Map and Imagery layers are added to AutoCAD as raster backgrounds that are geographically positioned behind AutoCAD graphics to provide geographic context. Map image layers and imagery layers are generated from ArcGIS web services. These map and imagery services can be shared as items on ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise. You can add these layers to your drawing through the Add Data user interface.
Both map and imagery layers have a shared user interface in the Esri Contents pane to control various aspects regarding the visibility appearance and access to information represented in the map. You can control the visibility of the map and sublayers, the method by which the map is refreshed when the AutoCAD view area has changed, the transparency of the map, and gain access to information regarding features within the map or properties of the source web services. Tools are also provided to zoom to the published geographic extent of the maps, extract the map as an AutoCAD graphic image to make it visible for plotting, or remove the map from the drawing. You can access these map-specific tools in the Esri Contents pane using the quick action buttons or context menus. Map layers supported in ArcGIS for AutoCAD are expressed in the AutoCAD drawing as transient background images. Map image layers and imagery layers that support the export map capability are supported by ArcGIS for AutoCAD. Certain web layers such as tiled map layers and vector tile layers may not be supported. Map and Imagery layers may have multiple sublayers whose visibility you can control individually in the Esri Contents pane.
Map layers
Map layers in ArcGIS for AutoCAD are created from Map image layers added to the drawing from items discovered on ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise, or added directly from ArcGIS Server map server URLs. The map symbology is dictated by the GIS administrator who published the map. These layers can be added to ArcGIS for AutoCAD as a quick way to visualize data in a GIS dataset. Map image layers can be represented by a collection of layers known as sublayers you can use to organize the datasets into common groups. The sublayers are displayed in ArcGIS for AutoCAD, allowing you to control the visibility of the data groups you want to display. The features depicted within map layers can be queried using the identify map tool in the Esri Contents pane. There may be both feature layers and map image layers shared for the same data. It is useful to add the map layer when you are using the information just for reference and the feature layer when you need access to the geometry or to edit. It is useful to see both when editing feature layer data to keep track of the information currently stored on the server as compared to your CAD edits of the data.
Imagery layers
Imagery layers in ArcGIS for AutoCAD are created from Map image layers added to the drawing from web image layer items discovered on ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise, or added directly from ArcGIS Server image service URLs. Imagery layers can be created using supported raster data types, written to a raster store, and published as image services. Imagery layers in ArcGIS are a collection of map cartography based on raster data. Raster data is a grid of cells commonly used to store imagery and other information captured by remote sensing devices. Imagery layers can be displayed dynamically or prerendered as cached image tiles. These layers can provide real-world image context to your CAD drawings. Imagery layers in ArcGIS for AutoCAD support many of the same capabilities as map layers. Some map image layers such as the Esri global imagery are map layers rather than imagery layers, and some imagery layers depict various collections of raster-style maps.