"}],"short_description":"Explaining the differences between local and global scenes to help you make an informed choice for your 3D app.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"You have decades of GIS data sitting in a state plane coordinate system. You\u2019d love to view it in 3D – as a model of construction site phases or a campus walkthrough. Until now, you\u2019d need to either a) transform and republish it in a geographic coordinate system or b) reproject your data at runtime to display it in a global scene of ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps. What if I told you that you could now use that data in the coordinate system of your choosing \u2013 projected or otherwise \u2013 in your 3D app? Well, wonder no longer, because that\u2019s exactly what I\u2019m about to tell you!<\/p>\n
We\u2019re thrilled to announce that with the ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps 300.0 release, developers can now build apps with local scenes<\/strong>. Local scenes allow you to use projected coordinate systems in 3D. In Native Maps SDKs, they also bring in a ton of architectural changes under the hood.<\/p>\n Local scenes have been available in other ArcGIS apps like ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online Web Scenes for a while, but the distinction between local and global scenes can be a little confusing to those unfamiliar with them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" If you\u2019re sticking around for the full post, I\u2019m honored! I\u2019ll walk you through the conceptual difference between global and local scenes, where local scenes stand today in Native Maps SDKs, the exciting future of 3D GIS local scenes unlock, and how you can help shape the development roadmap for local scenes.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Local scenes primarily exist to solve a very specific problem: displaying projected data in 3D. As we can all unequivocally agree, without any room for sensible debate, the earth is not flat – it is of course an oblate spheroid. This fact has rather upset cartographers for about as long as we\u2019ve made maps, because it is quite inconvenient to try to flatten a sphere onto a 2D plane.<\/p>\n We account for this inconvenience with\u00a0projected coordinate systems<\/em>, which (as the name suggests) project the coordinates of our spherical earth onto a flat plane, at the cost of distortion.<\/p>\n For example, the most common projected coordinate system is Web Mercator. Most online mapping platforms use it, but it distorts the true size of land near the poles. In Web Mercator, Greenland looks about as large as all of Africa. In reality, it\u2019s only about the size of Chad (based on the rough visual reference I just did while writing this).<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2033792,"id":2033792,"title":"Map_distortions_web_mercator","filename":"Map_distortions_web_mercator.png","filesize":871736,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Map_distortions_web_mercator.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/geobim\/aec\/using-user-specified-coordinate-systems-in-arcgis-geobim-projects\/map_distortions_web_mercator","alt":"Map distortions in a world map in Web Mercator.","author":"292952","description":"Map distortions in a world map in Web Mercator. The circles (Tissot\u2019s indicatrices) on the left, and the squares on the right near Ecuador are distorted as they move toward north and south. When a circle is projected onto a flat surface through the map projection process, the result is an ellipse. Source: Esri 2023 https:\/\/geoxc-apps2.bd.esri.com\/Visualization\/Distortion\/index.html","caption":"Map distortions in a world map in Web Mercator. The circles (Tissot\u2019s indicatrices) on the left, and the squares on the right near Ecuador are distorted as they move toward north and south. When a circle is projected onto a flat surface through the map projection process, the result is an ellipse. Source: Esri 2023 https:\/\/geoxc-apps2.bd.esri.com\/Visualization\/Distortion\/index.html","name":"map_distortions_web_mercator","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2029552,"date":"2023-07-26 20:58:14","modified":"2026-04-30 18:50:33","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":1253,"height":419,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Map_distortions_web_mercator-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Map_distortions_web_mercator.png","medium-width":464,"medium-height":155,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Map_distortions_web_mercator.