Best practice for loading data via REST to a Web Mercator Hosted Feature Layer

DarrenSmith

I'm just wondering about the best practice regarding the spatial reference of features loaded to a hosted feature layer in AGOL via the REST API. I understand that layers get re-projected on-the-fly in web maps, so it doesn't matter so much what spatial reference they're stored in, but what happens when I load a geometry with a WGS84 spatial reference for a new feature via the REST API for a hosted feature layer feature service with the Web Mercator spatial reference. I should be re-projecting first to Web Mercator?

In this case no geographic transformation is needed, so its probably quite a marginal case, but would it anyway be best practice to re-project anyway?

AdrianWelsh

Darren,

I think the answer to this depends on what you are wanting to do and how much you or your viewers 'care' about accuracy and measurements. I work with a lot of surveyors who obsess over accuracy to where they no longer worry about real measurements in web-based GIS since they know it will not be what they're expecting. For me, it does not matter if I reproject first or not since my viewers know that web GIS is a representation of what's on the ground and not to be used for accurate measurements (and that mostly all boils down to how WGS 84 measurements are far different that NAD 83-based systems).

But that's just my take. I wonder what others think of this.