Unusual labelling behaviour in ArcGIS Pro that seems to be related to output resolution

[MervynLotter]

I just want to share with you some unusual labelling behaviour in ArcGIS Pro. I dont think it is anything that I am doing wrong, but perhaps someone may know the reasons why this is happening or have suggestions for a better work-around? I am hoping this issue may be rectified in future releases as it is really complicating my current workflow.

I have a large A0 map (46 x 33 inches) with a lot of cadastral data that I label. There are probably around 900 features that are labelled on the map. In the map I include a layer of our local municipalities as large single-part polygons. I only want to display one label per municipality and the map output needs to be in TIFF.

Under label class properties I have changed the default settings to Remove duplicate labels as well as ticked Label largest part.

When exporting low resolution (100 dpi) maps, the output map is created correctly and I only have one label per municipality. But when exporting as a high-resolution map (300dpi), the labels for each of the 7 municipalities is repeated several times no matter what setting I use. Therefore the adherence to label settings seems to be resolution dependent for tiff and JPEG images in maps with many features labelled. This problem is not repeated for PDF and I find the PDF map outputs great (but not what I need).

The one work-around I have thought of is to create points and label these, but I have not yet tried this. Other ideas?

[JeremyWright]

Mervyn,

can you submit a repro case to Esri Support?  Development would like to take a look and see what's going on here.

Regards,

Jeremy W.

[MervynLotter]

Hi Jeremy

Thank you for the response. I gather a "repo case to Esri support" would be a map or project package of my data to you or tech support?

I am using ArcGIS Pro 1.1.

I had not used ArcGIS Pro's packaging functionality before, so I tried to do so this morning to share the necessary file with you. I was eventually able to creat a very large project package (ppkx). I cannot create a map package because I am including my A0 map layout and doing so is only available under the project package option. For anybody else interested in this thread, do read he following helpful link for more info on various "packages" that you can create in Pro: Share a package—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS for Desktop

A few notes to ArcGIS Pro developers ...

• ArcGIS Pro crashes if you do not have an internet connection and you try and create a project package. In Pro you have two options, (1) creating a project package and uploading to ArcGIS Online, or (2) creating a project package and saving locally. I repeatedly tried to do the latter without internet and it failed. I would naturally expect the geoprocessing tool to still run but only to provide for the save locally option if there was no internet connection.
• I realise that one of Pro's default options is to create a new geodatabase for each project. I don't do that and I provide each project with the default geodatabase. The problem is that when one creates a project package, it seem to me that the entire geodatabase is packaged up as well. Any file or link that is included in Pro's "project" structure seems to be included within the project package. For example, all my feature within this project probably amount to less than 500 mb if in the were in a "shapefile format". Bearing in mind a project package is a compressed file ... the project package that I created for you is over 3 GB in size. I am pretty sure my entire geodatabase is included in that file!.
• My geodatabase contain some sensitive information on threatened species hence I cannot share this map package with anyone. 
• So I need to know whether you have managed to recreate my map labeling and resolution problem when exporting to TIFF format, or whether I should go ahead and create an entirely new project with a new geodatabase that I can comfortably share with you to show the labelling problem I described in my first post?

I may be wrong, and I apologise if I have misinterpreted the information at hand and unfairly critised ArcGIS Pro, but if I am correct, then I strongly suggest that a map package only include the features or layers that are included under the table of contents for the various maps and layouts within a project. Not the entire geodatabase.

For the record, I really do enjoy using Pro ... most of the time.

Perhaps we should take this discussion offline? I noticed your email address is not included under your profile, mine is, so please make contact?

Regards,

Mervyn

[JeremyWright]

Mervyn,

I forwarded your comments on packaging issues to the appropriate team and they (like me) suggested that you work with Esri support to put together a repro case.  They also noted that they could not repro the issue with being offline and packaging resulting in a crash in daily builds or in the current public release 1.1.1, so it's likely specific to your data or project.

The default project geodatabase is packaged by design, that's documented in Share a package—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS for Desktop

As far as your question regarding direct contact: In general direct email with users is less desirable than working through support, since support has a system in place to track issues (and in fact also systems remind us to triage, assign, and in general move bugs through the resolution process) to be sure they do not get artificially deprioritized by many many many other conversations and responsibilities that people in development have to deal with on a daily basis.

Also consider that support has people dedicated to interactive troubleshooting on the phone or over email - they can in general provide much more responsive support than those of us in development can.

Regards,

Jeremy W.

[MervynLotter]

Hi Jeremy

Thank you for the explanation. I do understand and I will follow up with

tech support.

Regarding the fact that by design Pro's project packages include the entire

geodatabase, regardless of whether the layers or data are actually included

in any of the layers or layouts within a project, it would be nice if there

was an option to only include data that is being used in the project.

Perhaps there is an opportunity to do so in future releases.

Regards

Mervyn

[JeremyWright]

Mervyn,

I can't speak to the whole design (my team works on the Graphics engine inside Pro) but I believe the problem is one of the intended use of the default geodatabase.

The Project-oriented workflows in Pro are predicated on users using Projects in a per-project oriented way.  That is, the default geodatabase for each project is specific to THAT project.  If I understand what you wrote earlier, it sounds like you're sharing the same default geodatabase amongst several projects, then you will of course logically end up with a massive default geodatabase.

Consider instead having a per-project default geodatabase, and using a Project Template to include connections to other geodatabases that are commonly used in each project.

Either way, the forum for enhancement requests for pro is http://ideas.arcgis.com - there is a section there for Pro where you could suggest your above changes to packaging.

Thanks!

I'll look forward to seeing your repro cases in my bug queue .

[MervynLotter]

Hi there

I would just like to provide an update to this post of mine. I did submit a repo case in December 2015 and this is a bug in Pro 1.1 (BUG-000092927: : Duplicate labels are appeared in the Exported Map as a TIFF, JPEG or PNG in ArcGIS Pro). I did not read that this bug had been fixed in Pro 1.2's release notes and I can confirm that it has not yet been fixed in the official release of Pro 1.2. I am sure to Pro dev team have a lot on their plate.

Regards

Mervyn

BUG-000092927

[JeremyWright]

Mervyn,

FYI we're targeting a fix for that for the next release of ArcGIS Pro.

Regards,

Jeremy W.

[CorbinBohne]

Mervyn,

I am having the same problem when I attempt to export a clipped layout to .PNG at resolutions somewhere over 500 dpi. You're not alone! I played with different resolutions above 500 dpi and noticed that the labeling pattern changed each with each export. Really odd. Not sure if you saw the same behavior or not but I thought it's worth mentioning. Any resolutions below 500 dpi export just fine for me.

Regards,

Corbin

[WendyHarrison · Accepted solution]

Hi All,

We've installed a fix for this in the next version of ArcGIS Pro.

thanks

Wendy