1.

GET STARTED WITH MAPS

1. Choose Basemap

Maps should do something meaningful, such as tell a story, present an idea, or showcase a situation.
To do this, you should choose a basemap and layers that have great cartography, work at multiple
scales, draw quickly, contain informative and accurate information, target a specific audience, and
have visible legends if the symbology is not intuitive. Learn more about basemaps.

CHOOSE BASEMAP

A basemap provides a background of geographical context for the content you want to display in a
map. When you create a new map, you can choose which basemap you want to use. You can change
the basemap of the current map at any time by using the basemap gallery or using your own layer as
the basemap. You can also create a basemap containing multiple layers from the Contents pane
in Map Viewer.

1.1 Select basemap from the gallery

The basemap gallery includes a variety of choices, including topography, imagery, and streets.

1. Verify that you are signed in and, if you want to save changes, that you have privileges to create
content.
2. Open Map Viewer and click Basemap.
3. Click the thumbnail of the basemap you want to use in your map.
4. View information about a basemap in the gallery by first adding it to your map.
1. Click Details and click Show Content.
2. Click the basemap name, click More Options , and click Description.
5. Click Save to save the new basemap to the map.

1.2 Use your own basemap

In addition to the basemap gallery, you can also use your own basemap by searching for an existing
layer or adding a layer from the web. You can use basemaps from ArcGIS Server layers, OGC layers,
and tile layers. When you use your own basemap, your map uses the projection of that basemap
instead of Web Mercator, the projection of Map Viewer.

Note:
If you do not have privileges to create content, you can still use your own basemap to explore data
by clicking Modify Map.

1. Verify that you are signed in, open the map in Map Viewer, and click Add.
2. To search for an existing layer to use as a basemap, choose Search for Layers.
1. Enter keywords in the Find field.
2. Choose where you want to search for layers.
3. Click Go.

A list of layers appears that relate to the keywords you entered.

4. Click the title of the layer you want as your basemap.

5. Choose Use as Basemap in the pop-up that appears.
6. Click Done Adding Layers to close the Search for layers to add window.
3. To add a layer from the web as your basemap, choose Add Layer from Web.
1. Choose the type of data the layer references.
2. Enter the layer's web address in the URL field.
3. Click Go.

When Map Viewer finds the layer, its name appears in the results.

4. Check the Use as Basemap box.

1.3 Create a multilayer basemap

You can create a multilayer basemap using operational layers in your map. Operational layers are
the layers that you interact with and that draw on top of the basemap. By moving operational layers
into the basemap layer group in the Contents pane, you can create a basemap with multiple layers.
This is useful when you have two or more layers that you want to use together as a background, or
context, for your map—for example, if you have a base imagery layer and want to add a map image
layer that includes reference labels on top of it, or if you want to combine multiple base layers, such
as a hillshade imagery layer with a topographic map image layer. See an example

The following types of layers can be included in a multilayer basemap:

 Imagery
 Map image
 Tile
 Vector tile
 WMS OGC
 WMTS OGC
 Bing
 OpenStreetMap

Once you have moved layers to the basemap layer group, you can move them up or down in the
group, specify a layer to be used as a reference layer, and move a layer out of the basemap layer
group. After creating your multilayer basemap, you can rename any of the layers, including the
basemap layer group title, and save the basemap. Multilayer basemaps can be used in your
organization's basemap gallery.

1. Verify that you are signed in and, if you want to save changes, that you have privileges to create
content.
2. Do one of the following in Map Viewer:
o Create a new map and add the layers you want to include in your basemap.
o Open an existing map containing layers you want to include in your basemap.
3. Browse to a layer that you want to move to the basemap and do the following:

1. Modify the layer as needed. Depending on the layer type, modifications may
include configuring pop-ups, changing the style, and so on. Any changes you make
will persist when you move the layer to the basemap.

2. Click More Options and click Move to Basemap .

4. Repeat the previous step for each layer you want to include in the multilayer basemap.
5. Do any of the following as needed by selecting the appropriate option from the layer's More
Options menu:

o To specify a layer in the basemap to be used as a reference layer (for example, a layer

containing place-names), select Set as Reference Layer . Reference layers always draw
on top of all other layers in the map and appear at the top of the basemap layer group in
the Contents pane. They typically include labels indicating transportation routes, place-
names, and other reference features. If you change your mind later, click Remove as

Reference Layer to make the layer a nonreference basemap layer.

o To move a layer out of the basemap, select Move from Basemap . The layer is moved
out of the basemap layer group and back into the operational layer section of
the Contents pane.

