An overview of WMS support in ArcGIS

Web Map Service (WMS) is an Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC), Web service standard for exchanging map information as map images (in other words, georeferenced pictures). The WMS specification also includes support for the use of Styled Layer Descriptors (SLD), which are used to specify a map's symbols and label properties.

ArcGIS supports both the publishing of map documents as WMS services (using ArcGIS Server) as well as the use of WMS map services within ArcGIS Desktop.

• To understand how to access WMS map using ArcGIS Desktop (ArcView, ArcEditor, and ArcInfo), see Adding a WMS service to ArcMap and Using WMS services.
• To understand more about serving WMS using ArcGIS Server, see a tutorial for publishing a WMS service using ArcGIS Server.
• Also, read about using a Styled Layer Descriptor in WMS services.