topic ArcGIS Explorer 1700 to 2500 Upgrade Plan for Large Organization in ArcGIS Explorer Desktop Questions

ArcGIS Explorer 2500 discussion

MarkBockenhauer — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 00:19:15 GMT

Questions and comments in regards to ArcGIS Explorer 2012 beta and the ArcGIS Explorer 2500 release.

thanks,
ArcGIS Explorer Team

Re: ArcGIS Explorer 2012 Beta discussion

LukePhilips — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 18:52:56 GMT

Downloaded the beta and we are off to the races. I like that the 'Check for Updates' option says that there is an update available (the older 1750 version). Where it says this is 'portable', does that mean if you do the install to a USB-stick instead of the typical C:\Program Files\ then it is 'portable'?

Run from Thumb Drive

MarkBockenhauer — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 20:49:07 GMT

After installing to any location, you can just copy the "Explorer (86)" folder and all of its contents to any windows folder / usb location and then run the software by double clicking the e3.exe in the Explorer (86)\bin folder. You could also set up a shortcut to the e3.exe location.

Mark

Re: ArcGIS Explorer 2012 Beta discussion

DanHuber — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 03:06:29 GMT

Did we lose the option for Bing basemaps?

I uninstalled 1750 and then put the Beta on my machine, so I already had a "My Default Map.nmf." When I first launched the 2012 beta, the Bing imagery showed up properly. But after switching the basemap to "US Topo", shutting down the app, and restarting, I noticed that Bing is no longer an option. I have also ensured that I am logged into ArcGIS Online, so that should not be the problem.

I do like having the option to finally put text on the map - kudos for that.

BING Base Map availabilty

DanHuber — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:46:08 GMT

Did we lose the option for Bing basemaps?

Wondering how much detail you guys are after with regards to testing the 2012 Beta. Here is an interesting one related to my previous post.

As stated above, could not load Bing base maps with AGX 2012 - the option was not listed.   So I fired up ArcGIS ArcMap (ArcView) 10.0 while AGX 2012 was also running. When I attempted to add a base map to ArcMap, the basemap opened in AGX as a new ArcGIS Layer and not in ArcMap.

Here are the details Package Layer Properties:

Name:    Basemap
Source: http://www.arcgisonline.com/sharing/content/items/71d6d656cb2a4ded8fce35982ebdff25/item.pkinfo
Type:   Layer Package
Coordinate System: WGS_1984_Web_Mercator_Auxiliary_Sphere

Name: Bing Maps Hybrid
Source:
Coordinate System: WGS_1984_Web_Mercator_Auxiliary_Sphere

So, initial problem is kind of solved, but I don't think what just happened was by design.

Re: ArcGIS Explorer 2012 Beta discussion

JoeFlannery — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 20:17:13 GMT

I just reproduced what Dan outlined. With Explorer 2012 beta open, I opened an empty/new session of ArcMap (ArcInfo). In ArcMap I went to >File >Add Data >Add Basemap... >Bing Maps Road. ArcMap grayed out for a little while and then a Basemap/Bing Maps Road layer package appeared in the TOC of my Explorer 2012 application. The ArcMap TOC remains empty. The same behavior happens with other Basemap options from ArcMap.

Re: ArcGIS Explorer 2012 Beta discussion

DanHuber — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 21:58:23 GMT

I just reproduced what Dan outlined.

Joe,

Did you also notice the same issue I was having - where the BING base maps where no longer listed as an option?

Use of OSGB_1936_To_WGS_1984_7 (Dataset_uk/OSTN02_NTv2)

JimSibbald — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 10:58:30 GMT

In ArcGIS Explorer Desktop 1750 there were Expansion Packs (Data Access, Fonts and Projection). The Projection Expansion pack allowed the use of CUSTOM Transformations (set up using PEOBJEDITHOME) which included the OSTN02 NTv2 transformation which is the most accurate for UK. This worked well in ArcGIS Explorer for Desktop 1750.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15626[/ATTACH]

At ArcGIS 10.1 this NTv2 transformation was included in pe.dll, therefore there is no need for PEOBJEDITHOME and the transformation has a FactoryCode of 5339, however as with most NTv2 files the user requires to download the .gsb file from Ordnance Survey. In ArcGIS Explorer for Desktop 2012 Beta although the pe.dll is 10.1 there is no OSGB_1936_To_WGS_1984_7 transformation present (presumably due to the .gsb file not being present).

