Latest Contributions by MarcoBoeringa

Not an entire update of the existing document, but instead a new document as a supplement to the existing one. I made this supplementary document to account for the recently announced deprecation plans for ArcGIS 10.2. Since these changes affect the ESRI Geodatabase Framework as well, I decided to make a document with a couple of new diagrams that highlight these changes to make them more understandable. Especially notable is the announced deprecation of the ArcSDE Application Server and ArcSDE Command Line tools after 10.2. In addition, I have included the new Spatial Framework for Hadoop, as this extents the ESRI Geodatabase Framework with an entirely new option many people may not yet be familiar with: to store and parallel process "Big Data". I included a small "Big Data" glossary in the document, to make the jargon more understandable for the traditional GIS user. Marco ... View more

But then if i go with "esri_sde 5151/tcp" port then will it be possible to gain the connection? And what about the other impact? at which other part should I do these changes? Or else for temporary purpose I can uncomment this port and then after exporting the metadata i can restore this port? is that okay? Also is this a only thing or any other steps i need to do? Thanks for your quick responses.... There isn't any impact of uncommenting the "esri_sde 5151/tcp" port line in the Windows service, other than opening up the TCP/IP port on your local PC for a possible communication from your locally installed ArcGIS to your remote ArcSDE Application Server ** if it is running ** and accessible from your local PC. So try it, and see if you can create a connection from ArcCatalog 8.3. If not, most likely the ArcSDE Application Server isn't running, or using a non-default TCP/IP port number (so other than 5151). You may find this thread and the document I posted there of some use for better understanding the ArcSDE Application Server versus Direct Connect: http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/83644-quot-The-ESRI-Geodatabase-Framework-quot-PDF?p=295462&viewfull=1#post295462 ... View more

Sandip, I can't even fathom why the Dutch KPN telecommunications giant (yes, I noticed the Dutch "ptt.nl" postfix on the Host name, and since I live in the Netherlands, I am well aware the PTT company being the ancestor of the modern day KPN) wants to extract metadata from a 10 year old, maybe even non-functional, legacy database, but if you really have so little experience to tackle such an issue, I would definitely point the client to ESRI Netherlands, instead of trying to have the work done across half the globe...: www.esri.nl If anyone can help them out, it is them. ESRI Netherlands (I am not working for them) provides extensive support services to many Dutch companies and governmental organizations, and has experienced support staff... Communication will be far easier as well... It may save you and your client major headaches. Anyway, if I understand it well, you just need to get access to 1) XML metadata, and NOT geometric data / Feature Classes, or 2) the Geodatabase schema?? If 1) is the case, I wouldn't even bother with trying to establish a connection using ArcCatalog. The data for all of this is stored in the Geodatabase System tables, and if you can access the Oracle instance, I guess you should be able to extract the data using standard Oracle tools. If I remember well, XML metadata was stored in some binary column, Vince undoubtedly can tell. You may be able to extract the data using XPath and some programming language. If 2), much of the schema is again stored in the Geodatabase System tables. You should be able to read much of the most important schema information from them using ODBC. Be aware that the Geodatabase System tables underwent a major change in structure in ArcGIS 10. Much of the information you will find for 10 won't be of any use for understanding 8 structure, the 9.x documents may still be of some help though. These old ESRI ArcGIS 8 and 9 PDFs may be of some help: Understanding ArcSDE (ArcGIS 😎 http://downloads.esri.com/support/documentation/sde_/706Understanding_ArcSDE.pdf ArcSDE Configuration and Tuning Guide (ArcGIS 😎 http://downloads.esri.com/support/downloads/ims_/sdeupdate_arcims_downloads/config_tuning_guide_oracle.pdf Administering ArcSDE for Microsoft SQL Server (ArcGIS 9) http://resources.esri.com/help/9.3/geodatabase/pdf/mssql.pdf ... View more

Jamal, Maybe others will join-in with more concrete recommendations, but in general, questions like these can be hard to answer without detailed knowledge of the type of data and services you would like implement. One thing though, I can imagine the two server setup with data for the webservices being directly accessed from another server, causing issues with network traffic. You may wish to replicate the database to a second child database on the webserver. In general though, having a two server setup, with one server being "production", and a second server doing the task of the "webserver", this last one best located within a so-called "demilitarized zone" inbetween two - preferably hardware based - firewalls, is a recommended approach. You may find the resources on this ESRI page useful though in making strategic decisions about your system design: System Design Strategies Preface http://wiki.gis.com/wiki/index.php/System_Design_Strategies_Preface ... View more

Good to hear you managed to find a working "work-around" and get to use the Versioned View for your purpose. ... View more

Brad, I don't know if this is part of your issue, but you may wish to read the section "Example projected editing scenario and results"  and "Editing features in a geodatabase topology" about topologies and projections on this Help page: About editing data in a different projection (projecting on the fly) In all cases, as recommended on that page, it is best to set the Data Frame's coordinate system to the one used by the Topology. This will avoid unexpected results. Another possible issue, and why you aren't seeing similar issues with a FGDB, may have to do with the set "X,Y" resolution and whether the data is high precision, or legacy low precision. Feature coordinates in an ArcSDE enterprise geodatabase won't be more precise than the set X,Y resolution (e.g. meters, centimeters, millimeters), meaning vertices will be "snapped" to these coordinate values when editing and moving. ... View more

http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/85096-Deprecation-plans-for-10.1-and-10.2 "ArcGIS 10.2 will be the last major release to include the ArcSDE application server. Esri encourages those that have deployed an ArcSDE application server to move to new database connections introduced in 10.1 as part of their next upgrade." Yes, I saw this too. Interesting, I had not yet seen this updated deprecation plan of the 7th of May including the changes expected for 10.2 and beyond and the now officially announced deprecation of the ArcSDE Application Server, ArcSDE Command Line tools and ArcSDE C/Java SDKs after 10.2. Not unexpected, but still, I wonder if there might be future extension for this deprecation... To many people may still depend on it and not yet be in a situation to make all the necessary changes in time. Just look at VBA... extended to 10.2 while initially announced deprecated at 10.1... Anyway, I am in the process of creating two updated Geodatabase Framework diagrams that will incorporate and show this deprecation to make it more understandable. One diagram will depict the situation at 10.2, the other the situation beyond (well, at least as far as my "crystal ball" in the form of this deprecation plan allows me...). ... View more

