Add layers to scenes

Add layers to new or existing scenes to help better tell your story. You can browse Scene Viewer resources such as My Content, My Organization, or the Living Atlas to add content and enhance your scene. You can also add a layer by entering a URL.

Note:

See Global versus local scene: layer support for layer requirements.

1. Verify you are signed in to the portal and open Scene Viewer.
2. On the Designer toolbar, click Layers to open the Layers pane.
3. On the Designer toolbar, click Save to save the layers added to the scene.

What layers does Scene Viewer support?

Scene Viewer supports the following layers:

• Elevation layer
• Feature layer
• Imagery layer*
• Map image layer
• OGC Web Feature Service (WFS)
• OGC Web Map Service (WMS)
• OGC Web Map Tile Service (WMTS)
• Scene layer
  • 3D object
  • Building
  • Integrated mesh
  • Point
  • Point cloud
  • Voxel**
• Tile layer
• Vector tile layer

*Scene Viewer doesn't support all the image rendering properties set in Map Viewer Classic.

**Voxel layers are only supported with WebGL2. If you are using Safari, be sure you have version 15 or later. See Scene Viewer requirements.

See Scene Viewer layer support for information about ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Online layer availability in Scene Viewer.

Search for layers

To add layers to your scene, do the following:

1. Click Add Layers.
2. Add layers to your scene by searching for existing layers from the following:

   • My Content—Includes layers you own.
   • My Favorites—Includes layers you've marked as favorites.
   • My Groups—Includes layers from groups you belong to.
   • My Organization—Includes layers from the organization.

   • Living Atlas—This option returns selected layers from ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, including traffic, demographics, and land-cover layers. This option is only available if you are signed in to a portal that is configured to use ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World content.

   When searching for layers to add to your scene, you can change the way the results are displayed, sort and filter the results to help you find the layers you need, and add results to your favorites list. You can also view details about each layer to learn more about it.

   To narrow the results in Add Layers, type the name of the layer you want to add to your scene in the Search window.

3. Do any of the following to help you find the layers you want:
   • Type search terms in the search box. You can also use search fields to help narrow your search results.
   • Click the Filter button to narrow the search results. For example, if you are searching for layers in your organization and content categories have been set up, you can use the Categories filter to narrow the results. Use the Status filter if you want your search to only return layers that have been marked as authoritative. The filter options you see depend on where you are searching for layers and whether and how you are signed in.

     Note:

     To limit search results based on the current view, select Only show content within map area. For example, if your scene is zoomed to Nevada, USA, your search results are ordered and based on your current view. Changing your view to Pennsylvania typically returns different results (depending on your keywords). All layers that overlap your current view (and match your keywords) are returned.

   • Click the Sort button to sort the layer results and change the sort direction as needed.
   • To see important details about a layer, click its title. In the layer details pane, click the View full details button to open the item page to see more information about the layer.
4. Click the Add button to add a layer to your scene.
5. Repeat the previous step for each layer you want to add.

   Tip:

   You can add any of the layer results to your favorites by clicking Add to Favorites in the layer details pane. You can view your complete list of favorites by choosing My Favorites when searching for layers in Scene Viewer or from the My Favorites tab on the content page.

6. Click the Remove button to remove a layer from your scene.
7. On the Designer toolbar, click Save to save the layers added to the scene.
8. Add additional layers to your scene, or click Layers or Done to return to the Layers pane.

Add layers with a URL

You can also add a layer to your scene by entering the URL of the layer.

1. Click Add Layers.
2. Click the Enter Layer URL or the Open button to open the Enter Layer URL pane.
3. Enter the URL of the layer you want to add and give it a name.
4. Click Add to add the layer to your scene.