Last week I logged a bug with ESRI (or so I thought). With the upgrade to ArcGIS Pro 3.5, I am no longer able to use some of the templates and schemas we regularly use, as the Define Projection tool no longer works on datasets with undefined coordinate systems and returns Error 000146.
We use a number of empty geodatabases with undefined projections (some we've designed and some we've received from clients such as the FAA and the US Navy) when beginning new projects. Some of them are complex and contain domains and rules. The first step in this process is to assign the project's coordinate system. Now, with the advent of Pro 3.5, we can't do that any more.
Although I was initially told that this was a bug (BUG-000176807), and others have had the same issue, I was later informed that it is a "Known Limit" instead, with no plans to fix it. Here's the explanation I received:
"These are the public explanations provided by our development team:
"Geodatabases are not designed to allow changes to the coordinate system after a feature dataset or feature class has been created. In earlier versions, it was possible to change the coordinate system of a feature dataset, but this was actually an unintended behavior. Starting from ArcGIS Pro 3.5, this loophole has been intentionally closed to prevent issues.
The reason behind this is that the coordinate system plays a crucial role in setting important parameters such as the spatial domain (range of coordinates), XY/Z/M tolerance, and resolution values. If a coordinate system is left undefined initially and then set later, those spatial properties might not align properly — which can lead to data integrity problems."
I’m truly sorry that you’ve had to encounter this issue.
There is currently no official workaround provided by our development team. That said, after discussing this internally, we would like to suggest the following alternatives for your consideration:
Export the features and assign the correct coordinate system during the export process, or
Continue using ArcGIS Pro 3.4, where the previous behavior is still allowed.
To clarify, in ArcGIS Pro 3.5, the Define Projection tool cannot be applied to a feature class with an Unknown Coordinate System. It can be used if you are specifying a known coordinate system, such as changing from NAD 1983 Colorado to NAD 1983 Virginia — but only when the dataset already has a defined system."
So for now, I've reverted back to ArcGIS Pro 3.4.
Am I nuts for finding this unworkable? It seems to me that as GIS professionals with full awareness of the limitations of undefined coordinate systems (I nag my co-workers to define EVERYTHING), we should at least have the choice to maintain and work with them. As it stands now, I will have to maintain an empty "template" or schema with an improperly defined coordinate system and THEN change the projection using Define Projection tool. I'd much rather start with an undefined coordinate system.
But I'm open to arguments and suggestions.
