World Countries Generalized represents generalized boundaries for the countries of the world. It has fields for official names and country codes. The generalized political boundaries improve draw performance and effectiveness at a global or continental level.This layer is best viewed out beyond a scale of 1:5,000,000.This layer's geography was developed by Esri, Garmin International, Inc., the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (The World Factbook), and the National Geographic Society for use as a world basemap. It is updated annually as country names or significant borders change.

This world cities layer presents the locations of many cities of the world, both major cities and many provincial capitals.Population estimates are provided for those cities listed in open source data from the United Nations and US Census.

OVERVIEWThis site is dedicated to raising the level of spatial and data literacy used in public policy. We invite you to explore curated content, training, best practices, and datasets that can provide a baseline for your research, analysis, and policy recommendations. Learn about emerging policy questions and how GIS can be used to help come up with solutions to those questions.EXPLOREGo to your area of interest and explore hundreds of maps about various topics such as social equity, economic opportunity, public safety, and more. Browse and view the maps, or collect them and share via a simple URL. Sharing a collection of maps is an easy way to use maps as a tool for understanding. Help policymakers and stakeholders use data as a driving factor for policy decisions in your area.ISSUESBrowse different categories to find data layers, maps, and tools. Use this set of content as a driving force for your GIS workflows related to policy. RESOURCESTo maximize your experience with the Policy Maps, we’ve assembled education, training, best practices, and industry perspectives that help raise your data literacy, provide you with models, and connect you with the work of your peers.

The Human Geography Map (World Edition) web map provides a detailed vector basemap with a monochromatic style and content adjusted to support Human Geography information. Where possible, the map content has been adjusted so that it observes WCAG contrast criteria.This basemap, included in the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, uses 3 vector tile layers:Human Geography Label, a label reference layer including cities and communities, countries, administrative units, and at larger scales street names.Human Geography Detail, a detail reference layer including administrative boundaries, roads and highways, and larger bodies of water. This layer is designed to be used with a high degree of transparency so that the detail does not compete with your information. It is set at approximately 50% in this web map, but can be adjusted.Human Geography Base, a simple basemap consisting of land areas in a very light gray only.The vector tile layers in this web map are built using the same data sources used for other Esri Vector Basemaps. For details on data sources contributed by the GIS community, view the map of Community Maps Basemap Contributors. Esri Vector Basemaps are updated monthly.Learn more about this basemap from the cartographic designer in Introducing a Human Geography Basemap.Use this MapThis map is designed to be used as a basemap for overlaying other layers of information or as a stand-alone reference map. You can add layers to this web map and save as your own map. If you like, you can add this web map to a custom basemap gallery for others in your organization to use in creating web maps. If you would like to add this map as a layer in other maps you are creating, you may use the tile layer item referenced in this map.

Build compelling, insightful applications to help your communities respond to COVID-19.As the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation continues to evolve, Esri supports software developers with maps, data hosting, and authoritative content to help you build solutions and aid pandemic response efforts. _Communities around the world are taking strides in mitigating the threat that COVID-19 (coronavirus) poses. Geography and location analysis have a crucial role in better understanding this evolving pandemic.When you need help quickly, Esri can provide data, software, configurable applications, and technical support for your emergency GIS operations. Use GIS to rapidly access and visualize mission-critical information. Get the information you need quickly, in a way that’s easy to understand, to make better decisions during a crisis.Esri’s Disaster Response Program (DRP) assists with disasters worldwide as part of our corporate citizenship. We support response and relief efforts with GIS technology and expertise.More information...

Important Note: This item is in mature support as of June 2021 and is no longer updated. This map presents land cover and detailed topographic maps for the United States. It uses the USA Topographic Map service. The map includes the National Park Service (NPS) Natural Earth physical map at 1.24km per pixel for the world at small scales, i-cubed eTOPO 1:250,000-scale maps for the contiguous United States at medium scales, and National Geographic TOPO! 1:100,000 and 1:24,000-scale maps (1:250,000 and 1:63,000 in Alaska) for the United States at large scales. The TOPO! maps are seamless, scanned images of United States Geological Survey (USGS) paper topographic maps.The maps provide a very useful basemap for a variety of applications, particularly in rural areas where the topographic maps provide unique detail and features from other basemaps.To add this map service into a desktop application directly, go to the entry for the USA Topo Maps map service. Tip: Here are some famous locations as they appear in this web map, accessed by including their location in the URL that launches the map:Grand Canyon, ArizonaGolden Gate, CaliforniaThe Statue of Liberty, New YorkWashington DCCanyon De Chelly, ArizonaYellowstone National Park, WyomingArea 51, Nevada

