The arrangement of water in the landscape affects the distribution of many species including the distribution of humans. This layer provides a landscape-scale estimate of the distance from large water bodies.Dataset SummaryThis layer provides access to a 250m cell-sized raster of distance to surface water. To facilitate mapping, the values are in units of pixels. To convert this value to meters multiply by 250. The layer was created by extracting surface water values from the World Lithology and World Land Cover layers to produce a surface water layer. The distance from water was calculated using the ArcGIS Euclidian Distance Tool. The layer was created by Esri in 2014.What can you do with this layer?This layer is suitable for both visualization and analysis. It can be used in ArcGIS Online in web maps and applications and can be used in ArcGIS Desktop. This layer has query, identify, and export image services available. This layer is restricted to a maximum area of 16,000 x 16,000 pixels - an area 4,000 kilometers on a side or an area approximately the size of Europe. This layer is part of a larger collection of landscape layers that you can use to perform a wide variety of mapping and analysis tasks.The Living Atlas of the World provides an easy way to explore the landscape layers and many other beautiful and authoritative maps on hundreds of topics.Geonet is a good resource for learning more about landscape layers and the Living Atlas of the World. To get started see the Living Atlas Discussion Group.The Esri Insider Blog provides an introduction to the Ecophysiographic Mapping project.

Climate plays a major role in determining the distribution of plants and animals. Bioclimatology, the study of climate as it affects and is affected by living organisms, is key to understanding the patterns of forests and deserts on the landscape, where productive agricultural lands may be found, and how changes in the climate will affect rare species. This layer is part of the Ecophysiographic Project and is one of the four input layers used to create the World Ecological Land Units Map.Dataset Summary This layer provides access to a 250m cell-sized raster with a bioclimatic stratification. The source dataset was a 30-arcsecond resolution raster (equivalent to 0.86 km2 at the equator or about a 920m pixel size). The layer has the following attributes: Temperature Description - Seven classes based on the number of growing degree days (the monthly mean temperature multiplied by number of days in the month summed for all months). The 1950 to 2000 monthly average temperature was used to calculate growing degree days. Values in this field and associated number of growing degree days are:Temperature DescriptionGrowing Degree DaysVery Hot9,000 – 13,500Hot7,000 – 9,000Warm4,500 – 7,000Cool2,500 – 4,500Cold1,000 – 2,500Very Cold300 – 1,000Arctic0 - 300Aridity Description - Six classes based on an index of aridity calculated by dividing precipitation by evapotranspiration. Precipitation and evapotranspiration are average values from 1950 to 2000.Aridity DescriptionAridity IndexVery Wet1.5 – 70Wet1.0 – 1.5Moist0.6 – 1.0Semi-dry0.3 – 0.6Dry0.1 – 0.3Very Dry0.01 – 0.1Bioclimate Class - a 2-part description that combines the value of the Temperature Description field and the Aridity Description field. The alias for this field is ELU Bioclimate Reclass. This layer was created by modifying the dataset documented in the publication: Metzger and others. 2012. A high-resolution bioclimate map of the world: a unifying framework for global biodiversity research and monitoring. What can you do with this layer? This layer is suitable for both visualization and analysis. It can be used in ArcGIS Online in web maps and applications and can be used in ArcGIS Desktop.This layer has query, identify, and export image services available. This layer is restricted to a maximum area of 16,000 x 16,000 pixels - an area 4,000 kilometers on a side or an area approximately the size of Europe. A service is available providing access to the data table associated with this layer. The data table services can be used by developers to quickly and efficiently query the data and to create custom applications. For more information see the World Ecophysiographic Tables.This layer is part of a larger collection of landscape layers that you can use to perform a wide variety of mapping and analysis tasks.The Living Atlas of the World provides an easy way to explore the landscape layers and many other beautiful and authoritative maps on hundreds of topics.Geonet is a good resource for learning more about landscape layers and the Living Atlas of the World. To get started see the Living Atlas Discussion Group.The Esri Insider Blog provides an introduction to the Ecophysiographic Mapping project.

This map provides a colorized representation of slope, generated dynamically using server-side slope function on Terrain service. The degree of slope steepness is depicted by light to dark colors - flat surfaces as gray, shallow slopes as light yellow, moderate slopes as light orange and steep slopes as red-brown. A scaling is applied to slope values to generate appropriate visualization at each map scale. This service should only be used for visualization, such as a base layer in applications or maps. If access to non-scaled slope values is required, use the Slope Degrees or Slope percent functions, which return values from 0 to 90 degrees, or 0 to 1000%, respectively.What can you do with this layer?Use for Visualization: Yes. This colorized slope is appropriate for visualizing the steepness of the terrain at all map scales. This layer can be added to applications or maps to enhance contextual understanding. Use for Analysis: No. 8 bit color values returned by this service represent scaled slope values. For analysis with non-scaled values, use the Slope Degrees or Slope percent functions.For more details such as Data Sources, Mosaic method used in this layer, please see the Terrain layer. This layer allows query, identify, and export image requests. The layer is restricted to a 5,000 x 5,000 pixel limit in a single export image request.This layer is part of a larger collection of elevation layers that you can use to perform a variety of mapping analysis tasks.

