Display a map

Learn how to create and display a map with a basemap layer.

display a map

A map contains layers of geographic data. A map contains a basemap layer and, optionally, one or more data layers. You can display a specific area of a map by using a map view and setting the location and zoom level.

In this tutorial, you create and display a map of the Santa Monica Mountains in California using the topographic basemap layer.

The map and code will be used as the starting point for other 2D tutorials.

Prerequisites

Before starting this tutorial:

  1. You need an ArcGIS Location Platform or ArcGIS Online account.

  2. Confirm that your system meets the minimum system requirements.

  3. An IDE for Java.

Steps

Create a new Java project with Gradle

  1. Open IntelliJ IDEA.

  2. From the Welcome to IntelliJ IDEA screen, click the New Project button. (If you're already inside a project, click File > New > Project in the menu bar.)

  3. In the New Project window, do the following:

    • Enter a name for your new project and choose a location to save it. Your app name can contain only Latin characters, digits, _ , - and :.

    • Deselect Create Git repository, if necessary

    • Select Java as your programming language, if necessary

    • Select Gradle as your build system

    • Select a supported JDK

    • Select Groovy as your Gradle build language (i.e. DSL), if necessary

    • Check the Add sample code box, if necessary

    • Click Advanced Settings to expand the drop-down. Set the Gradle distribution to Wrapper and check the Auto-select box for the Gradle version. Optionally, you can enable or disable the ability to use these settings for future projects. For GroupId enter com.example.app. You can leave the default for ArtifactId.

    • Click Create to build your new project.

  4. In the Project tool window, replace the contents of the build.gradle file with the following script to configure your app and reference the API. Make sure that you load the gradle changes after modifying build.gradle.

    build.gradle
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    plugins {
        id 'application'
        id 'org.openjfx.javafxplugin' version '0.1.0'
        id 'idea'
    }
    
    idea {
        module {
            downloadJavadoc = true
        }
    }
    
    ext {
        arcgisVersion = '200.5.0'
    }
    
    repositories {
        mavenCentral()
        maven {
            url 'https://esri.jfrog.io/artifactory/arcgis'
        }
    }
    
    configurations {
        natives
    }
    
    dependencies {
        implementation "com.esri.arcgisruntime:arcgis-java:$arcgisVersion"
        natives "com.esri.arcgisruntime:arcgis-java-jnilibs:$arcgisVersion"
        natives "com.esri.arcgisruntime:arcgis-java-resources:$arcgisVersion"
        implementation 'org.slf4j:slf4j-nop:2.0.13'
    }
    
    javafx {
        version = "21.0.3"
        modules = [ 'javafx.controls', 'javafx.graphics', 'javafx.fxml', 'javafx.web', 'javafx.media' ]
    }
    
    application {
        mainModule = "com.example.app"
        mainClass = "com.example.app.App"
    }
    
    task copyNatives(type: Copy) {
        description = "Copies the arcgis native libraries into the .arcgis directory for development."
        group = "build"
        configurations.natives.asFileTree.each {
            from(zipTree(it))
        }
        into "${System.properties.getProperty("user.home")}/.arcgis/$arcgisVersion"
    }
    
    run {
        dependsOn copyNatives
    }
    
    wrapper {
        gradleVersion = '8.8'
    }
  5. Click View > Tool Windows > Gradle to open the Gradle view, then in Tasks > build, double-click copyNatives. This unpacks the native library dependencies to $USER_HOME/.arcgis.

  6. In the Project tool window, under your package com.example.app, right-click Main and click Refactor > Rename....

  7. Rename the Java class to App and click Refactor.

Add a UI for the map view

A map view is a UI component that displays a map. It also handles user interactions with the map. Use JavaFX to add a map view to the UI.

  1. In App.java, define a class named App that extends the JavaFX Application class.

    • Add a private member variable with type MapView.

    • Inside the main() method, replace the print statement with a call to Application.launch(args).

    • Override the start() method, in which you configure the JavaFX Stage with a title and dimensions, and then show it.

    • Create a JavaFX StackPane and use it to create a JavaFX Scene. Then set the scene on the stage.

      App.java
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      public class App extends Application {
      
        private MapView mapView;
      
        public static void main(String[] args) {
          Application.launch(args);
        }
      
        @Override
        public void start(Stage stage) {
          // set the title and size of the stage and show it
          stage.setTitle("Display a map tutorial");
          stage.setWidth(800);
          stage.setHeight(700);
          stage.show();
      
          // create a JavaFX scene with a stack pane as the root node, and add it to the scene
          StackPane stackPane = new StackPane();
          Scene scene = new Scene(stackPane);
          stage.setScene(scene);
      
        }
      
      }
  2. Initialize your member variable, mapView, and add it to the JavaFX UI.

