topic Flex Viewer cached map services resolution different than JavaScript Viewer in ArcGIS Viewer for Flex Questions

Flex Viewer cached map services resolution different than JavaScript Viewer

MeadeTurner — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:49:09 GMT

Can someone please let me know if there should be a consistent display of cached map services between the JavaScript Viewer vs. the Flex Viewer. I have created a cached map service and the quality degrades substantially when viewing the same map service in the Flex viewer (3.0) vs. the JavaScript viewer. Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Re: Flex Viewer cached map services resolution different than JavaScript Viewer

MehrshadNourani — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:59:28 GMT

I have the same exact questions! I would appreciate any thoughts on the issue.

Re: Flex Viewer cached map services resolution different than JavaScript Viewer

DasaPaddock — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 20:26:30 GMT

Are you setting the layer's type to "tiled"?

See:
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/flex-viewer/concepts/index.html#/Layer_tag/01m30000000p000000/

Re: Flex Viewer cached map services resolution different than JavaScript Viewer

MehrshadNourani — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 11:52:16 GMT

Are you setting the layer's type to "tiled"?

See:
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/flex-viewer/concepts/index.html#/Layer_tag/01m30000000p000000/

Thank you for your response. When I set the layer's type to "tiled", the layer does not draw! Only when the layer type is set to "dynamic", it draws! Thanks for your help.

Re: Flex Viewer cached map services resolution different than JavaScript Viewer

RobertScheitlin__GISP — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 12:11:26 GMT

Meade and Mehrshad,

Here is an image of the topo map take using both the Flex API and JS API and they are identical in quality.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]16830[/ATTACH]

Mehrshad, Your likely issue is that all your tiled/cached maps have to be in the same spatial reference and have the same levels of display if you are going to be able to see them together in the map.

Re: Flex Viewer cached map services resolution different than JavaScript Viewer

DasaPaddock — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:58:15 GMT

If you set the layer type to "dynamic", the client will ask the server for a single large map image to be generated for the current extent of the map. If the service on the server has cached tiles, it will stitch the tiles together and resample the image to match the requested scale and spatial reference. This can reduce the output quality vs. loading the tiles directly into the client. You can try setting imageformat="png32" to see if this improves the output quality. Another option, if you're using a 10.1 server, is to enable dynamic layers on the service and then the server will produce the new image from the source data instead. This means that the cached tiles would not be used at all. For the best performance though you'll need to set the layer type to "tiled" and make sure that all the "tiled" layers are cached using the same spatial reference and scales.

Re: Flex Viewer cached map services resolution different than JavaScript Viewer

MehrshadNourani — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 12:53:46 GMT

Dasa,
I'll follow through with your advice. Thank you very much for your advice!

Re: Flex Viewer cached map services resolution different than JavaScript Viewer

MehrshadNourani — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 12:56:25 GMT

Robert,
I think I may have missed a few steps in creating the services. Thanks for your advice.

Re: Flex Viewer cached map services resolution different than JavaScript Viewer

MehrshadNourani — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 14:06:51 GMT

Meade and Mehrshad,

Here is an image of the topo map take using both the Flex API and JS API and they are identical in quality.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]16830[/ATTACH]

Mehrshad, Your likely issue is that all your tiled/cached maps have to be in the same spatial reference and have the same levels of display if you are going to be able to see them together in the map.

Robert,

I followed your advice and retraced our steps over, and over, and matched our projections/scales and resolution, but still get two distinctly different image quality between the services. I have a snapshot of our Flex Viewer vs. JavaScrip service. We would be grateful if you have any suggestions.

Re: Flex Viewer cached map services resolution different than JavaScript Viewer

RobertScheitlin__GISP — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:43:32 GMT

Mehrshad,

the advice I gave was concerning this comment of yours:

Thank you for your response. When I set the layer's type to "tiled", the layer does not draw! Only when the layer type is set to "dynamic", it draws! Thanks for your help.

So are you able to add the layer a tiled and you still get the resolution difference?

Re: Flex Viewer cached map services resolution different than JavaScript Viewer

MehrshadNourani — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 16:18:42 GMT

Robert,
Clarification: I still have the "dynamic" vs "tiled" issue where I cannot view the cached layers (5 layers are fused) as "tiled"; the cached service is viewable only when the Flex Viewer is set to "dynamic". Thank you again for your time and advice!

Re: Flex Viewer cached map services resolution different than JavaScript Viewer

RobertScheitlin__GISP — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 17:47:50 GMT

Mehrshad,

Well that explains the difference in the resolution then... For you to be able to use the layer as a tiled layer than it will have to be cached at the same LODs and Spatial reference as the other cached layers you are using in the map.

Re: Flex Viewer cached map services resolution different than JavaScript Viewer

MeadeTurner — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 11:40:42 GMT

One option I explored to see if this is a caching problem vs. a Flexviewer problem was to make a simple Flex app and pull in the map service. I did this and the map service draws perfectly just as it does in the Javascript API and the ArcGIS Online map. Here is the code I wrote below. So, could there be something behind the scene that the Flexviewer is doing that cannot be explained?

Simple Flex program that displays the local tiled map service and an ESRI basemap.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Application xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
      xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
      xmlns:esri="http://www.esri.com/2008/ags"
      pageTitle="A tiled map service">

<esri:Map>
<esri:ArcGISTiledMapServiceLayer url="http://webapps.did.census.gov:8399/arcgis/rest/services/Pop/04_NHW_p_point_chg/MapServer"/>
<esri:ArcGISTiledMapServiceLayer url="http://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/World_Topo_Map/MapServer"/>
</esri:Map>

</s:Application>

Re: Flex Viewer cached map services resolution different than JavaScript Viewer

RobertScheitlin__GISP — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 12:10:24 GMT

Meade,

Can you provide a screen shot of the quality difference you are seeing?

Re: Flex Viewer cached map services resolution different than JavaScript Viewer

MeadeTurner — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 13:41:28 GMT

Robert,

Attached is the comparison image when viewing the map service in the Flex Viewer 3.0 vs. viewing in the map service Javascript API. The only way I can get the tiled map service to draw in the Flex viewer is to set the layer type to "dynamic" and that is when the image looks degraded. If I switch to "titled" layer type the service does not render at ALL!

To test the map service will render properly I made a simple Flex api as I mentioned in my previous reply and it draws just fine. This leads me to believe that there is some conflict within the Flex viewer. My $0.02.

Re: Flex Viewer cached map services resolution different than JavaScript Viewer

DasaPaddock — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 15:45:13 GMT

Meade,

Were you able to try any of my suggestions from post #6 above?

Re: Flex Viewer cached map services resolution different than JavaScript Viewer

MeadeTurner — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 16:34:43 GMT

Dasa,

Finally got the resolution to come out as it should!!! The combination that ultimately fixed the issue was to set the layer type="dynamic" (even though the service is cached) and I added imageformat="png32". If I switch type to tiled the service does not show up. So I am going to stick with this configuration because it works and I don't know what else to try.

Thank you for you assistance!!!

Re: Flex Viewer cached map services resolution different than JavaScript Viewer

MehrshadNourani — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 11:53:18 GMT

Dasa,

I echo Meade's thanks as well. I used the same approach and was able to resolve the resolution issue. Thanks, again for your support. This forum is a FANTASTIC resource!