Publish hosted imagery layers

Hosted imagery layers can be used to manage, share, and analyze raster and imagery data in your organization. You can perform analysis using tools and raster functions with hosted imagery layers in Map Viewer or Map Viewer Classic. You can also manage large collections of imagery, and include imagery layers in hosted apps and maps.

Publish a hosted imagery layer in ArcGIS Enterprise using one of the following methods:

• Create imagery layers from local data or a data store using the Create imagery layers window that guides you through creating an imagery layer.
• Upload a compressed .zip file containing images to your portal and publish this image collection as a hosted imagery layer.

To create hosted imagery layers, you must have ArcGIS Image Server and privileges to publish hosted imagery layers and create content.

Additionally, you must configure raster analytics.

Note:

Hosted imagery layers are different from raster tile layers. Raster tile layers support visualization of imagery and raster data, but they do not support analysis. Hosted imagery layers allow access to the imagery or raster data, including the pixel or cell values across multiple bands, and multidimensional data.

Note:

When publishing an image service, you must register the same raster store name with the same path or connection details for both your image hosting server and raster analysis server if an image hosting server is specified in your raster analysis deployment.

If the input data is accessed from your data stores, those data stores should be registered in both the raster analysis and image hosting servers.

Create an imagery layer

To create web maps with raster and imagery data, and to share this data with internal and external users, publish your data as hosted imagery layers.

You can publish data as one or multiple imagery layers, or you can mosaic several images as one imagery layer. You can also publish multiple images as an image collection, which allows you to query the resulting hosted imagery layer for the properties of individual images.

Data will be published as a dynamic imagery layer, or as static image tiles. Dynamic imagery layers support access to imagery pixel data and metadata such as raster attribute tables, statistics, and histograms. You can perform analysis on dynamic imagery layers. With image tiles, groups of pixels are processed as static tiles.

Follow the steps below to create a hosted imagery layer.

1. Verify that you are signed in with an account that has privileges to create content and publish hosted imagery layers, and click the My content tab of the content page.
2. Click New item and choose Imagery layer.
3. Choose a layer configuration.

   The following options are available:

   • One Image—Create one imagery layer from a single image. This option supports all supported raster and image formats, multidimensional raster data, and configuration with various source types and compression settings. The Raster Dataset data type is used as the raster type to create the imagery layer. Use this option for simple imagery layers in which advanced metadata is not needed.
   • One Mosaicked Image—Create one imagery layer by mosaicking multiple images as part of the creation process. This option supports generating a single imagery layer that is a mosaic of multiple images over space, multidimensional raster data, and many raster types that allow you to control how your satellite or aerial products are processed.
   • Image Collection—Create one imagery layer that manages a collection of many images. This format also supports image display order and filtering for custom visualizations based in the input image metadata. The Image Collection Explorer can be used to query and work with single images from within the imagery layer. This option also supports storing the imagery in the original source format.
   • Multiple Imagery Layers—Create one imagery layer for each input image. This option generates multiple imagery layers. Use this option instead of choosing the One Image option multiple times.

   If you select the One Mosaicked Image option, your input imagery will be copied and converted to Cloud Raster Format (CRF) for rendering efficiency. You may optionally copy and convert the source imagery to CRF if using the One Image or Multiple Imagery Layers option when configuring the properties in the next few steps. The Image Collection option preserves the original imagery format.

   When you have selected the layer configuration you want, click Next.

4. Select the raster type of your input imagery from the drop-down menu. The raster type metadata is used to display, correct, and process the imagery in a consistent manner.

   Each raster type contains unique metadata specific to the sensor and image parameters. This option is only available if you select One Mosaicked Image or Image Collection as the layer configuration. For all other configuration types, the only supported raster type is Raster Dataset.

5. Click the Configure properties button to specify the properties for the selected raster type.
The raster type properties help you create an informative imagery layer based on your requirements. The properties available depend on the layer configuration and raster type selections you made. The properties are divided into the General, Processing, Spatial Reference, Auxiliary Information, and Metadata tabs.
6. On the General tab, configure the options for your imagery layer. If you don't see one or more of the options below, it is because the layer configuration type or raster type you chose does not support the option.

