Using Imagery Services in ArcMap
- Alistair Quinn (Unlicensed)
- Karin Stronkhorst
Topics in this section
Adding Imagery Services
Once connected to Spatial Portal in ArcGIS Administrator you can start to add image services in several ways:
To access the Public web services you do not need to Sign In, open the In the ArcGIS Online window via either:
File menu -> ArcGIS Portal
Tool in Standard Toolbar , Add -> Add Data From ArcGIS Portal:
Do a search for ‘Imagery’ for Imagery web services
And a search for ‘Elevation’ for elevation web services
Click on the Details of one of the web services and choose and Imagery Service, not WMS, service.
To access the Restricted web services, Sign In via the File Menu -> Sign In and follow the steps in Signing in to Spatial Portal (Access to Restricted services) of this document via either:
File menu -> Sign In
Via ArcGIS online window -> Sign In
Then, via the Standard Toolbar
Add -> Add Data From ArcGIS Portal:
or in the File menu dropdown -> ArcGIS Portal ->
In the ArcGIS Online window, when signed in, via My Groups select your company or organisation’s group, select an Image Service, not WMS, and choose Add:
The Details button opens another pane and gives you the Description and Properties of the service.
Although the option above is the preferred method of adding web services to ArcMap, ArcCatalog/GIS Servers and Add ArcGIS Server can be also used by adding in the image server’s Rest Endpoint URL, however please do NOT enter a username and password here, but Sign In into the Spatial Portal via one of the above options to see the Restricted services.
Download the a .lyr file via the ArcMap link in the rest endpoint URL.
**Please note: Open in ArcGIS Desktop in the Details page in Spatial Portal via the browser the ArcGIS Portal (.pitem) and ArcGIS Pro Portal (.pitemx) items do NOT work when dragging them into ArcMap or ArcGIS Pro.**
Image service Footprints
Not all projects within an image service can be viewed at the whole-of-state scale. Regional scale projects display at 1:250 000 and local scale projects at 1:50 000.
In order to see where the projects are, tick the Display footprints with this symbol option under the Display tab in the imagery Layer Properties:
Adding an individual project from an image service
In the Attribute Table of the image service (Queensland Imagery: Latest State Program (SISP) in this case) go to a project row’s RASTER field and click on the triangular button to open the Raster Preview window:
Right-click anywhere in the window, then choose Add to Map:
**Please note from version 10.6.1. of ArcMap this method has a bug: it does not change the image between the multiple projects added to Table of Contents. See the ESRI work arounds below. **
Work around via “Don’t cache any data locally” (for tile_cached services only)
It is also possible to add an individual project layer via the Identify tool. Clicking the RASTER icon opens the Preview window.
Before adding the layers, in the Identify window, right click the first layer and go to Layer Properties,then to the Cache tab, and select the "Don't cache any data locally" option. Add the layer to the map, and repeat the process for the second layer.
Optionally, you can manually delete all the cache for ArcMap by going to the Customize menu, ArcMap Options, Display Cache tab and using the "Clear Cache" options.
Watch the ESRI ArcMap work around video here.
Work around via Definition Query (for dynamic services)
Alternatively, in the Table of Contents in ArcMap do a Definition Query via the service layer Properties of the image service to filter out an individual project.
To add multiple projects to your map document copy the image service layer and perform another Definition Query to filter out another project. Using this method will ensure the individual projects display correctly.
Add a Basemap Image Service
Since the Aerial Time Series imagery services do not have a high resolution satellite imagery background of the whole of Queensland, you can add an All Users basemap service to your map to provide context.
The All Users services do not appear in your Spatial Portal group, therefore you need to do an ‘All Users’ Search in the ArcGIS Online window. Add the Queensland Imagery: Whole-of-State Program (All Users) or Queensland Imagery: Latest State Program (All Users) image service to your map. You do not need to be signed into Spatial Portal to connect to All Users services.
Since the Aerial Time Series imagery services do not have a high resolution satellite imagery background of the whole of Queensland, you can add an All Users basemap service to your map to provide context. The All Users services do not appear in your Spatial Portal group, therefore you need to do an ‘All Users’ Search under All Portal 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. Elevation services are likewise found using a Search via Group or All Portal
The tile-cached services are:
Public - Queensland Imagery Latest State Program Public Basemap Service (LatestStateProgram_Allusers)
Restricted - Queensland Imagery Latest State Program QG SISP Restricted Basemap Service (LatestStateProgram_QGovSISPUsers)
Whole of state coverage dynamic (not tile-cached) services are:
Public – Queensland Imagery Whole Of State Satellite Public Basemap Service (LatestSatelliteWOS_AllUsers)
Restricted – Queensland Imagery High Resolution Satellite QG SISP Restricted Time Series Service (HighResSatellite_QGovSISPUsers)
Comparing imagery
Swipe tool
In the Effects toolbar, or in the Image Analysis window, use the Swipe tool to compare imagery in the same location:
In the dropdown menu choose the imagery layer on top, then drag the triangular cursor over the image.
Time slider
Make sure to have unchecked the Enable Cache View Mode box when using a tile_cached service. Then in the Layer properties of an image service, then check Enable time on this layer box in the Time tab:
Use the YEAR field as single Time Field to compare and step through imagery year by year on one location using the Time Slider on the Tools toolbar. You must be zoomed-in to a scale of at least 1:250000:
Note if you are seeing the following, please press the most left button to re-enable time on the map:
Using Multi-Band Imagery
Four services have been enabled for multi-band viewing, these are:
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: Using Imagery Services in ArcMap | Adding an individual project from an image service
Once the layer is in the Table of Contents, right click and select Properties… :
In the Layer Properties go to ‘Processing Templates’ and use the Function drop down to see if there are any pre-set band combinations, apply them if so:
Alternatively the ‘Symbology’ tab will allow you to define custom band combinations:
The imagery will now show with the band combination applied in the map window:
Using Imagery Services for map printing
When producing maps with imagery services as a base layer it is best to use the dynamic state of Imagery Services. All the imagery services are being delivered via Spatial Portal; please follow the instructions in the above chapters to access them.
If you have added a tile-cached basemap image service to ArcMap you will need to turn off Enable Cache View Mode:
This will enable you to Print/Export your maps successfully with the imagery displayed in the Layout view. If the service is not a tile-cached, dynamic, image service the Enable Cache View Mode will be greyed out.
After printing/exporting remember to turn Enable Cache View Mode back on to improve the performance of the service.
Adding a single project, as described above, will also enable Print/Export since it comes from the dynamic state of the service.