Features disappear on zoom?

[Public_HealthObservatory]

I have an AGX 1200 project with a series of boundary shapefiles in it. At the full extent of the shapefiles (all shapefiles have the same extent), I can see all the features of all of the shapefiles. However, when I zoom in, some of them disappear. Some shapefiles work at any zoom level, and some of them disappear when I zoom in. First just part of the features will disappear, like the right half of the extent. Then as I go in further, they disappear completely. None of them have any minimum/maximum display scales set. The ones that work, work consistently, and the ones that fail, fail consistently.

Can anyone help? Thanks in advance!

[NicholasGross]

My work around is to change the 'Refresh Options' for the particular problem layers.

-Rick

At first glance, setting a time interval seems to have solved the problem. I just used the default 1 hour. I can also confirm that setting the refresh for 'when the map is opened' doesn't do anything at all.

Thanks Rick!

[NickForrest]

In the old forums, I found a solution for this issue.  They suggested exporting the shapefile to a new shapefile (right click --> data --> export).  This fixed this issue for me.  Hope it helps.  Adam

This worked for me when doing it manually, but the problem was then to automate it in VBA - just using the geoprocessor object for Copy and for Export Shapefile didn't work. However, it did work for CopyFeatures, so I am now able to fix 60 files by looping the following sub.
Obviously put in the correct strings for the full paths to your files. Just add in your own loop to modify the filenames if you need to.

Dim pGP As Object
Set pGP = CreateObject("esriGeoprocessing.GpDispatch.1")
pGP.copyfeatures_management "Full_path_to_input_shapefile" , Full_path_to_output_shapefile")

[SarahGreenlaw]

I've also had the exact same problem but seem to have found a means to work around it.  I'm using Explorer build 1500. In my current case the failing layers are layer packages (.lpk) built in ArcGIS 10.  I've also watched it happen last week in shapefiles and FGDB feature classes.  Only two out of several layer packages are experiencing this issue in my current Explorer project.  They work fine for a while panning and zooming, but it seems that once the cache for these particular layers gets to a certain size of around 2mb they start to fail in the map (I've been watching the file sizes in the default cache directory C:\Documents and Settings\...username...\Local Settings\Temp\E3).

My work around is to change the 'Refresh Options' for the particular problem layers.  Go to Layer Properties, Source Data, and choose the radio button for "At a specific time interval".  It doesn't seem to matter what time interval you set. I tried "1 hour" and also "1 minute" and both worked immediately to solve the problem.  You need to save the your project for the setting to take effect permanently.

As a side note...It seems like the refresh option for "When the map is opened or the layer is added" would similarly solve the problem but it does not.  That option apparently has a bug.  See this forum http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/15362-Help-me-understand-caches-and-refresh-options?highlight=explo...
-Rick

thank you so much Rick! your solution works!

btw, this problem has persisted in ArcGIS Explorer Build 1750, and I thought there was nothing I could do about it.  but it caused major irritations for my users! and the only way I got around it before was to remove the layer, then add it again.  But it didn't solve it permanently.  I am using .lyr files built in ArcGIS 10.

[DustinDunnill]

We have had the same problem with some of our data diss-appearing as well. I have all data setup to stream layer packages. Mainly sections of a TMK layer will just not draw at certain zoom levels.  Our solution for the time being was to train the users on how to "right click" the data in the contents window and just refresh.  Seems to work for us for the time being.  I'm assuming this clears the cache for the data being refreshed.

[SarahGreenlaw]

actually it turns out that the above solution didn't work for us.  It seemed to work at first, but then the problem came back.  We are using layer packages too.

I contacted ESRI tech support, and they suggested trying it with just a couple of layers that I was having problems with.  Then, there were no more lines dissappearing. Attached is a screen shot of our map - we have quite a few layers. So I removed some of the layers that were non-essential, and it seems to be working fine now. 

My application configuration includes the "Add Content" button, so users can always add content as they need it for a particular application.

[SarahGreenlaw]

We have had the same problem with some of our data diss-appearing as well. I have all data setup to stream layer packages. Mainly sections of a TMK layer will just not draw at certain zoom levels.  Our solution for the time being was to train the users on how to "right click" the data in the contents window and just refresh.  Seems to work for us for the time being.  I'm assuming this clears the cache for the data being refreshed.

