Does Pro use different transformations for on-the-fly projection than Desktop?

[KeithOlson]

We are noticing differences in how features of different spatial references align or misalign when viewed in ArcGIS Pro versus ArcMap. Does ArcGIS Pro use a different set of default transformations for on-the-fly projections than Desktop?

To be more specific, my team has been migrating our data from NAD83 UTM Zone 11N to WGS84 UTM Zone 11N to meet certain project specification requirements. During this same time we've been migrating from Desktop to Pro. Turns out we as a team were not consistent with how we reprojected the data, whether it was the projection tool or auto-projected with the ArcCatalog data loader (this is a different issue we are addressing separately). What we are seeing is, if we inspect the original NAD83 to the new WGS84 layers in ArcGIS Pro and zoom way in, we see some of the layers don't align with their sources. However, if we view the exact same sets of data in ArcMap, the layers that were off in Pro are aligned in ArcMap and others that were aligned in Pro are not. It's really driving us crazy. So, we are wondering if this phenomenon is a result of differences in how Pro and Desktop handle on-the-fly projections.

Any amount of help shining some light on this would be much appreciated.

Keith Olson

Idaho Army National Guard

[JonahLay]

Hi Keith,

The following blog might help answer your question. I've linked to the section which I think addresses your question more directly: Projection on the fly and geographic transformations 

Best,

Jonah

[KeithOlson]

Hi Jonah,

That wasn't the solution, as we already have that option checked. However, it did lead me to look into the ArcGIS Pro Map Properties. There's a Transformation tab where you can select the transformation you want to use for on-the-fly projections. Changing this from the default to one of the transformations we used to export the data makes all the difference. 

Now the question is to figure out which transformation ArcCatalog used in the Import Tool and Data Loader. It appears to have been "NAD_1983_To_WGS_1984_1" based on which features are lining up in Arc Pro.