Web scene layers are cached web layers that are optimized for displaying a large amount of 3D content.
You can view scene layers in Scene Viewer and ArcGIS Pro or ArcGIS Earth.
You can publish a hosted scene layer using a scene layer package (SLPK) that you generated from ArcGIS Pro, or you can publish 3D data from ArcGIS Pro directly to an ArcGIS Enterprise portal.
The types of scene layers you can create are described below.
3D object
You can use 3D object scene layers to represent and visualize 3D objects, such as textured or untextured buildings that are modeled in 3D. From ArcGIS Pro, you can create a 3D object SLPK from multipatch data. See 3D object scene layer in the ArcGIS Pro help for more information on this type of layer.
In addition, ArcGIS CityEngine 2016.0 and later can export an SLPK from which you can publish a 3D object scene layer.
Building
Building scene layers allow you to visualize complex digital models of buildings and interact with all the components of the building. With building scene layers, you can explore a building's composition, properties, and location of structures in a building digital model. Building scene layers allow you to query and isolate discipline layers—such as structural or architectural—or categories, such as walls or roofs. They are used for engineering, architecture, surveying, and construction purposes. See Maintain and work with a building scene layer in the ArcGIS Pro help for an explanation of the multiple ways you can implement, use, and manage building scene layers. You can publish a building scene layer from ArcGIS Pro 2.3 or later as an SLPK.
Integrated mesh
Integrated mesh data is typically captured by an automated process for constructing 3D objects from large sets of overlapping imagery. The result integrates the original input image information as a textured mesh using a triangular interlaced structure. An integrated mesh includes elevation information and can represent built and natural 3D features, such as building walls, trees, valleys, and cliffs, with realistic textures. Integrated mesh scene layers are generally created for citywide 3D mapping and can be created using ArcGIS Drone2Map and ArcGIS Pro, which can then be shared to an ArcGIS Enterprise portal as an SLPK. See Integrated mesh scene layer in the ArcGIS Pro help for more information on this type of layer.
Point
To ensure fast visualization in all clients, cached point scene layers are used to display large amounts of point data not possible with a point feature layer. Point scene layers are automatically thinned to improve performance and visibility at smaller scales. Automatic thinning means that not all features are displayed at small scales; as you zoom in, additional features are displayed. For example, you can use a point scene layer to display all the trees in a city. In ArcGIS Pro, you can create a point scene layer SLPK and publish it to ArcGIS Enterprise. See Point scene layer in the ArcGIS Pro help for more information on this type of layer.
Point cloud
Point cloud scene layers allow fast consumption and display of large volumes of point cloud data in Scene Viewer and ArcGIS Pro. You can configure these layers in ArcGIS Pro and create an SLPK to publish it in an ArcGIS Enterprise portal. Point cloud scene layers in Scene Viewer can appear differently based on the symbology renderer type configured from ArcGIS Pro. Scene Viewer supports the following renderer types in ArcGIS Pro:
- Stretch
- Classify
- Unique Values
- RGB
See Point cloud scene layer in the ArcGIS Pro help for more information on this type of layer.
Voxel
A voxel scene layer represents multidimensional volumetric 3D or 4D data in Scene Viewer and ArcGIS Pro. In local scenes, you can visualize atmospheric or oceanic data, geological underground models, or space-time cubes as voxel scene layers. Use voxel layers to access and explore volumetric data about the world and better understand conditions that you can't physically experience. For example, an underground model visualized as a voxel layer can be viewed together with buildings or subterrain utilities to evaluate the underground for planned construction or maintenance.
You can create a voxel layer in ArcGIS Pro and share it as a web scene layer or within a local scene.
Note:
- For optimal performance of voxel layers, a high performance graphic card is required. For more information, see Scene Viewer requirements.
- Mobile support differs across devices. Voxel scene layers may not display as expected.
- The Elevation Profile interactive tool is not available with voxel layers.
- The measurement distance and area honor the vertical exaggeration applied. The results may vary depending if a vertical exaggeration is set.
Copy data or precreate content
Scene layers reference cached tiles. Where the cached tiles are stored and managed depends on how you publish the scene layer.
Copy data
When you publish a scene layer from ArcGIS Pro or upload a scene layer package to the portal and publish, data is copied to ArcGIS Enterprise and the scene cache is created in a system managed data store.
In this workflow, you get a hosted scene layer, and ArcGIS Enterprise creates and manages the scene cache for you. However, this workflow can be time consuming for large packages or scenes, because the tile content is uploaded to ArcGIS Enterprise. You must ensure that the sharing directory and system managed data store each have twice as much free disk space available as the size of the scene layer package or scene content you publish.
Precreate content
Publishing takes significantly less time in this workflow because no content is uploaded to the portal. Performance for the scene layer, though, depends on your connection to the data store location. For example, if your client is on-premises, but the scene content is in a cloud storage location on the other side of the world from your client, scene performance may be slow when used in that client.