Unless I missed it, there's several Administration features in current ArcCatalog that are not available in Pro, specially the ones for geodatabases, e.g., Manage and Administer which is slightly different for each type of data objects.
Hi Renato,
The following link may be helpful:
ArcGIS Pro Common Questions
ArcGIS Pro will not be a replacement for ArcGIS for Desktop:
Thanks for the comments. If you have specific functions you'd like to see in future releases of ArcGIS Pro, please post your thoughts in the ArcGIS Pro product category on the ArcGIS Ideas site. You can also contact tech support or your local distributor, if outside the US, to log an enhancement request and see if there are any workflows available now to solve your issue.
There is also this general FAQ from the help system that mentions future releases: Frequently asked questions—ArcGIS Pro
I can't see ArcGIS Pro replacing ArcCatalog ever so long as you need to save a project when first opening Pro. Who wants to do that just to run some GP tools and manage data??
Jake and Rhonda.
The CURRENT info from ESRI appears to be that ArcGIS Pro WILL replace ArcMap/ArcCatalog and we should all start migrating. Am I correct in this understanding?
This is a big problem for many of us who heavily use features of ArcMap/ArcCatalog that Pro simply doesn't have, such as ArcCatalog-style data management and many others.
See this thread for more details:
https://community.esri.com/ideas/1216
Go to pages 3-5 in the thread for the recent conversations.
There's also a very good suggestion here:
Create an ArcGIS Pro feature "road map"
What information do you have for us on this?
David-you do bring up a good question that I get in my ArcGIS Pro classes and Technical Workshops all the time. Is ArcMap/ArcCatalog going away? And is ArcGIS Pro the replacement for ArcMap? The short answer is no. ArcMap/ArcCatalog will be with us for quite some time to come. There will be an ArcMap 10.5. There will be an ArcMap 10.6 (or will it be 11.0?) The ArcGIS for Desktop deprecation schedule shows ArcMap 10.4.1 retired Feb 1, 2022. With ArcMap 10.5 and later, those dates will be added as the software is released.
Now with that said, Esri is investing/developing heavily into the ArcGIS Pro application. The next release of Pro 1.4 will bring near ArcMap equivalency to the Pro application. ArcMap is still in the development cycle for bug fixes, some updates, some new functionality. But Pro is where the development is focused.
ArcGIS Pro and ArcMap can run side by side on the same machine. To my knowledge, there is no plan for a Pro "ArcCatalog" as Pro is the fusion of ArcMap, ArcCatalog, ArcScene, ArcGlobe, and City Engine Runtime.
Esri understands that many of our customers cannot upgrade quickly to new technologies and value the ArcMap platform for many workflows. As such there are no plans to discontinue ArcMap anytime soon. ArcMap will be with us for years to come.
Keep in mind, I'm an Esri instructor and am not privy to the inner details of development or corporate decision making. This is based on my conversations with Esri Staff, some of whom are on the Pro Team.
Hope this helps clarify.
Thank you Robert. I acknowledge that you're not on the development team and so won't be able to answer my comment below. But if you could simply relay the following:
I haven't seen anything like the easy data management functionality of ArcCatalog in ArcGIS Pro. And the last thing I want to do is create a whole Pro project folder when all I want to do is look at some data that someone just sent me in an e-mail. If the end-game really is the extinction of ArcMap 10-15 years from now, then Pro will have to have a replacement for ArcCatalog. I'd like for someone at ESRI to admit to that and put it on the development schedule.
Correct. I would not be able to comment on the 2nd paragraph but I do know Esri Pro Staff are actively watching Pro discussions on GeoNet so there's a possibility they could respond. If there is functionality missing in Pro such as the Catalog/ArcCatalog applications and its workflow in Pro, one suggestion is to add to the ArcGIS Ideas website for Pro. Again, the Pro developers are actively watching/addressing these ideas as well.
" To my knowledge, there is no plan for a Pro "ArcCatalog" as Pro is the fusion of ArcMap, ArcCatalog, ArcScene, ArcGlobe, and City Engine Runtime."
That's a head-scratcher. What's the business logic for not including a critical component of data management?
