your portal content in which to store the web layer. Optionally, create a folder.

   By default, the web layer is stored at the root level of your portal content.

   Tip:

   Click the Browse button to browse to a folder in your portal content. You can also type a folder name in the text box.

7. Under Sharing Level, specify how the web layer 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.
8. Optionally, click the Content tab to view the folder, new web layer, and sublayers with assigned IDs if available.

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

9. Under Finish Sharing, click Analyze 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 must be resolved before you can share your GIS resource. Resolving warnings is recommended but not required.

   Learn more about analyzing GIS resources

10. After you have resolved errors, and optionally, resolved warnings, click Publish to share the web layer.

    To save a service definition for the web layer instead, click the Publish drop-down arrow and click Save As SD. To learn more, see Save a service definition for a web layer.

11. When the web layer is successfully published, click the Manage the web layer link at the bottom of the pane to access the web layer in your portal.

    If the web layer will be drawn from cache built automatically on the server, the web layer may not be viewable while cache generation is in progress. Click Jobs to view the cache status in the Job Status pane.

Considerations when sharing to older portals

Web tile layers can be shared to all versions of ArcGIS Enterprise and Portal for ArcGIS. However, not all functionality is supported by earlier versions. Limitations are listed below.

ArcGIS Enterprise 10.5 and earlier

Allow clients to export cache tiles when caching locally is not available.

Portal for ArcGIS 10.3.1 and earlier

Cache locally is not available.