Blog discussion - Migrating from Personal GDB to Mobile GDB

ElaineEvans · ‎05-25-2022

The first of a series of blogs was recently released that discusses why personal geodatabases are not supported within ArcGIS Pro. Additional blogs within this series will be coming soon and will further explore options such as:

Using OLE DB to establish a read-only connection from ArcGIS Pro to your personal geodatabase.
Migrating data from a personal geodatabase to a mobile geodatabase.
Reporting options available to use with your mobile geodatabase.

This discussion is for questions that are directly related to content/concepts included in these specific blogs:

Anonymous User · ‎05-25-2022

@ElaineEvans - This is a great topic, and I'd love to read the blog! I seem to be having trouble locating it. Would you be able to link the blog article in this post?

Thanks,

Mike

ElaineEvans · ‎06-01-2022

Hey @Anonymous User, thanks for your comment. I've added the link to the blog article above and hope you enjoy reading it!

Thanks,

Elaine Evans

StevenDel_Favero · ‎06-21-2022

The main advantage of the Personal GDB was the ability to query and edit the data in Microsoft Access. This is not an inherent ability for Mobile Geodatabases and ArcGIS is not at all adequate for working with complex relational data. The ability to open a SQLite database in MS Access requires a third party ODBC driver. As a government employee, I do not have the luxury of installing such a driver on my machine, let alone having this driver installed on the Remote Desktop server where my agency does all of its work. Getting approval to have something like this installled may never be possible or will take a very long time (I am starting to petition for it). Is it possible to have this ODBC Driver installed along with ArcGIS Pro in future releases? Otherwise a Mobile Geodatabase does not have much value and is not a valid alternative to a Personal GDB. Not being able to use a Personal GDB in ArcGIS Pro is therefore a serious impediment to my workflow and Esri has still not provided an alternative for me.

Bud · ‎06-23-2022

Feel free to comment or upvote:

Idea: Install ODBC/SQLite driver by default in Pro to allow viewing/editing complex Mobile GDB relational ...

StevenDel_Favero · ‎08-25-2022

This entire article is a misleading lie. I have been testing out reading Mobile Geodatabases in MS Access. They are in no way whatsoever an alternative to a Personal Geodatabase. Even with a third party driver that allows one to read a MobileGDB in MS Access, it is barely functional. This is because all Text fields in an Esri Mobile GDB are created as 'Long Text' fields in SQLite, which makes them unusable in queries in MS Access. Also Date fields in an Esri Mobile GDB are a custom field type and cannot be translated in MS Access. These issues make a Mobile Geodatabase unusable in MS Access.

emersonrau · ‎10-17-2022

I concur. It is hardly usable even with a third party driver that enables reading a MobileGDB in MS Access. This is such that all Text fields in an Esri Mobile GDB can't be used in queries in MS Access because they were all built as 'Long Text' fields in SQLite. Additionally, because they are a custom field type in an Esri Mobile GDB, Date fields cannot be translated in MS Access. ArcGIS is not at all appropriate for working with complicated relational data, and Mobile Geodatabases do not naturally possess this capability. A third-party ODBC driver is necessary in order for MS Access to open a SQLite database. I do not have the luxury of installing such a driver on my computer as a government employee, much less having this driver installed on the Remote Desktop server where my organization conducts all of its business. fnf mod

jodiekirlin · ‎10-19-2022

I agree. Even with a third-party driver that makes reading a MobileGDB in MS Access possible, it is rarely useable. Because they were all created as "Long Text" fields in SQLite, all Text fields in an Esri Mobile GDB cannot be used in queries in MS Access. the backrooms