Learn how to connect to ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise, manage portals, work with the table of contents, set a basemap and terrain, and search for places in ArcGIS Earth.
When you start ArcGIS Earth, the start page appears. Create a project or open an existing project to work with a scene. For details, see Projects in ArcGIS Earth and Create and manage a project.
The tasks in this topic apply to global scenes and local scenes. For scene-specific support, see Feature availability by scene type.
Connect to ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise
Signing in to ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise allows you to access your content, group content, your organization's content, basemap and terrain, and geocoding service settings of your organization for use in ArcGIS Earth.
Sign in directly from the upper right of the application interface, where the current login status is also displayed. In addition, ArcGIS Earth provides options to manage portal connections including adding or removing portal connections and setting or switching the active portal.
ArcGIS Earth supports ArcGIS Enterprise portal logins starting at Portal for ArcGIS 10.2.1, and supports SAML authentication starting at Portal for ArcGIS 10.4. The following table indicates version support between ArcGIS Earth and ArcGIS Enterprise logins:
Portal authentication support
| ArcGIS Earth version | Built-in security | IWA security | PKI security | SAML authentication | Kerberos security |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1.0 |
|
|
|
| |
1.1 |
|
|
|
| |
1.2–3.0 |
|
|
|
|
|
Manage portals
Portal Manager allows you to add, delete, edit, and remove portal connections. Access it from the upper right portal panel, or from the Portals (Sign in) section in the left navigation pane of the start page.
Click Add portal and enter a portal URL on the dialog box that appears. The portal URL is appended in the Portal Manager list if it is successfully added.
To remove a portal connection, click the delete button
to the right of the selected portal URL.Right-clicking each portal URL opens a menu with the following options to further manage portal connections:
Sign in—Sign in to the selected portal.
Sign out—Sign out of the selected portal.
Set As Active Portal—Set the selected portal as the active portal.
Edit Portal Connection—Edit the portal URL. The URL will be updated if the portal URL is connected successfully.
Test Availability—Click to test the connection and accessibility of the selected portal.
Forget Certificate—Click to remove the certificate information remembered for the portal. This option only appears in the menu of the PKI portal with a remembered certificate.
Note:
The admin icon
indicates preset portals by the administrator that cannot be removed directly from the Portal Manager panel.ArcGIS Earth will remember your credentials automatically if Remember my credentials is checked on the sign-in dialog box. ArcGIS Earth will remember your PKI portal certificate automatically if Remember my certificate is checked on the Select a certificate dialog box. For SAML portal sign in with an X.509 certificate, there is no such check box on the Select a certificate dialog box. To remember a SAML portal certificate, check the Remember my credentials check box on the sign-in dialog box.
After the certificate is remembered, either click the Forget Certificate option in the PKI portal menu to remove the remembered certificate or press Ctrl+Alt+D to remove all remembered credentials including the certificate.
For PKI and IWA portal users, there is no sign out option provided.
Switch the active portal
By default, ArcGIS Online is your active portal. You can switch active portals if multiple portal connections are provided.
A check mark indicates that the portal that is currently set as active. To switch the active portal, you do either of the following:
Choose an available portal from the Switch Active Portal drop-down list in the upper right portal panel.
From the Portal Manager panel, right-click the selected portal URL, and click Set As Active Portal or double-click the selected portal URL.
If you mistakenly remove an active portal from Portal Manager, ArcGIS Earth will automatically set ArcGIS Online as the active portal.
Sign in to a portal using a web browser
You can sign in to your organization using a web browser.
To sign in using a browser, complete the following steps:
- From the current portal menu in the upper corner of ArcGIS Earth, click Sign in.
Alternatively, from the same menu, click Portal Manager, right-click the portal to open its side menu, and click Sign in.
- At the bottom of the sign in page, click Sign in using browser.
You are redirected to a browser.
- Provide the credentials associated with your account, and click Sign in.
- If your sign in is successful, a prompt to open ArcGIS Earth appears.
