Using Image Services in ArcGIS Pro

Owned by Alistair Quinn (Unlicensed)
Last updated: 07, Dec, 2023 by Karin Stronkhorst
8 min read

Topics in this section:

Adding Image Services in ArcGIS Pro

In ArcGIS Pro Image services but not OGC WMS services, can be added to Maps or Scenes in several ways:

 

1. Via Portal

 

Public services:

When connected but not signed in to Spatial Portal (if Sign In pop-up window appears just click it away), you should see the Public web services.


In the Catalog pane go to Portal and then click on the All Portal and do a Search for the word “Public”. Filter on Imagery Layers, select an image service, and Double click again on a service to see the individual imagery projects within it.  This individual project can then be added to a Map separately.

Restricted services:

When signed in to Spatial Portal you should see the Restricted web services.


In the Catalog pane go to Portal and then click on the Groups icon and choose your organisation’s group, then double click on it to access the image services list. and choose an image service, and Double click again on a service to see the individual imagery projects within it.  This individual project can then be added to a Map separately.

2. ESRI Imagery layers via ArcGIS Server Connection

 

Public services:

You can also connect to ArcGIS Server directly when right clicking in the Catalog pane of ArcGIS Pro and choosing New ArcGIS Server Connection, add the REST endpoint URL without filling in the credentials.


Double click the connection under Servers in the Project of the Catalog pane. 

Restricted services:

Sign In to Spatial Portal to see the Restricted services. Note: you do not have to put any credentials in the ArcGIS Server Connection.

3. WMS/WMTS via ArcGIS Server Connection for better performance of tile_cached Basemaps & Elevation in ArcGIS Pro

 

Ensure ArcPro is signed into Spatial Portal
connect to ArcGIS Server directly by right clicking in the Catalog pane and choosing New → New ArcGIS Server → New WMTS Server:
In the Server URL field, paste in this URL: https://spatial-img.information.qld.gov.au/arcgis/rest/services/Basemaps/LatestStateProgram_QGovSISPUsers/ImageServer/WMTS/1.0.0/WMTSCapabilities.xml
Press tab to navigate the cursor off the field, ArcPro briefly checks connectivity of the endpoint
Click OK. The server should now be added.
In the Catalog pane, expand Servers, and expand a couple more levels.

You can add the server to Catalog pane’s Favourites tab to save going through all the steps every time.

The above approach also works with the QGov SISP WMS endpoint, but obviously select New WMS Server rather than WMTS.

 

Also for a better performing Elevation QldDEM_CLP service the WMS service can be added with the same approach, where you can add just a rendered layer to you map.

Same approach also works for the public Latest All users WMS and WMTS basemap and elevation WMS QldDEM endpoints, but no need to be logged into Spatial Portal.

Please note with WMS and WMTS service the layers cannot be queried or extracted.

4. Via Spatial Portal website

 

Please note that the layer files, item.pitemx files,  produced in the Spatial Portal website DO NOT WORK in ArcGIS Pro!

It should be working in the following way:

To add services from the Imagery web services or Elevation web services pages from the Spatial Portal website in the browser, choose the services then select the menu by clicking the three dots and select Open in ArcGIS Pro

 

Or when inside the item, View item details and in that page open the Open in ArcGIS Desktop dropdown menu on the right-hand side.

 

Image service Footprints

Not all projects within a service can be viewed at the Whole Of State scale.  Regional scale projects can be viewed at 1:250 000 and local scale projects at 1:50 000.

In order to see project extents check the Display Footprints option under the Display tab in the imagery Layer Properties. Unfortunately, the Footprints cannot be labelled.

Adding an individual project from an image service

Operations

This method is the preferred way to add individual projects to your map as the the Catalogue → Portal → Double clicking on an image service has bugs (see paragraph below).

First add the full service to the map, select the service in the Contents pane, open the Attribute Table and select a row.  Then via the Data tab in the Image Service Layer ribbon open the Operations dropdown menu, select Add To Map and allocate a name:

Via the Layer Catalogue

This method has some bugs associated with multi-band imagery and ArcGIS Pro crashing with some projects, for a more reliable way please use the ‘Operations’ method described above

Once you have found an image service in the Catalog pane -> Portal -> Groups or All Portal tabs, double-click on the image service to see the individual projects within that service. Right-click on the project and choose Add To Current Map or Add To New Map.