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":257,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Map_distortions_web_mercator.png","large-width":1253,"large-height":419,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Map_distortions_web_mercator.png","1536x1536-width":1253,"1536x1536-height":419,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Map_distortions_web_mercator.png","2048x2048-width":1253,"2048x2048-height":419,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Map_distortions_web_mercator-826x276.png","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":276,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Map_distortions_web_mercator.png","wide_image-width":1253,"wide_image-height":419}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" So how do we minimize distortion within a region? With\u00a0localized<\/em>\u00a0projected coordinate systems! Thousands of projected coordinate systems exist around the world, each one tuned for a specific region. Disciplines that need maximum precision rely on them heavily – especially architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) users like local governments, engineering firms, and surveys.<\/p>\n As computers became more powerful, GIS broke out of two dimensions. We could finally render data in a true third dimension, no longer needing to flatten the Earth onto a 2D map. Instead, we could represent it as a true oblate spheroid in a proper geographic coordinate system.<\/p>\n Great news, except for one catch: this is largely incompatible with projected coordinate systems. Sure, you can reproject data from a projected coordinate system into a geographic one like WGS 84 – but if you\u2019ve collected vast amounts of institutional data in a projected system over the years, you reasonably want to display it in 3D without the extra preprocessing step or runtime reprojection cost. That\u2019s where local scenes come in!<\/p>\n If you found this projection info interesting and want to learn more about coordinate systems, take a look at our developer documentation on\u00a0Spatial references<\/a>.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Now that I\u2019ve given a good portion of you harrowing flashbacks to your \u201cIntro to Geography\u201d classes, let\u2019s talk about coordinate systems in local and global scene viewing modes.<\/p>\n Fundamentally, local scenes render your local, projected data in 3D. Global scenes render your 3D data on a true-to-reality 3D globe. When choosing between the two, it really comes down to two questions: what kind of data do you have, and how do you want to display it?<\/p>\n Building an app to track weather patterns across the surface of the earth? Visualizing international flight plans or trade routes?\u00a0Global scenes give you that global perspective.<\/strong><\/p>\n Building a digital twin of a construction site, a campus, or a city block? Working from data your survey team captured in a state plane coordinate system?\u00a0Local scenes are made for this.<\/strong><\/p>\n That\u2019s the broad answer across the ArcGIS ecosystem. For ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps specifically, the answer is still developing.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2963279,"id":2963279,"title":"A local scene, clipped to an extent","filename":"image-24.png","filesize":650271,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-24.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/developers\/announcements\/whats-new-in-arcgis-maps-sdks-for-native-apps-300-0\/image-24-3","alt":"Local scene overview","author":"3811","description":"","caption":"A local scene, clipped to an extent","name":"image-24-3","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2963262,"date":"2026-04-21 01:24:46","modified":"2026-04-21 01:25:22","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":1038,"height":596,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-24-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-24.png","medium-width":455,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-24.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":441,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-24.png","large-width":1038,"large-height":596,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-24.png","1536x1536-width":1038,"1536x1536-height":596,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-24.png","2048x2048-width":1038,"2048x2048-height":596,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-24-810x465.png","card_image-width":810,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-24.png","wide_image-width":1038,"wide_image-height":596}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Native Maps SDKs answer is a bit more complicated, because when I said it\u2019s still developing, I meant that literally. Local scenes aren\u2019t simply a new feature; they\u2019re an entirely new 3D GIS architecture built from the ground up to take advantage of modern systems and hardware. Of course, rebuilding the architecture for an SDK as robust as this one is a bit of a process.<\/p>\n As of the 300.0 release,\u00a0local scenes deliver a foundation to render highly detailed 3D data with an emphasis on stunning visuals and improved performance.<\/strong>\u00a0They support detail-rich data types like ArcGIS Scene Layers, Building Scene Layers, and Integrated Mesh Layers. We\u2019ve rigorously tested these features, and they\u2019re production ready. There\u2019s still plenty of work ahead, and we\u2019re just getting started.<\/p>\n For a full and up-to-date overview of what each scene viewing mode supports, check our documentation on\u00a0Layer Types\u00a0for your preferred SDK: .NET<\/a>, Flutter<\/a>, Kotlin<\/a>, Qt<\/a>, or Swift<\/a>.