Moving FC to feature dataset fails, despite spatial references being the same

[Bud]

SDE.ST_GEOMETRY; Oracle 18c; 10.7.1 EGDB; ArcGIS Pro 2.6.8:

I have a feature class that I want to move to an existing feature dataset. I wasn't aware until recently, but it turns out it's possible to move a FC to a FD by dragging and dropping it into the FD via catalog, which is good.

However, when I attempt to move the FC to the FD, I get an error:

Move failed. The Spatial references do not match.

I took a look at the properties of the FC and the FD. The spatial references appear to be identical:

Does anyone know why I might be getting that error if the spatial references are the same?

Note:

The FC has lots of existing dependencies on it, so I don't want to workaround the issue by doing something like the following:

1. Rename the FC as <existing name>_OLD.
2. Create a new FC from scratch inside the FD using the <existing name>.
3. Load the data from the _OLD FC into the new FC.
4. Delete the _OLD FC.

As mentioned, the dependencies would make that problematic/risky. I want to keep my existing FC.

[DanPatterson]

From 

Feature datasets in ArcGIS Pro—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

and

The properties of a spatial reference—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

the constraints go beyond the spatial reference class/name to include

This includes the coordinate system, either geographic or a specific projection, as well as coordinate units and tolerances for x-, y-, z-, and m-values. All feature classes in a feature dataset must share a common coordinate system, and the x,y coordinates of their features should fall within a common spatial extent.

Are there differences in any of those?

[Anonymous User]

Great answer. I've been bitten by this before as well. Maybe this could be an Idea post as well for better error messaging? The error could be improved by telling the user which criteria failed instead of the very general "Spatial reference".

[Bud]

Good idea.

See: 

Improve error messaging when moving FC to FD due spatial reference mismatch

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-pro-ideas/improve-error-messaging-when-moving-fc-to-fd-due/idi-...

[Bud]

It looks like the FD's XY Resolution and XY Tolerance are wrong. I don't think those values should be so small...I'm guessing they should be set to what the FC has (0.0001 and 0.001) which are likely the defaults.

I'll look into fixing the FD. I don't imagine it'll be easy.

[Anonymous User]

From the coordinate systems white paper:

"The default XY resolution for a high-precision dataset is 0.0001 meters (1/10mm) or its equivalent in map units. ... Note that the default XY resolution for a coordinate system with decimal degree units is based on the major axis of the GCS spheroid; ArcGIS uses WGS 84 as the default. In most cases, the default XY resolution will be adequate for most data."

So that sounds like a safe bet. Can you give any insight how the FD could have become "wrong"? That's not the type of parameter most users would manually change.

[Bud]

I can't say for sure, since I haven't been involved with this data until recently. But it could have been this:

People other than me undertook an initiative a couple of years ago where they cleaned up and merged some FCs in the FD. That wouldn't have been easy to do while the data was in SDE, due to locks, testing, etc. So I think they probably put a copy into a FGDB or a PGDB (ArcMap), did some "novice things" with GP tools, Python scripts, etc.. Then they would have deleted the original from SDE and copy/pasted the modified version back in. The tolerances could have gone awry as part of that process.