    App.java
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        // create a JavaFX scene with a stack pane as the root node, and add it to the scene
        StackPane stackPane = new StackPane();
        Scene scene = new Scene(stackPane);
        stage.setScene(scene);
    
        // create a map view to display the map and add it to the stack pane
        mapView = new MapView();
        stackPane.getChildren().add(mapView);
    
    Expand

Add a map

Use the map view to display a map centered on the Santa Monica Mountains in California. The map will contain a topographic basemap layer.

  1. Create a new ArcGISMap with a topographic basemap style.

    App.java
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        // create a map view to display the map and add it to the stack pane
        mapView = new MapView();
        stackPane.getChildren().add(mapView);
    
        ArcGISMap map = new ArcGISMap(BasemapStyle.ARCGIS_TOPOGRAPHIC);
    
    
    Expand
  2. To display the map in the map view, call the MapView.setMap() method, passing the newly created ArcGISMap as a parameter.

    App.java
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        ArcGISMap map = new ArcGISMap(BasemapStyle.ARCGIS_TOPOGRAPHIC);
    
        // set the map on the map view
        mapView.setMap(map);
    
    
    Expand
  3. Center the map view at a specific point and scale on the Earth by setting a Viewpoint(double,double,double) on the mapView.

    Provide latitude and longitude coordinates and a scale value as parameters to a new Viewpoint. Then set it on the mapView with setViewpoint().

    App.java
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        ArcGISMap map = new ArcGISMap(BasemapStyle.ARCGIS_TOPOGRAPHIC);
    
        // set the map on the map view
        mapView.setMap(map);
    
        mapView.setViewpoint(new Viewpoint(34.02700, -118.80543, 144447.638572));
    
    Expand

Get an access token

You need an access token to use the location services used in this tutorial.

  1. Go to the Create an API key tutorial to obtain an access token.

  2. Ensure that the following privilege is enabled: Location services > Basemaps > Basemap styles service.

  3. Copy the access token as it will be used in the next step.

To learn more about other ways to get an access token, go to Types of authentication.

Set your API key

Set the API key property on the ArcGISRuntimeEnvironment. In the code below, replace YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN with your copied access token. Be sure to surround your access token with double quotes as it is a string.

App.java
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  @Override
  public void start(Stage stage) {
    // set the title and size of the stage and show it
    stage.setTitle("Display a map tutorial");
    stage.setWidth(800);
    stage.setHeight(700);
    stage.show();

    // create a JavaFX scene with a stack pane as the root node, and add it to the scene
    StackPane stackPane = new StackPane();
    Scene scene = new Scene(stackPane);
    stage.setScene(scene);

    ArcGISRuntimeEnvironment.setApiKey("YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN");
Expand

Release API resources

To ensure that API resources used in the application are released when it is closed, override the JavaFX stop() method and call the dispose() method on the mapView:

App.java
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  /**
   * Stops and releases all resources used in application.
   */
  @Override
  public void stop() {
    if (mapView != null) {
      mapView.dispose();
    }
  }
Expand

Modularize the app

A Java module adds a higher level of aggregation above packages. A module must provide a module descriptor that specifies the dependencies, the packages the module makes available to other modules, and more.

You will create the module descriptor for this project in a file named module-info.java.

  1. In the Project tool window, under src/main, right-click the java folder, and click New > module-info.java.

  2. Inside module-info.java replace the module name (i.e. highlighted text) with com.example.app.

  3. In the body of the module descriptor, define the three required packages this application depends on: com.esri.arcgisruntime, javafx.graphics, and org.slf4j.nop.

  4. Export this project's module package to make it accessible to code in all other modules.

module-info.java
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module com.example.app {
  // require ArcGIS Runtime module
  requires com.esri.arcgisruntime;

  // requires JavaFX modules that the application uses
  requires javafx.graphics;

  // requires SLF4j module
  requires org.slf4j.nop;

  exports com.example.app;
}

Run the app

Run the app. Ensure to run the app as a Gradle task and not as an application in your IDE. In the Gradle tool window, under Tasks > application, double-click run.

You should see a map with the topographic basemap layer centered on the Santa Monica Mountains in California. Click, drag, and scroll the mouse wheel on the map view to explore the map.

What's next?

Learn how to use additional API features, ArcGIS location services, and ArcGIS tools in these tutorials:

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