How to store historic or archived data.

Question

I have a group that has a boundary feature that they update on an annual basis. These boundaries are used to determine permits and applications for that year. I am wondering how to make an authoritative dataset for this type of data, that changes on an annual basis, but previous versions of the data are still relevant. I would like to maintain the most current boundary on Enterprise, and have that published and available publicly, but am not sure I want to be maintaining multiple very similar boundaries.

How do other organizations handle and organize data of this nature? Currently we have file geodatabases in "archival" folders that are read only to hold the previous iterations of the data, with the newest boundary being saved on Enterprise.

DonaldRees · Answer

Some other resources you may want to check out include...

ArcGIS Pro archiving help doc - https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/help/data/geodatabases/overview/what-is-archiving-.htm and a blog series on archiving https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-pro/data-management/maintain-data-accountability-with-archiving-part-2/

ClaudioRuschel · Answer

If you have access to a maintenance account you could explore the archiving workflows shown in this web course:

https://www.esri.com/training/catalog/57630435851d31e02a43efb0/archiving-data-in-a-multiuser-geodatabase/

jcarlson · Answer

I would consider using a Parcel Fabric dataset. It has built-in capabilities for tracking historic changes, and makes it very easy to create an attribute-based filter to only show current features. It's meant more for cadastral boundaries, but there's no reason you couldn't use it for something a bit more general.