Use the Web Service option in ArcGIS Excalibur to access your layers by directly connecting to an ArcGIS Imagery Layer URL, an ArcGIS Tiled Image Layer URL, an ArcGIS Map Image Layer URL, an ArcGIS Tile Layer URL, an ArcGIS Oriented Imagery Layer URL, a Web Map Service (WMS) URL, and a Web Map Tile Service (WMTS) URL to explore your layers in the Search and Discover or canvas view. In addition to these layer types, ArcGIS Video Layers can also be accessed from the Analysis Layers page in ArcGIS Excalibur if these layer types are added to your Portal content.
Obtain a 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 layer type.
Note:
Once a 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, as well as ArcGIS Video Server services denoted by ArcGIS Video Server.
- Ask your organization's GIS administrator.
Validate the web service URL
After obtaining a web service URL, use the Connect to a: Web Service by URL option on the ArcGIS Excalibur home page to validate your URL for use in the application.
- Click the Connect to a: Web Service option.
- Enter the web service URL in the text box and click outside the text box to validate the URL.
- If the URL validation is successful, click Search or View to begin exploring your service.
- 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.
- Click the Connect to a: Web Service option.
- Enter the web service URL in the text box and click outside the text box to validate the URL.
- If the URL validation is successful, click View.
- If the URL validation is unsuccessful, ensure that the URL has been entered correctly or supply a different URL to validate.
- In the Select layers to connect dialog box, choose which sublayers of the WMS to view in the canvas. Choose Select All to 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.
- Click the Connect to a: Web Service option.
- Enter the imagery web service URL in the text box and click outside the text box to validate the URL.
- If the URL validation is successful, click View.
- If the URL validation is unsuccessful, ensure that the URL has been entered correctly or supply a different URL to validate.
- In the Select layers to connect dialog box, choose a sublayer of the WMTS to view in the canvas.
Only one sublayer can be viewed at a time.
Change 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.
- In the canvas, click More and then click Change Connected Layers.
A dialog box appears allowing you to select different layers to connect to.
- 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 layers, and a notification appears confirming that the new layers have been connected.
Search and Discover
When you click Search on any ArcGIS Imagery Layer or ArcGIS Video Layer, the Search and Discover page appears, where you can search for, discover, and queue images or videos for further use. The search map is zoomed to the extent of the service, where you can define filters such as the area you want to search.
View in the canvas
When you click View, the canvas opens where you can focus on and work with specific images or videos using the display, comparison, and analysis tools. When clicking View on an image service, the Map Panel in the canvas will be zoomed to the extent of the web service and will display footprints, and the Image Metadata Table will be populated with corresponding images. When clicking View on a video service, the Map Panel in the canvas will be zoomed to the extent of the video and the Focus Panel will have the video loaded and ready to play.
Learn more about the canvas