What is your take on ArcGIS Pro

[ChadKopplin]

I have started using ArcGIS Pro for a project looking at Groundwater Vulnerability to Nitrate contamination.  I decided that this would be a good project to use to really become acquainted with Pro.  I am glad that I am using Pro, I am finding that it is truly much more responsive than using the desktop.  Actions that would take upwards of of half hour or more are only taking seconds.  I am been able to clip every statewide layer down to the county that I am modeling first.  I took me a little bit to get used to the interface, and Esri has been very accommodating to help me get off and running. 

There are some quirks with the interface that I would like to see changed or added in time, but all in all I am very impressed.  I am wondering what everyone else who is using Pro, what is your opinion of the product?  Please give me your true thoughts.

Good job with this products usability.

Chad 

[MarkHaas]

I use ESRI products, primarily, to make maps. The county I work for has (literally) no infrastructure outside of a handful of state highways and a stop light in one of our towns. Pro has much quicker 'response from input' time. Unfortunately, pro does not have the map making capabilities of desktop.

If we had more infrastructure and population, I might take advantage of the analytical power of pro. 

[DavidWatkins]

Hi Mark, 

Could you expand on the 'map making' capabilities you are still waiting for in Pro?  It will help us prioritize our work. 

Thanks, 
David

[JustinConnerWR]

Bugs in text layouts, no availability to enforce key numbering for all features on a map, unable to export to AI, limited functionality of "map notes", difficulty editing annotation in layout mode (to adjust placement relative to layout borders and overlapping map title, for example).  [Data-corrupting patches...]

[CharlieKaufman]

Unfortunately I have not had many nice things to say about Pro.   Due to a, what Tech Support has called a "rare" error during install Pro is not recognizing any of the toolboxes.  This turns Pro into a glorified display system.

After numerous back and forth with Tech Support we were told that the only thing left was to do a complete uninstall and re-install of our entire ESRI products.   Not terribly difficult, just annoying and time consuming when you have to coordinate through your IT department.    As it stands now 10.5.1 is running like a charm so I am sticking with that until work lets up enough to allow me to deal with the software.

[ERIASGroup]

Hi. I began using Pro late last year and again earlier this year -two separate tries . After becoming acquainted and liking many aspects of it I had to stay with ArcMap full time because our needs are simply tied so much to data management, meaning always opened and using ArcCatalog. I am wondering if there are others that upon using ArcPro to found that they just can't effectively manage projects and project data being generated for mapping and always having to dip in and out of Catalog all day? Is there an equivalent to catalog coming that is integrated with Pro? Because we find that our workflows are so dependent on Catalog that we just can't move over to Pro at this time. I'm happy to be guided to how this can be or is achieved in Pro. Thanks.

[KoryKramer]

Thanks for the input here, Grant Dickins‌

Is there an equivalent to catalog coming that is integrated with Pro?

Are you using the Catalog View in ArcGIS Pro?  There is still a list of stuff that the development team is working on to continue improving the data management experience in ArcGIS Pro.  Since you're asking about an integrated "equivalent catalog", much of that work is currently in the Catalog View.  There will be more improvements coming in the 2.2 release this summer and with each subsequent release.

What kinds of things are you finding are not in Pro that keep you going back to ArcCatalog?

Cheers,

Kory Kramer

Customer Advocacy Lead - Desktop

[ERIASGroup]

Hi Kory,

I am replying by email because I cannot for the life of me figure out how to reply on the forum – I see the conversation but the ‘Action’ button does nothing?

To your question, I have added databases to the ArcGIS Pro Catalog pane/view (?) and can see a tree of content like in ArcCatalog. Our normal usage is to have ArcCatalog open to view the Catalog Tree at left the window and the Contents/Preview/Description tabs at right – where we view the data itself, including attributes.

How can we view the data similarly in ArcGIS Pro Catalog view/pane – so we can see the attributes and preview the geometry?

I see that in ArcGIS Pro’s Catalog view/pane by right clicking a GDB or feature class or feature dataset provides a View Metadata option, which brings up a new pane – that is good and functional.

But how do I see, for example, a feature class’s attribute table?