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15625[/ATTACH]

Will there be a Projection Expansion Pack for ArcGIS Explorer for Desktop 2012 which will allow the use of the NTv2 transformation?

Re: ArcGIS Explorer 2012 Beta discussion

JoeFlannery — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 13:41:50 GMT

Correct, Dan. I see no Bing background products/options in the Basemap gallery of Explorer 2012 beta.

Re: ArcGIS Explorer 2012 Beta discussion

GeorgeDurkee — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 22:40:25 GMT

Just fiddling with Beta now. Looks great: loads much faster; excellent addition of map text; also seem to have solved ability to print popups and shapes on maps (for some reason, with 1700 & 1750 I was unable to have drawn shapes and their popups show when I went to print or Copy to Clipboard. This was true on a number of machines I used).

I seem to be in some strange loop for Add Ins, though. When I go to Resources > Add Ins, it asks if I want to restart to load one. Not sure what it's loading, but restart doesn't end the popup. I've got:

Add Ins Online
File WithCoordinates
Raster Georeferencing
Create or Add GeoTagged Images

I'm also unable to remove any of them.

I also had a third party Add In developed for search and rescue. I can't install that, though it worked on build 1750.

Workaround is to keep 1750 on my machine. Can I then use 2012 beta off a USB?

Thoughts and comments welcome

Thanks!

George

Re: ArcGIS Explorer 2012 Beta discussion

CraigBeech — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 09:35:06 GMT

Noticed that the Beta version is for 32-bit. Are there any plans to release a 64-bit version? We have done a lot of customization using the Add-in functionality within version 1750, will it still worj in 2012?

Regards,
Stefan
ssteenekamp@ppf.org.za

Re: ArcGIS Explorer 2012 Beta discussion

HarryBowman — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 15:52:01 GMT

Installed the beta last Friday.

Background: I have used the previous version only a little, so there is a decent chance I am using it suboptimally and the performance issues I see are a result of user error.

Use case: We have data in shapefiles representing streets in the USA and Canada. Supporting these feature classes and shapefiles are extra tables about maneuvers, etc. The data is stored centrally and is read only. I am evaluating ArcExplorer Desktop as a potential replacement for the couple copies of ArcView 3.3 the field collection guys use to study some tricky intersections. They load up the appropriate shapefile (usually half a million to a million streets) in AV 3.3 very quickly and the guys zoom to their intersection and use a combination of Identify, symbology, and occasionally relates to figure things out. We'd like to move off AV 3.3 before it stops working with some version of Windows. We'd also like to eventually move the data to geodatabase.

Here's what I've tried: keeping the data in central shapefiles, local shapefiles, local filegeodatabase, local layer package.
Here's what I've seen: ArcExplorer draws the shapes very, very slowing, spending a large amount of time telling me it is "streaming." I can start AV 3.3 and look at the data in the same time I am waiting for the data to render. The field guys will never accept this performance hit. In just a little looking, I was also not able to figure out how to handle the user need to look at other tables by relate. I didn't spend much time on it, though, because the slow drawing was a total deal breaker.

I assume I am doing something incorrectly, but if the performance difference is unavoidable, I think our guys will want to stick with AV 3.3 - it is familiar and fast.

What am I doing incorrectly?

Re: ArcGIS Explorer 2012 takes layer package file association when running

MarkBockenhauer — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 04:45:55 GMT

When I attempted to add a base map to ArcMap, the basemap opened in AGX as a new ArcGIS Layer and not in ArcMap.

So, initial problem is kind of solved, but I don't think what just happened was by design.