The map is designed to be used as a basemap by marine GIS professionals and as a reference map by anyone interested in ocean data. The basemap focuses on bathymetry. It also includes inland waters and roads, overlaid on land cover and shaded relief imagery.The Ocean Base map currently provides coverage for the world down to a scale of ~1:577k; coverage down to ~1:72k in United States coastal areas and various other areas; and coverage down to ~1:9k in limited regional areas.The World Ocean Reference is designed to be drawn on top of this map and provides selected city labels throughout the world. This web map lets you view the World Ocean Base with the Reference service drawn on top. Article in the Fall 2011 ArcUser about this basemap: "A Foundation for Ocean GIS".The map was compiled from a variety of best available sources from several data providers, including General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans GEBCO_08 Grid version 20100927 and IHO-IOC GEBCO Gazetteer of Undersea Feature Names August 2010 version (https://www.gebco.net), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Geographic for the oceans; and Garmin, and Esri for topographic content. You can contribute your bathymetric data to this service and have it served by Esri for the benefit of the Ocean GIS community. For details on the users who contributed bathymetric data for this map via the Community Maps Program, view the list of Contributors for the Ocean Basemap. The basemap was designed and developed by Esri. The GEBCO_08 Grid is largely based on a database of ship-track soundings with interpolation between soundings guided by satellite-derived gravity data. In some areas, data from existing grids are included. The GEBCO_08 Grid does not contain detailed information in shallower water areas, information concerning the generation of the grid can be found on GEBCO's website: https://www.gebco.net/data_and_products/gridded_bathymetry_data/. The GEBCO_08 Grid is accompanied by a Source Identifier (SID) Grid which indicates which cells in the GEBCO_08 Grid are based on soundings or existing grids and which have been interpolated. The latest version of both grids and accompanying documentation is available to download, on behalf of GEBCO, from the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) https://www.bodc.ac.uk/data/online_delivery/gebco/.The names of the IHO (International Hydrographic Organization), IOC (intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission), GEBCO (General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans), NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) or BODC (British Oceanographic Data Centre) may not be used in any way to imply, directly or otherwise, endorsement or support of either the Licensee or their mapping system.Tip: Here are some famous oceanic locations as they appear this map. Each URL launches this map at a particular location via parameters specified in the URL: Challenger Deep, Galapagos Islands, Hawaiian Islands, Maldive Islands, Mariana Trench, Tahiti, Queen Charlotte Sound, Notre Dame Bay, Labrador Trough, New York Bight, Massachusetts Bay, Mississippi Sound

Observed Position

Wayback imagery is a digital archive of the World Imagery basemap, enabling users to access more than 100 different versions of World Imagery archived over the past 10 years. Each record in the archive represents a version of World Imagery as it existed on the date it was published.This app offers a dynamic Wayback browsing and discovery experience where previous versions of the World Imagery basemap are presented within the map, along a timeline, and as a list. Versions that resulted in local changes are dynamically presented to the user based on location and scale. Preview changes by hovering over and/or selecting individual layers. When ready, one or more Wayback layers can be added to an export queue and pushed to a new ArcGIS Online web map. Browse, preview, select, and create, it’s all there!For more information on Wayback check out these articles.You can also find every Wayback tile layer in the Wayback imagery group.

This dashboard monitors the latest earthquake events around the world. It automatically updates when new events come in to show you where they occurred, how significant they were, and if any there were any resulting tsunamis. The real-time earthquake data, provided by the Living Atlas, was used to create a web map that was then used in this dashboard.To learn about the creation of this dashboard, read the blog: Making an Auto-Focusing Real-Time Dashboard. Feel free to make a copy and see how it is configured.

