Georeferencing PDFs in ArcGIS Pro

KetiKonstantinova

Hi,

In my line of work, I need to be able to georeference PDFs in ArcGIS Pro. We already have significant library of all the PDFs that we need (more that 100,000). For us it is a waste of space and money to convert all of these (and future) PDFs in TIFF or JPEG files.We will need additional space to store them. We have other programs that are using the same PDFs and will not work with other format of raster files. In other words, we need to be able to georeference PDF.

Thanks!

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jmaxwell_braun · ‎10-09-2023

@KoryKramer I'll chime in with my potential use case. It's not that the PDF to tiff tool doesn't work, it just isn't optimal for vector PDFs. We have to redraw all of the vector linework in ArcGIS Pro as opposed to being able to directly import it, as you can in AutoCAD, for example. Sometimes I will bring a PDF into AutoCAD, save the linework as a dwg, and import that into ArcGIS Pro. It can save a ton of time and it would be great to keep that process entirely in Pro.

KoryKramer · ‎10-09-2023

Thank you @jmaxwell_braun It is good to understand your specifics as it allows us to distinguish what you're describing and what this idea is requesting. What you describe is not what was proposed by this idea and is not what we would be pursuing if we move forward developing a solution. i.e. this idea is not about extracting vector layers from a pdf, rather working with it as a raster without having to convert it.

For what you are describing, please visit https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-pro-ideas/support-for-vector-pdf/idi-p/936071 and add your kudos and use case. Thank you!

Kevin_Dohner · ‎10-09-2023

@KoryKramerMy use case originally was to just be able to bring in a PDF without having to convert first and georeference it, however, after I started reading some of the other posts in this thread, I also would find it very beneficial if we could use vector PDFs in Pro by just loading them in. The PDF to TIFF tool does work, it would just be nice to not have 10 PDFs for example and then convert them to 10 tiff files which now gives you 20 files total.

Thank you for providing the link to the post about vector PDFs.

KoryKramer · ‎10-09-2023

Thanks @Kevin_Dohner "The PDF to TIFF tool does work, it would just be nice to not have 10 PDFs for example and then convert them to 10 tiff files which now gives you 20 files total."

Yes, this is a common pain point, so thank you for confirming that.

Cheers

KoryKramer · ‎02-29-2024

GISAdminSHN · ‎04-25-2024

The basic use case we need is just for ArcGIS Pro to have the ability to add PDFs as map layers, very similar to what a user currently experiences when adding CAD data to a map. When georeferencing information is present the layer is positioned automatically, otherwise it is placed at 0,0 and georeferencing tools in Pro are available. If the PDF contains preserved layers and attributes, those should also be supported if possible. Any features in the PDF that can be identified and rendered as polygons, polylines, or points, would be selectable for copy/paste or export features operations similar to the current CAD layer functionality.

Once this kind of functionality exists in Pro, a fantastic geoprocessing tool addition would be "Update PDF Georeference Information". Pro would harvest the existing PDF map panel information, retrieve the the georeferencing info from the panel's updated position based on user georeferencing updates, and directly modify the PDF file's georeferencing info without re-exporting. That tool would allow users to add georeferencing info to plan set PDFs being published by their CAD teams without having to re-export and lose fidelity.

Thanks for working on this and looking forward to the improvements along the way!

KoryKramer · ‎04-29-2024

@GISAdminSHN in ArcGIS Pro 3.3, due to be available next week, you'll be able to add a PDF directly to a map as a raster layer. It will solve the biggest pain points from this idea like having to store and manage large, duplicate tiff files. It is not meant to provide vector layer access from the PDF. If that is an important part of your work, please vote here https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-pro-ideas/support-for-vector-pdf/idi-p/936071

Try the new functionality in 3.3 and let us know what you think!

wayfaringrob

@KoryKramer having some major issues with this already. Georeferenced two pages of a PDF yesterday, worked great. Today, I get red exclamation points. The file hasn't moved or anything; when I go to re-point the data source, it's not even an option. The dialog box is filtering for 'rasters,' which evidently doesn't include PDFs...oversight?

Unrelated, I'm trying to re-add the pdf so I can re-georeference it, but the box asking you what page to use is not even halfway on my screen (I was plugged into another monitor yesterday). These boxes don't respond to Win+Arrow keys either. Awesome. Again, oversight?

wayfaringrob

@KoryKramer for the fun of it, I hit OK on whatever page it was set to (1), saved, reopened. Immediate error 😑

There seem to be a lot of features marked 'implemented' lately that break after a very simple test run. It's really getting quite old; I do not enjoy feeling like an unpaid beta tester every day.

KoryKramer

Sorry to see what you're running into @wayfaringrob Unfortunately it looks like this happens if opening the project from the recent projects list. As a workaround, are you able to open the .aprx directly from the file, instead of Recent Projects?

These are the two related issues that I was able to find:

https://support.esri.com/en-us/bug/the-pdf-layer-is-missing-and-becomes-a-broken-layer-whe-bug-00016...

https://support.esri.com/en-us/bug/unable-to-modify-the-data-source-of-the-pdf-under-set-d-bug-00016...

The team is working on getting them addressed. Hopefully opening the file directly will not show broken layers.