<\/p>\n Building a visualization focused app? Displaying projected data in a supported layer type? <\/strong>Perhaps a digital twin, BIM viewer, or campus walkthrough with rich 3D content like Scene Layers, Building Scene Layers, or Integrated Meshes? Use a local scene!\u00a0They\u2019re production ready for this, and you\u2019ll benefit from the new architecture\u2019s performance and visual fidelity right away.<\/p>\n Building something that depends on feature layers, graphics overlays, or 3D editing workflows today?<\/strong>\u00a0Stick with global scenes for now. Reproject your data if needed. Global scenes provided the broadest and most flexible foundation to build your app from. We\u2019re working on bringing local scenes up to parity, and you can help us prioritize what comes next (more on that below).<\/p>\n Building something that spans the globe?<\/strong>\u00a0Global scenes without exception.<\/p>\n Keep in mind, neither choice is permanent. They\u2019re a starting point. You may start with a local scene and find you need features that aren\u2019t available yet, then pivot to a global scene. Or you may start with a global scene and pivot to a local one once your data type lands.<\/p>\n To get a bit technical for a second: both\u00a0 You may be asking, \u201cdoes this mean global scenes are inadequate for modern 3D GIS workflows? If not, why bother rebuilding the architecture for local scenes? Why not reuse the global scene architecture if rebuilding is such a significant process?\u201d Fair questions!<\/p>\n To quickly answer the first question –\u00a0no<\/em>. We\u2019re still actively developing and benchmarking global scenes to keep them competitive with all other 3D GIS software in speed and performance.<\/p>\n For the second question, let\u2019s talk about it. Hopefully I can get you as excited as we are about this opportunity to restructure how we approach 3D GIS for a rapidly evolving world.<\/p>\n Refining our 3D architecture is a significant task, but here\u2019s the payoff: apps that use less processing power, behave more responsively in detail-rich environments, get better battery life on mobile devices, and unlock richer visual effects – better lighting, atmosphere, animation, and water rendering. You can build visually compelling 3D experiences that perform great no matter your data processing load.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2963280,"id":2963280,"title":"glTS PBR emissions","filename":"Emissions-timelapse_800_15fps.gif","filesize":6560701,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Emissions-timelapse_800_15fps.gif","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/developers\/announcements\/whats-new-in-arcgis-maps-sdks-for-native-apps-300-0\/emissions-timelapse_800_15fps","alt":"glTF PBR Emissions in the Native SDKs","author":"3811","description":"","caption":"glTF PBR emissions support in the new Native Maps SDKs local scene view.","name":"emissions-timelapse_800_15fps","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2963262,"date":"2026-04-21 01:36:29","modified":"2026-04-21 01:58:38","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/gif","type":"image","subtype":"gif","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":292,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Emissions-timelapse_800_15fps-213x200.gif","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Emissions-timelapse_800_15fps.gif","medium-width":464,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Emissions-timelapse_800_15fps.gif","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":280,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Emissions-timelapse_800_15fps.gif","large-width":800,"large-height":292,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Emissions-timelapse_800_15fps.gif","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":292,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Emissions-timelapse_800_15fps.gif","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":292,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Emissions-timelapse_800_15fps.gif","card_image-width":800,"card_image-height":292,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Emissions-timelapse_800_15fps.gif","wide_image-width":800,"wide_image-height":292}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" So how does the new architecture deliver all that? It separates data management from data rendering.<\/p>\n The current global scene architecture closely couples the two, which was the right choice when we started building Native Maps SDKs back in the early 2010s. The architecture has gotten regular updates since then and still serves us well, but the modern GIS landscape – and the devices that process your data – have changed significantly. That gives us the chance to make changes that previously weren\u2019t viable.<\/p>\n In the new local scene architecture, your app no longer needs to redraw the scene every time data changes or your app requests new content. Native apps increasingly stream data from online services, render large 3D datasets on-device, and lean on powerful GPUs that ship in phones, tablets, and desktops alike. We built local scenes to take full advantage of this modern landscape.