WPF SDK 100.2 Can an mxd (ArcMap document) be used as a basemap

MarcusJones

The 100.1 and 100.2 versions of the SDK support local shapefile usage now which is great.

Is it possible to use an ArcMap document (mxd file) as a basemap (with its associated shapfiles etc) locally? If not what is the best way to get equivalent functionality - and migrate an ArcMap document to it. 

I have looked at mmpk but not all features are supported. 

MichaelBranscomb

Hi,

The answer depends on how often those Shapefiles change. If they are relatively static I would recommend investigating creating a Vector Tile Package from your map. You will need to use ArcGIS Pro to do this (you can import your .mxd file to Pro) and there are some special considerations for authoring maps as vector basemaps. For more info see Author a map for vector tile creation—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS Desktop. If that's not an option for you then you could look at the traditional raster tile package, which you can create in ArcMap or Pro - see How to create a tile package—Help | ArcGIS Desktop (ArcMap) or Tile package—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS Desktop (Pro).

If neither of those are an option for you (e.g. you Shapefiles change more frequently) then I recommend looking at using ArcMap to create a Map Package (.mpk) file from your .mxd. You then reference this as a local map service via the API using the ArcGIS Runtime Local Server component. Note that this map will be rendered dynamically per request (i.e. pan/zoom). You can in fact use ArcGIS Runtime to package maps too. For more info see Local Server—ArcGIS Runtime SDK for .NET (WPF) | ArcGIS for Developers and Local Server geoprocessing tools support—ArcGIS Runtime SDK for .NET (WPF) | ArcGIS for Developers. 

Cheers

Mike