Among the new capabilities in Explorer 440 is the ability to choose from sub-layers published in ArcIMS services. In previous versions of Explorer the connection would be to the default IMS service layer, and you were not able to access and control individual sub-layers.

In the example below, we've accessed the ESRI-Soils service from the Geography Network. We've chosen to add all the layers, the only option up until now. Note that we get more than just the soils layers, we also get the oceans, and as we zoom in we see city labels, country boundaries, and other layers that we may not want or need to use:

Now let's use the new capabilities in Explorer 440, and choose just the sub-layers we want. One of the first changes you'll notice is that when you choose File > Open... and then choose Servers, the IMS choice (as well as WMS) is visible along the top, since both map and globe service types are now the default.

Click IMS, and enter the connection information for ESRI's Geography Network as shown:

Click to open the connection, and scroll down the list and choose ESRI_Soil. This is one of many ArcIMS services published at this site. Step through the dialogs to add the IMS service. One of your choices will be the Service Imagery Format:

Here we choose the option for vector, scanned, or thematic maps since the ESRI_Soil service is a thematic map, and we want to choose a subset of its layers.

Advancing to the next dialog, we can now choose from the available sub-layers that are published. In this case we're only interested in the Soils, and don't need or want any of the other sub-layers.

Below is the result. Compare this image with that at the top of this post, or just try it for yourself. You'll find that these new capabilities in Explorer 440 will make IMS services more useful, and enable you to combine and control just the sub-layers you want.