Manage hosted scene layers

Publishing a scene from ArcGIS Pro can create both a scene layer and an associated feature layer. If data changes in these layers that have associated point or multipatch feature layers changes, you can rebuild the scene layer cache to include changes for specific layers or changes from all layers.

If your hosted scene layer does not have an associated feature layer, you can update the scene layer's contents by replacing it with another scene layer.

Only the owner of the hosted scene layer or an organization administrator can rebuild the cache on the scene layer or replace a scene layer.

Rebuild the scene layer cache

You (or the administrator in your organization) can rebuild all or part of the scene layer cache for specific sublayers after editors make changes in the layer.

• For point layers that are edited, rebuilding the cache incorporates all appended features and edits to feature geometry and attributes into the scene cache. You also have the option to only pull attribute edits when rebuilding the scene cache.
• For 3D object (multipatch) layers, rebuilding the cache incorporates attribute updates and appended features into the scene cache. You also have the option to only pull attribute edits when rebuilding the scene cache.
• For building scene layers, rebuilding the cache incorporates all attribute updates and appended or modified features into the scene cache, or you can pull attribute edits only when rebuilding the scene cache.

For example, if the layer contains points that represent street furniture—such as benches, fountains, and planters—and the locations of some of the benches change, you can rebuild the scene cache to reflect the new position of those benches. Similarly, if some of the benches are rebuilt with a different material, and the style in the scene layer varies depending on material type, rebuild the scene layer to include the new attribute and, therefore, the new style.

Tip:

To improve drawing performance, edit the scene layer in ArcGIS Pro rather than editing the associated feature layer in Map Viewer. You can also edit geometry for multipatch data when you edit in ArcGIS Pro, which you cannot do in Map Viewer at this time. See Edit a scene layer with associated feature layer in the ArcGIS Pro help for information on editing scene layers.

Keep the following in mind when deciding whether to update the entire cache or only the parts of the cache affected by changes to the features:

• In most cases, updating part of the cache takes less time than rebuilding the entire cache. However, scene layer performance may degrade over time if you only rebuild parts of the cache. Eventually, you will need to rebuild the entire cache to optimize cache and, therefore, scene layer performance.
• If you calculate values in one or more fields in the associated hosted feature layer and the calculation affects all features in the layer, update only the attributes when you rebuild the cache.

Rebuild the cache

Follow these steps to rebuild the scene cache to incorporate changes in point, multipatch (3D object), or building layers.

1. Sign in to the portal as the scene layer owner or an administrator.
2. Open the item details for the scene layer, click the Settings tab, and scroll down to the Scene Layer Settings section.
3. Click Manage Cache.
4. Choose to rebuild the entire cache for the layers you choose in the next step, or rebuild only the portion of the cache, per layer, that has changed since the last time the cache was built.
5. Choose what you want to rebuild:
   • To rebuild the entire hosted scene layer, choose Full cache. The cache will be rebuilt. If you published the scene layer with a feature layer that references registered data, and you update the schema of the feature data, you must use this option to incorporate the schema changes into the scene layer.
   • To rebuild only the portion of the cache, per layer, that contains geometry and attribute changes since the last time the cache was built, choose Partial updates with geometry and attribute changes since the last update will be rebuilt. This option is not supported for point and building scene layers at this time.
   • To rebuild only the portion of the cache, per layer, that contains attribute changes since the last time the cache was built, choose Attribute update. Only attribute changes since the last update will be rebuilt.
6. If you're rebuilding to get changes in specific sublayers, choose them from the list.
7. Click Rebuild Cache.
8. Click OK to confirm you want to rebuild the cache.

   The time it takes to rebuild the cache depends on whether you are rebuilding the entire cache or part of the cache; the number of features and attributes in the feature layer; whether the features are points, multipatches, or buildings; and whether the multipatches include textures.

   To monitor the status of the cache, click Job Status. If the cache fails to rebuild, click the job ID for information about why it failed.

Replace a scene layer

If your hosted scene layer does not have an associated feature layer, you can update the scene layer's contents by replacing it with another scene layer that you published from a scene layer package (SLPK). This allows you to update the contents of a scene layer without deleting it. You must own both the existing and the replacement layer.

Tip:

If your scene layer has an associated feature layer, you cannot replace the layer. Rebuild the scene cache instead. You can identify whether the scene layer has an associated feature layer by checking the Details section of the scene layer's item page.

Replacing a scene layer provides the following benefits:

• Because the item ID and URL of your existing layer don't change, the scenes and apps that use your layer do not need to be updated to reference a new layer.
• Replacing the contents of the current layer does not generate new scene caches. Therefore, no one has to wait for the scene layer cache to be rebuilt. Scenes and apps that use the current layer will continue to work after you replace the layer.
• The portal creates an archive of the old content, which allows you to revert to this content if necessary.

Note:

Be sure you use the same coordinate system for the replacement scene layer package as you did for the current scene layer. This setting must match. In addition, you can only replace a scene layer with the same type of scene layer—3D object, building, point, point cloud, or integrated mesh.

Follow these steps to replace an existing scene layer with a another scene layer.

1. Sign in as the owner of the web layer, as an administrator of the organization, or with an account that has privileges to update all members' items.
2. Open the hosted scene layer's item page.
3. Click Replace Layer.
4. Click Select layer.

   In the panel that appears, you can search, browse, filter, and sort available layers to find your replacement scene layer. You can also view the item details for each layer by clicking View details.

   Only scene layers of the same type will be listed in the Select replacement layer window.

5. When you've located the scene layer you want to use, click Select.
6. Click Next to proceed to the Archive window, where you can rename the title of the archive layer.
7. If you want to import an updated thumbnail, summary, description, and tags from the replacement layer, scroll down and enable Replace item information.
8. The summary page shows your current hosted scene layer, the layer that will replace the content in the current layer, and information related to the archive layer.

   If you want to use a different replacement layer, click Select replacement layer and choose a new layer.

9. Once you are satisfied with your layers, click Replace to perform the replacement operation.