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Style imagery in Map Viewer

In this topic

  1. Apply a stretch
  2. Style using RGB
  3. Use unique values
  4. Classify values
  5. Apply shaded relief
  6. Use color map styling
  7. Style with vector fields
  8. Use flow styling

Map Viewer allows you to explore data in various ways through a variety of smart mapping styles. When you style map layers in Map Viewer, the nature of the data determines the default styling options. You can experiment with color ramps, line weights, transparency, symbols, and other graphic elements, and see your choices reflected immediately on the map.

You can style imagery layers in several ways depending on the type of data in the layer and what you want to highlight. When you are styling an imagery layer, only the options that are applicable to the layer are available in the Styles pane. For example, you can display multispectral or multiband imagery using a three-band red, green, and blue (RGB) color composite, but elevation data does not have this display option.

For information about changing the style or display of imagery layers in Map Viewer Classic, see Display imagery.

Apply a stretch

Applying a stretch to continuous data allows you to apply various color ramps and enhance the contrast in your imagery layer. Stretching is helpful when you want to make certain features in a continuous dataset more obvious. For example, you can apply a stretch to clearly show areas of high elevation compared to low elevation in a digital elevation model (DEM).

To style continuous imagery data using the Stretch style, do the following:

  1. Follow the first four steps of Apply a style.
  2. In the Styles pane, click the Stretch style and click Style options.
  3. Optionally, click the Stretch Type drop-down menu and select from the list of options.

    The following options are available:

    • None—No additional image enhancements are performed.
    • Minimum and Maximum—Display the entire range of values in the image. Edit the values in the statistics table to make additional changes as needed. These are available only when the Dynamic range adjustment check box is cleared.
    • Standard Deviation—Display values between a specified number of standard deviations.
    • Percent Clip—Set a range of values to display, and exclude the highest and lowest pixel values from the stretch. Use the two text boxes to edit the upper and lower percentages.
  4. Optionally, do any of the following:
    • Click the ramp under Color scheme and choose a different color ramp. Optionally, click Flip ramp colors to change the direction of the colors.
    • Turn on the Apply dynamic range adjustment toggle button to use dynamic range adjustment in which the stretch method is applied for pixel values only in the active map display.
    • Adjust the Gamma value slider to highlight contrast on the imagery layer.
    • Type the minimum and maximum pixel values to include in the stretch in the Statistics table. This updates the stretch values in the display.
  5. In the Style options pane, click Done when you are finished customizing your style, or click Cancel to go back to the Styles pane without saving your choices.
  6. In the Styles pane, click Done.

Style using RGB

Rendering imagery data using the red, green, and blue (RGB) color composite allows you to use information from multiple bands in your multiband imagery to highlight specific features in the imagery. For example, you can use a natural color composite where the red, green, and blue channels are populated with the red, green, and blue sensor bands to render the image as you would see it naturally. You can also use other combinations to highlight green vegetation, water, or urban areas.

To style multiband imagery data using the RGB style, do the following:

  1. Follow the first four steps of Apply a style.
  2. In the Styles pane, click the RGB style, if necessary, and click Style options.
  3. Select the bands to display in the red, green, and blue channels.
  4. Optionally, do any of the following:
    • Click the Stretch type drop-down menu and select from the list of options.
    • Adjust the Gamma value slider to highlight contrast on the imagery layer. You can also turn on the Change individual band gamma values toggle button and type the gamma values for each band.
    • Turn on the Apply dynamic range adjustment toggle button to use dynamic range adjustment in which the stretch method is applied for pixel values only in the active map display.
    • Type the minimum and maximum pixel values to include in the stretch in the Statistics table. This updates the stretch values in the display.
  5. In the Style options pane, click Done when you are finished customizing your style, or click Cancel to go back to the Styles pane without saving your choices.
  6. In the Styles pane, click Done.

Use unique values

Rendering your imagery using unique values is useful for displaying thematic or categorical data. This display option is supported for single-band imagery layers that were published with a raster attribute table. You can base the unique values rendering on one or more attribute fields in the dataset. If the raster attribute table has red, green, and blue values specified in respective fields, the dataset will display using those colors by default. This display type is often used with thematic data such as land cover or risk zones.

To style imagery data using the Unique Values style, do the following:

  1. Follow the first four steps of Apply a style.
  2. In the Styles pane, click the Unique Values style and click Style options.
  3. Optionally, do any of the following:
    • Select a different field from the Field drop-down menu to use for the unique value display.
    • Choose a different color scheme from the Symbol style menu.
    • Click the label next to each color and modify the text to add context to the display.
  4. In the Style options pane, click Done when you are finished customizing your style, or click Cancel to go back to the Styles pane without saving your choices.
  5. In the Styles pane, click Done.