The workflow is that ArcGIS Pro's Project Pane will be used to manage one's geographic data. With that said, keep in mind that ArcGIS Pro is not a complete product yet. ArcGIS Pro 1.4 is scheduled to be released later this year and with that - the goal is ArcMap equivalency with regard to functionality. For long time GIS users, when ArcMap 8.0 was released, it did not have the equivalency of ArcView 3.x - it took time. It wasn't until 8.3 that I transitioned my company's workflows to ArcMap (wasn't working for Esri then).
Is there anyway to avoid having to connect to data sources every time you open a new project? It's ludicrous to think I have to do this every time I open a "mapdoc" or Project.
Yes, create your own Project Template for Pro.
It's important to note, that even with a project template, you cannot connect to the root of a drive letter, whether it's a network share, hard drive, or portable storage media. Not sure what the reasoning behind that restriction is.
Robert LeClair wrote:To my knowledge, there is no plan for a Pro "ArcCatalog" as Pro is the fusion of ArcMap, ArcCatalog, ArcScene, ArcGlobe, and City Engine Runtime.
Robert LeClair wrote:
To my knowledge, there is no plan for a Pro "ArcCatalog" as Pro is the fusion of ArcMap, ArcCatalog, ArcScene, ArcGlobe, and City Engine Runtime.
I realize that was not your decision to make Robert and that you likely had nothing to do with it at all, but in the 12 years I've been using Esri software, I don't think I even heard anyone, ever, ask for ArcMap, ArcCatalog, ArcScene, ArcGlobe and City Engine Runtime to be fused into a single product.
I can kind of see the logic behind merging Map, Scene and Globe, but Catalog doesn't make a bit of sense to me. All we ever wanted was a 64-bit ArcGIS Desktop.
It is what it is though. Pro isn't going away and 64-bit Desktop isn't coming, so we'll all just have to learn pro. It's no so bad, but it still has a ton of catching up to do.
Correct. As I mentioned in an earlier response, I'm an Esri Desktop/Geodata instructor and do not work with the Dev/Marketing/Corporate teams so am not privy to any of those discussions on software development/platforms. From presentations at User Conference with members from the Pro Team, ArcGIS Pro is that fusion of 5 products. Before ArcGIS Pro was developed there was discussions and attempts to make ArcMap/ArcCatalog a 64-bit application but after a few months, the team determined it was not possible "upgrading" the code to be compatible on 64-bit hardware. Technically, ArcMap was first developed around 1997 and released in 1999. During the last 19 years, the way software is coded/developed has changed significantly. Thus ArcGIS Pro uses the current model for software development rather than using a 1997 model. ArcGIS Pro is not 100% complete - on that we can all agree. But the ArcGIS Pro Dev Team is working very hard for ArcMap equivalency that we hope to have at 1.4. ArcMap 8.0 was not a complete product when it first came out but it became an amazing Desktop GIS over time. What I see from ArcGIS Pro currently is amazing and will only improve. Hang in there and please contribute thoughts/ideas/workflows to the Pro Dev Team to help make ArcGIS Pro another amazing Desktop GIS.
I think Pro will get there in time.
ArcMap as a 32-bit piece of software simply wont be sustainable in the long term. Its obvious, as GIS continues to work with larger and larger datasets, that a 64-bit platform is long overdue, and will be essential in the future.
I like Pro, but its currently missing alot of functionality from ArcMap that is really needed to fully switch over (and is very buggy still). Is Pro ready as it stands today? No. Will it be in the next year or two? Perhaps. The official narrative from ESRI is that its not a replacement for ArcMap, and nor should it be in its current form. But I think that the writing is on the wall, and to think that ArcMap will continue in perpetuity as a 32-bit application, I really cant see that happening. Its clear to me that Pro will be the successor to ArcMap, but wont (and shouldnt) fully take over the reins until ESRI can get all the functionality of ArcMap (and Catalog) built into Pro. That will clearly take some time and patience for those of us ready to make the switch to Pro right now, but until then, ESRI will support both, and we will have to use both. I think its important as GIS users, to not get too 'married' to one version of software, and to be open to change with the caveat being that newer version of software must carry over functionality from prior software and not overly burden the user.
