topic Re: Feature Compare tool does not work as expected in Geodatabase Questions

Feature Compare tool does not work as expected

MalcolmMeyer2 — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 13:57:44 GMT

After two days of debugging the Feature Compare tool in ArcCatalog 10.7.1 and reading through this forum it would seem the tool does not work as expected. It seems way too comprehensive. It would be great if there was a "simple" compare checkbox that would just compare the shapes and attributes...debugging all these errors is just not going to cut it. See workaround below if you are in the same situation.

Workflow:

Import feature into a backup SDE from production SDE

Compare Features with Feature Compare (making sure to change the names of the features so they are both the same)

Sort by ObjectID

If Features are different, delete existing backup and copy new features to backup

Expected Result = Features are the same

Actual Result, features are different

Tried a variety of methods, with a variety of what I consider errors...

FeatureClass: ObjectID 21 is different for Field Shape (Base: Geometry, Test: Geometry).

SpatialReference: Spatial References have different M precision (Base: 0.000000000000, 1.000000000000, Test: -100000.000000000000, 10000.000000000000).
SpatialReference: Spatial References have different Z precision (Base: 0.000000000000, 1.000000000000, Test: -100000.000000000000, 10000.000000000000).

So either the tool does not work properly or the documentation is missing key information for users to use this tool properly.

Re: Feature Compare tool does not work as expected

MicahBabinski — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 14:33:30 GMT

Nice workaround, Malcolm! I wasn't aware of esri2open but I'm glad I am now.

I wouldn't expect Feature Compare to work too well with OBJECTID as the sort field, since OBJECTIDs are notoriously unstable. Which command or GP tool did you use to import your features into a backup SDE from production SDE? Sometimes the OIDs get scrambled depending on which tool you use. Copy work better than others in my experience.

Re: Feature Compare tool does not work as expected

MalcolmMeyer2 — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 14:44:25 GMT

Background -

I am new to SDE and want to create an SDE and file backup that only copies over changed files. My process is -

Iterate Features - use Feature Compare to check if they are the same from SDE to backup SDE, if so then do nothing, if not then continue. I don't think the sort field is the problem. I think the tool tries too hard and all I really need is a simple file/table hash. I tried using the "Shape" field as well and got similar errors.