Update Hosted Scene Layers

[DirkSilbermann]

Currently our Workflow to Update 3d hostet scene layer is as follows:

 - upload new scene layer package or update an existing scene layer package

 - delete old hostet scene layer (backup describtions/sharing etc.)

 - public new hostet scene layer from uploaded/updatet scene layer package using the same name as the old hostet scene layer

 - edit describtions and sharing ptions for the new hostet scene layer to be the same as the old layer.

That way all Scenes and apps using the hostet scene layer Link are updated.

However, this is not very streamline!

(In 2D are at least otions to update / overwrite web features services form arcmap/apro. I also found an describtion to update scene layers from feature layers with 3d symbols, however this is not preferable and might consume a lot of credits.)

Easiest way might be, just to update the hostet scene layer automatically, if the corresponding scene layer Package is updated. (Or put a button in the hostet scene layer to trigger updates, maybe even from another scene layer package, that way different versions could be maintained.)

If there are other ways to update hostet 3d scene layers, it would be nice to hear about...

[Andrew--Johnson]

Hi,

The following functionality is in the near term ArcGIS Pro roadmap which should be the functionality that you are looking for.

• Scene Layer Editing - The ability to edit or delete feature-centric I3S layers, including 3D Object and 3D Point layers.  This will include attribute edits, attribute table edits, symbology, and geometry edits.

Also, not sure if you are familiar with the Python API but it can be used to automate updating packages and publishing of layers

Publishing packages as web layers | ArcGIS for Developers 

arcgis.gis module — arcgis 1.4.0 documentation 

[Andrew--Johnson]

Hi,

Wanted to close the loop on this. Scene Layer editing support was added at 2.2. Have you had a chance to test out that functionality? Does that satisfy the requirements in this idea? Thanks.

Edit a scene layer with associated feature layer—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS Desktop 

[DirkSilbermann]

Thanks for the update, i will look into this, once I got 2.2 installed...

First glance in the documentation reveals, that this will not work with locally cached slpk which are uploaded?

So I need to share and cache directly on the Server (which will cost how much cedits exactly for slpk)?

[Andrew--Johnson]

Hi,

This workflow is not intended for slpks as they are cache only and cannot be edited. You have to share the data as a web scene layer in order to get the associated feature layer for it to be editable. 

This blog details the scene layer editing story

https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-pro/3d-gis/scene-layer-editing-in-arcgis-pro-2-2/  

To achieve full functionality with scene layer editing it is best to share the web scene layer by reference to Portal for ArcGIS. There are still some backend enhancements that need to be made on the ArcGIS  side of things so currently multipatch (3D Object) editing is not supported in ArcGIS .

As far as credits are concerned here is the breakdown for server side caching

1 credit per 1,000 textured multipatch features

1 credit per 5,000 untextured multipatch features or point features

Understand credits—ArcGIS  Help | ArcGIS 

thanks,

Andrew

[Anonymous User]

If you published a scene layer from a hosted feature layer starting with the September 2018 update to ArcGIS  you can now rebuild the scene layer cache to incorporate changes made to the hosted feature layer. 

[DirkSilbermann]

Thanks, nice blog, now I understand the workflow a little better and will look into this...

[Anonymous User]

Have you been able to get your desired workflow with the addition of the new editing workflows? If yes please let me know and I'll mark the idea as implemented. 

[StefanUseldinger]

Any news here?

[DirkSilbermann]

Well, I tested the Workflow and benefits of publishing Scene Layers from associated Feature Layers.

Good things first: Workflow is more streamline to update or edit associated features and just rebuild cache.

Its also possible to configure Pop-Ups of the associated feature Layer in 2d map, which are passed trough to 3D-Scenes (for now scene layers without associated features Layers show all attributes and are not configurable, yet).

And its possible to use features for Search-Widgets.

Downsides are:

- online caching consumes credits:  1 credit per 1000/5000 multipatch feature, which is a lot for a city with 150.000 buildings, 1mio. trees and other things. However, it might be worth to invest...

- feature storage consumes much more credits then slpk-pakages. Multipatch buildings need a lot more storage space the usual 2d-features, so we would end up to spend about 400 times more credit points if we would store same data as multipatch features instead of scene layer packages. This is a no go!

- Pop up configuration needs to be saved to the feature Layer after set up in 2d map in order to be used in scenes, so only one configuration per layer is possible. If we need different pop up configuration for different scenes, we need to duplicate the feature Layer, which dosnt make sense (a view would be nice to have or configuration of Pop ups directly in 3d scenes, preferably using scene layer attributes directly instead off associated features).

For now, the benefits do not justify spending so much more credits! (espacially the feature storage of multipatch data)

@Esri: please correct me, if Im wrong...

[Andrew--Johnson]

Hi Dirk,

How many buildings are you usually editing at a time? If it's a smaller number then we have the partial update option so you do not need to do a full cache rebuild and consume a large amount of credits.

Manage hosted scene layers—ArcGIS Online Help | Documentation 

For popups, have you tried configuring prior to publishing? If you do it in ArcGIS Pro before you publish then the configuration will be written to the popupInfo. Thin clients such as the Scene Viewer do not have popup configuration options yet so the best workflow would be to configure prior to publishing.

thanks,

Andrew