idea Open Data Download Attribute "Alias" Oh where have you gone?? in ArcGIS Online Ideas

Open Data Download Attribute "Alias" Oh where have you gone??

MichaelSemenek — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 22:28:00 GMT

Well my ideas title pretty much sums up my problem (and much needed ArcGIS online "Open Data" enhancement). Any Open Data feature layer field attributes that have an "Alias" setup on them, are not honored when you download the data to a shapefile. The "Alias" is gone.

We really need the "Alias" capability to be honored in any downloads for two reasons:

First - We need the capability to be able to help with the shapefile field truncation issue.

A long field name is fine in SQL or in a file geodatabase, but not a shapefile. Example: REA017_PROP_CLASS truncated becomes REA017_PRO. If you read the truncated field name in the downloaded shapefile, you will have no idea what “REA017_PRO” stands for, or what it represents. Which leads to the second reason.

Second reason – We simplified several field names with an alias to “keep it simple” or easy to understand.

Example: In our ParcelsRealEstate feature layer I have a field called “REA017_PROP_CLASS” which stands for real estate 2017 parcels property class. I set an alias of "PropClass" on the field to make it even easier for people to understand. But this PropClass alias (Which simply stands for Property Class) is not honored, I end up with a downloaded shapefile field called REA017_PRO…

I can guarantee you more and more agencies will need this "Alias" capability, when they setup and/or provide free geospatial data using “Open Data” on arcgis.com.

Update to my original post above. What I hope we can do is utilize the alias for the field name conversion to the shape file. The shape file its self does not need the alias built in. I'm looking to have the existing field name be replaced with the alias as the new field name in the shape file output.

#everyonethinkstheirideaisthemostimportantandMineIs

Re: Open Data Download Attribute "Alias" Oh where have you gone??

AnninaHirschi_Wyss1 — Fri, 15 Sep 2017 08:10:17 GMT

Hi Michael,

As far as I know, shapefiles do not support a "built-in" alias. So your idea might be rejected.

I see the following options:

Really reduce your fieldnames to 10 chars (might be real cryptic, but at least the will not be cut on export) and then provide some explanation in the metadata

Download your data as .geojson
Add the service in your DesktopGIS export to sql, gdb...

Vote up/comment on this idea to move it back on the radar (it's there since 2015): https://community.esri.com/ideas/10359 (especially "like" the comment from Andrew Stauffer 🙂 -> geopackage support)

HTH,

Annina

open data formats‌

geopackage‌

field name alias‌

Re: Open Data Download Attribute "Alias" Oh where have you gone??

MichaelSemenek — Fri, 15 Sep 2017 14:17:27 GMT

Annina,

I appreciate your reply. What I hope we can do is utilize the alias for the field name conversion to the shape file. The shape file its self does not need the alias built in. I'm looking to have the existing field name be replaced with the alias as the new field name in the shape file output.

I hope I made my self a little clearer on this issue / idea. And I hope this is still considered and not rejected

Unfortunately a fieldname reduction is not an option for us.

Thank you,

Mike Semenek

Re: Open Data Download Attribute "Alias" Oh where have you gone??

AnninaHirschi_Wyss1 — Mon, 18 Sep 2017 06:52:42 GMT

Michael,

Among other limitations, the shapefile spec has a restriction to 10 characters for field names (Limitations: Shapefile - Wikipedia, full spec: http://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/shapefile.pdf ).

I'm sorry, but I don't think that you will be able to change this, but you can wait for Esri Inc.'s reply to confirm.

Best,

Annina

Re: Open Data Download Attribute "Alias" Oh where have you gone??

MichaelSemenek — Mon, 18 Sep 2017 14:11:45 GMT

Annina,

I do fully understand the limitations of a shapefile However I think when downloading a dataset from OpenData, I should be able to use the original datasets "alias" as the downloaded datasets (e.g. shpfile) field name.

Sincerely, Mike Semenek