Tile layers published to and hosted on ArcGIS Online support fast visualization of large datasets using a collection of predrawn map images or tiles. Hosted tiles provide geographic context for operational layers. For example, you can include tiles of streets in your neighborhood to provide a visual reference for the street signs in a feature layer.
Tile layers hosted on ArcGIS Online are useful when you need to expose a map on the web for visualization but you do not have your own ArcGIS Server. They also allow you to share certain maps with an internet audience if your own ArcGIS Server cannot be made public. WMTS is available for tile layers hosted on ArcGIS Online that are shared with the public.
You can publish a tile layer from an existing hosted feature layer, or use any of the following methods to create a file in ArcGIS Pro, and use that file to publish a hosted tile layer in ArcGIS Online:
- Define a map in ArcGIS Pro and allow ArcGIS Online to create the tiles.
- Build a tile package in ArcGIS Pro, upload it, and publish to your ArcGIS Online organization.
Tip:
See Tile layers for information that can help you decide which method to use to publish a tile layer.
To publish a hosted tile layer, you must be a member of one of the following in your organization:
- The default Publisher role
- A custom role that has privileges to create, update, and delete content and publish hosted tile layers
When you publish from ArcGIS Pro or a tile package, a tile package file is added as an item in your content. After you confirm that the tile layer functions, you can delete the tile layer package from ArcGIS Online to save storage space, but only do so if you are certain that you no longer need the tile package.
Define and publish a map in ArcGIS Pro
From a map in ArcGIS Pro, you can publish a tile layer to be hosted on ArcGIS Online. An internet connection is required to perform these steps.
Note:
If the layers in ArcGIS Pro have definition queries applied to them, ArcGIS applies the definition queries to the published hosted tile layer. However, all data is uploaded to ArcGIS Online. If you want only a subset of the data to be published to and stored in ArcGIS Online, you must export the subset of the data to another feature class and publish that.
The speed and bandwidth of your connection affect how quickly the tile layer publishes.
Also note that web browsers cannot display some of the more complex cartographic symbols you may have originally used when you authored the map. Most symbol types are available, but in some cases, the symbols may be downgraded when you publish them. See Author maps to publish feature services in the ArcGIS Server help for more details about what symbols are supported, and make any required changes to the map symbology prior to publishing.
- Start ArcGIS Pro and open the project that contains the map to publish.
- Sign in to your organization from ArcGIS Pro using an account that has privileges to create, update, and delete content and publish hosted tile layers.
- Click Web Layer in the Share As group on the Share tab.
- Provide a name for the tile layer.
- Provide a summary and tags for the tile layer.
- Choose Tile for the Layer type.The layer is saved to My content by default. You can save to a subfolder in My content by either typing the folder name or browsing to an existing folder.
- Specify who should have access to the hosted tile layer.
All layers you publish are automatically shared to your personal workspace in your organization (My content). Your content is inaccessible to others until you share it with one or more of the following:
- Everyone—Choosing this option makes the layer available to the public.
- The name of your organization—You will see this option if you are signed in with an organizational account. Choosing this option allows the layer to be shared with all authenticated users in the organization.
- Groups—You can share the layer with members of groups to which you belong by choosing the groups from the drop-down list.
- Click the Configuration tab to specify cache settings.
- Choose a Tiling Scheme option.
- Resize and drag the Levels of Detail bar to indicate minimum and maximum scale for the tile layer.
The estimated size of the resultant cache changes as you change the minimum and maximum scale.
- Under Options, choose when and where to build the tile cache.
- Choose Cache automatically on the server if you want the tiles to be built on ArcGIS Online when you publish the layer.
- If you want the cache built and stored on ArcGIS Online, but you want to build them yourself after publishing, choose Cache manually on the server, open the tile layer in the ArcGIS Online website after the layer is published, and manually create the cache.
- If you want to minimize the number of credits consumed when publishing a tile layer to ArcGIS Online, choose Cache locally and specify a location on the ArcGIS Pro machine to store a temporary tile package. The cache is built and packaged on the ArcGIS Pro machine, and the tile package is automatically uploaded to ArcGIS Online to be unpacked and the cache stored in ArcGIS Online.
