topic Re: Network Analyst - Directions' description is missing when default configuration is altered in ArcGIS Network Analyst Questions

Network Analyst - Directions' description is missing when default configuration is altered

Rajkaran_Beans — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 12:17:10 GMT

Hey Team,

We recently started using ArcGIS Indoors Model and found a weird situation where directions' description leave elements when default configuration is altered.

For example,

Situation 1 - Once Network Dataset is cretaed and a route is solved which includes a transision, description is "take the elevatio up to LEVEL #"

Situation 2 - When any part of this description is altered from Network Dataset > Properties > Description (It doesn't matter what you change, any slight change from default) will miss the LEVEL element from description. Descripton from Altered configuration is "take the elevatio up"

Attaching a side by side image for comparision:

@sri_krishnahari

Re: Network Analyst - Directions' description is missing when default configuration is altered

MelindaMorang — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 18:03:33 GMT

Can you please post a screenshot of the network dataset property you're altering? I see the problem you're describing in the directions text, but I don't understand from your description of "Situation 2" which property you're changing.

Re: Network Analyst - Directions' description is missing when default configuration is altered

sri_krishnahari — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 20:54:38 GMT

Hey @MelindaMorang ,

when we try to modify any of the following changes, the capability to show directions on transition changes to 'Take the elevator up' and the level numbers never show up again irrespective of any other changes in the network dataset property. (Can be reproduced with the Indoor Product files, available in My ESRI downloads).

1. Add field in Pathways

2. Add field in Transitions

3. Confirmation/Turn tolerance changes in Landmarks

4. Any minute change in time/distance cost in pathways/transitions.

5. Enabling Hierarchy

6. Adding new sources in the network dataset ('Network' feature dataset).

Basically any property related or schema related change in the Network Feature Dataset is dropping this capability.

Re: Network Analyst - Directions' description is missing when default configuration is altered

MelindaMorang — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 21:47:00 GMT

Just to make sure I fully understand the problem:

Before making the changes described above, was the network in a built state? (In other words, you ran Build Network at some point and haven't made any edits to the source features or the network dataset properties since then.)
Did you re-build the network dataset after making any of the changes you listed above?
Assuming you re-built the network, were there any build errors?
Did you re-solve the route before checking the directions?
After changing the network dataset properties and committing the changes (clicking OK on the properties dialog), check the network dataset properties Directions configuration. Is it still configured correctly for the Level fields? Network Dataset Properties -> Directions -> Field Mappings -> Auxiliary Properties -> Level (From) and Level (To)

Re: Network Analyst - Directions' description is missing when default configuration is altered

MelindaMorang — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 21:58:12 GMT

Also, what version of ArcGIS Pro are you using?

Re: Network Analyst - Directions' description is missing when default configuration is altered

sri_krishnahari — Thu, 08 Aug 2024 18:32:23 GMT

Hey @MelindaMorang ,

Please find the answers in sub-pointers.

Before making the changes described above, was the network in a built state? (In other words, you ran Build Network at some point and haven't made any edits to the source features or the network dataset properties since then.)
-------The network was completely build after which these changes were made.

Did you re-build the network dataset after making any of the changes you listed above?
--------Yes, rebuilding the network did not fix this issue.

Assuming you re-built the network, were there any build errors?
--------No errors.

Did you re-solve the route before checking the directions?
--------Yes, resolving doesn’t fix the problem too.

After changing the network dataset properties and committing the changes (clicking OK on the properties dialog), check the network dataset properties Directions configuration. Is it still configured correctly for the Level fields? Network Dataset Properties -> Directions -> Field Mappings -> Auxiliary Properties -> Level (From) and Level (To)
---------No changes in the auxiliary properties field mapping.

We’re using ArcGIS Pro 3.0.3 Version

You should be able to reproduce this issue in the Sample indoors database that is available in My ESRI too.

Re: Network Analyst - Directions' description is missing when default configuration is altered

MelindaMorang — Thu, 08 Aug 2024 22:14:11 GMT

Okay, I was able to reproduce the problem in Pro 3.3 (the latest release). I logged an issue, and our developers will take a look. You can track the issue as BUG-000169839 through Esri Support if desired.

