Building globe caches

Caches for raster layers, rasterized vector layers and elevation layers can be built using the GenerateGlobeServerCache geoprocessing tool which uses ArcGIS Server to build the cache. This tool is accessible through ArcCatalog as described later in this document, or directly through ArcToolbox.

Caches for 3D vector layers or for vector layers using 3D symbology must be built using ArcGlobe Desktop application. ArcGlobe can be used to build a data cache directly into the Globe Cache location being used by the Globe Service. You can do this by setting the Cache Path property in ArcGlobe (to do so, in ArcGlobe go to Tools>Options>Cache dialog) to be the same as the server cache directory for the globe service. Note that the ArcGlobe application will append a GlobeCache folder to the specified cache path if it doesn't already contain one. As a result, just using the server cache directory as the cache path in your ArcGlobe Application is sufficient. Taking the default registered server cache directory as an example, you would set the cache path in ArcGlobe to be c:\arcgisserver\arcgiscache before building the data cache. From then on, any globe layer caches you built using ArcGlobe will be created in the location, C:\arcgisserver\arcgiscache\GlobeCache.

Note that any subsequent data viewing of other layers that you might add to ArcGlobe will also create layer caches in this GlobeCache directory used for the globe service (C:\arcgisserver\cache\GlobeCache in the above example) till such time as the cache path in ArcGlobe is changed. To avoid cluttering the GlobeCache directory used by the globe service, it is recommended that you restore your ArcGlobe Desktop cache path back to its previous location once you are done building the layer cache for the globe service.

How to create a data cache using ArcGIS Server

You can create a data cache using ArcGIS Server using geoprocessing tools in any of the ArcGIS Desktop applications. The geoprocessing tools to build data caches are easily accessible from an administrative server connection in ArcCatalog.

To create a globe cache using ArcGIS Server, follow these steps:

1. In ArcCatalog, create an administrative connection to the server that contains the globe service, and ensure that the globe service is started.
2. Right-click the globe service and click Service Properties.
3. Click the Caching tab.
4. Select the server cache directory where you want the data cache to be generated.
5. Click Generate. This will bring up the Generate Globe Server Cache geoprocessing tool.
6. You'll notice that the Host name, GlobeServer Object name, and Server Cache Directory are already populated for you.
7. Select the appropriate level of detail by specifying the 'From' and 'To' combo boxes. The 'From' should correspond to the lowest level of detail and the 'TO' to the highest level of detail you wish to build the data cache for your globe service.
8. Optionally, specify the number of service instances to use. By default it will use all available instances.
9. Click OK to dismiss the dialog. The geopocessing status bar will indicate when the data cache generation completes.

Alternatively, you can use the Generate Globe Server Cache tool in ArcToolbox.

Use Update and Delete Tiles geoprocessing tools to update an existing data cache and to delete the data tiles of an already existing cache. Note that deleting tiles is a non-reversible process and hence care should be taken before running this tool.

How to create a data cache using ArcGlobe

You will need to use ArcGlobe to generate the data cache for the following data types:

• All feature layers used as vectors. These include 2D and 3D point and line feature classes as well as multipatches.
• Any 2D feature layer symbolized by a 3d symbol.

To create a cache in ArcGlobe, follow these steps:

1. Open the ArcGlobe document that contains the layer you want to cache.
2. Navigate to the Tools > Options dialog.
3. Click the Cache tab.
4. Set the Cache path to the location where you want the cache to be stored. Before you deploy your globe service, make sure that you have added a server cache directory for this location, and that you have configured the globe service to use that cache directory.
5. In the ArcGlobe table of contents, right-click the layer to cache and click Generate Data Cache.
6. Optionally, uncheck the Overwrite existing cache tiles if you want to keep any existing cache data.
7. Set the level of detail range for generating the cache. Each notch on the slider represents a separate level of detail that will be calculated.
8. To create a full cache, set the From LOD slider to Far, and the To LOD slider to Near.
9. If the levels of detail are not at their maximum width, you are constructing a partial cache of the data. The remaining levels will be cached on demand.
10. Click OK.

Note that you can register the cache path you used to generate the data cache in ArcGlobe (set in Step 4) as an ArcGIS Server Cache directory. That will allow you to use the cache created by the ArcGlobe application for your globe services from its current location.