Classify values

The Classify option allows you to group pixel or cell values into a specified number of classes and display each class with a given color. This option is supported for single-band imagery layers. For example, you can classify a temperature raster into regions of low, moderate, and high temperatures, and then add colors to distinguish the classes. If the imagery layer contains continuous data and a histogram has not been calculated, it will be calculated when the classify renderer is selected.

To style imagery data using the Classify style, do the following:

  1. Follow the first four steps of Apply a style.
  2. In the Styles pane, click the Classify style and click Style options.
  3. Select the classification method to use to classify pixels from the Method drop-down menu.

    The following options are available:

    • Natural Breaks—The class breaks are determined statistically by finding adjacent feature pairs between which there is a relatively large difference in data value.
    • Equal Interval—The range of cell values is divided into equally sized classes in which you specify the number of classes.
    • Quantile—Each class contains an equal number of cells.
    • Defined Interval—Specify an interval to divide the range of cell values, and the number of classes will be automatically calculated.
    • Manual Interval—Create the class breaks manually by typing the pixel value ranges in the class table.
  4. Optionally, do any of the following:
    • Select a different field from the Field drop-down menu to use for classification.
    • Specify the number of groups for classification in the Number of classes option.
    • Choose a different color scheme from the Symbol style menu.
  5. In the Style options pane, click Done when you are finished customizing your style, or click Cancel to go back to the Styles pane without saving your choices.
  6. In the Styles pane, click Done.

Apply shaded relief

Shaded relief is supported for imagery layers containing elevation data. This option generates a representation of the terrain by applying built-in color ramps on the terrain's hillshade, which is useful for highlighting changing terrain. For example, you can apply shaded relief to clearly show areas of high elevation compared to low elevation in a digital elevation model (DEM).

To style elevation imagery data using the Shaded Relief style, do the following:

  1. Follow the first four steps of Apply a style.
  2. In the Styles pane, click the Shaded Relief style and click Style options.
  3. Optionally, do any of the following:
    • Choose a hillshade option from the Hillshade Type drop-down menu.

      The Traditional hillshade type allows you to change the following settings:

      • Azimuth—The sun's relative position along the horizon
      • Altitude—The sun's angle of elevation above the horizon
      • Z Factor—The scaling factor used for converting the elevation unit or for adding vertical exaggeration for visual effect
      • Scaling—The pixel size power and factor, which determine how the z-factor scales the shaded relief result

      The Multidirectional hillshade type allows you to change the Z Factor and Scaling settings.

    • Choose a different color scheme from the Symbol style drop-down menu.
  4. In the Style options pane, click Done when you are finished customizing your style, or click Cancel to go back to the Styles pane without saving your choices.
  5. In the Styles pane, click Done.

Use color map styling

Color map styling is supported for imagery layers that were published with a color map. It uses the red, green, and blue values in the color map to display a single-band imagery layer. It also allows you to assign labels for each class. For example, you can assign a color to a specific soil type in a soil map, with an associated legend for each soil type label.

To modify the image display using the Colormap style, complete the following steps:

  1. Follow the first four steps of Apply a style.
  2. In the Styles pane, click the Colormap style, if necessary, and click Style options.
  3. Edit the Label column as needed to generate a new legend.
  4. In the Style options pane, click Done when you are finished customizing your style, or click Cancel to go back to the Styles pane without saving your choices.
  5. In the Styles pane, click Done.

Style with vector fields

Vector field styling uses a magnitude and direction component—or a U and V component, sometimes referred to as the zonal velocity and the meridional velocity—to display data. For example, you can use this style to display ocean or wind currents as arrows in which the direction indicates the flow, and the size or color of the arrow indicates the magnitude, or power, of the current.

