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Publish hosted scene layers

Publish a hosted scene layer to your portal using one of the following methods:

Hosted scene layers contain a cache to support rapid visualization of the data. To create this cache, your portal's hosting server requires an ArcGIS Data Store tile cache data store.

Publish from an ArcGIS Pro scene

Add your data layers to a scene in ArcGIS Pro, configure the scene, and publish (share).

Publishing multipatch or point data in a scene from ArcGIS Pro creates a hosted scene layer and a related feature layer. Publishing building data in a scene from ArcGIS Pro 2.6 to an ArcGIS Enterprise 10.8.1 portal also creates a hosted scene layer and a related feature layer. You choose whether the feature layer references data in your registered data source—which creates an ArcGIS Server feature service—or the feature layer data is copied to your portal—which creates a hosted feature layer. Publishing LAS (or building data to a 10.8 or previous portal) creates only a hosted scene layer.

Be aware that web browsers cannot display some complex cartographic symbols you may have originally used when you authored the scene. Most symbol types are available, but in some cases, the symbols may be downgraded when you publish them. See Author maps to publish feature services in the ArcGIS Server help for details about which symbols are supported, and make any required changes to your symbology prior to publishing multipatch or point data.

Before you publish, be sure you are signed in to your portal from ArcGIS Pro and the portal connection is active. Your portal account must also belong to a role that has the following privileges:

  • Create content.
  • Publish hosted scene layers.
  • If you publish a feature layer and copy data, you need the privilege to publish hosted feature layers.
  • If you publish a feature layer that references registered data, you need the privilege to publish server-based layers.

For instructions on publishing a scene layer from ArcGIS Pro, including which types of scene layers you can publish, see Share a web scene layer in the ArcGIS Pro help.

Publish from a scene layer package

A scene layer package contains a scene layer and its data. You can create a scene layer package (.slpk) in ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Drone2Map, or ArcGIS CityEngine. ArcGIS Pro 2.3 and later releases allow you to package Revit data, upload the scene layer package to an ArcGIS Enterprise portal, and publish a building scene layer.

Tip:

Esri continues to improve the usability of scene layers. ArcGIS Pro 2.4, Scene Viewer, and apps built using the 4.12 ArcGIS API for JavaScript consume version 1.7 and earlier releases of the indexed 3D scene layer (I3S) model for integrated mesh and 3D object scene layers. I3S version 1.7 provides better performance and scalability than previous versions.

To take advantage of these improvements, the Create 3D Object Scene Layer Package geoprocessing tool now creates I3S version 1.7 scene layer packages. You can update existing integrated mesh and 3D object scene layer packages (.slpk) to version 1.7 using the I3S converter, which is available in the I3S GitHub repository. The I3S converter also identifies the I3S version of your existing scene layer packages, allowing you to determine if you need to convert them.

See Scene layer package in the ArcGIS Pro help for information on the type of data you can include in a scene layer package.

Once you have a scene layer package, follow these steps to add it to your portal and publish a hosted scene layer:

  1. Sign in to the portal and open Content > My Content.
  2. Click Add Item > From my computer.
  3. Click the browse button and choose the scene layer package on your computer.
  4. Type a title that describes the scene layer.
  5. If your portal administrator configured content categories, click Assign Category and select up to 20 categories to help people find your item. You can also use the Filter categories box to narrow the list of categories.
  6. Type tag terms separated by commas.

    Tags are words or short phrases that describe your item and help people find your item when searching. Federal land is considered one tag, while Federal,land is considered two tags.

  7. Check the Publish this file as a hosted layer box.

    If you leave the box unchecked, your scene layer package is added to My Content, but no scene layer is published. You can publish it later by opening the item page for the scene layer package and clicking Publish.

  8. Click Add Item.