Metadata Enclosures

Question

I was wondering if anyone has come up with a way to link enclosed documents and pictures back to the Shapefile or Feature Class as a Hyperlink (or some other form)?

This question came about when I did not want to have to deal with Broken links after Hyperlinking Files to my Shapefile... If I moved the Files or the Shapefile... the Links would break. This made Data Management of the Organization a Pain.

AdamSeamans · Answer

Hi Rachel,

Is the use of shapefiles going to be a must in your situation?  If you are able to store the data as a feature class in a geodatabase, and have an ArcEditor or ArcInfo level license, you can store documents/images for an individual feature by enabling attachments.  Enabling attachments creates two things in the geodatabase; first, a table that is used to store the attachment (document/image).  Second, it creates a relationship class that relates the attachment back to an individual feature in the feature class.  Individual features can have multiple attachments associated with them.  Here is a help article detailing how to load attachments for a feature after attachments are enabled.  Here is how to view those attachments.

When it comes to moving the data you won't have to worry about broken links anymore.  The attachments themselves will be stored in the geodatabase with the feature class.  So, if you need to move the geodatabase, the attached files go with it.  If you need to move the individual feature class to a different geodatabase, the relationship class will cause all the attached files to go with the feature class if you use copy/paste in ArcCatalog.

Note that when you attach a file (a pdf, for example) to a feature you are attaching a copy of that file.  The original pdf, in this example, remains in its folder and a copy is loaded into the geodatabase.

Adam

RachelRodriguez · Answer

Well, I guess my real question is: Is there a way to have documents in the Enclosure area of the metadata of a shapefile be directly linked with a specific feature in the shapefile?

Or you could attach files directly to your features.  It increases the size of your database and the attachment doesn't automatically update if you change the original, like edit a Word document.  But you don't have to worry about breaking hyperlinks.

TrishRice · Answer

If I understand your question correctly, you want to be able to move a document and have the shapefile hyperlink automatically update the file location?  I'm not aware of a way to do that.  You can however use the full filepath as your hyperlink, not relative paths, and that way when you move the shapefile the links won't break.  If you change the file location you'd have to update the hyperlink.  Sometimes it can be convenient to have the filename in a field by itself and then add the filepath in another using the field calculator (if your files are in the same folder, or if the folder is dependent on some attribute like folders named after the tax lot ID).

Or you could attach files directly to your features.  It increases the size of your database and the attachment doesn't automatically update if you change the original, like edit a Word document.  But you don't have to worry about breaking hyperlinks.

I'd recommend taking a good bite out of your Data Shuffling And Filing before setting up hyperlinks or set them up as you go.

This thread has a method for identifying broken hyperlinks if you've already got them all set up.