For what it's worth, Pro 3.0 is in Mature Support, and it would be a good idea to update your software to the latest version. I guess you could wait until we fix this bug, though, if you want.

Re: Network Analyst - Directions' description is missing when default configuration is altered

sri_krishnahari — Thu, 08 Aug 2024 22:25:33 GMT

Thank you Melinda. In the meantime, if there is any temporary work around you can think of,please do let us know. We will keep an eye for the bug fix.

Thanks,
Krishna

Re: Network Analyst - Directions' description is missing when default configuration is altered

MelindaMorang — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 14:16:49 GMT

Until a developer can debug the problem, we don't know what's causing it, and I can't offer a very good workaround.

My only idea is this:

Use the Create Template From Network Dataset tool to create an xml template file with your network dataset schema.
Open the xml file and edit the Confirmation or Turn Landmarks tolerance (you'll have to dig through the xml to find where that property is).
Delete your network dataset
Use the Create Network Dataset From Template tool to re-create the network using your updated xml template.
Run Build Network

I'm pretty sure this will work for the Confirmation and Turn Landmarks case because it should be a simple update to the template xml. But for some of the other items you mentioned, like adding a hierarchy attribute, I suspect the changes to the xml template would be too difficult.

Re: Network Analyst - Directions' description is missing when default configuration is altered

MelindaMorang — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 18:48:15 GMT

Hi again. I saw your escalation request for this BUG. I wanted to acknowledge that we are looking into it and update you on what we know so far.

The Base Name property of the directions field mappings is set to an invalid field name that doesn't exist in the Pathways source feature class. When you changes certain other network dataset properties, it's triggering some sort of refresh, deleting this invalid property, and causing unexpected changes to the walking directions text. You can't actually see the invalid field name in the UI because the UI knows that it's invalid and conceals it (something we hope to improve).

We definitely want to improve the behavior of the network dataset for this scenario. However, it seems like the root of the problem is an invalid setting, possibly related to the network dataset template used to create the network. But, we still don't fully understand the problem, since setting a valid value for that Base Name field mapping property doesn't fix the network.

Re: Network Analyst - Directions' description is missing when default configuration is altered

MelindaMorang — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 18:20:22 GMT

I had posted a potential workaround, but then one of the developers on my team advised me that it may lead to other issues, so we don't recommend trying it after all. I deleted my comment. Sorry for the confusion.

Re: Network Analyst - Directions' description is missing when default configuration is altered

MelindaMorang — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 15:14:51 GMT

Hi, just wanted to give an update. We have fixed the issue, and the fix will be available in the upcoming Pro 3.4 release. Unfortunately, although the updated network will work properly in Pro 3.4+, it will still have the same problems in older versions of Pro. We have flagged the issue as a candidate for future patches of older Pro versions.

Re: Network Analyst - Directions' description is missing when default configuration is altered

AryamanBhattacharya_BeansAI — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 10:45:37 GMT

Hey @MelindaMorang ,

Greetings! Hope you are well and thank you for addressing BUG-000169839 which we reported through this community post. We have upgraded to ArcGIS Pro 3.4 and no longer experience the issue.

However, we have observed the same behavior when consuming the dataset as a Network Analysis service to solve routes on ArcGIS Enterprise 11.1. Is this expected ?

Regards,

Aryaman

Cc: @Rajkaran_Beans @sri_krishnahari

Re: Network Analyst - Directions' description is missing when default configuration is altered

MelindaMorang — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 16:37:07 GMT

Yes, unfortunately, this makes sense to me. Enterprise is based on the ArcGIS Pro codebase, and Enterprise 11.1 used the Pro 3.1 codebase (I think). At any rate, your version of Enterprise is older and doesn't have the fix we made in Pro 3.4. You would have to update to Enterprise 11.4.

Re: Network Analyst - Directions' description is missing when default configuration is altered

AryamanBhattacharya_BeansAI — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 18:28:59 GMT

Makes sense to me too. Let me try testing on a 11.4 version of ArcGIS Enterprise and see if the defect is fixed there.

Thank you for the information!

Regards,

Aryaman