A typical scenario for us is to be working in ArcMap while having ArcCatalog open separately so we can view and inspect other feature classes that might be of use/interest before adding them to a project or simply to be managing other data for other projects. A separate ArcCatalog allows viewing of data but not having to bring it in to the project directly. It also allows us to work with new datasets, update feature classes, generally ‘move things around’ without affecting (locking up) the actual project or feature classes or filling it with unnecessary data. FYI, we work across local and multiple regional and global jurisdictions and are always using new/related data that might support our needs and be of use in an area. So we can’t bring in every single feature class to a project just to inspect it – that’s why we use a separate ArcCatalog. And by inspect, I mean to zoom in to view the data and attribution and not just to see a thumbnail view.

The freedom of having a separate ArcCatalog to view attributes, features, metadata while not impacting a project is great. Can we do that yet in ArcGIS Pro? I’d like to be wrong or shown that it is possible and that it’s just that we can’t yet see how to.

Thanks.

Regards,

Grant

Grant Dickins

Senior Spatial Consultant

Office days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday

13-25 Church Street Hawthorn VIC 3122 Australia

T +61 3 9208 6700

M +61 410 183 304

www.eriasgroup.com

[KoryKramer]

Hi Grant,

Thank you for describing your work.  For your question 

But how do I see, for example, a feature class’s attribute table?

That currently isn't possible.  We are tracking https://community.esri.com/ideas/13338‌ and you can see that it is In Product Plan.  It won't be in 2.2 but we're hoping to get that functionality into Pro's Catalog View soon.  

It sounds like it isn't necessarily the "lack of Catalog" in Pro that is the issue, rather certain specific functionalities. Those specific functionalities are what we need to know about, though our development team still has a list of things they're working on, so we'll continue to see Pro's data management capabilities get rounded out over the coming releases.  

The ability to have an instance of Pro open with Catalog View and a second instance of Pro open with a project you're working on, exists today.  That would replicate the workflow of having ArcCatalog open on one monitor and ArcMap open on another.  You wouldn't even necessarily have to do that, as you could open Catalog View in a project, move that view to one monitor, and be working in a map in the same project.  There are options.

So in a nutshell, we have a list of data management functionality that we're working on.  But if you have things you can think of that are missing for you to complete your specific workflows, let us know and we'll make sure those are already on our list. 

Cheers,

Kory

[ERIASGroup]

Hi Kory,

Thank you for your responses and clarifications.

I have been trying to think of other  items I got hung up on when using Catalog in Pro, as compared to how we’d normally do things in ArcCatalog. One workflow thing that I can’t seem to get around is when we have Catalog open in Pro I can see in the left Contents pane, under Project, which lists items including ‘Folders’. By double clicking ‘Folders’ I can  then go down and successively open each folder until I see the actual GDBs I want to work with. But how to see all GDBs in the tree, as is shown in ArcCatalog?

It appears we can only view one GDB at a time? The point being, in ArcCatalog we can view all GDBs cascaded open showing all their feature datasets and classes in one view. In Catalog in Pro we can only view the contents of one GDB at a time? That sounds terribly inefficient but I’m not sure how to replicate the navigation in Pro.

I provide these two screen shots as a guide to what I am explaining (please do not share these images externally):

• The ‘traditional’ ArcCatalog view – multiple GDB contents in view at once – ideal and compact.

• The Catalog view in Pro with the same contents as above – only a single GDB contents viewable at once? The only way to open all views is in separate windows – too many windows to do the same thing – the desktop is full of unneeded windows.

Regards,

Grant

Grant Dickins

Senior Spatial Consultant

Office days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday

13-25 Church Street Hawthorn VIC 3122 Australia

T +61 3 9208 6700

M +61 410 183 304

www.eriasgroup.com

[KoryKramer]

The Catalog Pane gives you the "tree" type of browsing experience while the Contents pane of the Catalog View does not, it continues to show you the project's "containers" like Maps, Toolboxes, Databases, etc.

I've heard others comment that while browsing in the Catalog Pane (which uses that tree experience) they "get lost" and disoriented about where they are in relation to the project containers.  For example, if they have a folder connection to a folder that contains a file geodatabase and they have everything expanded, are they in the project's Databases container or the project's Folder container?  Hmmm, does it matter?

In thinking through this, I started wondering if we could get the best of both worlds.  What if there were a mode of the Catalog View's Contents pane that made it clear which project container you're in and still allowed you to browse a tree view.  Something like the Toggle Contents Panel functionality of the Catalog window in ArcMap:

With the difference being the top would remain static so that the users who complain about "getting lost" would always know where they were, and whichever container you activated up top would be what you're browsing in "tree mode" below.  So kind of like this:

Thoughts? Comments?