Basemaps overview
The basemap is the map drawn underneath your data: streets, satellite imagery, a quiet gray canvas or nothing at all. This section covers choosing a basemap, and everything about the view on top of it - zoom, tilt, the globe, terrain and lighting.
What a basemap does
A basemap gives your data its geographic context. It sits at the bottom of the map, below every data layer and reference layer, and it never reacts to selection or filtering.
Icon Map Pro includes its own basemap styles, which need no account or key. You can also use ArcGIS, Azure Maps, Mappable, Ordnance Survey, your own tile server, a WMS service, or a style document that you host.
A new map opens with the Standard Icon Map style.
Where the basemap settings are
There are two places to set the basemap. Which one your map uses depends on how the map started:
- New maps use the Basemaps dialog. A new map is one that was added to a report as an empty visual in version 1.1.0.10 or later. It has a basemap list: one or more basemaps, one of them the default, which readers can switch between on the map.
- Earlier maps keep the Background Layer card in the Format pane. These are maps that were built before 1.1.0.10 and later switched to the Modern engine, and maps that were built in Icon Map Lite and switched to Icon Map Pro. They have one basemap, chosen in the Format pane, exactly as before.
To check which one your map has, open Format pane > Background Layer:
- If the card shows a single Basemaps group with a Configure Basemaps switch, your map uses the Basemaps dialog. See The Basemaps dialog.
- If the card starts with a Map Source group and a Background map source dropdown, your map uses the Format pane. See Set the basemap in the Format pane.
The rule exists so that nothing changes in a report you have already built. An earlier map draws exactly as it did before you updated.
Basemap providers
These providers are available on the Modern engine.
| Provider | What you get | What you need |
|---|---|---|
| Icon Map | The built-in styles: street maps, light and dark canvases, satellite imagery and more | Nothing. Included with Icon Map Pro |
| ArcGIS | Esri basemap styles, OpenStreetMap styles by Esri, your own vector styles, tiled services and web maps | An ArcGIS API key or another ArcGIS connection for Esri's basemap styles. Public services need none |
| Azure Maps | Road, dark gray and imagery tiles | An Azure Maps key |
| Mappable | Map and driving tiles | A Mappable key |
| Ordnance Survey | Great Britain: Road, Outdoor, Light and vector tiles | An OS Data Hub key |
| Raster Tiles | Any XYZ tile server | The tile template link |
| Vector Tiles | A MapLibre style document that you host | The style link |
| WMS | A layer from a WMS service | The service address |
| None | No basemap | Nothing |
On maps that use the Basemaps dialog there are two more choices, and three providers have plainer names:
| In the Basemaps dialog | What it is |
|---|---|
| Icon Map Catalog | Ready-made national and regional basemaps from the Icon Map Catalog: aerial imagery, topographic and street maps |
| Blank | A plain color instead of a map. The Format pane's None has no color setting |
| Tile server | The same as Raster Tiles |
| MapLibre style | The same as Vector Tiles |
The Icon Map styles are described in Icon Map basemap styles. Every other provider is described in Other basemap providers.
Google Maps, Mapbox, MapTiler and single-image backgrounds are part of the Legacy engine. See the documentation for 1.1.0.9 and earlier.
The view, terrain and lighting
Some settings belong to the map as a whole and not to one basemap. They stay as they are when the basemap changes:
- How the map zooms to your data, how far readers can zoom, tilt and pan, and whether the map is flat or a globe. See View, zoom and projection.
- Hillshade, 3D terrain, the light on 3D objects, and the sky. See Terrain, hillshade, sky and lighting.