- If you signed in to an ArcGIS Enterprise portal 10.9 or earlier, an authorization code may be provided in the browser. Copy the code and return to ArcGIS Earth to complete the authorization process.
Note:
You can change the default sign in option in the Portal Manager panel. You'll see the Sign in using browser check box. This option determines whether you are automatically redirected to a web browser the next time you click Sign in.
Provide ArcGIS Earth redirect URIs
Portal administrators can update the registration information for ArcGIS Earth on their portal to include a redirect URI that sends users back to the application after they successfully sign in using a browser. From the Portal Administrator Directory, provide the redirect URI using the update App Info typically accessible at the following URL:
https://webadaptorhost.domain.com/webadaptorname/portaladmin/security/oauth/UpdateAppInfo
In the App Info field, enter the following, and click Update App:
{
"appId":"arcgisearth",
"redirectURIs":["urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob","arcgis-earth://auth/"]
}Use the table of contents
The table of contents is available in global and local scenes.
The table of contents lists all the layers in the viewport and shows what the features in each layer represent. In the table of contents, you can manage the display order of layers, view the layer legend, and set the display and other properties of each layer.
ArcGIS Earth supports searching keywords in the table of contents by clicking the search button 
. Returned results are highlighted and allow you to scroll through the items one by one.
The layer icon in the table of contents can be customized for each layer type or folder type. For more details, see Customize layer icons.
Work with your data
The order of the layers determines how they are drawn in the scene. On the Data tab, the layers listed at the top will draw on top of those in the list below them, and so on, down the list. You can also drag layers to adjust their drawing order or organize them in a separate folder.
Double-clicking a layer zooms to the layer extent. To turn a layer on or off, check the check box next to the layer's name. The warning icon 
indicates that the data is broken or not accessible.
Right-clicking a folder or a layer opens a menu containing the following commands:
- Add group—Create a group.
- Remove and Remove all—Remove one or all items (layer or group).
- Refresh—Reload data with a warning icon , or manually refresh KML network links.
- Rename—Rename an existing group, a drawing element, or a 3D model.
- Zoom to layer—Zoom to a layer's extent.
- Add to My Data—Add the data of the current layer to My Data. This only applies to startup layers, excluding sublayers if there are any.
- Hide in Legend—Hide a layer in the legend.
- Move to top—Move a layer or group to the top of the table of contents.
- Move to bottom—Move a layer or group to the bottom of the table of contents.
- Expand all and Collapse all—Expand or collapse My Data or Startup Layers.
- Save as—Export drawing elements or geocode CSV and TXT file data as a .kmz file.
- Symbology—Open the Symbology pane and apply symbology methods to feature layers.
Properties—Edit layer properties including the following:
Summary—Display data information including name, description, data source, data extent, and spatial reference.
Starting at ArcGIS Earth 1.16, an HTML-formatted description is supported for a portal item layer. Hyperlinks, images, and tables in the description are also supported. Images are sometimes resized to fit in the Properties window. Clicking the image redirects to the source image in an external web browser.
Under Data Source, the Copy
and Redirect 
buttons can be used to copy or redirect, respectively, to the data path or service URL. Move the pointer to the path or URL itself, and clicking it can redirect as well.Spatial reference information is organized and presented in table format with the strings in the first column translated in different locales.
- Appearance—Provide options to configure layer appearance.
- Pop-up—Provide options to configure pop-up contents for CSV and TXT data.
Specifically, right-clicking a .kml file opens a menu containing the following commands:
- Add—Add a folder, a point, a line, a polygon, a ground overlay, a screen overlay, or a network link to the KML folder or KML document.
- Cut—Remove the selected KML item.
- Copy—Copy the selected KML item.
- Paste—Paste the selected KML item to an existing KML folder or document.
- Save as—Save the selected KML layer, drawing elements, 3D model of COLLADA format, and geocode CSV and TXT file data as a new .kml or .kmz file. The edited KML layer can also be saved to the table of contents to replace the existing layer.
Properties—Edit KML layer properties including the following:
- General—Display KML layer information including name, appearance, and geometry type.
- View—View and set the fly-to view.
