A tile cache is a data structure that supports fast visualization of large datasets using a collection of predrawn, static tiles at a variety of resolutions. They can be generated from either mosaic datasets or raster datasets, but they only support three-band, eight-bit natural color or elevation data, and don't support dynamic mosaicking or raster functions. This makes caching appropriate for static imagery that doesn't change often, like basemaps. For organizations that need to share static imagery quickly and efficiently, serving cached image tiles is recommended.
You can generate tile caches with ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Image Server, or ArcGIS Image Dedicated.
When working in ArcGIS Pro, you can use the Tile Cache toolset to create the tile cache:
- Run Generate Tile Cache Tiling Scheme to define the tiling grid and image format.
- Run Manage Tile Cache to create the tiles.
- Run Export Tile Cache to export existing tiles to a tile package.
- From the Package toolset, run Share Packageto upload the tiles to ArcGIS Online or your ArcGIS Enterprise portal.
Alternatively, you can use the add-in Raster Tile Cache Tools (available from Esri Imagery Workflows), which are based on the existing ArcGIS cache solutions but provide a simplified user experience optimized for imagery and elevation. The Raster Tile Cache Tools includes an additional tool for preserving and managing metadata. With large, cached datasets, it's likely they will need to be updated as new imagery is acquired.
You can also cache an image service. Image service caching pre-generates tiles that can be accessed and visualized faster than dynamically processing the imagery each time a request is made, but only the default view is available. When you cache an image service, the default view is processed and a faster access static cache is created. Alternatively, you can use ArcGIS Image Server for ArcGIS Enterprise to access the service dynamically for data, queries, downloading, access to individual items, processing, and analysis.
Note:
To generate tile caches using ArcGIS Image Dedicated, you will need a subscription to the ArcGIS Image Dedicated PrePaid plan to access the processing and analysis tools. You can then use the Persist Imagery geoprocessing tool to convert large datasets to tile caches (or CRF format).Tile caching is available in .tpk and .tpkx file formats. The .tpkx file is a packaged tile cache format. It is recommended that you use this file format when publishing and as a raster format in ArcGIS Pro when working with large basemap datasets.)
To host tile caches, you need an account with publishing privileges in either an ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise organization. To cache an image service, you need ArcGIS Image Server or ArcGIS Image Dedicated.
An alternative to generating tile caches is to generate a Cloud Raster Format (CRF) raster dataset. CRF is a format similar to tile caching and is also optimized for large datasets, but CRF removes the restrictions on number of bands and bit depth. CRF can handle any number of bands and any bit depth, and it supports multidimensional datasets. CRF is best generated using the CopyRaster tool using a mosaic dataset as input. CRF can be directly accessed in ArcGIS Pro and published through ArcGIS Image Server or ArcGIS Enterprise. Client applications that can access tiled imagery from CRF can stream the pixels with client-side rendering and re-projection.
Imagery Workflows resource
Download the Raster Tile Cache Tools, which are based on the existing ArcGIS cache solutions but provide a simplified user experience optimized for imagery and elevation, plus an additional tool for preserving and managing metadata.
ArcGIS help
Review the following links on reference materials for ArcGIS products:
- Learn how to publish hosted tile layers to ArcGIS Online.
- Learn how to publish hosted tile layers to your ArcGIS Enterprise portal, and read about the best practices for building tile caches.
- Read an overview of the Tile Cache toolset in ArcGIS Pro, which you can use to create tile cache for imagery and elevation data.
- Learn about image service caching with ArcGIS Image Server.
- Review a cached image service creation workflow.
- Learn how to configure a cached web imagery layer.
ArcGIS blog articles
Review the following supplemental guidance about concepts, software functionality, and workflows:
- Read a blog article that provides an overview on sharing imagery and raster data, including map tile caches.
- Read a blog article that explains what you can do with tile cache layers in ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online (and how they differ from tiled imagery layers).
Training and tutorials
Follow the creating a cached image service tutorial to learn how to author, publish, and test the cache with ArcGIS Image Server.
Esri Community
Use the online imagery community to connect, collaborate, and share experiences:
- For ArcGIS Image Dedicated users, learn about how to publish tile cache as an image service from cloud storage.
- Visit the Esri Imagery and Remote Sensing community to connect, collaborate, and share experiences regarding publishing hosted tile layers.