- To allow users to download map tiles for use offline, check Allow clients to export cache tiles.
- If you checked Allow clients to export cache tiles, use the Limit export to field to specify the maximum number of tiles clients can take offline at one time.
- To calculate the number of tiles and storage that the caching options will use, open the Estimate section and click Calculate.
You can change the cache settings and calculate again to see how the settings affect the cache.
- Click the Content tab to confirm the tile layer will include the data layers you intended.
- Click Analyze to check for any errors or issues.
The Messages tab lists any issues discovered by the analyzers. Right-click each message to get more information, read help for the error or warning, and access suggested fixes. You must fix the errors before you can publish. Optionally, fix the warnings to further improve the performance and appearance of the hosted tile layer.
- Once you fix the errors and, optionally, any warnings, click Publish.
Note:
Your data is copied to ArcGIS Online at this point. The size of the data and your internet connection speed and bandwidth affect the time it takes to publish.
When publishing completes, you can click Manage the web layer to open ArcGIS Online.
Publish from a tile package
Use the Create Map Tile Package geoprocessing tool to create a tile package, add the package to your organization, and publish a tile layer.
ArcGIS Pro 2.3 and later releases allow you to specify the output of this geoprocessing tool to be either a .tpk file or a .tpkx file. The new .tpkx format uses a simplified file structure, which provides improved performance when running in the cloud and shared network locations, and is an open-specification format. You can use either format in this workflow.
- Open the ArcGIS Pro project that contains the data to package.
- Open and run the Create Map Tile Package geoprocessing tool.
- When creation of the tile package completes, sign in to your organization using an account that has privileges to create, update, and delete content and publish hosted tile layers.
- On the My content tab of the content page, click New item.
- Click Your device to add the tile package.
- Choose Add <tile package name> and create a hosted tile layer.
- Click Next.
- Provide a title.
- Choose a folder in My content where you want to save the item.
Alternatively, you can choose Create new folder from the menu and type a folder name to save the item in a new folder.
Folder names cannot contain 4-byte Unicode characters.
- If your organization has set up content categories, click Assign categories and select up to 20 categories to help users find the item.
You can also start typing a category name to narrow the list of categories.
- Optionally, provide tag terms separated by commas.
Tags are words or short phrases that describe the item and help users find the item when searching. Federal land is considered one tag, while Federal,land is considered two tags.
- Click Save.
The tiles are unpacked and a hosted tile layer is created.
The tile package file and hosted tile layer are available to you in My content. You can share the file and tile layer.
After you verify the tile layer is present and working, you can optionally delete the original tile package so that you don't have to pay credits to store it, but only do so if you are certain that you no longer need the tile package.
Publish from a service definition file
Another way to share tile layers and data is to create a service definition file and upload it to ArcGIS Online. The map author defines the data and symbology required for the hosted tile layer and includes that in the service definition file.
Create a service definition file
See Save a service definition file for instructions on creating a service definition file in ArcGIS Pro.
Load the service definition and publish
Once you obtain the service definition file from the author, you can upload it to ArcGIS Online and publish a tile layer.
- Sign in with an organizational account that has privileges to create, update, and delete content and publish hosted tile layers.
- On the My content tab of the content page, click New item.
- Choose Your device.
- Choose the service definition file.
- Choose Add <service definition file> and create a hosted feature layer.
- Click Next.
- If your organization has set up content categories, click Assign categories and select up to 20 categories to help users find the item.
You can also start typing a category name to narrow the list of categories.
- Optionally, provide tag terms separated by commas.
Tags are words or short phrases that describe the item and help users find the item when searching. Federal land is considered one tag, while Federal,land is considered two tags.
- Click Save to add the service definition file and publish the tile layer.
The tile layer is published, and both the service definition and the tiles are added to My content.
- When the tile layer finishes publishing, click the Start building tiles option to create the tiles.
By default, only you have access to the service definition file and hosted tile layer. You can share the file and tile layer.