What is a vector tile service?
Esri’s vector tile services are pre-generated, tiled snapshots of map content designed for efficient map rendering.
By using Esri vector tile services in Maptionnaire, users can preserve the detailed ArcGIS style settings—including symbols, labels, and zoom-dependent rules—defined in ArcGIS Pro.
Note: If the symbology of the original layer needs to be changed in ArcGIS Pro, the vector tile service must be regenerated for those changes to appear.
Unlike QGIS vector layers, GeoJSON files, or shapefiles, which represent raw feature data suitable for editing and querying, vector tiles are pre-tiled packages optimized for visualization. They provide limited querying, editing, or selection functionality.
When creating a vector tile service, the layers should be projected to the Web Mercator (EPSG:3857) coordinate system.
Do you need ArcGIS cartography settings preserved? → Use vector tiles
Do you need editable/queryable features? → Use vector layers
How do I create a Vector Tile Service?
Vector Tile Services are easy to create in ArcGIS Pro. The recommended way to do it is to generate a tile package with ArcGIS Pro, and then upload that package to ArcGIS Online and publish a service from there. This way, your ArcGIS Online credits are consumed only for data storage and not for tile generation!
Watch our video about the basic steps or read the Instructions below.
Create a map in ArcGIS Pro with all the vector layers (e.g., shapefiles) you want to share.
Remove the basemap layers from the map, as they cannot be added to the tile package.
Go to the layer list, and right-click on the Map item, then select Properties.
Go to the Metadata tab, write a description, and click OK.
Go to the Analysis ribbon and click on Tools.
In the Geoprocessing pane, search for the tool "Create Vector Tile Package".
Choose the map in your project that contains the layers you want to share. Set the Output File Name and Location. Check that the tiling format is "Indexed", as it creates a smaller package. Set the Minimum and Maximum Scale for the cache process. Fill the Summary and Tags Properties. Click on Run to start the tile generation process.
When the tile package is done, open ArcGIS Online. Navigate to the Content / My content page and click on the New item button.
Select the tile package from your computer by clicking on the "Your device" button.
Select the first option, to publish now. Click on Next, and the service will be published.
When the service is published, the item description page will open up automatically.
On this site, scroll down to the sharing property, and change it to Public, then click Save.
Then scroll to Details and copy the URL.
How do I set up a Vector Tile Service in Maptionnaire?
Go to Materials. Click Map and choose Esri Vector Tile Service from the drop-down menu.
Enter the vector tile service URL that you copied from ArcGIS Online. This should be the basic URL without styles specified. It usually ends in “/VectorTileServer”.
Optionally add a custom style URL. The style URL is what tells Maptionnaire how to render the raw vector tiles. The URL usually ends in “resources/styles/root.json”.
Give the layer a Public title. The public title is the name that is shown in the map legend.
Click Create item to finish.
Go to the questionnaire and to the Map and layout. Make sure you have a basemap (either one from our system or your own) selected. Under Map overlays, select the map. Set the default map view to normal and preview.
I uploaded a Vector Tile Service layer, but can't get it to work. What's wrong?
Some of the most common problems and how to fix them:
Check that the URL is correct.
Check that the vector tiles are in the coordinate system EPSG:3857.
Check the map in ArcGIS. It must be published as a vector tile service to ArcGIS Online, or ArcGIS Enterprise portal. This makes the tiles accessible via a URL, allowing them to be used in web maps and applications.
Remember, you can always contact support@maptionnaire.com for help!