What is the future of ArcCatalog in future Pro versions?

[RenatoSalvaleon]

Unless I missed it, there's several Administration features in current ArcCatalog that are not available in Pro, specially the ones for geodatabases, e.g., Manage and Administer which is slightly different for each type of data objects.

[RebeccaStrauch__GISP]

Shawn, if you haven't found it already, here is the link to the ideas page.  Add your comments to that page too

https://community.esri.com/ideas/12671 

[ShawnBeecher]

Thanks Rebecca.  I visited that page and it has some wonderful comments.

[JohnDye]

Robert LeClair wrote:

To my knowledge, there is no plan for a Pro "ArcCatalog" as Pro is the fusion of ArcMap, ArcCatalog, ArcScene, ArcGlobe, and City Engine Runtime.

I realize that was not your decision to make Robert and that you likely had nothing to do with it at all, but in the 12 years I've been using Esri software, I don't think I even heard anyone, ever, ask for ArcMap, ArcCatalog, ArcScene, ArcGlobe and City Engine Runtime to be fused into a single product.

I can kind of see the logic behind merging Map, Scene and Globe, but Catalog doesn't make a bit of sense to me. All we ever wanted was a 64-bit ArcGIS Desktop. 

It is what it is though. Pro isn't going away and 64-bit Desktop isn't coming, so we'll all just have to learn pro. It's no so bad, but it still has a ton of catching up to do.

[Robert_LeClair]

Correct.  As I mentioned in an earlier response, I'm an Esri Desktop/Geodata instructor and do not work with the Dev/Marketing/Corporate teams so am not privy to any of those discussions on software development/platforms.  From presentations at User Conference with members from the Pro Team, ArcGIS Pro is that fusion of 5 products.  Before ArcGIS Pro was developed there was discussions and attempts to make ArcMap/ArcCatalog a 64-bit application but after a few months, the team determined it was not possible "upgrading" the code to be compatible on 64-bit hardware.  Technically, ArcMap was first developed around 1997 and released in 1999.  During the last 19 years, the way software is coded/developed has changed significantly.  Thus ArcGIS Pro uses the current model for software development rather than using a 1997 model.  ArcGIS Pro is not 100% complete - on that we can all agree.  But the ArcGIS Pro Dev Team is working very hard for ArcMap equivalency that we hope to have at 1.4.  ArcMap 8.0 was not a complete product when it first came out but it became an amazing Desktop GIS over time.  What I see from ArcGIS Pro currently is amazing and will only improve.  Hang in there and please contribute thoughts/ideas/workflows to the Pro Dev Team to help make ArcGIS Pro another amazing Desktop GIS.

[DavidWheelock]

Thank you, Robert.  If these features that we need are coming, that's fine.  I can be patient and wait.

I began using ESRI products in the mid '90's with ArcInfo 7 and ArcView 1.0.  I've seen the old ArcView and ArcGIS develop from shells into functional GIS products.  I would love to see Pro do that, too.

It's when we see statements like "there is no plan for a Pro ArcCatalog", implying an opposition within the ESRI Pro dev team to the idea, that we get concerned.

Is the Ideas site the best way to alert the ArcGIS Pro Dev Team to our needs or is there another place, too?

[Robert_LeClair]

Certainly David.  I'm one of two Desktop Technical Leads for Esri Training Services so it's my responsibility to answer GeoNet questions in my domain of expertise - Desktop and Geodata.  ArcGIS Pro and ArcMap/ArcCatalog fit in those categories.

Like you, I started using Esri products in the early 90's - ArcInfo Workstation 5.0, ArcView 1.0, ArcGIS 8.0 and Atlas*GIS.  Totally agree that when those products initially came out, they were not complete and were developed over time.  Developing new software is a time/cost intensive process and reading reports from the Pro Dev Team, I can tell you that they're working incredibly hard to fix bugs, add new functionality, incorporate ArcMap functionality and develop new functionality that is not possible in ArcMap.

I suspect the Pro Pane (similar to the Catalog Window) is not complete yet either (just my opinion).  I'll be curious to see what new functionality 1.4 brings.  I did not mean to imply an opposition within the Pro Dev Team to new ideas - that's certainly not the case.  I know the Pro Dev Team/Pro Product Managers actively monitors the Ideas page for Pro and contribute responses where they can.   Yes, the Ideas page is a great way to contribute/alert the team your needs for a Desktop GIS application.  Hope this helps.

[JohnDye]

Yeah, I get that the current ArcMap/Globe/Scene/Catalog products couldn't be upgraded to 64-bit - either technically impossible or so complicated that creation of a new product was likely easier and would deliver better results. So I do agree that the creation Pro of was necessary in order to bring about 64-bit Desktop GIS. I think the biggest challenge Pro faces and why it has disenfranchised so many users is because it radically changes every, single GIS workflow. Almost nothing remained the same. 

Going from ArcGIS for Desktop 9.x to 10.0 for example, Esri made some pretty big changes; feature templates, python addins,  catalog, python, search and toolbox windows, etc. Those were all pretty radical advancements at the time. I recall tons of users griping about the change to the editing workflows with the introduction of feature templates. Eventually though, everyone was able to wrap their head around those changes because the rest of the product and workflows pretty much remained the same. It was incremental progress.

Pro however, has flipped everything on its head. The two products might look somewhat similar but in terms of how you get things done, the workflows are so different that it's incredibly hard for seasoned GIS folks to wrap their heads around.

I think Esri would have done better to just start off with 'ArcMap Pro' and 'ArcCatalog Pro', then little by little worked in ArcGlobe and Scene functionality or continued with the paradigm of a suite of applications.

Alas, it is what it is. It's Pro or Bust for Esri and that's fine.
I suppose we'll either all get used to it or slowly start spending more of our GIS budgets with Boundless instead of Esri.

[Robert_LeClair]

Agree John - it is a monumental shift in technology and workflows.  Kind of like Workstation to ArcView and ArcView to ArcMap.  We're at the same shift point with ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro workflows.  3 major shifts in GIS Technology over 20+ years.  And this is only for the Desktop world.  I understand that users can be frustrated by this as it changes or breaks existing workflows that have been developed over years.  The saving grace is that ArcMap, ArcCatalog, ArcScene, ArcGlobe and the extensions for those products are not going away anytime soon.  So the impetus to have to change to Pro is not there - those applications will continue to be released for years to come.

[DavidWheelock]

Robert, it's funny how long these things DO last sometimes.  An ESRI Tech Support tech told me in a phone call in about 2004 that ArcScene was being deprecated and I should move to ArcGlobe, and, yet,...ArcScene is still here. 

[Robert_LeClair]

Ha - I know!  Even though ArcInfo Workstation "retired" at 10.2 I think, we still have users using it today.  I think the Arc<Fill In the Blank> products will be with us for a while.