Best Practice for "Replicating" Data to AGOL?

[PeterTimmers]

If we had a large feature class (polygons for example) that changed regularly that we wanted to host on AGOL, what would be the best way to automate a "replication" of the data.   We don't use versioning and we would prefer to host the data on AGOL instead of on our ArcGIS Server to separate our loads.

We currently have an Amazon account which we're doing some not-so-robust python to either delete/append or copy zipped file geodatabases.

So the data will be a feature service on AGOL and we want to change the data regularly.  And it's not just simple data so we can't do things like GeoRSS or KML....

Thanks,
Peter

[JasonBalmut]

Same, 10.1 SP1.  Did it matter what the Feature Service URL was?

I just tried to overwrite the Feature Service and it didn't work.  The process completed, but the original date is the same and the features are still several months old.

[JaromHlebasko]

I am also running 10.1 SP1. I also do not have a problem overwriting an existing feature service. I go through the process and everything seems to complete. It is the data behind the service that is not getting updated. Every time I overwrite an existing service, the original data is the same and no updated features or changes are showing just like jesterjace has stated. I guess the question is, what is the best workflow for our situation?

[MikeMinami]

Where is your data stored locally? In my simple test case, I was just using shapefiles...

Thanks,

Mike

[JaromHlebasko]

Where is your data stored locally? In my simple test case, I was just using shapefiles...

Thanks,

Mike

My data is stored in a file geodatabase that has domains established. Thank you!

[JasonBalmut]

Where is your data stored locally? In my simple test case, I was just using shapefiles...

Thanks,

Mike

And mine is a mix of SDE and FGDB.

[RonnieRichards]

We too are having problems updating the data behind a hosted feature service using the overwrite existing service option. We have been struggling with this for months and the only work-a-round we found was to delete the service and republish as others suggested on this thread.

We use SDE for all of our data sources before they go out to feature services.

There does not seem to be a way to automate the "Data" side to all of this. The delete and append features tool do not appear to work against service url's. I wish we could just use gdb replication or better yet simply dropping a FGDB out on AGOL org.

[JaromHlebasko]

Alright, I was just informed of a great way to synchronize changes, added features, deleted features, and anything else in the editing environment that can be performed on data from within ArcMap 10.1. We all know that for some reason the overwrite existing services option is not working. The best way to do this now is to make a local copy of the service. Please read the following help topic:

http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#/About_editing_data_from_feature_services/0...

So what you need to do is add a feature service to ArcMap. If you have an organization account like I do, I can actually drag my feature service right into ArcMap from within My Hosted Services in ArcCatalog. Now the trick is, right-click on the group layer name, not the individual layer, and scroll down to Edit Features and then choose the first option Create Local Copy for Editing. This will create a local copy of the feature services within the group layer and put it in a new file geodatabase. Then you are off to the races. Start editing like you normally would and if you have several edits to apply and you can't get to it right away, just save your ArcMap session and reopen it when you're ready to finish your edits. After all edits are performed, go back to the Edit Features option and choose Synchronize Local Edits with Server.

If you are using a file geodatabase like I am, you can only synchronize changes once. If you have other edits that need to be made, you will have to perform another Create Local Copy for Editing session. However, if you have an ArcSDE, you can perform multiple edits and whatnot. Anyway, hope this helps everyone out. I am finally excited for these editing capabilities which will absolutely streamline the workflow.

[DougSchenk]

Does ESRI have specific workflow documentation on; Overwriting Existing Tiled Map Services on ArcGIS.com for Organizations? I believe I am experiencing similar problems in deleting an existing tiled map service and replacing it with a new tiled map service with the same name.  It does not appear that all the old tiles are being deleted.  Help is most appreciated.