Dan,

It certainly was not by the initial design... For ArcGIS Explorer 2012 we did work to "separate" ArcGIS Explorer desktop from ArcGIS Desktop, this is what allows it to run off of a USB, a side affect is that for shared file types, things like layers and layer packages that can be opened in ArcGIS Explorer, ArcGlobe and ArcMap, we do not have a real clean file association solution. So, we made the decision that if ArcGIS Explorer is running, it takes the file association. This is something we will continue to look at, when double clicking in windows explorer or opening content from the ArcGIS online webpage we can't really control which Esri app will get the common file type, but when opening from an application (opening basemap in ArcMap) we should be able to direct it to the correct application. This could be a future SP fix for ArcMap.

Mark

Bing basemaps not available by default in ArcGIS Explorer 2012

MarkBockenhauer — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 04:54:24 GMT

Did we lose the option for Bing basemaps?

I do like having the option to finally put text on the map - kudos for that.

Esri is phasing out the complimentary use of Bing Maps in its ArcGIS products. The final version of ArcGIS Explorer 2012 as well as other Esri products will be "Bing Ready", which will allow you to input a Bing Maps key that you obtain directly from Microsoft. After you input the key you will be able to use Bing maps as you did previously.

Mark

ArcGIS Explorer Desktop 64 bit version and continued use of existing Add-ins

MarkBockenhauer — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 05:01:02 GMT

Noticed that the Beta version is for 32-bit. Are there any plans to release a 64-bit version? We have done a lot of customization using the Add-in functionality within version 1750, will it still worj in 2012?

Regards,
Stefan
ssteenekamp@ppf.org.za

Stefan,

Yes, a 64 bit version is planned, it currently lags a bit behind the 32 bit version, as we get the code working in 64 bit. Yes, Add-ins from 1750 will work In ArcGIS Explorer 2012. For the 64 bit version you will need to confirm that the add-ins were targetted at "Any CPU"

Mark

Prompted to accept add-ins that were added to 1750

MarkBockenhauer — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 05:13:21 GMT

I seem to be in some strange loop for Add Ins, though. When I go to Resources > Add Ins, it asks if I want to restart to load one. Not sure what it's loading, but restart doesn't end the popup. I've got:

Add Ins Online
File WithCoordinates
Raster Georeferencing
Create or Add GeoTagged Images

I'm also unable to remove any of them.

I also had a third party Add In developed for search and rescue. I can't install that, though it worked on build 1750.

Workaround is to keep 1750 on my machine. Can I then use 2012 beta off a USB?

Thoughts and comments welcome

Thanks!

George

George,

For ArcGIS Explorer 2012 we changed how the Add-ins are handled when added to the software. As a result you will be prompted to Accept all the add-ins that you currently have installed when you run ArcGIS Explorer 2012. It is expected that user experience for adding and removing should work as it previously did. I will have to take a look and see if I can find a scenario where they are not handled properly.

It is also expected that all add-ins 1500 - 1750 should work in ArcGIS Explorer 2012. Those that do not will need to be looked at on a case by case basis. If you can send the Add-in we can take a look.

Yes, you could run ArcGIS Explorer 2012 from a USB or copied folder on a machine that is running 1750. The only issue is that the cache files created by ArcGIS Explorer 2012 will not be useable by 1750, so when running 1750 data that was cached and viewed in ArcGIS Explorer 2012, will not display in ArcGIS Explorer 1750. For basemaps you may even see an error message in regards to an "invalid layer". To correct this problem you just need to clear out all of the ArcGIS Explorer cache. (delete %tmp%\E3)

Mark

Re: ArcGIS Explorer 2012 Beta discussion

Anonymous User — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 06:25:40 GMT

Hey,

I've also tested the new beta version of ArcGIS Explorer Desktop 2012 because a client of us is using it extensively in combination with ArcGIS Online for Organizations content. Is it possible to add the new Web Feature Services hosted by ArcGIS Online or is it planned to add such a functionality? At the moment there only seems to be support for common GIS-server technologies.