The Terrain 3D layer provides global elevation surface to use in ArcGIS 3D applicationsWhat can you do with this layer?Use this layer to visualize your maps and layers in 3D using applications like the Scene Viewer in ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Pro. Show me how1) Working with Scenes in ArcGIS Pro or ArcGIS Online Scene Viewer2) Select an appropriate basemap or use your own3) Add your unique 2D and 3D data layers to the scene. Your data are simply added on the elevation. If your data have defined elevation (z coordinates) this information will be honored in the scene4) Share your work as a Web Scene with others in your organization or the publicDataset Coverage To see the coverage and sources of various datasets comprising this elevation layer, view the Elevation Coverage Map. Additionally, this layer uses data from Maxar’s Precision 3D Digital Terrain Models for parts of the globe.This layer is part of a larger collection of elevation layers. For more information, see the Elevation Layers group on ArcGIS Online.

Important Note: This item is in mature support as of April 2024 and will be retired in December 2026. A new version of this item is available for your use. Esri recommends updating your maps and apps to use the new version.

Sea Surface Temperature is a key climate and weather measurement used for weather prediction, ocean forecasts, tropical cyclone forecasts, and in coastal applications such as fisheries, pollution monitoring and tourism. El Niño and La Niña are two examples of climate events which are forecast through the use of sea surface temperature maps. The Naval Oceanographic Office sea surface temperature dataset is calculated from satellite-based microwave and infrared imagery. These data are optimally interpolated to provide a daily, global map of the midday (12:00 pm) sea surface temperature. Learn more about the source data. Phenomenon Mapped: Sea Surface TemperatureUnits: Degrees CelsiusTime Interval: DailyTime Extent: 2008/04/01 12:00:00 UTC to presentCell Size: 11 kmSource Type: ContinuousPixel Type: Floating PointData Projection: GCS WGS84Mosaic Projection: Web Mercator Auxiliary SphereExtent: Global OceansSource: Naval Oceanographic OfficeUpdate Cycle: SporadicArcGIS Server URL: https://earthobs2.arcgis.com/arcgisTime: This is a time-enabled layer. It shows the average sea surface temperature during the map's time extent, or if time animation is disabled, a time range can be set using the layer's multidimensional settings. The map shows the average of all days in the time extent. Minimum temporal resolution is one day; maximum is one month.What can you do with this layer?Visualization: This layer can be used for visualization online in web maps and in ArcGIS Desktop.Analysis: This layer can be used as an input to geoprocessing tools and model builder. Units are in degrees Celsius, and there is a processing template to convert pixels to Fahrenheit. Do not use this layer for analysis while the Cartographic Renderer processing template is applied.This layer is part of the Living Atlas of the World that provides an easy way to explore the earth observation layers and many other beautiful and authoritative maps on hundreds of topics.

TransportationThis feature layer, utilizing National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) data from the U.S. Census Bureau, displays primary roads, secondary roads, local roads and railroads in the United States. According to the USCB, "This includes all primary, secondary, local neighborhood, and rural roads, city streets, vehicular trails (4wd), ramps, service drives, alleys, parking lot roads, private roads for service vehicles (logging, oil fields, ranches, etc.), bike paths or trails, bridle/horse paths, walkways/pedestrian trails, and stairways."Interstates 20 and 635Data currency: This cached Esri federal service is checked weekly for updates from its enterprise federal source (TIGERweb/Transportation) and will support mapping, analysis, data exports and OGC API – Feature access.NGDAID: 155 (Series Information for All Roads County-based TIGER/Line Shapefiles, Current)OGC API Features Link: (Transportation - OGC Features) copy this link to embed it in OGC Compliant viewersFor more information, please visit: Census Feature Class Codes (CFCC)For feedback please contact: Esri_US_Federal_Data@esri.comNGDA Data SetThis data set is part of the NGDA Governmental Units, and Administrative and Statistical Boundaries Theme Community. Per the Federal Geospatial Data Committee (FGDC), this theme is defined as the "boundaries that delineate geographic areas for uses such as governance and the general provision of services (e.g., states, American Indian reservations, counties, cities, towns, etc.), administration and/or for a specific purpose (e.g., congressional districts, school districts, fire districts, Alaska Native Regional Corporations, etc.), and/or provision of statistical data (census tracts, census blocks, metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, etc.). Boundaries for these various types of geographic areas are either defined through a documented legal description or through criteria and guidelines. Other boundaries may include international limits, those of federal land ownership, the extent of administrative regions for various federal agencies, as well as the jurisdictional offshore limits of U.S. sovereignty. Boundaries associated solely with natural resources and/or cultural entities are excluded from this theme and are included in the appropriate subject themes."For other NGDA Content: Esri Federal Datasets

