A previous post indicated that Tracking Analyst requires point data. Unfortunately, the spatial database was recently converted to storing temporal data (as Multipoints with Z and M values in an oracle database) from a database based on points with a temporal column. The requirement is to be able to view and analyse this data in Tracking Analyst.
External to the ArcGIS system, GeoTools is used to generate a shapefile from a SQL Query. Debug inspection reveals that the data sent to the shapefile contains both the Z and M values for the points in the Multipoint array. The M value is a Long and represents the time dimension.
The shapefile is then loaded into ArcMap. Points are displayed. The Attribute Table indicates Shape as 'Multipoint ZM'. The tool Multipart to Singlepart is then used to convert the dataset to point data or Point ZM. Using arcpy, an attempt to validate and use the M-value or M-Measure indicates a #QNAN value for the M value. Attempts to extract the M-value into the Attibute Table using the Field Calculator yields syntactical errors.
What process steps and tools will produce a dataset useable for Tracking Analyst and allow easy extraction of the temporal component from the Point MZ data? Does this process require scripting?
