Back to Terrain Module
Customizing a Map Provider
Updated May 18, 2023
This article applies to:
- Terrain 3D
- Terrain Forestry
- RoadEng Civil
- RoadEng Forestry
Customizing a Map Provider in Live Maps
RoadEng & Terrain Tools supportsthe use of custom map providers, in the situation that you may have your own map imagery that you may wish to import into the Terrain module.
Limitations:
- the map provider must be a Web Map Tile Service
- the service must support the Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system; and
- you will need a working understanding of URLs and how to write and format them correctly,
- NOTE: A given WMTS map provider will serve up map tiles of 256x256 pixels or 512x512 pixels in size. The Custom Map Provider feature only supports 256x256 at this time.
To access / customize a provider in Live Maps:
- Access Livemap (WMTS) through the Home ribbon of the Terrain Module
- Select Edit Map Providers
- Utilize one of the two custom "0-Custom" or "1-Custom" Map Provider Entries to include your custom URL. See further instructions/notes below:
| Custom Map Provider Name | Enter the name of your choice for this custom map provider |
| Custom Map Provider URL | Enter the URL for this custom map provider. The format of this url request is unique to every map provider |
Example, this is a URL for the US Geological Survey:
| https://basemap.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/USGSImageryOnly/MapServer/WMTS/tile/1.0.0/USGSImageryOnly/default/GoogleMapsCompatible/{0}/{2}/{1} |
The 3 parameters {0}/{2}/{1} correspond to the "zoom level", column, and row.
Some map service providers require a user access key or authentication code. The exact format for this is up to the individual provider, but it might look like this:
https://wmts.domain.com/satellite/{0}/{1}/{2}/256/png8?ACCESS_ID=kUYbGW075lm_upXSE38-2
The text in bold italics, this represents the accesskey.
Trouble-shooting the Custom Map Provider
- If this URL is configured correctly and the map service is enabled and available to you, it should retrieve and display map tiles within Live Maps the same as the default map providers like Google and Bing Maps.
- If you select your custom map provider and LiveMaps displays "Sorry, Image not found" or a blank view, the most likely reason is that the URL is not formatted correctly.
- If you select your custom map provider and it does seem to draw map tiles, but they look like a mixed-up jigsaw puzzle. This is probably because the row and column wild cards are reversed. Update your custom URL, and swap the {1} and {2}
- If the custom map provider works in some areas of the world, and not others, most likely the map provider only has imagery available for certain regions of the world.