{"id":2953577,"date":"2026-01-09T13:41:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T21:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=2953577"},"modified":"2026-01-09T13:41:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T21:41:26","slug":"basemap-sandwiches-and-label-layers","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-online\/mapping\/basemap-sandwiches-and-label-layers","title":{"rendered":"Basemap &#8216;Sandwiches&#8217; and Label Layers"},"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":[213152,780972,113632,40161,780971],"industry":[],"product":[36581,36551],"class_list":["post-2953577","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mapping","tag-arcgis-vector-tile-style-editor","tag-base-layer","tag-basemap","tag-living-atlas-of-the-world","tag-reference-layer","product-arcgis-living-atlas","product-arcgis-online"],"acf":{"short_description":"Creating 'sandwich' versions of basemaps with base and reference layers is now a lot easier.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p>Since we started building basemaps for ArcGIS Online there have been two distinct types:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The single layer, everything-at-once type, such as \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/arcgis-content.maps.arcgis.com\/apps\/mapviewer\/index.html?webmap=55ebf90799fa4a3fa57562700a68c405\">Street<\/a>\u2019 and \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/arcgis-content.maps.arcgis.com\/apps\/mapviewer\/index.html?layers=7dc6cea0b1764a1f9af2e679f642f0f5\">Topographic<\/a>\u2019. Easy to work with, but labels and detail can get lost behind your content.<\/li>\n<li>The multi-layer \u2018sandwich\u2019 basemap with labels and some other detail in a reference layer that sits on top of your content. These include \u2019<a href=\"https:\/\/arcgis-content.maps.arcgis.com\/apps\/mapviewer\/index.html?webmap=979c6cc89af9449cbeb5342a439c6a76\">Light Gray Canvas\u2019<\/a>, \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/arcgis-content.maps.arcgis.com\/apps\/mapviewer\/index.html?webmap=3582b744bba84668b52a16b0b6942544\">Human Geography<\/a>\u2019 and \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/arcgis-content.maps.arcgis.com\/apps\/mapviewer\/index.html?webmap=084291b0ecad4588b8c8853898d72445\">Enhanced Contrast<\/a>\u2019 basemaps.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2953579,"id":2953579,"title":"Streets_Canvas_layers","filename":"Streets_Canvas_layers.png","filesize":60088,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Streets_Canvas_layers.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-online\/mapping\/basemap-sandwiches-and-label-layers\/streets_canvas_layers","alt":"The basemap layers window for the single layer Streets map and the multi-layer Light Gray Canvas Map","author":"4491","description":"","caption":"","name":"streets_canvas_layers","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2953577,"date":"2026-01-09 18:35:26","modified":"2026-01-09 18:36:49","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":815,"height":527,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Streets_Canvas_layers-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Streets_Canvas_layers.png","medium-width":404,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Streets_Canvas_layers.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":497,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Streets_Canvas_layers.png","large-width":815,"large-height":527,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Streets_Canvas_layers.png","1536x1536-width":815,"1536x1536-height":527,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Streets_Canvas_layers.png","2048x2048-width":815,"2048x2048-height":527,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Streets_Canvas_layers-719x465.png","card_image-width":719,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Streets_Canvas_layers.png","wide_image-width":815,"wide_image-height":527}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Streets_Canvas_layers.png"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p>Occasionally we\u2019ll be asked why we don\u2019t have \u2018Label\u2019 layers for <em>all <\/em>our basemaps. The reasons are partly historical and partly logistical \u2013 Some people prefer the single layer approach, and with so many of them already in use it would be problematic to change the construction. Our \u2018get-out\u2019 clause is that you can always build these layers yourself using the <a href=\"https:\/\/vtse.arcgis.com\/\">Vector Tile Style Editor<\/a> (VTSE).<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t easy though! It required a tedious search through all the basemap information to identify the label layers and switch them off\u2026 then do the reverse on another copy.<\/p>\n<p>Things just got a whole lot simpler!<\/p>\n<h2>Create a Base Layer<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Open your preferred basemap into the VTSE, and save a copy as \u2018Base\u2019.<\/li>\n<li>In the Quick Editor, look for \u2018Hide all labels\u2019, then save.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2953581,"id":2953581,"title":"02_Hide_labels","filename":"02_Hide_labels.jpg","filesize":105581,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/02_Hide_labels.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-online\/mapping\/basemap-sandwiches-and-label-layers\/02_hide_labels","alt":"The' Hide all labels' button in the Vector Tile Style Editor Quick Edit menu","author":"4491","description":"","caption":"","name":"02_hide_labels","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2953577,"date":"2026-01-09 18:39:13","modified":"2026-01-09 18:40:53","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":680,"height":321,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/02_Hide_labels-213x200.jpg","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/02_Hide_labels.jpg","medium-width":464,"medium-height":219,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/02_Hide_labels.jpg","medium_large-width":680,"medium_large-height":321,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/02_Hide_labels.jpg","large-width":680,"large-height":321,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/02_Hide_labels.jpg","1536x1536-width":680,"1536x1536-height":321,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/02_Hide_labels.jpg","2048x2048-width":680,"2048x2048-height":321,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/02_Hide_labels.jpg","card_image-width":680,"card_image-height":321,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/02_Hide_labels.jpg","wide_image-width":680,"wide_image-height":321}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/02_Hide_labels.jpg"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p>It\u2019s as easy as that!<\/p>\n<h2>Create a Label Layer<\/h2>\n<p>Unfortunately there is no \u2018Hide other features\u2019 option, but it doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Open another copy of your basemap into the VTSE and save it as \u2018Label\u2019 or \u2018Reference\u2019.<\/li>\n<li>Go to \u2018Edit Layer Styles\u2019, then use the \u2018Visibility\u2019 toggle to switch each <em>group<\/em> off (including the background). Usually there are between 5 and 10 groups. You should end up with an empty map.