Displaying dynamic pictures from a related standalone table in a Layout (Service layer and FGDB)

Question

ArcGIS Pro 2.9.1

A point feature class (Manhole) was published with a related table (Manhole Inspection) from ArcGIS Pro to AGOL and was used for data collection in Field Maps. Therefore the field users used the related table link in field maps to perform their inspections (including pictures).

Now, after collection and bring the feature service back to ArcGIS Pro, I am unable to access these photo attachments via Spatial Map Series Layout > Insert Picture > Format Picture > Dynamic Picture > [Attachments] filter. The other data fields are perfectly accessible. Also, this workflow works perfectly fine when the photos are collected directly on the feature service.

I have tried many combinations of joining the inspection table to the point feature service, downloading the service to a FGDB, creating a spatial map layout series on those layers, joining the FGDB the ATTACH table, to both the current service and also the downloaded point layer.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

mkuttnernpns · Answer

Currently facing more or less the same issue when trying to create reports which should include several types of attributes of national park infrastructures (e.g. info panels, hides, shields...) which have been gathered using field maps (for point locations of the infrastructures) whhich are linked to a Survey123 form that describes current inspection status of the infrastructures. All datasets are stored in a SQL-DB, so we are not coping with any hosted features / services / photos that would otherwise be stored in the cloud. The framework is designed for long term use and individual infrastructre elements are re-visited on a frequent basis. Hence, multiple entries for single elements are generated over time (1:n relationship). The features and tables are related via Global-IDs and all connected datasets are basically applicable, either in the Portal (Web Map Viewer) as well as in in ArcPro. Also the photo attachments are displayed as pop-up in Pro -- So far so good, but trying to wrap the data together in order to produce reports provides me with severe headache.
What I want - just simply a map series based on the point locations PLUS all associated entries [1,x] from the related Survey table PLUS the associated photos (which are rather important to e.g. displaying current status on repairs etc...)
What I get - are dead ends all the way!
As we do not use any hosted feature services (due to various reasons (e.g. data security amongst others)  -- we have enterprise licenses running for all Austrian National Parks) I cannot create any Survey reports using the Survey123 Webapp, because there attachments are not supported when deploying referenced layers. In ArcPro I can create a report based on the designated survey table which also allows to include an attachment frame -- Hooray! BUT unfortunately reports won´t allow for any linked Map Series and adding a supplementary map which is not linked to the report entries and thus must be individually adapted for each entry would lead any approach of autmomated reporting ad absurdum. OK, when trying the other side of creating a spatial map series based on the infrastructure point data and working with dynamic text fields, this would allow to integrate the required attribute information to the single maps.. So far so good, BUT when working with map Series, there is simply NO way to integrate the attached photos to the maps.
To cut the story short -- it is really a shame that, within one program I basically have the possibilities to accomplish my tasks (because all three requirements (point info -> map, attribute info -> table, attachments -> photos) can be met somehow), but there is no chance for bringing it together.
Under these circumstances it sounds somewhat cynical to propose "to add this idea to the ideas site" since I´ve been screening forums posts for weeks now and similar or related issues have been outlined for almost 10! years (oldest thread I stumbled across was dating back to 2013/14 as I remember..).
It is already bad enough that customers have to deal with several Esri-apps that appartently are developed on various platforms and assembled by the use of APIs which natively causes inconsistencies, bugs etc. I get it, Esri software development is dating back for decades and beta testing gets more and more complex as the software suite grows... Don´t get me wrong, I acknowledge that both desktop as well as Esri web-GIS Applications have singificantly improved over the last 5 years (from my personal experience point of view) BUT not managing to get rid of the aforementiend data integration issues within one single program (ArcGIS Pro) ?

TomBole · Answer

Hi Austin,

Currently, no dynamic map series element (table frames, pictures, text) support related fields. Please feel free to add an idea to the Ideas site if you want to see this kind of support in the future. This will help use gauge the demand for such functionality and help us prioritize such work.

Thanks,

Tom