State_Centroids

U.S. Census BlocksThis feature layer, utilizing National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) data from the U.S. Census Bureau (USCB), displays Census Blocks in the United States. A brief description of Census Blocks, per USCB, is that "Census blocks are statistical areas bounded by visible features such as roads, streams, and railroad tracks, and by nonvisible boundaries such as property lines, city, township, school district, county limits and short line-of-sight extensions of roads." Also, "the smallest level of geography you can get basic demographic data for, such as total population by age, sex, and race."Census Block 1007Data currency: This cached Esri federal service is checked weekly for updates from its enterprise federal source (Census Blocks) and will support mapping, analysis, data exports and OGC API – Feature access.NGDAID: 69 (Series Information for 2020 Census Block State-based TIGER/Line Shapefiles, Current)OGC API Features Link: (U.S. Census Blocks - OGC Features) copy this link to embed it in OGC Compliant viewersFor more information, please visit: What are census blocksFor feedback please contact: Esri_US_Federal_Data@esri.comNGDA Data SetThis data set is part of the NGDA Governmental Units, and Administrative and Statistical Boundaries Theme Community. Per the Federal Geospatial Data Committee (FGDC), this theme is defined as the "boundaries that delineate geographic areas for uses such as governance and the general provision of services (e.g., states, American Indian reservations, counties, cities, towns, etc.), administration and/or for a specific purpose (e.g., congressional districts, school districts, fire districts, Alaska Native Regional Corporations, etc.), and/or provision of statistical data (census tracts, census blocks, metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, etc.). Boundaries for these various types of geographic areas are either defined through a documented legal description or through criteria and guidelines. Other boundaries may include international limits, those of federal land ownership, the extent of administrative regions for various federal agencies, as well as the jurisdictional offshore limits of U.S. sovereignty. Boundaries associated solely with natural resources and/or cultural entities are excluded from this theme and are included in the appropriate subject themes."For other NGDA Content: Esri Federal Datasets

The Human Geography Dark Map (World Edition) web map provides a detailed world basemap with a dark monochromatic style and content adjusted to support human geography information. Where possible, the map content has been adjusted so that it observes WCAG contrast criteria.This basemap, included in the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, uses 3 vector tile layers:Human Geography Dark Label, a label reference layer including cities and communities, countries, administrative units, and at larger scales street names.Human Geography Dark Detail, a detail reference layer including administrative boundaries, roads and highways, and larger bodies of water. This layer is designed to be used with a high degree of transparency so that the detail does not compete with your information. It is set at approximately 50% in this web map, but can be adjusted.Human Geography Dark Base, a simple basemap consisting of land areas in a very dark gray only.The vector tile layers in this web map are built using the same data sources used for other Esri Vector Basemaps. For details on data sources contributed by the GIS community, view the map of Community Maps Basemap Contributors. Esri Vector Basemaps are updated monthly.Learn more about this basemap from the cartographic designer in A Dark Version of the Human Geography Basemap.Use this MapThis map is designed to be used as a basemap for overlaying other layers of information or as a stand-alone reference map. You can add layers to this web map and save as your own map. If you like, you can add this web map to a custom basemap gallery for others in your organization to use in creating web maps. If you would like to add this map as a layer in other maps you are creating, you may use the tile layers referenced in this map.