<\/li>\n<li>Go to \u2018Quick Edit\u2019, find \u2018Show all labels\u2019, then save. You should now have your separate \u2018Base\u2019 and \u2018Reference\u2019 layers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2953584,"id":2953584,"title":"03_Labels only","filename":"03_Labels-only.png","filesize":112959,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/03_Labels-only.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-online\/mapping\/basemap-sandwiches-and-label-layers\/03_labels-only","alt":"The visibility toggle for Vector Tile Style Editor group layers, and the 'Show all labels' button in the Quick Editor","author":"4491","description":"","caption":"","name":"03_labels-only","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2953577,"date":"2026-01-09 18:42:31","modified":"2026-01-09 18:43:48","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1072,"height":433,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/03_Labels-only-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/03_Labels-only.png","medium-width":464,"medium-height":187,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/03_Labels-only.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":310,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/03_Labels-only.png","large-width":1072,"large-height":433,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/03_Labels-only.png","1536x1536-width":1072,"1536x1536-height":433,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/03_Labels-only.png","2048x2048-width":1072,"2048x2048-height":433,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/03_Labels-only-826x334.png","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":334,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/03_Labels-only.png","wide_image-width":1072,"wide_image-height":433}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/03_Labels-only.png"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h2>Adding the new layers to a web map<\/h2>\n<p>To set your new basemap up:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Open a new web map into Map Viewer<\/li>\n<li>Go to \u2018Basemap\/Current basemap\u2019, then add your new layers.<\/li>\n<li>Remove the default (probably World Topographic\/World Hillshade) basemap<\/li>\n<li>Drag the reference layer up into the \u2018reference section.<\/li>\n<li>Edit the basemap name<\/li>\n<li>Save<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2953586,"id":2953586,"title":"04_FinishedMap","filename":"04_FinishedMap.png","filesize":110063,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/04_FinishedMap.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-online\/mapping\/basemap-sandwiches-and-label-layers\/04_finishedmap","alt":"The basemap panel for the Navigation 'Sandwich' map in the ArcGIS Map Viewer","author":"4491","description":"","caption":"The Navigation basemap with the constructed base and reference layers","name":"04_finishedmap","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2953577,"date":"2026-01-09 18:46:05","modified":"2026-01-09 18:47:52","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1243,"height":408,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/04_FinishedMap-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/04_FinishedMap.png","medium-width":464,"medium-height":152,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/04_FinishedMap.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":252,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/04_FinishedMap.png","large-width":1243,"large-height":408,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/04_FinishedMap.png","1536x1536-width":1243,"1536x1536-height":408,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/04_FinishedMap.png","2048x2048-width":1243,"2048x2048-height":408,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/04_FinishedMap-826x271.png","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":271,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/04_FinishedMap.png","wide_image-width":1243,"wide_image-height":408}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/04_FinishedMap.png"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p>You have ownership of this version of the basemap, and you won\u2019t find it in the Gallery (If you have a custom gallery, you can add it).<\/p>\n<h2>Cleaning up<\/h2>\n<p>So it\u2019s a simple process now, but don\u2019t just accept the result. Our \u2018single-layer basemaps were not designed with this approach in mind, so add some of your content to the web map and take a good look around. You may find that you want to adjust some of the fonts and haloes to give you a better finish.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also time to finesse the layers. Do Road Shields go on the reference layer or stay with the Base layer? Is there other information that you would like to move from base to reference or vice versa? For this, you\u2019ll need to go back to the VTSE, then get into the details in \u2018Edit Layer Styles\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>*****<\/p>\n<p>Here is a \u2018sandwich\u2019 version of the <a href=\"https:\/\/arcgis-content.maps.arcgis.com\/apps\/mapviewer\/index.html?webmap=94272fd2f13c4239871cb289b808371c\">\u00a0Navigation Basemap<\/a> without any cleaning up. The whole process took me 5-10 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n"}],"related_articles":[{"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&#038;p=1699862","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":"<img data-del=\"avatar\" src='https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/CartoonMe_2017_lr.png' class='avatar pp-user-avatar avatar-96 photo ' height='96' width='96'\/>"}],"show_article_image":false,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Nav_Sandwich_graphic_Card.jpg","wide_image":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Basemap &#039;Sandwiches&#039; and Label Layers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Creating &#039;sandwich&#039; versions of Esri basemaps with base and reference layers is now a lot easier and a lot faster.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-online\/mapping\/basemap-sandwiches-and-label-layers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Basemap &#039;Sandwiches&#039; and Label Layers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Creating &#039;sandwich&#039; versions of Esri basemaps with base and reference layers is now a lot easier and a lot faster.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-online\/mapping\/basemap-sandwiches-and-label-layers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ArcGIS Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ESRI\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"BlogPosting\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-online\/mapping\/basemap-sandwiches-and-label-layers#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-online\/mapping\/basemap-sandwiches-and-label-layers\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Andy Skinner\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/00d13402955c9135c466e4ff2a79050d\"},\"headline\":\"Basemap &#8216;Sandwiches&#8217; 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