This map provides a colorized representation of aspect, generated dynamically using the server-side aspect function on the Terrain service. The orientation of the downward sloping terrain (0° – 360°) is indicated by different colors, rotating from green (North) to blue (East), to magenta (South) to orange (West). Flat areas having no down slope direction are given a value of 361° and rendered as gray. This service can be used for visualization or analysis. If you require access to numeric (float) aspect values, use the Terrain: Aspect layer, which returns orientation values from 0 to 360 degrees. What can you do with this layer?Use for Visualization: Yes. This colorized aspect map is appropriate for visualizing the downslope direction of the terrain. This layer can be added to applications or maps to enhance contextual understanding.Use for Analysis: Yes. 8 bit color values returned by this service represent integer aspect values. For float values, use the Terrain: Aspect layer.For more details such as Data Sources, Mosaic method used in this layer, please see the Terrain layer. This layer allows query, identify, and export image requests. The layer is restricted to a 5,000 x 5,000 pixel limit in a single export image request.

This layer is part of a larger collection of elevation layers that you can use to perform a variety of mapping analysis tasks.

This map provides a hillshaded surface (single band grayscale image) generated dynamically using the hillshade server-side function on the Terrain layer. The hillshading is based on a solar altitude angle of 45 degrees, and solar aspect angle of 315 degrees. The z factor is varied based on scale so that a suitable hillshade is visible at all scales. This layer is useful for simple visualization of the Terrain because it is easy to interpret and use as a base layer in applications and maps. What can you do with this layer?Use for Visualization: Yes. Hillshade provides a quick indication of the shape of the terrain at a range of map scales. The image service can be added to web applications or other maps to enhance contextual understanding. Use for Analysis: No. A hillshade is generally not used for analysis. For more details such as Data Sources, Mosaic method used in this layer, please see the Terrain layer. This layer allows query, identify, and export image requests. The layer is restricted to a 5,000 x 5,000 pixel limit in a single export image request.

This layer is part of a larger collection of elevation layers that you can use to perform a variety of mapping analysis tasks.

This map provides an elevation tinted hillshade surface generated dynamically using a chain of server-side functions on a Terrain layer. A tinted hillshade is a combination of a hillshade applied to the Terrain, fused to a colormap applied to the same Terrain to represent elevation. The hillshading is based on a solar altitude angle of 45 degrees, and solar aspect angle of 315 degrees. The z factor is varied based on scale so that a suitable hillshade is visible at all scales. What can you do with this layer?Use for Visualization: Yes. This is appropriate for visualizing the shape and height of the terrain at a range of map scales. The image service can be added to applications or maps to enhance a users’ contextual understanding. Use for Analysis: No. To learn more about the technique used in this map to fuse the elevation tint with hillshade, refer NAGI fusion method.For more details such as Data Sources, Mosaic method used in this layer, please see the Terrain layer. This layer allows query, identify, and export image requests. The layer is restricted to a 5,000 x 5,000 pixel limit in a single export image request.

This layer is part of a larger collection of elevation layers that you can use to perform a variety of mapping analysis tasks.

This map provides an elevation tinted hillshade surface generated dynamically using a chain of server-side functions applied to the TopoBathy layer. A tinted hillshade is a combination of a hillshaded result from the TopoBathy service, fused with a colormap applied to the same TopoBathy service to represent elevation. The hillshading is based on a solar altitude angle of 45 degrees, and solar aspect angle of 315 degrees. The z factor is varied based on scale so that a suitable hillshade is visible at all scales.What can you do with this layer?Use for Visualization: Yes. This is appropriate for visualizing the shape and height of the terrain at a range of map scales. The image service can be added to applications or maps to enhance a users’ contextual understanding. Use for Analysis: No. To learn more about the technique used in this map to fuse the elevation tint with hillshade, refer NAGI fusion method.For more details such as Data Sources, Mosaic method used in this layer, please see the TopoBathy layer. This layer allows query, identify, and export image requests. The layer is restricted to a 5,000 x 5,000 pixel limit in a single export image request.

This layer is part of a larger collection of elevation layers that you can use to perform a variety of mapping analysis tasks.

This layer provides slope percent rise values calculated dynamically from the elevation data (within the current extents) using the server-side slope function applied to the Terrain layer. Percent of slope is determined by dividing the amount of elevation change by the amount of horizontal distance covered (sometimes referred to as "the rise divided by the run"), and then multiplying the result by 100. The values range from 0 to essentially infinity. When the slope angle equals 45 degrees, the rise is equal to the run. Expressed as a percentage, the slope of this angle is 100 percent. As the slope approaches vertical (90 degrees), the percentage slope approaches infinity.