The World Terrestrial Ecosystems map classifies the world into areas of similar climate, landform, and land cover, which form the basic components of any terrestrial ecosystem structure. This map is important because it uses objectively derived and globally consistent data to characterize the ecosystems at a much finer spatial resolution (250-m) than existing ecoregionalizations, and a much finer thematic resolution (431 classes) than existing global land cover products. This item was updated on Apr 14, 2023 to distinguish between Boreal and Polar climate regions in the terrestrial ecosystems. Cell Size: 250-meter Source Type: ThematicPixel Type: 16 Bit UnsignedData Projection: GCS WGS84Extent: GlobalSource: USGS, The Nature Conservancy, EsriUpdate Cycle: NoneWhat can you do with this layer?This map allows you to query the land surface pixels and returns the values of all the input parameters (landform type, landcover/vegetation type, climate region) and the name of the terrestrial ecosystem at that location.This layer can be used in analysis at global and local regions. However, for large scale spatial analysis, we have also provided an ArcGIS Pro Package that contains the original raster data with multiple table attributes. For simple mapping applications, there is also a raster tile layer. This layer can be combined with the World Protected Areas Database to assess the types of ecosystems that are protected, and progress towards meeting conservation goals. The WDPA layer updates monthly from the United Nations Environment Programme.Developing the World Terrestrial EcosystemsWorld Terrestrial Ecosystems map was produced by adopting and modifying the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) approach on the definition of Terrestrial Ecosystems and development of standardized global climate regions using the values of environmental moisture regime and temperature regime. We then combined the values of Global Climate Regions, Landforms and matrix-forming vegetation assemblage or land use, using the ArcGIS Combine tool (Spatial Analyst) to produce World Ecosystems Dataset. This combination resulted of 431 World Ecosystems classes.Each combination was assigned a color using an algorithm that blended traditional color schemes for each of the three components. Every pixel in this map is symbolized by a combination of values for each of these fields.The work from this collaboration is documented in the publication:Sayre et al. 2020. An assessment of the representation of ecosystems in global protected areas using new maps of World Climate Regions and World Ecosystems - Global Ecology and Conservation More information about World Terrestrial Ecosystems can be found in this Story Map.

The USGS Topo base map service from The National Map is a combination of contours, shaded relief, woodland and urban tint, along with vector layers, such as geographic names, governmental unit boundaries, hydrography, structures, and transportation, to provide a composite topographic base map. Data sources are the National Atlas for small scales, and The National Map for medium to large scales.

The TopoBathy 3D layer provides a global seamless topography (land elevation) and bathymetry (water depths) surface to use in ArcGIS 3D applications.What can you do with this layer?This layer is meant to be used as a ground in ArcGIS Online Web Scenes, ArcGIS Earth, and ArcGIS Pro to help visualize your maps and data in 3D.How do I use this layer?In the ArcGIS Online Web Scene Viewer:Sign-in with ArcGIS Online accountOn the Designer toolbar, click Add Layers Click Browse layers and choose Living Atlas.Search for TopoBathy 3DAdd TopoBathy 3D (Elevation Layer)The TopoBathy 3D will get added under Ground. Change basemap to OceansOptionally, add any other operational layers to visualize in 3DIn ArcGIS Pro:Ensure you are logged in with an ArcGIS Online accountOpen a Global SceneOn the Map tab, click Add Data > Elevation Source LayerUnder Portal, click Living Atlas and search for TopoBathy 3DSelect TopoBathy 3D (Elevation Layer) and click OKThe TopoBathy 3D will get added under GroundOptionally, remove other elevation layers from ground and choose the desired basemapDataset Coverage To see the coverage and sources of various datasets comprising this elevation layer, view the Elevation Coverage Map. Additionally, this layer uses data from Maxar’s Precision 3D Digital Terrain Models for parts of the globe.

This layer features special areas of interest (AOIs) that have been contributed to Esri Community Maps using the new Community Maps Editor app. The data that is accepted by Esri will be included in selected Esri basemaps, including our suite of Esri Vector Basemaps, and made available through this layer to export and use offline. Export DataThe contributed data is also available for contributors and other users to export (or extract) and re-use for their own purposes. Users can export the full layer from the ArcGIS Online item details page by clicking the Export Data button and selecting one of the supported formats (e.g. shapefile, or file geodatabase (FGDB)). User can extract selected layers for an area of interest by opening in Map Viewer, clicking the Analysis button, viewing the Manage Data tools, and using the Extract Data tool. To display this data with proper symbology and metadata in ArcGIS Pro, you can download and use this layer file.Data UsageThe data contributed through the Community Maps Editor app is primarily intended for use in the Esri Basemaps. Esri staff will periodically (e.g. weekly) review the contents of the contributed data and either accept or reject the data for use in the basemaps. Accepted features will be added to the Esri basemaps in a subsequent update and will remain in the app for the contributor or others to edit over time. Rejected features will be removed from the app.Esri Community Maps Contributors and other ArcGIS Online users can download accepted features from this layer for their internal use or map publishing, subject to the terms of use below.