Hi Dustin,

thanks for the suggestion for refreshing the layers.  This is still not working totally properly for us. How large are your datasets and how many layers do you have in your map?

I'm wondering, when you say you are streaming the layer packages - where are you streaming them from? local C drive? network? server?

thanks!
Sarah

[SarahGreenlaw]

Although time has passed from the last posting, I wished to provide insight. Under C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\Temp, the A3 folder contains the caches that need to be purged on a regular basis, especially if the same default map or AGE project is opened time and again. By not clearing the cache, the feature class/layer symbology [not labeling] will disappear.

As a resolve to the matter, I use a .vbs script that purges all of the C:\Temp folder when a user logs in and for those, that rarely logout during the day, a desktop shortcut to purge as needed during the day. I have also upgraded from AGE 1200 to the latest version 1500.

Thanks Shelly for the advice here! I wanted to note that I tried your solution with Build 1750, and it worked. However, I am using Windows 7, and the path was different: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Temp\E3\MapCacheV1
The other solutions I've tried (note by users above) seemed to work temporarily, but the problem persisted with features dissapearing on zoom. But once I went to that folder and deleted its contents, it worked fine. I think I will have my IT department create something for users where it clears this folder on login. thanks for the advice!

[DustinDunnill1]

Hi Dustin,

thanks for the suggestion for refreshing the layers.  This is still not working totally properly for us. How large are your datasets and how many layers do you have in your map?

I'm wondering, when you say you are streaming the layer packages - where are you streaming them from? local C drive? network? server?

thanks!
Sarah

The main .lpk we have problems with is 11MB TMK which is the largest since we have attached tabular data to it.  All the rest are mostly under a 1MB.  We are displaying about 27 .lpk's at once.  I have all of the .lpk's on a network drive.  I publish the map and upload to Argis.com "Groups" which I then download to each PC with the same access to the network drive.  Works great aside from the occasional draw issue.

[SarahGreenlaw]

The main .lpk we have problems with is 11MB TMK which is the largest since we have attached tabular data to it.  All the rest are mostly under a 1MB.  We are displaying about 27 .lpk's at once.  I have all of the .lpk's on a network drive.  I publish the map and upload to Argis.com "Groups" which I then download to each PC with the same access to the network drive.  Works great aside from the occasional draw issue.

Hi Dustin,

yeah that's a lot of layers and data. do you have an SDE server you could save the data to? or have you tried saving it on your users' local machines? how many users do you have?

I reduced the number of layers in my map (although users can still add them through 'add content') and have all the data stored on each user's C drive - we have 12 users.  I know this is not the best solution (I would prefer to save it on a server - we're working on that) but I found working with the data on the network was really slow.  I guess it all depends on your organization's network latency. 

So you're using ArcGIS Explorer Online? sounds like a great idea! I didn't know you could do that and still use local data.

[DustinDunnill]

Hi Dustin,

yeah that's a lot of layers and data. do you have an SDE server you could save the data to? or have you tried saving it on your users' local machines? how many users do you have?

I reduced the number of layers in my map (although users can still add them through 'add content') and have all the data stored on each user's C drive - we have 12 users.  I know this is not the best solution (I would prefer to save it on a server - we're working on that) but I found working with the data on the network was really slow.  I guess it all depends on your organization's network latency. 

So you're using ArcGIS Explorer Online? sounds like a great idea! I didn't know you could do that and still use local data.

The data is just stored on a drive within our network which all computers can access.  I did not want to have each computer have the data locally because it is changing dynamically by me and I can just overwright the data on the network drive that everyone uses so they have the most current on their Explorer.  What is an SDE server?  We are going to have about 50 users on this system for now.  Mainly the TMK .lpk is slow (probably because it is so big) but it is still very usable.

If you are going to go the route of having the data on a networked drive there is a main issue.  When I moved from Arcmap 9 to 10, when I made changes to a .lpk and then overwrote to the network, .lpk's were unreadable by ArcGIS Explorer.  Turns out the .lpk which Arcmap 10 spits out was a bit different than 9 and was making Explorer fussy so they were all broken data.  I had to re-upload a main map for the Explorer users to download and save.  Once that was done Explorer has no problem until I update another shared .lpk using Arcmap 10 which were originally made from Arcmap 9.