In the previous article "ArcGIS Pro Basemap Service Access Issues in China and Solutions", we discussed the unavailability of ArcGIS Pro basemap services within China. One of the suggested solutions was to wait for an official fix. Surprisingly, the ArcGIS Pro team acted swiftly. Just yesterday (2025-09-18), upon opening ArcGIS Pro, the basemap services were already functioning normally again.

ArcGIS Pro Officially Integrates Tianditu

If you look closely, you'll notice a significant difference between the current basemap services and the previous ones. The old services looked like this:

After this update, there are only 6 Tianditu services available. This indicates that ArcGIS Pro has officially integrated Tianditu for the China region. What are the benefits? Firstly, it ensures compliance with local regulations. Secondly, users no longer need to manually add Tianditu services as described in the previous article "Integrating Tianditu Basemaps in ArcMap: Step-by-Step Guide", nor do they need to apply for a Tianditu key themselves or go through the relatively complex steps of developer authentication.

PS: Here's a small tip: if you need to apply for a Tianditu key, please make sure to name your application according to the official requirements. Avoid using meaningless names like "App1" or "123", as a proper name makes the account more secure and the certification process easier to pass.

ArcGIS Online Service Updates

Through simple packet capture verification, we found that besides the map service updates, the previous ArcGIS Online related services have also been replaced with geosceneonline.cn.

It can be speculated that the Online services within ArcGIS Pro will also be replaced with the compliant geosceneonline.cn in the future.

Did ArcGIS Pro Apply for a Tianditu Key?

After discussing the updates, one thing piqued our curiosity: since ArcGIS Pro officially integrated Tianditu's basemap services, it must have applied for a Tianditu key. What is its key? Let's use the network capture tool again.

As expected. We wonder if Tianditu's infrastructure can handle the traffic from ArcGIS Pro's massive user base. Currently, based on our capture, several different keys appear to be in use. It's possible that ArcGIS Pro, much like when we previously crawled Tianditu data, uses random keys for load balancing (This is purely speculation without any evidence).

How to Switch to Map Services Outside China

Currently, there might be only one legitimate method: use ArcGIS Pro outside of China.

Based on our tests, it seems the geographical location is determined by the initial network request, which then triggers the automatic switch of map services. This implies that one could potentially use non-China region map services by spoofing network requests, but we strongly advise against it. As emphasized by the Ministry of State Security in its statement on September 14th: Geographic information data security might be overlooked, but it is truly important. As GIS professionals, consciously using compliant map services is a fundamental baseline requirement. The security and compliance of GIS data lie not only with regulators but also in our hands.

Afterword

Finally, let's mention a few aspects we find somewhat unsatisfactory after using the new services. Firstly, the number of options is too limited. The official basemaps for regions outside China number 30+, while there are only 6 for China. For map enthusiasts like us, creating non-confidential maps offers too few choices, resulting in relatively monotonous styles. For instance, the previously favored dark theme basemaps are no longer available. Secondly, the display of Tianditu basemaps within ArcGIS Pro has some peculiarities, like this:

It's quite bothersome for those with a perfectionist streak. We haven't tested all features extensively yet, so feel free to leave comments.

In conclusion, we believe the integration of Tianditu into ArcGIS Pro and the use of the China-region GeoScene Online service are positive. Geographic information data in China has its specificities, and this move sets a good precedent for compliant GIS services. We also hope that as relevant laws and regulations improve, the GIS industry in China will move towards even more prosperous.