{"id":1875662,"date":"2023-03-20T15:05:39","date_gmt":"2023-03-20T22:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=1875662"},"modified":"2024-07-29T08:09:08","modified_gmt":"2024-07-29T15:09:08","slug":"beyond-web-mercator-building-basemaps-in-different-projections","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-living-atlas\/mapping\/beyond-web-mercator-building-basemaps-in-different-projections","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Web Mercator: Building basemaps in different projections"},"author":4491,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[22941],"tags":[23171,26451,40161,169792,31131],"industry":[],"product":[36581,36551,36561],"class_list":["post-1875662","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mapping","tag-basemaps","tag-cartography","tag-living-atlas-of-the-world","tag-projections","tag-vector-tile-layers","product-arcgis-living-atlas","product-arcgis-online","product-arcgis-pro"],"acf":{"related_articles":[{"ID":1443652,"post_author":"4491","post_date":"2021-12-20 08:03:09","post_date_gmt":"2021-12-20 16:03:09","post_content":"","post_title":"New ways of customizing Esri Vector Basemaps","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"new-ways-of-customizing-esri-vector-basemaps","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2021-12-20 08:06:04","post_modified_gmt":"2021-12-20 16:06:04","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=1443652","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":1699862,"post_author":"4491","post_date":"2022-09-02 10:10:19","post_date_gmt":"2022-09-02 17:10:19","post_content":"","post_title":"Build-your-own Sandwich","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"build-your-own-sandwich","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-01-09 13:45:26","post_modified_gmt":"2026-01-09 21:45:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=1699862","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":1394902,"post_author":"4491","post_date":"2021-11-12 14:23:43","post_date_gmt":"2021-11-12 22:23:43","post_content":"","post_title":"Mapping in Multi-Scale","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"mapping-in-multi-scale","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-01-29 15:59:52","post_modified_gmt":"2025-01-29 23:59:52","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=1394902","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"2","filter":"raw"},{"ID":2443942,"post_author":"4491","post_date":"2024-07-29 08:06:43","post_date_gmt":"2024-07-29 15:06:43","post_content":"","post_title":"Beyond Web Mercator: Projected Basemaps Revisited","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"beyond-web-mercator-projected-basemaps-revisited","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-29 08:06:43","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-29 15:06:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=2443942","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"authors":[{"ID":4491,"user_firstname":"Andrew","user_lastname":"Skinner","nickname":"Andrew Skinner","user_nicename":"askinner","display_name":"Andy Skinner","user_email":"ASkinner@esri.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2018-03-02 00:16:04","user_description":"Andy is a Cartographic Designer who has been building maps for 50 years. He has been working with Esri in Redlands for 16 years, most recently on the creation of some of Esri's vector basemaps, and the development of color ramps for ArcGIS Online. Prior to Esri, he was Manager of Cartographic Design at Rand McNally, and before that a Senior Cartographer at GeoSystems\/MapQuest. He is originally from England, and worked for a number of years at what is now the University of Derby before moving to the USA. Andy can be contacted at: askinner@esri.com","user_avatar":""}],"short_description":"Using ArcGIS Pro to build 'Human Geography' style vector basemaps in different projections, for use in ArcGIS Online","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

It\u2019s been a subject for debate for as long as I\u2019ve been working on online basemaps\u2026 Why does it always have to be Web Mercator? Well, in fact, it doesn\u2019t!<\/p>\n

Most of the basemaps that we<\/em> build (as with Google, Bing, and most other providers) use Web Mercator. For better or worse, the standard has been set, and our work is an acknowledgement of that. But we also provide a GCS version of many of our maps, and John Nelson and I have both done some experimenting with the Equal Earth projection. I included this in a Story Map<\/a><\/strong> about vector tiles and ArcGIS Pro in 2021.<\/p>\n

Building and maintaining multiple map projections at a full range of scales can be a heavy lift, involving gigabytes of data. Fortunately, unless you have a specialized requirement, most of the practical need for other projections is at small scale. Larger than about 1:1,000,000 the projection really doesn\u2019t have any visual<\/em> impact on what you are doing. That makes things a bit simpler, because a vector tile package restricted to smaller scales is not going to be too big \u2013 You can consider building something yourself. All you really need is a decent source and the willingness to do a bit of preparation.<\/p>\n

So, with that in mind, I set out to put something together.<\/p>\n

Here are some links to the \u2018Human Geography\u2019 style basemaps I created:<\/p>\n

