Control the appearance of a layer

For each layer in the map, you can change the opacity to make the layer more or less transparent, so that you can see more or less of the other layers and basemap beneath the layer. You can also hide or show the layer entirely, and hide or show each sublayer of a service which has multiple subservices. If you double-click on the layer in the Layers panel, the map will zoom to the extent of that layer.

To hide or show a layer

You can hide or show each layer in the map by clicking the Layers tab in the left side panel to show the Layers panel, then clicking the check box on the left of the layer.

To hide or show sublayers in a map service

Some services consist of multiple sublayers which can be independently hidden or shown. To find out if a layer has sublayers, click the Layers tab in the left side panel to show the Layers panel and click the arrow on the right of the layer to show the Layer Details view. If the layer has sublayers, they will be listed in the lower half of the panel. Check or uncheck the box on the left of each sublayer to show or hide it.

Click the sublayer name to show a menu of options. You can zoom to the extent of that sublayer, or choose to add the sublayer as a separate layer of features.

Learn more about adding a map service sublayer as a feature layer

To change the opacity of a layer

You can change the opacity of a layer to make it more or less transparent, so that you can see more or less of the underlying data. Click the Layers tab in the left side panel to show the Layers panel and click the arrow on the right of the layer to show the Layer Details view. Move the Opacity slider bar to adjust the opacity; moving the slider bar to the left makes the layer more transparent, and moving it to the right makes the layer more opaque.