It will take some time, but Im confident by the time ArcMap has seen its last days, that Pro will be everything we need and more. Lets hope so at least
David - I will have to defer to Timothy Hales (timothy_hales@esri.com) as he is the GeoNet administrator and has better knowledge about how Ideas submitted are labeled "Under Consideration" and other values. I'd recommend reaching out to him to see how priorities are placed.
@Robert
A Project Template will not only package whatever layers you have in your table of contents, but it will also package the data source as well (instead of just a layer that links to the source data).
For instance, I have a custom basemap that I created with the Business Analyst USA national data, that I use as my basemap. If I have that basemap included in my Project when I export the Project Template, it attempts to bundle my entire basemap dataset into the project template! Changing the different settings in the Project Template pane does not make any difference. It will always bundle whatever data you had loaded into the Project Template, instead of linking it (like it should)... This shouldnt be happening (is it a bug?). Ideally, the project template should only bundle the layer that links to the source data - not bundle the entire source dataset as part of the template!
Whereas in ArcMap, I can create a .mxd (as my template file) with the custom basemap already loaded, and can reuse that file over and over - the basemap data stays LINKED (obviously). Now, in Pro, you cant do this with Project Templates (which is really too bad and reduces the functionality we had in ArcMap). As a work around, I dont include my basemap in my Project Template, and instead have to manually load and configure my custom basemap every time I start a new project... Cumbersome to say the least.
Also there is a bug with the Project Template that causes your Project Folder connections to have wrong paths after saving out a Project Template and re-loading it into a new Project. You have to manually fix these every time you start a New Project using that Project Template.
As I understand it, the management aspect of the Project pane is much curtailed (inability to delete something, for example). I understood this as stemming from a different style application where nearly everything is a tool. So you run a tool to delete something (or to get basic stats on a field-grrr). I agree, it is more of a pain and I miss the old functionality, but it IS consistent with the new philosophy. As I work with Pro, I am developing a new mind set and new workflows, and am reluctantly beginning to see some of the advantages.
For example, I can't count the number of times my students modified a data set coordinate system in ArcCatalog, thinking that they were changing its projection, when in fact they were sabotaging the data. (And I guarantee they had been warned at least 3 times not to.) With this function simply unavailable in the Project pane, the problem goes away, (and I simply have to continue my ever-vigilant campaign to help people understand the difference between the Project and Define Projection tools). Explaining that two tools are different is a bit easier than explaining why it is OK to change the coordinate system in the data frame properties in ArcMap but not OK to change the data set properties in ArcCatalog (using a window that looks identical in both cases).
So sometimes you just have to think differently about what you want to do. For data management, for example, you might create a project named "ManageData" with all your folder links, for those times when you want to pop in and manage some things, instead of having to create a new project each time.
Maribeth Price wrote:As I work with Pro, I am developing a new mind set and new workflows, and am reluctantly beginning to see some of the advantages.
Maribeth Price wrote:
As I work with Pro, I am developing a new mind set and new workflows, and am reluctantly beginning to see some of the advantages.
Yup, that's what happens.
Jake Skinner and Robert LeClair
I just came across this thread, and noticed that the original question regarding ArcCatalog's future status with ArcGIS Pro has still not been answered, and I have the same question in February, 2017, as I see many other have had. When the first answers were posted in 2015, it was assumed that Pro would simply run alongside Desktop. Now that Esri has announced the total retirement of Desktop 10.5 in December, 2022 (and older versions earlier than that), with, I am assuming, no subsequent version, this would certainly seem to change things - as I now understand it, there will be no more Desktop after 12/1/22 (Esri Support 10.5 ). I would just like to follow up on the concerns of other above. I am trying to learn Pro right now, and I understand the differences and the need for many of them, but I still am unclear of what to do if I simply want to examine data, like I can in ArcCatalog, or open it up and explore it in Desktop without having to create a new project. Apparently, from what I've read above, there is no way to do that. And if ArcCatalog is going to disappear along with Desktop, I am also very concerned. I'm currently working through the "Getting to Know ArcGIS Pro" book's exercises, but everything seems to be project-based, rather than data-based. I'm very uncertain on things that seem basic in Desktop and Catalog, like examining data, copy-pasting a feature class from gdb to gdb, opening, editing, and saving data WITHOUT setting up a project to do it, and so on. The design of Pro doesn't seem to make it easier to manage large amounts of GIS data.
