topic Re: .nmc where did the elevation data go? in ArcGIS Explorer Desktop Questions

.nmc where did the elevation data go?

derekmotsch — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 12:52:39 GMT

In the past, I have used Arc GIS Explorer to create ground profiles.
I use the terrain profile add in.
Save the profile as its own .NMC, change the .NMC to an xml and open in excel.
I have an excel spread sheet that calculates the cumulative horizontal and vertical distance for export to other programs.

Today, I open the nmc as xml and notice that elevations are no longer included?
Is there a way to get the elevations back? I had a nice quick work flow creating ground profiles for use outside of explorer.

Thanks for any help you might be able to provide.

Re: .nmc where did the elevation data go?

MichaelBranscomb — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 09:23:35 GMT

Hi,

When you say "in the past" - which version of ArcGIS Explorer were you using? 500? 900? 1200?

Cheers

Mike

Re: .nmc where did the elevation data go?

derekmotsch — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 13:46:34 GMT

I am fairly confident that this was still working in 1200, I created the spread sheet that makes calculations with the elevation data in December 2009, whichever version it was then. I think I used it back in the spring, but probably not since the latest release. If that helps.

I believe I still have 1200 or earlier installed at home and I am going to try that.

To clarify my work flow, I saved the terrain profile as a .nmc, changed the file extension to .xml, opened in excel as a table, there was a column for X,Y, and Z, now when I do that the column for Z is missing.

Why would that information no longer be included?
Thanks

Re: .nmc where did the elevation data go?

MichaelBranscomb — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:10:55 GMT

Hi,

This looks like it might be a bug. I'm currently confirming whether this is the case.

Regards

Mike

Re: .nmc where did the elevation data go?

derekmotsch — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 17:18:47 GMT

Thanks for looking into this.
I took some screen shots of what I used to get and what I get now
Notice how one table has a Z column and the other doesn't
Thanks again
I currently get this

I used to get this

Re: .nmc where did the elevation data go?

derekmotsch — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 22:51:05 GMT

I checked build 1200 at home. The .nmc file for the terrain profile contains the the Z column and associated elevation data.

Re: .nmc where did the elevation data go?

MichaelBranscomb — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:47:45 GMT

Hi,

This was a deliberate change at version 1500 - the accuracy of the Z values, particularly at a global scale, varied too much and we therefore modified the overall behaviour and introduced a more accurate way to obtain the Z values in the API: http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisexplorer/1500/sdk/componenthelp/index.html#/GetSurfaceElevationGeometry_Method/000300000tvs000000/. This means you'll need to write an Add-in using the SDK - but the benefit is that you'll have a more streamlined workflow (i.e. you should be able to automate the Note/NMC > XML > Excel process to simply produce a spreadsheet of the values you require).

Regards

Mike