{"id":2663872,"date":"2025-01-31T08:50:15","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T16:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=2663872"},"modified":"2025-01-31T09:46:15","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T17:46:15","slug":"basemaps-small-changes-big-impact","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-online\/mapping\/basemaps-small-changes-big-impact","title":{"rendered":"Change the basemap"},"author":7411,"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":[23171,23201,80952,31301,27911],"industry":[],"product":[36551],"class_list":["post-2663872","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mapping","tag-basemaps","tag-cartographic-design","tag-effects","tag-symbology","tag-tutorial","product-arcgis-online"],"acf":{"short_description":"Two short videos: how to choose and modify basemaps in ArcGIS Online","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Looking for an easy win for your map?<\/p>\n

Often the easiest way to improve a map’s design is to change its basemap. The appearance of the basemap has a huge impact on the appearance of the symbology. For this reason, I recommend choosing symbols and basemaps together. The 3-minute video below explains why you should care about the basemap and offers some advice on making a good choice for your map.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"kaltura","video_id":"1_ydgon6og","time":false,"start":0,"stop":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

What if you can’t find a basemap that suits your particular map? You can mix and match basemap layers, and modify their appearance with blend modes and effects. With these few techniques, you can create endless variations. The 3-minute video below explains how.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"kaltura","video_id":"1_ictpb8g6","time":false,"start":0,"stop":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

For a hands-on tutorial that teaches how to modify basemaps in ArcGIS Online, try Cartographic Creations – Customize a basemap<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And if you want to customize basemaps further than the techniques I’ve shown above, you can use the Vector Tile Style Editor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can watch all of the videos in my Quick Cartography playlist on the Esri Video<\/a> site or YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n"}],"related_articles":[{"ID":2659482,"post_author":"6081","post_date":"2025-01-24 02:02:53","post_date_gmt":"2025-01-24 10:02:53","post_content":"","post_title":"Changing Labels in Esri Vector Basemaps","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"changing-labels-in-esri-vector-basemaps","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-09-26 12:15:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-09-26 19:15:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=2659482","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"3","filter":"raw"},{"ID":2607472,"post_author":"4491","post_date":"2024-12-13 09:11:24","post_date_gmt":"2024-12-13 17:11:24","post_content":"","post_title":"'Enhancing' the Human Geography Basemaps","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"enhancing-the-human-geography-basemaps","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-13 09:11:24","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-13 17:11:24","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=2607472","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":2604852,"post_author":"8492","post_date":"2024-12-02 11:12:41","post_date_gmt":"2024-12-02 19:12:41","post_content":"","post_title":"Splice and Dice Basemaps","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"splice-and-dice-basemaps","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-03 13:22:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 21:22:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=2604852","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":2332472,"post_author":"7411","post_date":"2024-05-09 08:12:22","post_date_gmt":"2024-05-09 15:12:22","post_content":"","post_title":"Light and dark color schemes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"light-and-dark-color-schemes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-09 08:12:22","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-09 15:12:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=2332472","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"authors":[{"ID":7411,"user_firstname":"Heather","user_lastname":"Smith","nickname":"Heather Smith","user_nicename":"heather-smith","display_name":"Heather Smith","user_email":"Heather_Smith@esri.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2018-03-21 18:21:18","user_description":"Heather is a cartographer and artist. She creates resources for the tutorial gallery.","user_avatar":""}],"show_article_image":false,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/0202\/01\/blog-card.png","wide_image":false},"yoast_head":"\nChoose and modify basemaps in ArcGIS Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Two short videos. 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