Winkel Tripel<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":1875702,"id":1875702,"title":"MiniGraphic_Winkel","filename":"MiniGraphic_Winkel.jpg","filesize":69564,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Winkel.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-living-atlas\/mapping\/beyond-web-mercator-building-basemaps-in-different-projections\/minigraphic_winkel","alt":"Footprint of the Winkel Tripel Projection","author":"4491","description":"","caption":"","name":"minigraphic_winkel","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":1875662,"date":"2023-03-15 17:35:19","modified":"2023-03-15 17:35:59","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1651,"height":322,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Winkel-213x200.jpg","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Winkel.jpg","medium-width":464,"medium-height":90,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Winkel.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":150,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Winkel.jpg","large-width":1651,"large-height":322,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Winkel-1536x300.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Winkel.jpg","2048x2048-width":1651,"2048x2048-height":322,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Winkel-826x161.jpg","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":161,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Winkel.jpg","wide_image-width":1651,"wide_image-height":322}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Goode Homolosine (land)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":1875732,"id":1875732,"title":"MiniGraphic_Goode","filename":"MiniGraphic_Goode.jpg","filesize":56032,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Goode.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-living-atlas\/mapping\/beyond-web-mercator-building-basemaps-in-different-projections\/minigraphic_goode","alt":"Footprint of the Goode Homosoline Projection","author":"4491","description":"","caption":"","name":"minigraphic_goode","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":1875662,"date":"2023-03-15 17:40:17","modified":"2023-03-15 17:40:44","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1651,"height":232,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Goode-213x200.jpg","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Goode.jpg","medium-width":464,"medium-height":65,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Goode.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":108,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Goode.jpg","large-width":1651,"large-height":232,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Goode-1536x216.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":216,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Goode.jpg","2048x2048-width":1651,"2048x2048-height":232,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Goode-826x116.jpg","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":116,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Goode.jpg","wide_image-width":1651,"wide_image-height":232}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Miller Cylindrical<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":1875752,"id":1875752,"title":"MiniGraphic_MIller","filename":"MiniGraphic_MIller.jpg","filesize":57776,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_MIller.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-living-atlas\/mapping\/beyond-web-mercator-building-basemaps-in-different-projections\/minigraphic_miller","alt":"Footprint of the Miller Cylindrical Projection","author":"4491","description":"","caption":"","name":"minigraphic_miller","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":1875662,"date":"2023-03-15 17:43:13","modified":"2023-03-15 17:43:36","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1651,"height":322,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_MIller-213x200.jpg","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_MIller.jpg","medium-width":464,"medium-height":90,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_MIller.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":150,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_MIller.jpg","large-width":1651,"large-height":322,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_MIller-1536x300.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_MIller.jpg","2048x2048-width":1651,"2048x2048-height":322,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_MIller-826x161.jpg","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":161,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_MIller.jpg","wide_image-width":1651,"wide_image-height":322}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Robinson<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":1875772,"id":1875772,"title":"MiniGraphic_Robinson","filename":"MiniGraphic_Robinson.jpg","filesize":65092,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Robinson.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-living-atlas\/mapping\/beyond-web-mercator-building-basemaps-in-different-projections\/minigraphic_robinson","alt":"Footprint of the Robinson Projection","author":"4491","description":"","caption":"","name":"minigraphic_robinson","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":1875662,"date":"2023-03-15 17:46:05","modified":"2023-03-15 17:46:20","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1651,"height":274,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Robinson-213x200.jpg","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Robinson.jpg","medium-width":464,"medium-height":77,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Robinson.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":127,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Robinson.jpg","large-width":1651,"large-height":274,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Robinson-1536x255.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":255,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Robinson.jpg","2048x2048-width":1651,"2048x2048-height":274,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Robinson-826x137.jpg","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":137,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MiniGraphic_Robinson.jpg","wide_image-width":1651,"wide_image-height":274}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

The Source<\/h3>\n

I used ArcGIS Data and Maps. It’s available to most of us, and it was a chance to prove that you don\u2019t have to access anything too sophisticated to get a result. It needed a bit of preparation though, and this is where the bulk of my time went. I decided to create a style based roughly on the Human Geography basemap. So, working in ArcGIS Pro I collected the features I thought were relevant, created polygon, line and point features where necessary, and did some clean-up.<\/p>\n

Preparing the Map<\/h3>\n

At this point there was a decision to make. Do I style the map completely in ArcGIS Pro, or create the vector tile package and finish the styling online? I could have done it all in Pro, but I decided on the latter for these reasons:<\/p>\n