WARNING: Slope is computed in the projection specified by the client software. The server resamples the elevation data to the requested projection and pixel size and then computes slope. Slope should be requested in a projection that maintains correct scale in x and y directions for the area of interest. Using geographic coordinates will give incorrect results. For the WGS84 Mercator and WGS Web Mercator (auxiliary sphere) projections used by many web applications, a correction factor has been included to correct for latitude-dependent scale changes.What can you do with this layer?Use for Visualization: No. This image service provides numeric values indicating terrain characteristics. Due to the limited range of values, this service is not generally appropriate for visual interpretation, unless the client application applies an additional color map. Use for Analysis: Yes. This layer provides numeric values indicating slope percent, calculated based on the defined cell size. Cell size has an effect on the slope values.For more details such as Data Sources, Mosaic method used in this layer, please see the Terrain layer. This layer allows query, identify, and export image requests. The layer is restricted to a 5,000 x 5,000 pixel limit in a single export image request.This layer is part of a larger collection of elevation layers that you can use to perform a variety of mapping analysis tasks.

This layer provides slope values calculated dynamically from the elevation data (within the current extents) using the server-side slope function applied to a Terrain layer. The values are integer and represent the angle of the downward sloping terrain (0 to 90 degrees). Note slope is a function of the pixel size of the request, so at smaller scales the slope values are smaller as pixel sizes increase. WARNING: Slope is computed in the projection specified by the client software. The server resamples the elevation data to the requested projection and pixel size and then computes slope. Slope should be requested in a projection that maintains correct scale in x and y directions for the area of interest. Using geographic coordinates will give incorrect results. For the WGS84 Mercator and WGS Web Mercator (auxiliary sphere) projections used by many web applications, a correction factor has been included to correct for latitude-dependent scale changes.What can you do with this layer?Use for Visualization: No. This image service provides numeric values indicating terrain characteristics. Due to the limited range of values, this service is not generally appropriate for visual interpretation, unless the client application applies an additional color map. For use in visualization, use the Terrain: Slope Map. Use for Analysis: Yes. This layer provides numeric values indicating the average slope angle within a raster cell, calculated based on the defined cell size. Cell size has an effect on the slope values.For more details such as Data Sources, Mosaic method used in this layer, please see the Terrain layer. This layer allows query, identify, and export image requests. The layer is restricted to a 5,000 x 5,000 pixel limit in a single export image request.

This layer is part of a larger collection of elevation layers that you can use to perform a variety of mapping analysis tasks.

This layer provides ellipsoidal heights calculated dynamically using a server-side function to add the EGM2008 geoid model to orthometric heights from the Terrain layer. The heights are based on multiple sources. Heights are ellipsoidal in meters, and water bodies are approximated to nominal water heights. What can you do with this layer?Use for Visualization: This layer is generally not optimal for direct visualization. By default, 32 bit floating point values are returned, resulting in higher bandwidth requirements. Therefore, usage should be limited to applications requiring elevation data with ellipsoidal heights. For visualizations such as hillshade, elevation tinted hillshade, and slope, consider using the appropriate server-side function defined on this service.Use for Analysis: Yes. This can be used for applications that require processing, such as orthorectifying satellite imagery using RPCs that are usually referenced to ellipsoidal heights. If using the ellipsoidal height to orthorectify an image in ArcGIS, verify that the option to apply a geoid height correction is not enabled. As an alternative to directly using the service, consider exporting small sections. NOTE: This layer combines data from different sources and resamples the data dynamically to the requested projection, extent and pixel size. For analyses requiring the highest accuracy, when using ArcGIS Desktop, you will need to use native coordinates and specify the native resolutions (refer to the table under Data Sources in the Terrain service description) as the cell size geoprocessing environment setting and ensure that request is aligned with the source pixels. For more details such as Data Sources, Mosaic method used in this layer, please see the Terrain layer. This layer allows query, identify, and export image requests. The layer is restricted to a 5,000 x 5,000 pixel limit in a single export image request.

This layer is part of a larger collection of elevation layers that you can use to perform a variety of mapping analysis tasks.

This layer is a subset of World Biamoss Layer. Plants play a central role in the carbon cycle by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and incorporating it in the structure of the plant. Globally living plants contain 500 billion metric tons of carbon, more than 60 times the amount of carbon released to the atmosphere by humans each year. Understanding the distribution of the carbon stored in living plants, known as biomass, is key to estimating the effects of land use change on the climate.Dataset SummaryThis layer provides access to a 1-km cell-sized raster with data on the density of carbon stored in living plants in metric tons per hectare for the year 2000. It was published by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center in 2008.The authors of these data request that they be cited as:Ruesch, Aaron, and Holly K. Gibbs. 2008. New IPCC Tier-1 Global Biomass Carbon Map For the Year 2000. Available online from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.What can you do with this layer?This layer is suitable for both visualization and analysis. It can be used in ArcGIS Online in web maps and applications and can be used in ArcGIS Desktop.This layer has query, identify, and export image services available. This layer is restricted to a maximum area of 16,000 x 16,000 pixels - an area 4,000 kilometers on a side or an area approximately the size of Europe. The Esri Insider Blog provides an introduction to the Ecophysiographic Mapping project.