<\/p>\n The decoupling also means rendering is no longer locked into the data processing loop, which is what frees the SDK up to do more with those richer visual effects.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2963297,"id":2963297,"title":"Building Scene Layer","filename":"2026-04-16_12-10-41-scaled.png","filesize":3456303,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2026-04-16_12-10-41-scaled.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/developers\/announcements\/whats-new-in-arcgis-maps-sdks-for-native-apps-300-0\/2026-04-16_12-10-41","alt":"The image shows a highly detailed Building Scene Layer rendered in a local scene. The walls of the building are hidden so that the inner architecture is exposed to the viewer","author":"3811","description":"A highly detailed Building Scene Layer rendered in a local scene","caption":"A highly detailed Building Scene Layer rendered in a local scene","name":"2026-04-16_12-10-41","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2963262,"date":"2026-04-21 02:47:05","modified":"2026-04-30 18:52:18","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":2560,"height":1689,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2026-04-16_12-10-41-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2026-04-16_12-10-41-scaled.png","medium-width":396,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2026-04-16_12-10-41-scaled.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":507,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2026-04-16_12-10-41-scaled.png","large-width":1637,"large-height":1080,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2026-04-16_12-10-41-1536x1013.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1013,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2026-04-16_12-10-41-2048x1351.png","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1351,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2026-04-16_12-10-41-705x465.png","card_image-width":705,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2026-04-16_12-10-41-1637x1080.png","wide_image-width":1637,"wide_image-height":1080}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" We\u2019re excited about this new architecture, and hope you are too. But I want to emphasize: the current 3D architecture supporting global scenes is still getting active development, including performance improvements, bug fixes, and new features. Global scenes – and the incredible apps you\u2019ve built with them – aren\u2019t being sidelined, deprecated, or planned for obsolescence.<\/p>\n The two architectures will continue development in parallel. In the future, once the two have reached parity, we plan to have both global and local scenes run off the same architecture.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Rebuilding 3D architecture in a product as extensive and feature-rich as the Native Maps SDKs takes a long-term effort. Rather than waiting for full parity, we\u2019re taking the same approach we\u2019ve used with Flutter Maps SDK and ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Game Engines. We\u2019re shipping a foundation we\u2019ve rigorously tested and deemed production-ready, then building it up based on your needs and feedback.<\/p>\n Now that the foundation is out the door, we\u2019ll focus on delivering features release by release until we reach parity with the current global scene architecture. You – our developer community – largely decide what order we deliver those features in. So if there\u2019s a feature or capability you need, we want to hear about it!<\/p>\n To guide the direction of our future 3D GIS work, let us know what you\u2019d like us to prioritize. You can leave a comment directly on this post, or post in the\u00a0ArcGIS Ideas<\/a>\u00a0section of the\u00a0Esri Community<\/a>\u00a0Forums.<\/p>\ntl;dr: should you choose a local or global scene?<\/h3>\n
\n
Coordinate systems: the \u201cwhy\u201d behind local scenes<\/h1>\n
Projected coordinate systems (and distortion)<\/h2>\n
Minimizing distortion with localized projections<\/h2>\n
Projected coordinate systems in 3D<\/h2>\n
Local and global scenes, conceptually<\/h1>\n
Local and global scenes in Native Maps SDKs<\/h1>\n
What local scenes support in version 300.0<\/h2>\n
Picking the right scene viewing mode for your app<\/h2>\n
Switching between the two<\/h2>\n
LocalSceneView<\/code>\u00a0and the global\u00a0SceneView<\/code>\u00a0inherit from a parent\u00a0GeoView<\/code>\u00a0class, and they both display the same\u00a0Scene<\/code>\u00a0GeoModel<\/code>\u00a0class – just instantiated with a different\u00a0SceneViewingMode<\/code>. Much of their implementation is identical. Each option has specific parts you may need to convert manually, but our internal testing shows that a few quick \u201cfind and replace\u201d actions handle the bulk of the work.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Rebuilding 3D GIS from the ground up<\/h1>\n
What this means for your apps<\/h2>\n
Under the hood<\/h2>\n
What this means for global scenes<\/h2>\n
Future development and how you can get involved!<\/h1>\n