ArcView Desktop frequently hangs when selecting a layer in toolbox tools

RobertStevens — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 03:32:42 GMT

I have experienced this frequently. Using ArcView Desktop 10.0 + sp3 on MacBook 64 bit running bootcamp and using windows 7

Have an existing map.Use a toolkit to select a tool (it may matter which tool, I am not sure,
but it definitely has occurred using different tools).
Arcview frequently hangs in the tool wizard when entering a layer from the as one of the parameters (by using the drop down listbox). No recovery is possible. The only recourse is to kill ArcMap.

Until today I never found a replicable test case. But I do now have one using the "spatial join" tool in the "overlay" toolbox. On the second input field I select a BDS layer (from Business Analyst) as the second parameter ("Join Features"). I then get the windows7 busy cursor (rotating ring of fire) and the application hangs indefinitely.

Has anyone else had similar experiences?

Re: ArcView Desktop frequently hangs when selecting a layer in toolbox tools

RobertStevens — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 18:47:46 GMT

I am replying to my own thread!

It turns out that ArcMap wasn't hung -- it just took a long time to process.
The BDS and SDC datasets that are available with Business Analyst
are compressed (and encrypted). In addition the demographic layers
contain many, many fields (maybe more than a typical SQL table will allow).
So working with them can be slow.

Following advice from support services (thx Jason) one should do one
or more of the following

a) Change the field visibility of the layer to include only those fields
    that one is certain to be interested in. Then export the layer (data=>export)
    into a feature class
b) Use a spatial join just once to select only those records pertinent to the map
    extent with which one is working (this may be slow, but has to be done just once)
    This might especially be te case if you have USA wide data (as opposed to
    just a state or two)
c) Use the tools that come with Business Analyst if appropriate -- they are
    optimised to work with BDS and SDC datasets and can do so more effciently
    than general tools from the toolbox
d) Append field(s) to the BDS layers using Business Analyst tools. A new BDS
    layer will be created

If I have said anything incorrect here perhaps someone from ESRI could correct me
but this was my understanding from talking with Jason earlier today.

Rob Stevens

topic ArcView Desktop frequently hangs when selecting a layer in toolbox tools in ArcGIS Spatial Analyst Questions

ArcView Desktop frequently hangs when selecting a layer in toolbox tools

Re: ArcView Desktop frequently hangs when selecting a layer in toolbox tools