Explore a web service

Use the Web Service option in ArcGIS Excalibur to access your imagery by directly connecting to an ArcGIS Imagery Layer URL, an ArcGIS Tiled Image Layer URL, an ArcGIS Map Image Layer URL, ArcGIS Tile Layer URL, Web Map Service (WMS) URL, and a Web Map Tile Service (WMTS) URL to explore your imagery in the Search and Discover or canvas view.

Obtain an web service URL

You can obtain a web service URL for use in ArcGIS Excalibur in the following ways:

• On the Content tab of your organization's ArcGIS Enterprise portal, you can search My Content or My Organization's Content for the imagery layer type.

  Note:

  Once an imagery layer has been identified, you can view the item details of the layer. Copy the URL of the layer from the item details page to ensure the correct URL is used.
• Find a service in the ArcGIS REST API Services directory, https://host.domain.com/webadaptor/rest/services. Many services defined as an ArcGIS Image Server service denoted by ArcGIS Image Server can be supported.
• Ask your organization's GIS administrator.

Validate the imagery web service URL

After obtaining a web service URL, use the Connect to: a Web Service option on the ArcGIS Excalibur home page to validate your URL for use in the application.

1. Click the Connect to a: Web Service option.
2. Select the type of layer you are connecting to from the drop-down.
3. Enter the web service URL in the text box and click outside the text box to validate the URL.
4. If the URL validation is successful, click Search or View to begin exploring your imagery
5. If the URL validation is unsuccessful, ensure that the URL has been entered correctly, or supply a different URL to validate.

Validate the WMS URL

WMS is a specification for consuming and serving dynamic maps on the web. ArcGIS Excalibur supports WMS URLs so you can view and work with online imagery services. You can publish WMS services to ArcGIS Server. To publish your WMS service to use in ArcGIS Excalibur, see Publishing a WMS service.

After obtaining a WMS URL, use the Connect to: a Web Service option on the ArcGIS Excalibur home page to validate your URL for use in the application.

1. Click the Connect to a: Web Service option.
2. Select WMS Service in the URL Type drop-down menu.
3. Enter the web service URL in the text box and click outside the text box to validate the URL.
4. If the URL validation is successful, click View.
5. If the URL validation is unsuccessful, ensure that the type of layer is selected correctly, the URL has been entered correctly, or supply a different URL to validate.
6. In the Select layers to connect dialog, choose which sublayer(s) of the WMS to view in the canvas. Choosing Select All will load all sublayers in the canvas.

Validate the WMTS URL

Web Map Tile Service (WMTS) specification is an international specification for serving digital maps over the web using cached image tiles. ArcGIS Excalibur supports WMTS URLs so you can view and work with cached map or image services available across different platforms and clients. You can publish WMTS services to ArcGIS Server. To publish your WMTS service to use in ArcGIS Excalibur, see Publishing a WMTS service.

After obtaining a WMTS URL, use the Connect to a: Web Service option on the ArcGIS Excalibur home page to validate your URL for use in the application.

1. Click the Connect to a: Web Service option.
2. Select WMTS Service in the URL Type drop-down menu.
3. Enter the imagery web service URL in the text box and click outside the text box to validate the URL.
4. If the URL validation is successful, click View.
5. If the URL validation is unsuccessful, ensure that the type of layer is selected correctly, the URL has been entered correctly, or supply a different URL to validate.
6. In the Select layers to connect dialog, choose choose a sublayer of the WMTS to view in the canvas.

   Only sublayer can be viewed at a time.

Changing the Connected Sublayer of a WMS or WMTS service

After connecting to the canvas with a WMS or WMTS URL, you can change the connected sublayer to view a different one from that service.

1. In the canvas, click More in the top-right and then click Change Connected Layers .

   A dialog will appear allowing you to select different layers to connect to.

2. Select a different layer to view in the canvas and then click Connect. Alternatively, click Return to return to the canvas view with the same connected layer.

The canvas refreshes with the newly selected layer(s) and a notification appears confirming that the new layer(s) have been connected.

Search and Discover

When you click Search on any ArcGIS Imagery Layer, you are navigated to Search and Discover where you can search for, discover, and queue images for further use. The search map is zoomed to the extent of the image service, where you can define search settings such as the area you want to search.

Learn more about the Search and Discover page.

View in Canvas

When you click View, the canvas appears, where you can focus on and work with specific images using the display, comparison, and analysis tools. The map focus panel in the canvas is zoomed to the extent of the web service and displays footprints, and the image metadata table is populated with corresponding images if you are connected to an ArcGIS Imagery Layer.

Learn more about the canvas