I think this would be a perfect addition to reach a maximum integration between both systems.

best regards
Richard

Feature Service support for ArcGIS Explorer 2012

MarkBockenhauer — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 16:16:17 GMT

Hey,

... Is it possible to add the new Web Feature Services hosted by ArcGIS Online or is it planned to add such a functionality? At the moment there only seems to be support for common GIS-server technologies.

I think this would be a perfect addition to reach a maximum integration between both systems.

best regards
Richard

We agree that this would be a great addition. However, Feature services are currently not supported. Support for these will be added in a future release, post ArcGIS Explorer 2012.

Mark

Drawing performance for large number of shapefile features in ArcGIS Explorer

MarkBockenhauer — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 16:35:47 GMT

Installed the beta last Friday.

Background: I have used the previous version only a little, so there is a decent chance I am using it suboptimally and the performance issues I see are a result of user error.

Use case: We have data in shapefiles representing streets in the USA and Canada. Supporting these feature classes and shapefiles are extra tables about maneuvers, etc. The data is stored centrally and is read only. I am evaluating ArcExplorer Desktop as a potential replacement for the couple copies of ArcView 3.3 the field collection guys use to study some tricky intersections. They load up the appropriate shapefile (usually half a million to a million streets) in AV 3.3 very quickly and the guys zoom to their intersection and use a combination of Identify, symbology, and occasionally relates to figure things out. We'd like to move off AV 3.3 before it stops working with some version of Windows. We'd also like to eventually move the data to geodatabase.

Here's what I've tried: keeping the data in central shapefiles, local shapefiles, local filegeodatabase, local layer package.
Here's what I've seen: ArcExplorer draws the shapes very, very slowing, spending a large amount of time telling me it is "streaming." I can start AV 3.3 and look at the data in the same time I am waiting for the data to render. The field guys will never accept this performance hit. In just a little looking, I was also not able to figure out how to handle the user need to look at other tables by relate. I didn't spend much time on it, though, because the slow drawing was a total deal breaker.

I assume I am doing something incorrectly, but if the performance difference is unavoidable, I think our guys will want to stick with AV 3.3 - it is familiar and fast.

What am I doing incorrectly?

You aren't necessarily doing anything incorrectly, but you may be able to get a better user experience by trying the following:

1. Make sure your coordinates system of the map matches the coordinate system of the data, if possible. Projection on the fly is always slower than drawing in the coordinate system of the data. From the file menu (ArcGIS Explorer icon upper left) Click map properties and 2D coordinate system, specify the coordinate system of your data. Also, when working with a lot of features your going to get better performance working in 2D, rather than 3D.

2. Use a Display range. In ArcGIS Explorer on the appearance tab you can set the Minimum scale at which the data draws, the data won't display when zoomed out beyond the specified scale (or if using ArcGIS Layers, Layer packages, ArcGIS Explorer will honor visibility settings stored in the layer). You can specify a display range that ensures the data only draws when zoomed in close. This narrows the extent of the data fetched for display and improves performance. Make use of another layer that draws fast (like an ArcGIS Explorer basemap) so that your users have a point of reference for where they want to zoom in, but only draw the large dataset when zoomed in close.

Mark

Re: Drawing performance for large number of shapefile features in ArcGIS Explorer

HarryBowman — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 22:19:53 GMT

You aren't necessarily doing anything incorrectly, but you may be able to get a better user experience by trying the following: [various good tips]
Mark

I was able to get good performance with the shapefiles by turning off all the basemap imagery and using some hollow polygon features for the USA, Canada, Counties and points for cities to orient. And the search by Lat Lon made finding the location pretty easy. With no basemap and the map in the data's coordinate system, shapefiles were fast enough. File GDB of the entire country, even when very much zoomed in, was very slow. The File GDB has a spatial index managed by ArcGIS, so I don't know what's wrong.

Is it possible to label features or look at tables and do relates in ArcGIS Explorer - I have a feeling that the answer is no, from the documentation, without custom code. If that's the case, our guys will probably stick with AV3.3 until it dies - it can do everything they need, and the data is still shipped to us in shapefiles.

It's a toss up for them, though - they'd also like to have the imagery behind the streets. Right now, that's done with KML export and Google. We'd prefer to avoid that.