ArcGIS 10.4 export to pdf - bad result at certain scale

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01-16-2018 12:25 AM
GuidoScheers
New Contributor II

Export to pdf gives a bad result at certain scales for arc shaped polygons. Idem with PDF Creator, export to png, using arcpy, ...

See images below: purple arc is properly exported at 1:40.000, but not at 1:20.000

Features are stored in arcsde geodatabases.

Has anyone an idea what the problem is?

If the arcsde polygon feature class is saved as a shapefile, the shp polygon is properly exported to pdf, but... no, I won't save all feature classes to shapefile as a workaround.

Thx, Guido

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12 Replies
DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

looks like a precision issue with the sde dataset.  can you upgrade it?

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GuidoScheers
New Contributor II

Hi Dan

What do you mean exactly with "upgrading the sde dataset"? At feature class level?

In the feature class properties window on the General tab under Geometry Properties is indicated: "Storage: High Precision using Esri Binary spatial type". Anything to do with that?

Or do you mean upgrade at geodatabase level?

Guido

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DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

When you said it was fine as a shapefile, it just sent off a trigger that IF a coordinate system is defined, shapefiles use high precision.  Shapefiles also don't use arcs as a native format, they are converted and would not exhibit the behaviour you have shown when scaled.  That leaves the lack of a coordinate system or something else influencing whether high precision is used (you have ruled that out) or the precision at which the coordinates are collected and locations are treated as being equal.  Your offset of the endpoints doesn't seem to fit into that category.  Leaving the location/delivery of the data.  If exported to a featureclass to standalone, locally stored geodatabase, I wonder if the behaviour you have demonstrated still exists.

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GuidoScheers
New Contributor II

Copy in locally stored file geodatabase doesn't make any difference.

But.. trying things out, I'll blame the map document itself. I noticed following strange behavior: visible transparent layers in the Table of Contents above this feature layer cause a bad pdf export result.

So I'll rebuild the map document from scratch (I admit I built the original map document by drag feature layers from other mxds). Until then this topic can be closed.

Thx. 

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DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

You can mark any question as providing the answer or was helpful Guido, otherwise, you can mark it Assumed Answered or convert it to a discussion.

Good luck

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Asrujit_SenGupta
MVP Regular Contributor

Create a copy of the Feature Class in the same geodatabase, but using the GEOMETRY storage type and check...does that make any difference?

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GuidoScheers
New Contributor II

Sorry, doesn't make any difference.

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RebeccaStrauch__GISP
MVP Emeritus

Occasionally, in the past, we will get a bad results with no real explanation.  It may be something that could re fixed using the Checking and repairing geometries—Help | ArcGIS Desktop    But sometimes we just need to move the extent....very little so it doesn't affect the map...and it will work.  Might not work in your situation, but never hurts to try.

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MichaelVolz
Esteemed Contributor

Might this issue be associated with this other export to pdf bug:

https://community.esri.com/thread/203744-pdf-export-character-spacing-1051-issue 

Not sure if you have access to 10.6 prerelease to see if this issue has been fixed there.  If this has been fixed in 10.6 like the character spacing issue, it would be nice to get a patch for 10.5.1 as upgrades require a much longer timeframe and much more extensive user acceptance testing.

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