Note:
The bottommost basemap layer can only be moved out of the basemap layer group if the
basemap layer group contains another basemap layer of the same type. For example, you
can move a tile basemap layer only if the basemap layer group contains another tile layer.

o To move a layer up or down in the basemap layer group, select Move up or Move down.

Note:
Basemap layers in a multilayer basemap can only be reordered if the basemap layer group
contains at least two tile layers, two nontile layers, or two reference layers. Reference layers
cannot be moved below nonreference layers.

o To rename the basemap layer group title or any of the basemap layers, select Rename. Type
a new name in the box and click OK.
6. Click Save to save your multilayer basemap. You must be signed in and have privileges to create
content.

1.4 Basemap considerations

 Map Viewer can't display layers in a map without a working basemap because the basemap
establishes the coordinate system of the map. Once you save a map with a basemap, Map
Viewer only uses that basemap; it doesn't revert to a default basemap if yours is unavailable.
You can repair your map by using a different basemap as long as the spatial reference of the
bad and new basemap are the same. Repair your map by selecting a different basemap
or using the URL parameterbasemapURL.
 When you use your own basemap, some of the zoom levels may be missing. This occurs
because the map displays the zoom levels of the current basemap, for example, the World
Topographic basemap. To see the additional zoom levels in the basemap you've added, save
your map, close the Map Viewer page (for example, go to the Gallery), and reopen the map.
The additional zoom levels appear.
 If your OGC WMS layer uses a projection other than Web Mercator, the projection of the
default World Topographic basemap, Map Viewer attempts to use a compatible basemap. If
your layer is in GCS WGS84, Map Viewer uses the GCS WGS84 World Imagery basemap. If
your OGC layer is in a coordinate system other than Web Mercator or GCS WGS84, your
 layer is used as the basemap. You can use a different basemap as long as it is compatible
with your layer's projection. If a basemap in the gallery is not compatible, Map Viewer will
not add it to your map; instead, you will see an error message letting you know your layer is
not compatible with the basemap's coordinate system.
 When you add an OGC WMS layer to your map, you may get an error that the layer's
coordinate system doesn't align with that of the basemap. This error message usually
appears if you have added layers to your map and add an OGC (WMS) layer that isn't in Web
Mercator, the projection of the basemaps in the Map Viewer gallery. Create a new map and
add your OGC (WMS) layer first. If your layer is in GCS WGS84, Map Viewer uses the GCS
WGS84 World Imagery basemap. If your OGC layer is in a coordinate system other than Web
Mercator or GCS WGS84, your layer is used as the basemap. Now you can add additional
layers.
 After creating a multilayer basemap, if you then choose a basemap from the gallery or add a
basemap by adding layers from the web, searching for layers, or choosing a basemap from
the Living Atlas gallery, your multilayer basemap is replaced by the new basemap and any
layers included in the multilayer basemap are removed from the map.

2. Add layers

Layers are the contents of your story. They can include topics related to people, Earth, life, and
imagery. You can add one layer or multiple layers. By bringing together multiple layers, or data
sources, into a single map, you can help tell a more interesting story. Be careful, however, that you
don’t add too many things to one map and make it hard to read. In addition, it may help your
audience understand your map if you add some features that are not part of an existing layer. For
example, you might want to add some photos and captions within a recent fire perimeter. You can
add features by adding a map notes layer or importing features from a file. Learn more about layers.

3. Change style

Geographic data can be styled many different ways on a map. When you want to change the way
your layer is styled, you are presented with different ways to style the data along with options for
each of those choices. The choices you see will change based on properties of the data itself. You can
choose different symbols to represent the features you've added to your map. For example, water
bodies and streams might be shown with a single, constant blue color. Roads might be symbolized
based on road class. Seismic events, such as earthquakes, might be represented using graduated
symbols based on their magnitude, and polygons might be classified based on land use. Learn more
about styles.

4. Configure pop-ups

Pop-ups bring to life the attributes associated with each feature layer in the map, such as hiking
trails, land values, or unemployment rates. They can show attachments, images, and charts and can
link to external web pages. The default pop-up appearance for a layer is a plain list of attributes and
values. You can configure the pop-ups to define the list of visible and hidden fields and how to
present that information. For example, you might show a list of attributes or provide a rich
interactive experience for visualizing and comparing features in a particular layer by providing
custom-formatted text and charts.
5. Save map

After you make your map, you can save the map as an item on the My Content tab of the content
page.

Now that you have a basic map, you can refine it by setting map and layer properties such
as bookmarks and transparency and use the map to create an app. Depending on your sharing
privileges, you can share the map and share the app to groups, your organization, and the public