Globe services

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A globe service provides a 3D view of a globe originating from an ArcGlobe document (.3dd). To create a globe service, you need to first create the globe document, then publish it as a service. Once you create the service, supported clients such as ArcGlobe, ArcGIS Explorer, and ArcReader will be able to access the globe service remotely.

The steps to create a globe service are as follows:

  1. Prepare an ArcGlobe Document, ensuring that the document, data, and layer caches are accessible from all server object container (SOC) machines.
  2. Using ArcCatalog or ArcGIS Server Manager, create and start the globe service.
  3. Generate a data cache for optimal performance, if not already present.

The following sections explain the process of preparing, creating, and using a globe service, as well as how to improve the rendering speed of the service by creating a globe cache.

Creating the globe document

The first step to deploying a globe service is creating the ArcGlobe document. You'll need to have ArcGIS Desktop with the 3D Analyst extension to do that. For some helpful introductory information about working with ArcGlobe, see the topic ArcGlobe 3D display environment in the ArcGIS Desktop Help.

A globe service consists of a collection of layers that can be added individually to an application as data. This differs from a map service, which references the entire map document when added to an application as data. Because the ingredients of a globe service are these individual layers, globe document properties such as ambient lights, sun position, background color, and exaggeration are not reflected in a globe service.

Removing ArcGIS Online layers

The default globe in ArcGlobe 9.3 consists of layers from ArcGIS Online services. You should remove these default layers before publishing the globe service. This is because globe services (such as the ones on ArcGIS Online) cannot be published within other globe services.

If you still want viewers to see the ArcGIS Online content along with some of your own layers, you should publish your service without the ArcGIS Online layers. Then, create either an ArcGlobe document, a 3D ArcReader document, or an ArcGIS Explorer map and add the following layers:

You can post this document on a Web page or in a shared location. This workflow ensures that clients retrieve each globe service in the most efficient way.

Note: If you'll be publishing many globe services, you might want to change your ArcGlobe preferences so that the default globe does not start with ArcGIS Online layers.

Tips for preparing documents for globe service publishing

When designing a globe document to be published as a globe service, consider the following tips for optimum performance:

Creating the globe service

To create a globe service, follow the steps in Publishing a GIS resource to the server. Choose to publish a globe service and browse to the globe document that you want to publish.

Note that when you publish a globe service using these steps, the wizard will pick the first cache directory registered from among the ArcGIS Server cache directories. If you want to use a different cache directory, use the Add New Service wizard instead. The topic Adding a new service contains instructions for the Add New Service wizard.

Creating a globe cache

For faster display of your globe services, you can create a cache that stores prerendered image tiles on disk. When someone uses a globe service client, such as ArcGIS Explorer or ArcGlobe, to view an area of your service, your server can simply retrieve the tile from the cache instead of taking the time to render the view. It's up to you to determine the size of your initial cache, but you should consider creating at least a partial cache to optimize the performance of your services. The scope of the cache you choose to build may depend on the resources that you have available for creating and storing the cache. Information on globe caching techniques is located elsewhere in this documentation.

Learn more about globe caches.

Configuring Web access for the service

By default, globe services are enabled for Web access. To disable or limit Web access to the service, see Securing Web services.

When a globe service has Web access enabled, users of client applications can access the service through HTTP. Supported clients of these Web services are the same as the clients that can view a globe service through local connections, namely ArcGlobe, ArcCatalog, ArcGIS Explorer, ArcReader, and ArcGIS Engine applications.

Allowed operations for globe Web services are Globe, Animation, and Query. All three are enabled by default.

For a list of the methods associated with each operation, see Limiting what users can do with a service in the topic Tuning and configuring services.

When using a globe Web service, ArcGIS Server employs two methods for serving the data tiles. The first (default) is via a query string approach where the client has a knowledge to request data tiles by specifying rows and columns. Simply enabling the Web service will activate this mode; there is nothing you'll need to do additionally as the Web service administrator.

If you associate the cache directory with a virtual directory on your Web server, ArcGIS Server can instead use a static HTTP GET to fetch the data tiles. Exposing the cache through a virtual directory has the added benefit of leveraging the IIS Web server's caching, which will help in performance. Be sure to allow Read permissions to the virtual directory.



Here's how to associate your globe cache directory with a virtual directory:

  1. Create the virtual directory using your Web server administration software (such as IIS Manager). The virtual directory should reference your globe service's cache directory.
  2. Create an administrative connection to the server that contains the globe service.
  3. Right-click the administrative connection you created to open the Server Properties dialog box.
  4. Click the Directories tab. Choose Cache Directory rom the Directory Type drop-down list.
  5. Choose the Cache Directory you want to expose through a virtual directory and click the Edit command. You can now specify the virtual directory name for your cache directory.

Note: You need to make sure that the MIME Map types for your virtual directory use a wildcard mapping (.* ) for allowed file types, since the tiles of a globe cache do not have a file type association.

Using the globe service

Once you've created the service and started it, users of client applications, such as ArcGlobe and ArcGIS Explorer will be able to consume your globe service by connecting to your GIS server and adding the service as data in their documents. Clients can view globe services through either local (LAN or WAN) or Internet connections.

Does the Web ADF contain controls for consuming globe services?

The Web and mobile Application Developer Frameworks (ADFs) for ArcGIS Server do not have controls for consuming globe services. ArcGIS Explorer is the recommended application for viewing globe services in a lightweight client.

The only way to view ArcGIS Server services in 3D in a Web application is to use the ArcGIS JavaScript Extension for Virtual Earth to view a cached map service draped over the Virtual Earth globe.

Web access

By default, globe services are enabled for Web access. Web service developers can work with these through the globe service's Web Service Description Language (WSDL). The URL of a Web-enabled globe service follows this pattern:

http://<server name>/<instance name>/services/<folder name (if the service resides in a folder)>/<service name>/GlobeServer

For example, if you had a service Toronto in a folder Canada running on a server myServer with the default instance name of ArcGIS, the URL would be as follows:

http://myServer/arcgis/services/Canada/Toronto/GlobeServer