This Help page also specifically lists a restriction on using WHERE clauses to join data when using Versioned Views: "Versioned views only work with an individual versioned table or feature class. You cannot use a where clause to join multiple tables together or restrict which rows or columns are included in a versioned view." A slightly related issue is the other reported problem on the same page (see the "Note") of a potential issue with duplicate ObjectIDs with 1:N joins in ArcGIS for Desktop. I know you are only doing a 1:1 here and not using ArcMap, but still...: "If you choose to replace views created by ArcGIS by altering the view afterward, you are taking responsibility for not only the query's correctness and efficiency but also its relevance and suitability for use with ArcGIS clients. For example, creating one-to-many views involving feature classes results in duplicate ObjectIDs. This leads to unexpected behavior in applications such as ArcMap and ArcCatalog, because the ObjectID is supposed to contain unique values." ... View more

According to this 10.0 Help page, it seems to be returning either a List object in case of SQL SELECT statement, or a Boolean for fail/success when running a schema changing SQL query (DDL), or UPDATE / INSERT statement: http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//000v00000057000000.htm Also see this: http://developmentfaction.blogspot.nl/2010/07/python-tip-using-arcsdesqlexecute-to.html ... View more

I am wondering if it is some kind of projection / spatial reference issue, with the stored SRID of the shapes somehow being messed up? In your first post you were slightly unclear, suggesting that in some cases, you did see shapes appearing? ("... In ArcCatalog or ArcMap it makes the views look like they are empty, or if they draw, you can't zoom in, out or pan because the features, if present disappear...") Do you, or don't you ever see shapes appearing in ArcMap / ArcCatalog? ... View more

What happens when you create a new spatial view using the options now available in the context menu of a Database Connection as described here?: Creating a database view in ArcGIS for Desktop The data shows up as a table, no spatial rendering occurs. At 10.1, it is normal for a Spatial View, or for that matter any table or database view with a spatial column, to initially show up as a table. Once you click it, ArcGIS will read the first record(s?) and determine the geometry type and show it in the catalog tree. This behavior is because ArcGIS can't "know" the feature/geometry type beforehand, as it isn't "stored" like in a table registered with an ESRI geodatabase, where such system metadata is stored in the ArcSDE Repository. But anyway, the data should render in ArcCatalog, if that isn't the case even with the standard "New\View" option, than there is a deeper issue... the issue with recreating the views is that we have many, more than 30 that would have to be recreated and we don't know that one our ETL runs again the views will work. We are still testing that. To be honest, I can't think of any reason why the ETL should influence the functioning of any database view or not. Spatial Views are like any other normal database view. They just store the SQL statement necessary to collect or process the tables and perform any joins etc. If the underlying tables change (new or deleted records), it has no consequences for the SQL statements, UNLESS there are schema changes (e.g. changes in field names, field types). This raises a question though: Can you see any changes to schema, and especialy the keyfields that perform the join between the existing spatial tables in your database and the extracted business data between the old and new setup? Maybe the join fails at 10.1? By the way, did you switch storage type (SDEBINARY to SQL Server native "Geometry")? Storage is still SDEBinary - we haven't even looked at changing it yet. It may be time to contact ESRI support... ... View more

What happens when you create a new spatial view using the options now available in the context menu of a Database Connection as described here?: Creating a database view in ArcGIS for Desktop You may also wish to use this page as a quick reference for what to do when attempting the option described in the link above: Example: Creating a spatial view in SQL Server using SQL By the way, did you switch storage type (SDEBINARY to SQL Server native "Geometry")? ... View more

You don't state from what version you are upgrading (9.3? 10.0? what service pack?), and whether or not you installed SP1 with 10.1 and any applicable patches. Anyway, I do know that Multiversioned Views changed from 10.0 to 10.1. They are now not only called "Versioned Views", but the associated stored procedures and functions in the ArcSDE Repository also underwent changes. Versioned Views now are also *fully automatically* created as soon as you register a layer as versioned. These changes have to do with the introduction of the ArcGIS Spatial Data Server, and a general better possibility to use - and edit - these views programmatically and through SQL or programming. There is now a new editing option that allows you to edit the DEFAULT version through a Versioned View (actually, this last thing is not entirely new but had issues at 9.3.1 and below, and only now seems fully implemented). This 10.1 Help page talks of the need to re-create Multiversioned Views 10.1 as Versioned Views in order to be fully useable (see one of the "Note" remarks), so this change may have effected your Spatial Views (assuming they used Multiversioned Views), and they may indeed need to be re-created. I would really try and see if you can create a new test dataset and 10.1 style Versioned View by importing a layer, and registering as versioned. Than use the Query Layer option of 10.1 to add the data to ArcMap, or simply browse the database connection in ArcCatalog and add from there. If that layer with its 10.1 Versioned View still doesn't display properly, there may be a deeper underlying issue. If it does display properly, than you know it's not the database connection or Versioned View functionality by itself, but maybe something with your "legacy" Spatial Views. ... View more