Blank Basemaps

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Note: This recipe requires a  custom basemap group and gallery . This configuration may require your organization administrator to create and/or share maps to a basemap group. It's totally worth it though, I promise.

In the spirit of baking up great visuals, I’ve got a recipe to share for a basemap with no map at all!

“A blank basemap?!” you say, “Surely he can’t be serious!”

I AM!

Sometimes the most effective visualization is one where the data does the talking. In these cases, the rich context and detail of a basemap can get in the way and cause more visual clutter than clarity. This easy blank basemap recipe is sure to turn the map cards in your workbooks to snazzy minimalist visuals that look super custom.

First off, here’s a little context: The basemap options available in Insights in ArcGIS Online and Insights in ArcGIS Enterprise are derived from the default basemaps within the ArcGIS organizations. Organization admins  can create a custom basemap group  in order to populate the basemap gallery for their organization.

Creating custom basemaps for this group is a fantastic way to tailor your map cards in Insights and ensure that they are well suited for your analysis. For instance, you could create basemaps in the appropriate projection for you region of interest or even for your data. Investing a little time in an appropriate basemap can really enhance your maps and ensure that they provide the best canvas for your data.

However, for now I’m going to show you how to circumvent the basemap to achieve an empty canvas for your data.

In Map Viewer:

• Open up Map Viewer in your ArcGIS Organization.
• In the new empty map switch to the basemap tab.

• Regardless of which basemap is used in the map, turn off all the layers.

• Save the map with an appropriate name, tags, etc.

• Share the 'Blank Basemap' you've created to your organization and to the custom basemap gallery group.

In Insights:

• Open up a workbook.
• Create a map card using your data.
• Change the basemap, you should notice that your new 'Blank Basemap' is now in the list of available options.
• For the full effect change the card background of your card, or all cards in the workbook using  Page options , to have no colour.

That's it!

Now you can create map cards with blank basemaps to your hearts content. Here's an example of some of the crazy layouts you could create in your workbooks with this newfound power.