Table of Contents list by Coordinate System

DominicBull

Currently in ArcGIS Desktop 10.2 (ArcMap) under the table of contents you can list by drawing order, source, visibility and selection. I think it would be useful to be able to list by coordinate system.

SylvainBoivin · ‎10-19-2022

Good idea to indicate by a symbol, you don't need to change the panel. And it could be a good idea to do the same if a definition query is setted!

ToddHawley1 · ‎10-19-2022

@RoseF I like this idea quite a lot. It would be much more efficient than what I had in mind. It made me think of another option I would like which would be to disable project on the fly. This would force you to project your data before you could use it. In the old days this was just how it was. Just a simple toggle somewhere on the TOC. Turn it off while your processing local data and turn it back on if you need a web services for instance. I think both ideas would be fairly trivial to implement.

WillAnderson · ‎02-15-2023

If nothing else, maybe Pro could provide the option to LIST/VIEW THE FILEPATHS to the layers listed under MapProperties-->CoordinateSystem-->Layers-->[CoordinateSystems], rather than just their TOC layer names (which can be duplicates, filepaths cannot, unless layer is loaded more than once)?

If not, I upvote the idea to list/order in TOC by spatial coordinate system. We work with a lot of farm equipment shapefile exports that are often named the same, so seeing 1 "culprit" layer named "Tile Pipe" with an Unknown system isn't particularly helpful when you have 1000+ layers named "Tile Pipe" loaded in the map and you need to merge etc.

Pro's project on the fly is handy but the need to get everything into a common spatial reference system for troubleshooting and pre-geoprocessing/analysis data prep hasn't gone away.

Thanks!

mj_gis · ‎04-03-2023

I was just looking for this functionality today and am really happy to have found this idea!

@KoryKramer Thank you for describing how to see all coordinate systems in the map properties in Pro - so very helpful.

Also I like @RoseF 's idea to list the layers that are being projected on the fly. That would be a very helpful addition.

WillAnderson · ‎04-03-2023

Don't forget you can at least see what layers are flagged as different than the current map coordinate system by (1) opening the Edit tab in Contents view, (2) turning editing on, then (3) grouping the culprit layers and to interrogate them individually one by one, working top to bottom, rather than scrolling through Contents when you have hundreds of layers.

mj_gis · ‎04-03-2023

@WillAnderson

Great idea! Thank you - I didn't know about that functionality in the Edit tab 🙂

JoshMakesMaps

Add "Projected Coordinate System" tab to Contents pane

Current State
The Contents pane lists all layers and content in an opened map. All spatial layers in a map should have spatial reference information, including the Projected Coordinate System (PCS) if they are projected. Currently, to find the PCS of a layer, users need to open the properties of the layer and navigate through the source information tab.

Proposed Change
Create a new tab in the Contents pane called "Projected Coordinate System". This tab will list all the layers within a map, grouped by PCS. Additionally, if any layer PCS does not match that of the map itself, a small warning icon will appear next to the group name of the PCS.

Benefits
This change will provide a quick visual reference for PCS information. The warning icon will also help prevent potential issues arising from mismatched coordinate systems.

Additional Information
There's potential to differentiate between PCS and Geographic Coordinate System (GCS), but I haven't gone that far with the idea yet.

wayfaringrob

This would be insanely useful!!! It's such a hassle to figure this out currently - many clicks, and it's buried. As a teacher, I feel that Esri's documentation and publications underplay the importance of coordinate systems--this would be a great way to make them more visible, reminding you to make sure you're projected.

ScottFedak2085

Although not it's own Idea, I had mentioned this same idea here https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-pro-ideas/open-show-the-coordinate-system-in-the-table-of/idc-p...

It is currently possible to see this information, but as @wayfaringrob said, it's a bit buried and takes a few clicks (see ESRI response in link above). Since it is currently possible to get this information, I feel like we are stuck with this approach unless this idea gets a lot of Kudos and traction.