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
Every map sets its basemap in the Format pane, on the Background Layer card. Choose a provider in Map Source > Background map source, then set that provider's options in the group that appears below it. See Set the basemap in the Format pane.
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 and tiled services | An ArcGIS API key or another ArcGIS connection |
| 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 |
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.