For several years, Esri has made available a suite of basemaps that can be used through ArcGIS Online and other apps to create maps and apps. These multi-scale basemaps have been delivered as pre-rendered image tiles (JPG or PNG format) to optimize performance. These basemaps have proven to be very useful and popular, with several billion tiles served each month, but they have some limitations (e.g. users can not customize map, low-res image tiles not optimal for display on high-res devices, etc.).
To provide additional options for users, Esri has introduced a new set of vector basemaps. These basemaps are delivered as vector tiles (PBF format) that are rendered client-side based on a style file that is delivered with the vector tiles. Vector basemaps are available in Map Viewer and Scene Viewer, as well as in ArcGIS Pro, configurable apps that include a basemap gallery, Workforce for ArcGIS, Explorer for ArcGIS, and apps created using Web AppBuilder. To find out whether vector basemaps are available in a specific ArcGIS app, refer to the app documentation. Users are able to customize the look and feel of the vector basemaps by creating custom styles that are used to render the vector tiles.
Available Vector Basemaps
This group includes vector basemaps in multiple styles, some that closely resemble existing Esri basemaps (e.g. Streets, Topographic, Light and Dark Gray Canvas, Terrain with Labels), and others that are new (e.g. Streets at Night, Navigation, and Imagery Hybrid). The group also includes several more "creative" styles (e.g. Colored Pencil, Charted Territory, Mid-Century, Modern Antique) that are optimized for specific uses. It also includes a new OpenStreetMap vector basemap created and hosted by Esri. The vector basemaps are available as both web maps, which can be used as a basemap for adding other layers, and as tile layers, which can be added to existing maps either as a basemap or overlay layer.
Learn More
To learn more, including how you can customize the Esri vector basemaps, you can refer to the blog posts tagged with "
vector basemaps". You can also use the new
Vector Tile Style Editor app to quickly create your own custom map. The Vector Tile Style Editor app has now been integrated with ArcGIS Online so it is accessible from vector tile layer items in the ArcGIS.com Map Viewer.