ArcGIS Server enables organizations to create cached map services, which consist of pre-rendered tiles that enable developers and administrators the ability to create scalable, high performance web applications. A considerable amount of planning and preparation goes into prioritizing layers, planning the scale levels, coordinate system, and cartography before burning the cache. When administrators and map cache authors develop map caches, it may not be practical or efficient to cache all data for the organizations entire study area. Typically large caches, those taking 8 hours or more to build should be broken up into smaller jobs. Additionally, organizations should develop large caches to “anticipate” high traffic areas while excluding low traffic that may include rural or uninhabited areas, like forests, deserts, large water bodies, and even remote farmland. This strategy of selective caching can “save time,” “disk space,” and the areas excluded from the initial cache can be cached “on-demand” (Quinn, 2008).
The repository contains a workflow for tracking tiles that web clients visit when they consume your cache. The results of this workflow can be displayed as a heatmap showing the most popular tiles, extent, and scale levels browsers consume.