Good morning John - I wanted to address your concerns about Desktop being retired in 2022. To clarify, ArcGIS Desktop is the overall category name for ArcMap, ArcGIS Pro, ArcCatalog, ArcScene, ArcGlobe, extensions, etc. so Desktop is not being retired. I believe you meant ArcMap in this case. You are correct that ArcMap 10.5 is fully retired December 2022. With that being said, there will be an ArcMap 10.6, 11, 11.1, etc. so the actual ArcMap product will not be retired for many, many years to come. Customers may continue to use current and future releases of ArcMap if they wish. But with that being said, product development, new functionality, etc. is being invested in ArcGIS Pro. Future ArcMap releases will have some new functionality but will be focused on product stability and bug fixes. The plan is for ArcGIS Pro 2.0 to be at functional equivalency as ArcMap with a release timeframe of Q2 2017.
To address the ArcCatalog question, the current release of ArcGIS Pro does require a user to create a project to manage, analyze, etc GIS data. Although not ideal, one can create a data management project only to manage GIS data and used that repeatedly to manage one's data. I do not know if future releases of Pro will improve upon the data management question you ask - this is more applicable to the Pro Dev Team. I hope this answers some of your concerns. Feel free to continue asking additional questions.
Robert, thank you for the helpful reply. You are correct - I should have stated "ArcMap" instead of "Desktop." Given what you stated above, do you think it would it be reasonable to assume that ArcCatalog will also continue on in the same way? It would certainly be nice to have better data management capabilities in Pro, but I can more easily understand a lack of it if ArcCatalog continues on in the same way as you indicate that ArcMap will.
By the way, this level of concern started for me with someone in our GIS community passing along a link from a 3rd party that went out on a limb and predicted that 10.5 would be the end of ArcMap: Migrating from ArcGIS Desktop to ArcGIS Pro – Don’t Wait Too Long |
Again, thanks for clarifying things.
John - yes it is reasonable to assume ArcCatalog will be side by side with ArcMap following a similar life process - no major updates, just a update for stability/bug fixes. So I would think one could use ArcCatalog for data management only and do one's analysis in ArcGIS Pro. I know folks on the Pro Team are watching this thread but do not know what the thought process will be for a data management application within Pro that doesn't require creation of a project.
Interesting link - thx. I can see where concerns would be raised based upon this information. Fortunately for customers, it's not correct.
Thanks Robert.
It's still mystifying that the ArcGIS Pro team projects to have Pro at "functional equivalency" with ArcMap in Q2 2017 when major issues like this are still present, and the Idea for this on GeoNet is still not yet under consideration.
Here it is: Add Stand Alone Data Catalog Like ArcCatalog to ArcGIS Pro
This idea is now up to 1170 points in the voting, and rising steadily, which puts it in the top 140 most popular ideas out of 11,934 currently on GeoNet. This idea has recently risen to "Reviewed" status. Most of the ideas from this point and upward on the list are either Implemented or Under Consideration.
https://community.esri.com/community/arcgis-ideas/content?filterID=contentstatus%5Bpublished%5D~objecttype~objecttype%5Bidea%5D&sortKey=score&start=120
I understand John. As a Pro/ArcMap Instructor, I do receive many questions from customers about the future of ArcMap vs. ArcGIS Pro. The ArcCatalog question does arise on a frequent basis. I know the Pro Team is actively watching and reviewing ArcGIS Ideas so voting on this idea is a good idea to move it up in importance. Being reviewed is a good sign certainly.
Thanks Maribeth.
If you're dealing with novice students and you want to restrict their ability to do certain activities, then putting them into a straight-jacket or confined environment that obstructs their ability to do certain things might be useful. Like training wheels.
However, when you're talking about experienced, professional Geospatial DBA's and power-user GIS specialists whose primary job is managing and manipulating data as efficiently and quickly as possible, then that straight-jacket slows down the work process and costs money through reduced productivity. That's the capability that hasn't been revealed in Pro, as of yet.
Robert LeClair can you please explain what you mean by "functional equivalency"?
The plan is for ArcGIS Pro 2.0 to be at functional equivalency as ArcMap with a release timeframe of Q2 2017.