   Product Type	Specify the type of product included in your satellite imagery. Product types are typically identified by various processing levels associated with the specific sensor. This option is available when the layer configuration is One Mosaicked Image or Image Collection and the raster type is set to a satellite product.
   Source Type	Choose a source type to match the intended use of the imagery. Your choice will determine the default stretch or rendering options. Generic—The raster or imagery does not have a specific use case. This is the default. Elevation—The raster contains elevation data such as digital elevation model (DEM), digital terrain model (DTM), or lidar data. Thematic—The raster contains classified or thematic data, such as land cover or risk levels. Processed—The imagery has been georeferenced and color balanced. Scientific—The raster or imagery is in a scientific data format such as NetCDF, HDF, or GRIB.
   Resampling Type	Select the resampling method to be used to display the imagery layer: Nearest—Nearest neighbor resampling is recommended for discrete data, such as land cover. Bilinear—Bilinear interpolation is recommended for continuous data, such as elevation. Cubic—Cubic convolution resampling is recommended for continuous data. Majority—Majority resampling is recommended for discrete data.
   Compression	Select the compression method to use when converting the source imagery to Cloud Raster Format: LERC—Lossless or lossy compression that divides the raster into a number of pixel blocks. If you choose LERC compression, you can also specify the Maximum LERC compression error. JPEG—Lossy compression that uses the public JPEG compression algorithm. If you choose JPEG compression, you can also specify the Compression quality. Tip: When you publish a Cloud Raster Format (CRF) file with mixed (JPEG/PNG) compression, the compression setting on the General tab in the publishing workflow will be ignored.

7. On the Processing tab, configure the options for your imagery layer. If you don't see one or more of the options below, it is because the layer configuration type or raster type you chose does not support the option.

   Processing templates	Select the processing template to use in the imagery layer. The processing template performs common imagery processing tasks, such as extracting specific bands, pansharpening, orthorectification, stretching, and other tasks that are specific to the input data. The processing templates available depend on the raster type you selected. This option is only applicable to satellite or aerial data products that come with prepackaged processing templates. For example, Landsat Level-2 products include a Surface Reflectance processing template and a Quality Assurance processing template.
   Apply default stretch to each raster item	Choose whether to apply default percent clip stretching to each raster item in the imagery layer.
   Build footprints using radiometry (remove low quality edge pixels)	Choose whether to build footprints for the imagery layer such that only pixels within a given range of values are included. This will eliminate null data values border pixels, which results in seamless mosaics. Removal of the null data border pixels generates more appropriate statistics for each image item, resulting in better image enhancements and analytical processing. If you choose to build footprints, you can provide additional footprint settings.
   Define a pixel value that represents NoData	Choose whether to define a NoData value for the pixels in the imagery layer. Pixels with the NoData value will display as transparent in the map.
   Orthorectification	Choose how you want to orthorectify the images.
   Pansharpen	Select the pansharpen type you prefer, as well as the sharpen image and band weights. This option is available when the input raster type includes coincident panchromatic and multispectral imagery data.
   Footprints	Specify the footprints options to use. These options are available if you chose to build footprints using radiometry.

If you select Image Collection as the layer configuration, you can also build overviews to improve display performance. Building overviews is recommended to increase display speed and reduce CPU usage when serving imagery layers as a service.
8. On the Spatial Reference tab, select the output spatial reference for your imagery layer or layers. The default coordinate system is WGS84 Web Mercator (auxiliary sphere).
9. On the Metadata tab, configure the options for your imagery layer. Options include the image's acquisition date, the measure and unit of pixel values, and the order and wavelength of bands for multiband imagery.
For satellite products, the Band mapping table contains read-only band mapping indexes for reference.
10. If you chose Thematic for the imagery Source Type, you will also see the Auxiliary Information tab, where you can provide a corresponding raster attribute table (DBF version 5) or color map file (.clr).

