Latest Contributions by DougBrowning

I have a page before that page that says Settings at the top.  Then at the bottom a file location ... View more

I use Android so it may be different.  On the main screen in Survey123 app there is a menu button at the top right.  In there use Settings.  Then at the bottom there is a section Map Library Folder. ... View more

I have uploaded TPKs up to 70GB to AGO.  You just need to use the Share Package tool. But no you do not have to upload anything if you have another way to get them on the tablet.  We use a 3rd party app that already had 30gb and 70+ tpk files sitting on our tablet SD Card.  All I did was give Survey123 the directory on the sd card and all my TPKs appeared. ... View more

My forms went from over 2 minutes to 20 seconds!  Thanks a lot. ... View more

I build my caches with ArcMap/scripts not with Server.  No need to even have server.  But yes they have been a life saver.  Esp in our 1 inch imagery.  I reduced the size 97% with no quality loss.  Getting 2 TB everywhere would have been a nightmare. Yes we have seen weird strings get into the mxd.  Even adding from the same connection file twice can result in 1 pointing to the file and 1 pointing to a weird long string. We have never found any rhyme or reason to this.  Not sure why you say you copy them to a local machine though.  We just leave them on the network where everyone can hit them - for example \\ad.you.com\office\connfiles (which is added as a folder connection in catalog) then we have a folder for Edits and for Default versions.  Also we point all our python scripts and toolboxes there.  That way if something changes we can change them in just one spot. (but of course the mxd will not change). I have also pointed to them in a python addin no problem.  Maybe you have issues because you are copying them over vs pointing to the network and the new machine can not see that path?  I would avoid copying anything ever since then you have a million copies all over the place.  We have been going to a single network spot for everything - even over a WAN.  So a user in another office actually points to a toolbox on the main office network - we have seen no speed issues with this at all.  We do this for add-ins also - point to one central main office network location for all 10 offices.  We do however have connection files local at each office since they point to the local office sql server. Hope that makes sense hard to explain it in text. ... View more

I am surprised so many people are storing the rasters in SDE vs building caches.  I brought our imagery catalog down from 600 gb to 60 gb with a 10x increase in speed and no quality loss.  Building the caches did take 100+ hours of processing time but it is only once a year.  Also caches are so much easier to distribute to the 10 remotes offices.  No changing paths just copy and paste.  Also easy upload to ArcGIS Online.  For updates the import tool can be used so hopefully no need to rebuild it all. We use Feature Datasets also but esri guys told us flat is better.  We run a default and edits version where edits is the current live set then each week i compare default to edits looking for any major mistakes (someone deleted 500 records for example).  I have an excel pivot table that shows me record counts for every db on every server so easy to check.  If it all looks good I run weekly rec, post, compress, rebuild analyze.  So a weekly mini QA. The main pain with a default and edits version is having to use Set Current version in sql all the time.  And some programs can not link to a version other than the default which causes issues. For access we store the sde connection files in a common network location (no need to install for each user as mentioned).  Also use layer files but they break a lot.  We also store our toolboxes on a network drive which has been a life changer in keeping everyone using the most current toolbox.  Note this can be done for python addins also. We also run backups out to a geodb which works well.  I also build a script to backup our Hosted FS to a local copy using ArcREST. (note there is a bug in this so no backup over 32,000 records). We are considering going to one or 2 big DBs versus the 10 we have and then just replicating based on office extent.  That way not too much is getting replicated out to the offices.  We have 10 dbs with 10 FDs in each with 5-7 in each of those FDs.  Speed is not great but also server is old. ... View more

Will any of the similar bugs I logged be fixed in 10.4?  Thanks [BUG-000086429: The Manage Tile Cache tool does not honor the area of interest parameter set when creating the cache.]  I have 2 out there now that say only 3.63% of the tiles published but it actually works just fine.  Case #01691221 and  #01642593 [BUG-000085241: Publishing tiles does not complete in ArcGIS Online. This may be due to incorrect extents, however this warning is never provided to the user when creating the tile package.] Unknown number - the extent is also wrong when using the Export Tile cache tool.  They listed BUG-000085241 but this is already above and different.  I had case  #01642593 and #01623834 because the export tool also bombs in scheduled scripts but works fine not scheduled. BUG-000084160 The Manage Tile Cache tool will fail when run in python.  I was trying to get around the bug above and found another one. ... View more

I did this for a Survey123 Form by adding a field to the Hosted Feature Service database called FormEmailed and have it default to No.  I then run a script at night that uses a ArcMap layout connected to data driven pages with a definition query of FormEmailed = No (I use the Export to PDF from the ddp to get a pdf).  I use python smtp to send the email with pdf attachment.  Then I use ArcRest to set the FormEmailed = Yes.  This way I can always go back into a record and change it to No and it will send it out again. Let me know if you want to see the code.  Getting the JSON just right is the hardest part. Hope that helps. ... View more

Did you use a AOI?  There are a number of bugs in it.  See Mange Tiles shows much larger size than cache using custom scales Even if it says 0 look at the actual number of tiles published not a %.  Mine says 0.01% but still works fine. ... View more

I have found that if your data and map projection are not the same you will have all kinds of issues.  I have published to AGO in UTM but then you can not mix them with regular basemaps. ... View more

I think I saw a post that Maplex is not supported on AGO ... View more

It is probably because you used a AOI.  There is a know bug I have open on this.  See this post and below Mange Tiles shows much larger size than cache using custom scales ... View more

If you have a simple map you can also use the Create Map Tile Package and do a lot of this in one step.  There is no AOI option and it does not use Parallel Processing but it is easier for users.  Looks like these will not be fixed in 10.4 either. Also note I have 4 open bugs on these tools all dealing with the AOI parameter.  You will get all kinds of issues in the extent when using AOI. [BUG-000086429: The Manage Tile Cache tool does not honor the area of interest parameter set when creating the cache.]  I have 2 out there now that say only 3.63% of the tiles published but it actually works just fine.  Case #01691221 and  #01642593 [BUG-000085241: Publishing tiles does not complete in ArcGIS Online. This may be due to incorrect extents, however this warning is never provided to the user when creating the tile package.] Unknown number - the extent is also wrong when using the Export Tile cache tool.  They listed BUG-000085241 but this is already above and different.  I had case  #01642593 and #01623834 because the export tool also bombs in scheduled scripts but works fine not scheduled. BUG-000084160 The Manage Tile Cache tool will fail when run in python.  I was trying to get around the bug above and found another one. Also on the issue of not being able to cache a Esri basemap. Our contractor also has an open issue that hurts him and us.  It was supposed to be fixed in 10.3.1 but was not.  Defect Escalation - BUG-000081937 / DE-000000372 ... View more

Thanks but I have seen that already.  Been searching a lot.  As the post points out the kicker is.... "Again, none of these can be used to sign in (you need to already be signed in), but the functions will hopefully provide some bits you need." This is a script that runs on a schedule through windows event scheduler. I have asked about the registry entries I have found also but no one knows anything about them.  Even if I could just extend the login time that would help. ... View more