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Automatically Set Elevation of KMZ 3D Model from Loaded Source

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11-25-2019 08:40 AM
Status: Open
EricEagle
by
Frequent Contributor

KML/KMZ is a common format for sharing geopositioned 3D models.  My office publishes a large amount of this content.  Some of it we create; some we receive from partners - so simply removing KML/KMZ from the business process is not a possibility.

The problem is that importing and publishing KML/KMZ 3D models is tedious, but I know it could be made much easier with only a few simple changes on Esri's part!

Currently, when a KMZ model is loaded into a 3D scene in ArcGIS Pro (imported into a 3D multipatch), the analyst must go through a process of determining the objective elevation of the multipatch, and then perform a manual move by editing the Z-value.  If this is not done prior to publication as a 3D web scene in Portal, the service will render the model at a 0/MSL altitude, causing it to draw "under" the elevation source in the web scene.

So the current, bad workflow is:

  1. Analyst imports 3D KMZ model into ArcGIS Pro local/global 3D scene as multipatch.
  2. Analyst asks, huh, where's my model?
  3. Analyst turns off the elevation source and sees, there's my model.
  4. Analyst gets center coord of model.
  5. Analyst turns back on the elevation layer.
  6. Analyst selects a location to gather the elevation measurement.
  7. Analyst edits the multipatch.
  8. Analyst moves the multipatch to an absolute z-value.
  9. Analyst types in the value gathered 3 steps previously.
  10. Analyst saves the multipatch.
  11. Analyst sees, now the model correctly renders on the loaded elevation source.
  12. Analyst shares content as a web scene.

This process could be made so much better.  I would like to see the following functionality: if a model is loaded in Pro and its elevation setting is set to "on the Ground"; then publishing that model as a web scene should cause the multipatch to inherit whatever that elevation value is.

So the better workflow, broken down, would look like this:

  1. Analyst imports 3D KMZ model into ArcGIS Pro local/global 3D scene as a multipatch. (currently works)
  2. Analyst sets properties of multipatch to clamp to loaded elevation source (Ground). (currently works, tho it needs a refresh)
  3. Analyst shares workspace as 3D web scene, which automatically sets the model's elevation value upon publication. (currently not available).