File compare software for GIS files

[CharlottePeters95540]

Hi,

Are there software or tools available to compare GIS files comparable to the file comparison software used in Windows Explorer? I know about the Compare geoprocessing tools in ArcGIS Pro but want something where I can compare files from different folders. 

Thanks.

[VinceAngelo]

In what way do you want to compare the datasets?  Plain files have byte order, but geodata, since it is a type of relation, needs to be compared unordered, which makes comparison, umm..., complex (if not impossible).

Obviously you could compare them in simplistic ways, but the number of false positives would reduce the usefulness of such comparisons.

- V

[CharlottePeters95540]

I'm interested in comparing shapefile to shapefile or geodatabase to geodatabase, not dbf to dbf or shx to shx. Similar to what the Compare geoprocessing does but for folders of data instead of individual datasets. 

I'd like to be able to know the most current data version to backup. Running traditional backup software on shapefiles or other geodata where the most recent file overwrites the older file would corrupt my data because a shapefile's dbf file may be the only file showing any changes so it's overwritten while the older versions of the shapefile's .shx, .shp, etc. files are left alone. 

Now I'm wondering if I could use ModelBuilder and submodels to iterate through 2 folders, find datasets of the same name, compare them, output differences, move on to next dataset, then compile differences to a single output.

[VinceAngelo · Accepted solution]

You ought to back up file geodatabases in their entirety, and shapefiles as complete sets. You can make it easier on yourself by placing logically grouped shapefiles into a single subdirectory, then zipping by subdirectory.

I wouldn't use ModelBuilder for this, but I wouldn't use ModelBuilder for anything (I'd rather use Assembly, which puts it 15 language-environments back).

The Compare tool has the advantage because it already knows what data to compare. Coding this yourself for generic sources would be a non-trivial task.

- V

[CharlottePeters95540]

Thanks for the info. Fortunately, I have my data grouped appropriately, so I'll work on implementing zipping to my workflow.