What's new in ArcGIS Defense Mapping (March 2023)

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Welcome to another release of ArcGIS Pro! We’re excited to share details about the newest functionality available with the topographic production extensions for ArcGIS Pro 3.1. Highlights include:

• New topographic elements that can be added to your layouts included with the Defense Mapping extension
• A new geoprocessing tool to help ensure spot height accuracy
• Two geoprocessing tools in the Topographic Production toolbox used to export and import Multinational Geospatial Co-production Program (MGCP) metadata now support MGCP Urban Vector Data (MUVD) metadata
• The Defense Mapping extension product files for ArcGIS Pro include an add-in that can be used to review the metadata XML not as a machine, but in a format for humans

New surround elements

An Image City Map (ICM) is a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) map product. In the previous release of ArcGIS Pro, the Calculate Metrics geoprocessing tool was enhanced to support the precision of the ICM product. This tool populates metrics for features in a geodatabase, including Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) values. With the ArcGIS Pro 3.1 release, those values are used to create the two new elements.

Both elements are tables that appear on a layout. The Guide To Numbered Features element helps find a feature on the map in the layout and the Index To Streets element helps find a street. A column in these tables lists feature IDs and another column lists the corresponding MGRS value. This MGRS value corresponds to a cell in the grid where the feature is found. The Index To Streets element is configured with a Street column that lists the name of streets. Both elements can be configured with more columns that represent other feature attributes such as area.

Watch how the elements are inserted and configured after using the Calculate Metrics geoprocessing tool to obtain MGRS values in the following video.

Topographic Production toolbox

The Topographic Production toolbox has a new geoprocessing tool to help ensure the height values for spot heights are accurate. Typically, spot heights derive their height value from an elevation attribute of the contour line next to them. The Validate Spot Heights geoprocessing tool checks that the spot height values are higher than or equal to the corresponding contour line’s height. Using the configured contour interval value, the tool also checks for missing contour lines between a spot height and a contour’s highest point. Watch the tool in action as it selects spot heights that fail this validation in the following video.

MGCP metadata

If you're working with MGCP data, options have been expanded to work with MGCP Urban Vector Data (MUVD). The Import MGCP Metadata and Export MGCP Metadata geoprocessing tools both support MUVD metadata at this release. Watch the following videos to see how MUVD metadata is imported and exported.

• Import MGCP Metadata
• Export MGCP Metadata

Metadata add-in

Now you can also preview the metadata in a comprehensive format rather than in XML. The Defense Mapping extension product data files include a Metadata add-in that can be installed with a just a few clicks.

Once installed, it appears in the ArcGIS Pro Add-In Manager. Then from the Options menu, you can specify the type of metadata that you are working with. Once that's done, you can right-click the XML file in your project and choose a new, “View Topographic Metadata” option. This opens a Metadata tab with the XML formatted for easy review. The following video demonstrates how to install the add-in and use it to preview MUVD metadata.

Other enhancements

There is a new enhancement to workflows that involve data maintenance. The step in a workflow that opens a map can be configured to clip the map and its data to the job AOI. This means less data to handle, which requires less processing power. Jobs run in the background are also now prioritized.

When it comes to generalization, the following is a list of enhancements included with the Defense Mapping and Production Mapping product data files:

• There is a new tool to increase a polygon’s area.
• There is a new tool to extend a polygon’s sides.
• There is a new Thin Features tool that enhances the way points are clustered.
• Different thin tolerances can be specified for the General Point model.
• When converting polygons to points, you can specify the building angle on the point.
• When thinning buildings, you can thin different tolerances based on the distance from a built-up area.
• How the built-up areas are aggregated has been improved.

Keep on the lookout for more content involving workflows and generalization soon!