Backgrounds and basemaps

The background is the base map that sits beneath your data layers. Open the Basemaps dialog to pick a style from a catalog of hosted basemaps, shown as thumbnails you can preview.

Choosing a style

The basemap catalog offers a range of styles — from clean, light and dark cartographic maps to satellite and terrain-oriented styles. Because the catalog is hosted and updated by Tekantis, the exact list you see is always current.

Viewers can also switch styles themselves if you enable the Basemap picker map control.

Labels

Turn on Separate basemap labels into their own layer to add a Basemap labels virtual layer. This lets you restyle place-name labels and control whether they draw above or below your data layers — useful when your data would otherwise be hidden by, or would hide, the map's own labels.

Basemap feature controls

The Basemap features option lets you turn off categories of content that come from the basemap itself — for example, hide buildings, or keep country borders while hiding state and administrative boundaries. This keeps the base map from competing with your data.

Virtual layers

Some entries in the Layers list come from the basemap and its environment rather than from your data. These virtual layers — such as Basemap labels, Hillshade, and the Daylight terminator — are edited through their own panels and can be reordered relative to your data layers.

Next steps

• Environment effects — terrain, sky, fog, and atmosphere.
• Data layers overview — add your data on top.