    A color map is a text file with the .clr extension, in which each row has four space-delimited integer values to map a pixel value to a color. The row order follows the pixel value order, and the column order is red, green, and blue. Red, green, and blue values all range from 0 to 255. The following are examples:

    0 255 10 150

    1 253 0 2

    31 0 220 253

11. When you have finished configuring your imagery properties, click Apply.
12. In the Select input imagery window, you can either use the Browse button to browse to the input data, or drag files into the dotted area.
    • If your data is on your local machine, click the From local tab and drag your local imagery files into the dotted area or browse to the input data. A table containing all the files with name, size, and upload status appears. The files are uploaded to the raster analysis server, and the resulting imagery layer will be a hosted imagery layer.
    • For options One Image and Multiple Imagery Layers, if your data is in a CRF (Cloud Raster Format) and is on your local machine, click the From local tab, and drag your local CRF folder into the dotted area.
    • If your data is in a registered data store, see Publish imagery layers from a data store.
You don't need to wait for the files to finish uploading to proceed to the next step.
13. Click Next.
14. Provide the item details for your imagery layer or layers. You can provide these details even if the files have not finished uploading.
    1. Type a title. If you are creating multiple imagery layers, you can provide a prefix and suffix to add to the base title.
    2. Optionally, type tag terms separated by commas.
    3. Type a summary, if desired.
    4. Specify the folder where you want to store the imagery layer or layers.
15. Click Create.

    The progress of the layer creation is shown, including uploading files and creating the imagery layer item.

The imagery layer is added to My content. One way to test the new hosted imagery layer once publishing completes is to view it in a web map.

Supported data for imagery layers

When configuring your imagery layers, you can specify the raster type that identifies and uses metadata such as georeferencing, acquisition date, sensor type, and band wavelengths. You can create imagery layers using the raster types listed in the table below. The raster dataset raster type refers to any raster format supported by ArcGIS Pro and does not include any metadata.

ASTER DMCII DubaiSat-2 GeoEye-1 GF-1 PMS GF-1 WFV GF-2 PMS GRIB HDF IKONOS Jilin-1 KOMPSAT-2 KOMPSAT-3

Landsat 1-5 MSS Landsat 4-5 TM Landsat 7 ETM+ Landsat 8 Landsat 9 NetCDF NITF PlanetScope Pleiades-1 Pleiades Neo QuickBird RapidEye

Raster Dataset Sentinel-2 SkySat SPOT 5 SPOT 6 SPOT 7 SuperView-1 WorldView-1 WorldView-2 WorldView-3 WorldView-4 ZY3-SASMAC

The imagery data you use as input can come from a local folder or from a data store. The output can be hosted imagery layers or imagery layers that reference the registered data source. Imagery layers that reference the registered data source are not managed by ArcGIS Enterprise. When you delete a referenced imagery layer, the data will not be deleted from the data store.

Publish multidimensional imagery layers

You can publish multidimensional raster data as an imagery layer and use multidimensional filtering on your layer to display a specified slice in a web map. You can also use the multidimensional settings to control which time slice is visible and use the multidimensional analysis tools.

To publish a multidimensional imagery layer from a single NetCDF, HDF, or GRIB file, follow these steps:

1. Verify that you are signed in with an account that has privileges to create content and publish hosted imagery layers, and click the My content tab of the content page.
2. Click New item and choose Imagery layer.
3. For your layer configuration, choose One Image and click Next.
4. Optionally, click the Configure Properties button and, on the General tab, check the Convert to CRF format check box. Modify any other properties you want on the General or Metadata tabs, depending on your data and click Apply.
5. Browse to the NetCDF, HDF, or GRIB file, or drag it into the dotted area. Click Next.
6. Provide the item details for your imagery layer and click Create.

To publish a multidimensional imagery layer from one or more NetCDF, HDF, or GRIB files, follow these steps:

1. Verify that you are signed in with an account that has privileges to create content and publish hosted imagery layers, and click the My content tab of the content page.
2. Click New item and choose Imagery layer.
3. For your layer configuration, choose One Mosaicked Image or Image Collection and click Next.
4. Select the raster type NetCDF, HDF, or GRIB, depending on your data.
5. Optionally, click the Configure Properties button and, on the General tab, check the Convert to CRF format check box. Modify any other properties you want on the General or Metadata tabs, depending on your data and click Apply.

Note:

For supported data formats, NetCDF-3 and GRIB-2, you can select the Vector field processing template to specify either the UV-components or Magnitude-Direction of the vector field data.
6. Browse to the NetCDF, HDF, or GRIB file, or drag the file into the dotted area. Click Next.
7. Provide the item details for your imagery layer and click Create.