  1. Follow the first four steps of Apply a style.
  2. In the Styles pane, click the Vector Field style, if necessary, and click Style options.
  3. Select the type of symbol to represent the magnitude and direction of the variable from the Symbol type drop-down menu. The following options are available:
    • Beaufort wind scale—Symbolizes the magnitude and direction of wind using the Beaufort Wind Scale. Magnitude is indicated by color and relative size of the arrow.
    • Simple scalar—Symbolizes the magnitude of the data using graduated symbol sizes.
    • Single arrow—Symbolizes the magnitude and direction of flow using an arrow having a single color.
    • Wind barbs—Symbolizes the magnitude and direction of wind using wind barbs.
    • Ocean current (nine classes)—Symbolizes the magnitude and direction of water currents using nine predefined categories. Magnitude is indicated by arrow color.
    • Ocean current (four classes)—Symbolizes the magnitude and direction of water currents using four predefined categories. Magnitude is indicated by arrow color.
    • Classified arrow—Symbolizes the magnitude and direction of flow using categories based on magnitude limits. Magnitude is indicated by arrow color.
  4. Use the Symbol density slider to specify the density of the symbols representing the data.
  5. Use the Symbol scaling slider to specify the size of the symbols representing magnitude.
  6. Use the Invert symbols toggle button to invert, or flip, the symbols.
    Note:

    By default, all symbols are drawn in the direction defined in the data. If the angle direction in the data is measured based on the beginning of the mass flow, such as wind, use this option to invert the vector symbol direction.

  7. Optionally, click the More properties drop-down arrow and specify the following:
    1. Set the limits for the magnitude of the data variable. Specify the Minimum and Maximum values.
    2. Set the units for Input and Output.
  8. In the Style options pane, click Done when you are finished customizing your style, or click Cancel to go back to the Styles pane without saving your choices.
  9. In the Styles pane, click Done.

Use flow styling

Flow styling uses a magnitude and direction component—or a U and V component, sometimes referred to as the zonal velocity and the meridional velocity—to display animated streamlines and wavefronts. For example, you can use this style to display ocean or wind currents as waves or streaming lines, in which the direction indicates the direction of flow, and the length, color, and speed of the flowlines or wavefronts indicates the magnitude, or power, of the current.

  1. Follow the first four steps of Apply a style.
  2. In the Styles pane, click the Flow style, if necessary, and click Style options.
  3. Select the type of symbol to represent the magnitude and direction of the flow data as a Flowline or a Wavefront.

    Flowlines are animated streamlines where direction represents direction of flow, and speed and length represent magnitude. Wavefront is an animation that appears as waves and fronts indicating movement in a geographic phenomenon, such as air or water currents, where the direction of clusters of moving lines represents the direction, and line thickness or color represents the magnitude of the flow.

  4. Optionally, use the sliders to interactively adjust the visualization properties of the animation.
    • Speed—The speed of the animated streamlines or wavefronts, from Slow to Fast, relative to the simulation time.
    • Density—The density of the number of streamlines or wavefronts, from Less to More, per unit area.
    • Length—The approximate visible length of the streamline, from Short to Long. The streamlines are relative to magnitude and appear shorter when the Length is a smaller number.
    • Width—The width of the streamline trail or wavefront lines in pixels.
  5. Choose the color of your flow animation.
    • Single color—Click the color box and select a standard color for your streamlines or wavefront lines. Optionally, expand the Custom color section to display and select from a palette of colors, or define R (red), G (green), and B (blue) color values, which can be saved or deleted. You can also define the amount of transparency with a slider or by typing a value.
    • Color ramp—The colors comprising a color ramp represent magnitude values. Click the color ramp and select a continuous color ramp, which can be flipped. You can also define the amount of transparency with a slider or by typing a value.

      Minimum and maximum magnitude values of your data are assigned to the color ramp you choose. The colors in a color ramp can be distributed across the entire range of magnitude values, or a portion of the magnitude values. Use the sliders to adjust the upper and lower range of magnitude values to be color mapped.

      If you chose to represent your flow animation data with a color ramp, you can include a legend in your map by turning on the Include in legend toggle button. The legend displays the color ramp within the upper and lower magnitude values you defined.

  6. Define the Flow direction of the data as To or From.

    The flow direction can be modified to display meteorological data (the direction it is flowing from) or climatological data (the direction it is flowing to).

  7. Optionally, turn on the Round end caps toggle button to make the ends of the lines round instead of square.

    Round end caps are only available when the width of the line is greater than 4 pixels.

  8. Add effects to your flow animation by turning on the Layer effects toggle button.

    Layer effects are enabled by default and are adjusted in the Effects pane.

Tip:

To create a multivariate visualization with the Flow style, you can use layer blending. For example, you can blend an ocean currents layer and a sea surface temperature layer. The ocean currents layer will be rendered by the Flow style to produce the streamlines, and the sea surface temperature layer will be rendered by a Unique Value style renderer to produce the color. Next, add both layers to a group layer.

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In this topic
  1. Apply a stretch
  2. Style using RGB
  3. Use unique values
  4. Classify values
  5. Apply shaded relief
  6. Use color map styling
  7. Style with vector fields
  8. Use flow styling