Advices on Geodatabase in ArcGIS Online

[SalvatoreValente]

Hi guys,

We recently bought an ArcGIS Server and we federated it with an ArcGIS Portal to create a web-GIS application that will allow people to visualize and query many layers of a specific region.

Currently, we are using an Oracle Database as Datastore to store our layers, but we would like to get rid of it because our IT boss thinks that the Oracle instance is very demanding in terms of resources on our server.

I thought we could use different File Geodatabases as Datastore, instead of the Oracle Database, to organize our feature data, but I'd like to ask some questions I couldn't find the answer to.

1) Can I store different kinds of layers (i.e. line, polygon, and points) in the same gdb file?

2) Is there a limit on the number of layers you can store in the gdb file? From what I read in the ESRI documentation, there is a limit to the number of features that can be visualized, but this can be unlocked by editing the MaxRecordCount parameter in the REST endpoint in ArcGIS Online. Can I unlock this number for the entire geodatabase?

3) Is it possible to append layers to an online geodatabase?

4) Suppose that the team that manages the content of the Portal is scattered around the country, what do you think should be the best practices to upload the geodatabase and update them?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Waffle_House]

1)  Yes, FGDB is just a folder basically. Here is more info: https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/10.3/manage-data/administer-file-gdbs/file-geodatabases.htm#:~:....

2) Size limits for FGDB contents are here: https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/latest/manage-data/administer-file-gdbs/file-geodatabase-size-a...

3) Can you clarify? If you publish a FGDB to ArcGIS Online it will just be a folder unless you publish the layers to hosted feature layers. See item types you can add to AGOL here: https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-online/reference/supported-items.htm

4) If you have Portal then you can publish to the Portal from wherever you like. Same with ArcGIS Online. 

[SalvatoreValente]

Hi Waffle, thanks for your reply.

Well, in AGOL, it doesn't seem to me that FGDB behaves like a folder as the one on my desktop: for instance, in AGOL, I can store raster datasets in it, but I can't visualize it in the Map Viewer. So, in my case, I can't use them to store raster datasets.

Since we want to publish the content of the FGDB on a Web Map, I need to publish them as hosted feature layers. As hosted feature layer, I can see the feature layers inside the FGDB, edit the layer visualizations and tables, but can I append new layers to the FGDB already online?

[KristalWalsh]

Yes, I'm doing that exact task right now. I have a FGDB with at least 9 hosted feature layers and some changes were made in ArcGIS Pro. Go to the FGDB item details page in AGOL and click on "update data" and it will give you the option to append new data to each layer one at a time. You will have to zip your FGDB to choose it.  Hope this is what you're looking for. 

[SalvatoreValente]

Hi Kristal, thanks for the reply.

With "Update Data", I can only update the entire FGDB by overwriting the whole thing. 

I was wondering if there is a way to just append a new layer to an already uploaded FGDB.

Salvatore

[KristalWalsh]

Salvatore, maybe I misunderstood your situation but here are screen shots from what I am working with. I am appending only a couple layers to an already uploaded FGDB.  

[SalvatoreValente]

Thank you Kristal. It seems that my interface is slightly different from yours, do you know why? I saw that kind of interface in some ESRI videos, but I never understood why mine was different. Attached you can find what I can see in my Feature Layer created from a FGDB.

[KristalWalsh]

Salvatore, there are seriously so many ways to "create an item" depending on your workflow and I have been successful only through trial and error. I created my FGDB in ArcGIS pro and then published to AGOL. A different workflow could result in the view you see but at the moment, I'm not sure what it is. I don't use ArcGIS Server. I would be interested to know more about best practices for management of FGDB because my work has the potential to be the size of yours. I'm sorry I couldn't help more. Can you try to republish your FGDB via ArcGIS Pro? I have had inconsistent results when adding data via AGOL so do like the Pro workflow. 

[SalvatoreValente]

I'm sorry Kristal, but I'm not quite sure about how to publish a fgdb from ArcGIS Pro. I mean, I can't find "Share as Service" if I right-click on the geodatabase in the Catalog. How can I do it?

Thank you so much.

Salvatore Valente 

[KristalWalsh]

I usually keep very detailed notes but I can't find this exactly. I am pretty sure I used Share Web Layer to create the original map service that includes all the layers. Then I can append each layer individually as I have changes. I do know I had some errors the first time and had to adjust things. I have related tables in my FGDB so I was more concerned with the integrity of those relationships publishing and working in Field Maps. There is a few YouTube videos about publishing from ArcGIS Pro to AGOL also, so check those out.