Publish a single imagery layer from multiple input images

There are two layer configurations that can be used to publish a single imagery layer from multiple input images.

1. One Mosaicked Image—Using this configuration, you can create one imagery layer by mosaicking multiple images into a single dataset. For example, you should use this option if you have 10 input images and you want to merge them into a single dataset and access it through an imagery layer.
2. Image Collection—Using this configuration, you can create one imagery layer that manages a collection of many images. For example, you should use this option if you have 10 input images and you want to access the input images and manage them through a single imagery layer.

To publish a single imagery layer from multiple input images, follow the steps below.

1. Verify that you are signed in with an account that has privileges to create content and publish hosted imagery layers, and click the My content tab of the content page.
2. Click New item and choose Imagery layer.
3. For your layer configuration, choose One Mosaicked Image or Image Collection, based on your requirements, and click Next.
4. Optionally, click the Configure Properties button and modify any properties on the General, Processing, Spatial Reference, or Metadata tabs, depending on your data, and click Apply.
5. Browse to the location of the input images, or drag them into the dotted area. Click Next.
6. Provide the item details for your imagery layer and click Create.

Publish Cloud Raster Format data

You can publish Cloud Raster Format (CRF) raster data as an imagery layer, whether it's multidimensional or not.

To publish an imagery layer from CRF data, follow these steps:

1. Verify that you are signed in with an account that has privileges to create content and publish hosted imagery layers, and click the My content tab of the content page.
2. Click New item and choose Imagery layer.
3. For your layer configuration, choose One Image and click Next.
4. Keep the default Raster Dataset raster type.
5. Optionally, modify the properties by clicking the Configure Properties button.
6. Drag the entire CRF folder into the dotted area. Browse is not supported for CRF data. Click Next.
7. Provide the item details for your imagery layer and click Create.

Publish categorical imagery layers

You can publish categorical (or thematic) imagery layers, such as land cover, for raster data that has an associated attribute table or color map.

To publish a categorical raster dataset as an imagery layer, follow these steps:

1. Verify that you are signed in with an account that has privileges to create content and publish hosted imagery layers, and click the My content tab of the content page.
2. Click New item and choose Imagery layer.
3. For the layer configuration, choose One Image if you have one input image and click Next.
4. If you want to publish a single imagery layer from multiple categorical raster datasets, you can choose the One Mosaicked Image or Image Collection layer configuration.
5. Accept the default raster type, Raster Dataset.
6. Click the Configure Properties button and, on the General tab, set the Source type to Thematic.

   The Auxiliary Information tab appears.

7. On the Auxiliary Information tab, check the box labeled My data has a raster attribute table or colormap.

   A browsing window appears.

8. Browse to the color map file (.clr) or raster attribute table (.vat.dbf) that is associated with your dataset.
9. Click Apply in the raster type properties window.
10. Browse to the categorical raster data, or drag it into the dotted area. Click Next.
11. Provide the item details for your imagery layer and click Create.

Upload and publish an image collection

You can add all supported raster formats to a .zip file and upload them to ArcGIS Enterprise as an image collection item.

Note:

Raster products and mosaic datasets in a geodatabase are currently not supported.

The following steps explain how to create, upload, and publish an image collection in the portal.

1. Create a .zip file containing the images you want to load and publish.
2. Place the .zip file in a location you can access from the portal website.
3. Sign in to your portal organization and click Content > My content.
4. Click New item > Your device to add the image collection.
5. Drag the .zip file into the dotted area or browse to the .zip file and click Open.
6. Choose Image Collection from the File type drop-down list.
7. Click Next.
8. Fill in the Title text box.
9. Optionally, type tags and a summary.
10. Click Save.

This will upload the .zip file and an image collection item will be created in your portal. Additionally, if you are signed in with an account that has privileges to publish hosted imagery layers, a Publish option will be available. Click Publish, then provide the item details for your imagery layer and click Save to create the hosted imagery layer from the zipped image collection. These items are accessible only to you by default. You can share these items with other portal members, the public, or members of specific groups.