If there are many projects in a service ArcGIS Pro cannot show them all in the window, clicking Find more items… at the bottom of the window will show more projects. When the end of the list is reached the Find more items… option is greyed out: 

 

Comparing Imagery

To compare imagery in the same location, select the topmost image project layer in the Contents pane, go to the Appearance tab of the Raster Layer ribbon, choose the Swipe tool and drag the triangular cursor over the image:

In the Layer Properties of an image service change “No Time” in the Layer Time dropdown to “Each feature has a single time field” and use “YEAR” in the Time Field dropdown.

 

The Time Slider will automatically appear.  Moving the Time Slider allows you to compare and step through imagery year by year in one location, though you must be zoomed-in to at least 1:250 000:

 

Using Multi-Band Imagery

Four services have been enabled for multi-band viewing, these are:

https://spatial-qld-support.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/img/pages/65208387/List+of+Public+Web+Services#Aerial-Ortho-Time-Series-All-Users

https://spatial-qld-support.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/img/pages/62587193/List+of+Restricted+Web+Services#Aerial-Ortho-Time-Series-SISP

https://spatial-qld-support.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/img/pages/62587193/List+of+Restricted+Web+Services#HiRes-Satellite-Time-Series-QGov-SISP

In the services above, only particular projects within them will have 4-bands and be appropriate for colour infrared viewing. To identify the projects with this functionality, use the ‘product_type’ field and query -

  • For the Aerial-Ortho services, ‘Ortho Aerial Photo Multispectral’ (SQL: "product_type" = 4)

  • For Satellite services, 'Satellite Multispectral' (SQL: "product_type" = 2)

In order to access multi-band functionality, you can either add the service as normal or add an individual project as described above:

Once the layer is in the Table of Contents, there are two approaches to use the multi-band functionality.

Via the Layer Ribbon

When applying to the whole service or individual projects select the Appearance tab in the Raster / Image Service Layer ribbon and you can apply the pre-set band combination or make a custom combination.

See the ESRI documentation -

Please note the default Colour Infrared band combination for the Natural Disaster Analytic services can only be accessed by the second method below.

Processing Templates

When applying to the whole service (NOT individual projects) you also can right click on the layer in the Table of Contents, select Properties:

Then select Processing Templates and use the drop down to select pre-set Function Templates:

 

Using Imagery Services for Map Printing

When producing maps with imagery services as a base layer it is best to use the dynamic state, turning off of the tile-cache in Basemap imagery services. All imagery services are delivered via the Spatial Portal and are depicted by this  symbol. Please access these services as per above chapters. Having added a tile-cached basemap image service to a Map you will need to turn off Use Service Cache. This will enable you to Print/Export your maps successfully with the imagery displayed. If the service is not a tile-cached image service the Use Service Cache option will be greyed out.

Adding a single project, as described above, will also enable you to Print/Export, because it comes from the dynamic state of the service. Remember to turn Use Service Cache back on after printing/exporting to enable better performance of the service.

Using tile_cached services

The Latest basemap tile_cached services are tile_cached for better performance.  The tile_cache displays down to a scale of 1:1129, after it becomes more and more blurry.  If you need to display clear imagery at a lower scale in areas where there is high resolution aerial imagery available, then there are a couple of options:

  • Take a copy and paste the tile_cached service in the Contents pane, turn off the Use Service Cache  on this second layer and set the scale to be of a maximum 1:1128 maximum and 0 minimum.

  • From a tile_cached service pull in an individual project as a layer in the Contents.  This

  • Add another dynamic service underneath the tile_cached service for display beyond a scale of 1:1128.

Whole Of State high-resolution satellite background

Since the Time Series image services do not have a high-resolution satellite imagery Whole of State  background, you need to zoom into a project first before it displays.  The solution to get the whole of state context, is adding a basemap service to your map. For example, you can use the Public All Users services, but they do not appear in your Spatial Portal Group, you need to do an ‘All Users’ Search under All Portal icon in the Catalog.  

Add the ‘Queensland Imagery: Whole-of-State Program (All Users)’ or ‘Queensland Imagery: Latest State Program (All Users)’ image service to your map.  Also for the Elevation web services you need to do a Search via Group or All Portal icons.