What is your take on ArcGIS Pro

ChadKopplin · ‎03-09-2018

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

ChadKopplin · ‎03-19-2018

Thank you for your response Mark, this is why I started this discussion. I am just starting to use Pro. I think that having a background in both Pro and ArcMap is a good thing. When they get in the work force, they may have technology limitations that are different, so knowing how to move between the 2 packages is would be a benefit.

JoeBorgione · ‎03-19-2018

Funny thing: after working in Pro exclusively for a week or so, I went back to ArcGIS/ArcMap and thought "Hmm. This a kinda old school..."

Chad_Kopplin‌

That should just about do it....

KoryKramer · ‎03-19-2018

That can definitely happen, Joe. You're not alone:)

ChadKopplin · ‎03-20-2018

Here is a little glitch that I have seen with my project, when I auto hide my table of contents I have this strip, in place of the contents when it closes. I see this when I start to browse in the view. It goes away once I click on on the Project tab and save, but as soon as I browse it is there again.

DanPayne1 · ‎03-22-2018

Since ArcGIS Pro is being forced upon ESRI users, I have been learning to use it, and have been trying really really hard over that past several months to like it and to make it my go-to software. While some of its features and capabilities are better than those in ArcMap, I eventually got tired of it crashing on me when trying to perform certain functions, and I got tired of the lack of functionality is has in many areas compared with ArcMap.

The lack of compatibility between annotation features classes in ArcGIS Pro vs. ArcMap is a significant problem for me, as is the unfriendliness of working in attribute tables (data entered in a table is often not saved, even though I click the save button, columns keep reverting back to being too narrow after I resize them, among other issues). Another significant problem for me is the lack of many of the drawing tools that are available in ArcMap. It's hard to justify switching to ArcGIS Pro when it takes me twice as long to do that same work I can do using ArcMap, due to the lack of important tools.

In my opinion, ArcGIS Pro was released way before it was ready for the general GIS population to start using it with any amount of success. I've weathered many significant changes in the ESRI software over the years, but there has never been the loss of functionality in previous makeovers that there is with this one. I have never been as disappointed and frustrated with a software "upgrade" as I have been with ArcGIS Pro. I'm hoping that ArcMap is not retired unless and until massive improvements have been made to ArcGIS Pro.

The one place ArcGIS Pro shines is in creating and sharing maps for use with ArcGIS Online. Unfortunately that only is a small part of the functionality I need from GIS software.

JohnBrockwell · ‎03-23-2018

Hi Dan,

I can't even begin to explain how relieved I am to read your post. ArcGIS Pro has made me question my ability to perform GIS!

ArcGIS Pro 2.1.2 has been a crashfest for me! (SOLVED: 3rd Party Add-In was causing the crashing, Thanks Kory Kramer for investigating this issue for me).I think one of the add-ins may be making it vulnerable. I also work in a network that is constantly trying to kick me off the internet. The licensing structure would be great if I was on my home Wi-Fi but in a highly secure environment this is problematic. I'm constantly trying to hop out to fetch the license "Unable to establish connection to https://organization.arcgis.com". I know, I know...I could change the license but that puts the work on the end user!

Don't get me started about Printing!

Printing from layout to a large format plotter is a disaster! I have wasted more plotter paper than I care to mention. I am meticulous in my printing and when it prints I'm missing the margins by three to four inches! OR the map prints from the middle out, cuts at one half and then prints the other! Geez Louise! I can't take this stuff.

ArcGIS Pro's primary role is to publish data to Portal the "realm of webgis". It makes me feel like all the other desktop needs were overlooked.

I'll keep swimming upstream.

Thank you for your feedback.

ChadKopplin · ‎03-23-2018

Thank you John, like I said to Dan, I appreciate your response. We need to know the issues that people have run into, please give other issues as you run into them. This is helpful to all of us just starting with pro. I am going to swim upstream as well. I feel the same way. One issue that I am currently running into is unselecting the swipe tool once I have finished using it. Not a deal breaker, but a simple frustration.

KoryKramer · ‎04-05-2018

Hey again, John. Glad that we cleared the first part up. If you are still experiencing issue with printing, please contact technical support to look at that specifically. Thanks!

ChadKopplin · ‎03-23-2018

Thank you Dan for your response, this is why I started this discussion. I am just starting to use ArcGIS Pro, and I like the functionality that I have used so far, but I have a limited view of the program. Please list those functions that you use that are missing. I agree with you, I don't want to see ArcMap go away any time soon, at least not until I am confident that Pro will do and perform the way that I need it to in order to do my job.

DanPayne1 · ‎03-26-2018

I should have been doing a better job of documenting the annoying lack of features in ArcGIS Pro from those available in ArcMap, but I honestly didn't expect there to be so many. It's been about a couple months since I went back to using ArcMap as my primary GIS platform instead of ArcGIS Pro, so I'm having a bit of trouble trying to come up with a comprehensive list of the shortfalls with ArcGIS Pro. Some of the issues I do remember are:

- There is no Copy Parallel command. You have to use the Trace command instead, and ArcGIS Pro tends to crash a lot when I'm using the Trace command.

- You can no longer perform statistics on-the-fly for a field in a table. In ArcMap I am able to right click on any column and the Statistics tool would pop up a window with the basic statistics without having to go through the process of creating a table that I have to delete later.

- Viewing and using Tables is a royal pain in ArcGIS Pro. You can make a field wider in order to view lengthy text, but it will go right back to the default width if you scroll around in the table at all. Whenever you change the width of a field, the table will automatically scroll back to the top. There are also times when I have added data to a field, clicked the save button, and then the next time I view the table, that data I just entered is gone.

- I like to customize the Editor Tools Gallery by dragging other tools onto it from the Modify Features list, but the next time I open the Project, the tools I added are gone, and I have to drag them all over again.

- In ArcMap I can easily customize a Legend that I have added to a map, but in ArcGIS Pro it is an absolute nightmare to try to customize a Legend. It takes way too many steps and is in no way an easy process.

- The Attribute Transfer function in ArcMap is NOT available in ArcGIS Pro. This is one of the tools I use the most in ArcMap.

- There is no Draw toolbar in ArcGIS Pro. I love the ability in ArcMap to add graphics in either Data View or Map View, but it is lacking in ArcGIS Pro.

- There is no Fillet Tool in ArcGIS Pro.

I know there is a lot more functionality missing in ArcGIS Pro from what is available in ArcMap, but at the moment I can’t remember all of the missing pieces. From what I have experienced using ArcGS Pro, it looks as though they are putting all their effort into making a product that is geared more toward the user that performs GIS functions with existing data, while not putting much effort at all into meeting the needs of the user that actually creates and edits that data.