- Info—View and edit pop-up contents.
- Refresh—Configure refresh mode and refresh rate for KML network links.
- Location—Specify the bounding box of ground overlay.
- Format—Specify the size and position of screen overlay.
Note:
Appearance settings on scene services and scene layer packages are not supported.
Layers listed (top to bottom) in a .kml file in the table of contents have a reversed draw order (bottom to top) in the scene view. Changing the order of KML layers does not affect the drawing order in the scene until saving as a new .kmz file.
Use the Reset button to restore settings to the default values.
Tip:
Use keyboard shortcuts to control the table of contents and operate on the search results.
View legends
A legend displays the meaning of the symbols used to represent features in the scene. In ArcGIS Earth, you can view data legends for feature layers of point, line, and polygon, Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS), CSV and TXT, and shapefile.
To view legends in the table of contents, complete the following steps:
- Add the map with legends to ArcGIS Earth.
- Click the Legend tab in the table of contents.
If you do not want to show the legends of an existing layer, you can hide it in the legend by doing one of the following:
Right-click the layer, and click Hide in Legend in the menu.
Uncheck a layer to turn off its visibility in Data. A layer's legend display is associated with the layer's visibility in the table of contents.
Note:
Legends of the imagery, scene layer, and layers that contain multilayer point symbols are not supported.
Basemap and terrain
A basemap provides background geographic context for the content you add to the scene. The terrain provides the elevation reference for content that is draped on the surface. ArcGIS Earth connects with ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise to access its default basemap gallery and terrain.
OpenStreetMap 3D Basemaps, identified by a 3D badge at the upper right, are available in the basemap gallery, providing integrated building-aware visualization with enhanced structural detail.
You can also add data as a personalized basemap and terrain. You can add supported data types as a basemap, except shapefiles and CSV and TXT formats. Local raster data, elevation image services, and tile packages with LERC tile format can be added as terrain surfaces.
Note:
Before you add a basemap to a local scene, ensure that the basemap is appropriate for the spatial reference and tiling scheme of the scene.
Switch a basemap
To switch a basemap, complete the following steps:
- Click the Basemap tab to open the basemap gallery.
- Click the thumbnail of the basemap that best represents your scene.
- Click the Show more button
to delete, zoom to, or view item details of the basemap. - Click Layer Visibility to manage the individual sublayer visibility for basemaps with multiple sublayers.
You can disable the basemap by clicking the No Basemap thumbnail at the end of the basemap gallery. With the basemap disabled, your scene will be displayed as blank.
Use a terrain
To use a terrain, complete the following steps:
- Click the Terrain tab to open the terrain gallery.
- Click the thumbnail of the terrain you want to use.
- Click the Show more button to delete, zoom to, reorder, or view item details of the terrain.
- Click Enable All to turn on all terrains.
Note:
ArcGIS Online does not support vector tile basemaps; consequently, they will not appear in the basemap gallery.
Tip:
ArcGIS Online will merge multiple elevations into one if they're added with multiselection. The layer name will be MergedFiles00x (in which x is an incremented counter associated with the file number).
Multiple elevation sources can overlap each other, and their order defines the elevation surface.
The admin icon
indicates layers preset by the administrator, which cannot be saved with the project.