I have read elsewhere that geometric networks (or rather Utility networks) won't even make an appearance until ArcGIS Pro 2.1. This would be my #1 requirement for using ArcGIS Pro on a regular basis.
Cheers,
Mike.
Mike - sure. Functional equivalency means that ArcGIS Pro will do the same things as ArcMap currently does - it's not there yet but getting closer with each release. The Pro Dev team is working hard to satisfy customer requirements for using ArcGIS Pro. From my research about geometric networks/utility networks, is appears Pro 2.1 is the goal. As you may know, ArcGIS Pro is on a rapid release cycle meaning there are 2-3 releases a year of Pro with more functionality. I would suspect Pro 2.1 would be fall 2017 but have seen no firm release date.
Here's my wishlist for ArcPro. Thanks
Pro really needs the SDE management tools added back. Without them, there is no way for me to switch to Pro since the majority of job is managing SDE. In addition, it would be nice if you could drag and drop from the project pane into GP tools like you can in catalog already. They have an opportunity to make a "Database Management" project template that is more focus on managing data than using it. There are many database level information they could provide a tables or reports. So me all feature class/dataset privileges that user X has. How many edits were preformed today? GDBT toolset state tree is useful at times. A report of each feature class and when it was analyzed last. And so on. Much of this can be gotten from SQL but having it in the same place as my SDE management software would save alot of time.
That has been a source of frustration for me. I like my drives clean and to have to map to every folder I want to connect to has been a little cumbersome. I would like to connect to the base folder.
Hi Steve,
I was perusing some of our ArcGIS Pro threads when I ran across your post. Thanks for taking the time to mention your "wish-list"! Like Robert, I'm an Esri instructor and, as such, am generally not privvy to the when/why of decisions made on the development teams. That said, I wanted to address a potential solution to one of your suggestions:
Quote "A standard tool bar that is always up where we can add tools to and has some standard buttons like zoom".
Have you considered customizing the quick-access toolbar to create your own standard toolbar? In ArcGIS Pro you can right-click most any UI element and choose the option to "Add to Quick-Access Toolbar". This allows you to add tools for pan/zoom/identify (just add the Explore tool to the toolbar), etc. in a location that is accessible regardless of the tab in which you're working. See these screenshots for an example.
Image 1. Location of Quick-access toolbar
Image 2. Right-click Explore tool > Add to Quick Access Toolbar
Image 3. Quick-access toolbar now contains Explore tool
Here's a screenshot of the toolbar w/ the add basemap, add data, select by rectangle, Geoprocessing pane (toolbox + GP tool search in one), modelbuilder, convert from 2D to 3D, and share project package functionality added just as an example of a more robust toolbar.
Hope this helps!
Mike
Thanks Mike A dev at the ESRI conference showed me the Quick Access
toolbar at the top. Cool! ArcPro is ready for prime time. I am now
recommending ArcPro to be installed on my users workstations.
Fantastic!
So now every Project I create copies all the connections to the folder... Makes a mess of the folder, why not have a centralized location and have the map reference that?
I do wish it was a little bigger! old eyes!
Yes. Like ArcCatalog. Have you voted this idea up, yet?
Add Stand Alone Data Catalog Like ArcCatalog to ArcGIS Pro
I have been working with one of the ESRI Instructors on several AGP issues and had them check in with the Pro Team at UC this week regarding some of the problems we had with Pro. Here is and update from the AGP team regarding Arc Catalog:
"there is no plan for an AGP equivalent for AC but in 2.3 they are implementing the start of AGP in “Untitled” mode meaning you don’t have to create a *.aprx initially just to start using AGP. So theoretically one could start AGP in Untitled mode, use the Catalog Pane to manage data, and close AGP without saving."
Steve:
How has your transition from ArcMap to Pro gone?
Are you an SDE database shop? It seems like the more complex GIS shop you have, the more difficult the transition is as Pro does not yet have ArcMap equivalency especially when it comes to SDE database management.
This resonates 7 years later.
Thanks for sharing that info about the prior idea, it's a shame it got wiped. For those reading these days and wish to upvote or comment I have created a similar idea at: Offer a standalone ArcCatalog replacement for ArcG... - Esri Community
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