Shapefile as Input to GEP

[DarrylWilson]

Hello,

Is it possible to use a shapefile (.shp) as an input type for the GeoEvent Processor?

Best Regards

Darryl

[RJSunderman]

Hello Darryl -

Sorry, no, there is no inbound connector out-of-the-box which will read the Esri Shapefile format. The input connectors capable of reading system file content available out-of-the-box expect the file to contain either generic JSON, geoJSON, or delimited text (e.g. CSV).

If you must retrieve your data from a Shapefile you would need to develop a custom adapter using the product's SDK. It would probably be easier to bring the Shapefile content into a MXD document and publish the content as a either a map service or a feature service ... then use the 'Poll an ArcGIS Server for Features' input to make REST requests on the published service to retrieve its features as event data.

Please keep in mind that the GeoEvent Extension generally supports RESTful data streams. There are inputs capable of watching a system folder for files, but these inputs have some significant limitations and are generally intended to prove that real-time analytics you have designed in a GeoEvent Service behave as you intend. Moving toward production we expect real-time data feeds to arrive via HTTP/POST or as replies to queries you make on an external server's URL.

Hope this information helps -

RJ

[JessicaRouns]

Hi @RJSunderman - just checking whether there's any update in the product plan to include shapefiles as an OOTB input connector?

[RJSunderman]

Hello @JessicaRouns.  No, there no plans to develop an out-of-the-box inbound connector for GeoEvent Server that reads the Esri Shapefile format. Using a shapefile to capture and relay sensor observations to GeoEvent Server is not considered a good fit for real-time data.

Date values in a shapefile are stored as a character string yyyy-mm-dd without a time. When using a shapefile, the time portion of a datetime value is truncated / dropped from the data value. For example, the datetime 2002-08-20 12:00:00 PM is stored in a shapefile as simply 2002-08-20. This is a severe limitation when considering the collecting and representation of sensor data presumably being updated in real-time.

I would encourage you to consider ways that you might capture sensor observations as either delimited text or JSON formatted data records. You could relay delimited text to a GeoEvent Server input via a TCP socket relatively easily, or use an input capable of receiving JSON as HTTP/POST requests. Either way, you are probably going to want to use a web service to convey the data, or write a Python script to send the data to GeoEvent Server's input. You could use a system file to convey the data as either delimited text or in a JSON format, but I would recommend other transport protocols over using system files.

Hope this information helps --
RJ

cross-reference:
  -  Calculate date fields (ArcGIS Pro Documentation)
  -  Fundamentals of date fields (ArcMap 10.8 Documentation)

[JessicaRouns]

Hi @RJSunderman, thanks for the thoughtful response. Completely understand the limitations of shapefiles. I will look into transport protocols. Thanks again.