The following table lists the supported local raster data types as terrain:
| Format | Description | Extensions |
|---|---|---|
Digital Geographic Information Exchange Standard (DIGEST), Arc Standard Raster Product (ASRP), UTM/UPS Standard Raster Product (USRP) | DIGEST datasets are digital replicas of graphic products designed for seamless worldwide coverage. ASRP data is transformed into the ARC system and divides the earth's surface into latitudinal zones. USRP data is referenced to UTM or UPS coordinate systems. Both are based on the WGS84 datum. | Multiple files: Main raster image (.img), General information file (.gen), Georeference file (.ger), Source file (.sou), Quality file (.qal), Transmission header file (.thf) |
Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED) Level 0, 1, and 2 | A simple, regularly spaced grid of elevation points based on 1-degree latitude and longitude extents. This data format was created by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). | Single file—Various (.dt0, .dt1, and .dt2). All possible file extensions are available by default. |
Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) (GeoTIFF tags are supported) | Widespread use in the desktop publishing world. It serves as an interface to several scanners and graphic arts packages. TIFF supports black-and-white, grayscale, pseudocolor, and true-color images, all of which can be stored in a compressed or decompressed format. BigTIFF is supported. | Single file (.tif, .tiff, and .tff) |
ERDAS IMAGINE Hierarchical File Architecture (HFA) | HFA format is widely used for processing remote sensing data, since it provides a framework for integrating sensor data and imagery from many sources. | Single file (.img) |
High Resolution Elevation (HRE) | HRE data is intended for a wide variety of NGA and National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG) partners and members, and customers external to the NSG, to access and exploit standardized data products. HRE data replaces the current nonstandard High Resolution Terrain Elevation/Information (HRTE/HRTI) products and also replaces nonstandard products referred to as DTED level 3 through 6. This data format is similar to NITF. | Multiple files: Raw image (.hr), Metadata (.xml) |
ERDAS IMAGINE | Produced using IMAGINE image processing software created by ERDAS, IMAGINE files can store both continuous and discrete single-band and multiband data. | Single file (.img) If an image is larger than 2 GB (.ige), World file (.igw) |
Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) File Interchange Format (JFIF) | A standard compression technique for storing full-color and grayscale images. Support for JPEG compression is provided through the JFIF file format. | Single file (.jpg, .jpeg, .jpc, or .jpe), World file (.jgw) |
JPEG 2000 | A compression technique especially for maintaining the quality of large imagery. JPEG 2000 allows for a high-compression ratio and fast access to large amounts of data at any scale. | Single file (.jp2, .j2c, .j2k, or .jpx) |
Multiresolution Seamless Image Database (MrSID) | A proprietary compression technique especially for maintaining the quality of large images. MrSID allows for a high compression ratio and fast access to large amounts of data at any scale. ArcGIS Earth supports MrSID generations 2, 3, and 4. | Single file (.sid) |
National Imagery Transmission Format (NITF) 2.0, NITF 2.1/NSIF 1.0 | A collection of standards and specifications that allow interoperability in the dissemination of imagery and its metadata among various computer systems. This data format was developed by the NGA. | Single file (.ntf or .nsf) |
Portable Network Graphics (PNG) | Provides a well-compressed, lossless compression for raster files. It supports a large range of bit depths from monochrome to 64-bit color. Its features include indexed color images of up to 256 colors and effective 100 percent lossless images of up to 16 bits per pixel. | Single file (.png) |
Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) | The HGT format is used to store elevation data from SRTM. SRTM-3 and SRTM-1 version 2 files can be displayed. | Single file (.hgt) |
Search places or addresses
ArcGIS Earth allows you to search for a point of interest and have the scene zoom to a specific location on the earth. This feature uses the geosearch service from ArcGIS Online.
ArcGIS Earth supports the following search options:
XY provider—Used to search x,y coordinates entered in location units—for example, longitude, latitude—even in a disconnected environment.
ArcGIS World Geocoding Service—By default, ArcGIS Earth uses Esri's ArcGIS World Geocoding Service to find addresses, cities, landmarks, business names, and postal codes in more than 100 countries.
Custom geocoding service—Your organization can also configure custom geocode services for geosearch, geocoding, or both. With a portal connection, ArcGIS Earth allows you to choose from available locators configured in the portal when you search.
Locator—Locators from the mobile scene package can provide specialized indexes, rules, configuration, and regional knowledge that allow a more sophisticated approach to search.
ArcGIS Earth also allows you to identify addresses or locations in the scene using the What's here? tool. Pan or zoom to a location, and right-click the scene. Click What's here? from the context menu. The place-name and addresses will be displayed on the What's here? card.
Application settings
Use the Settings button 
to configure how ArcGIS Earth behaves. Settings are organized into project settings, which apply to the open project, and application settings, which apply to the application. For details, see Work with project and application settings.