Latest Contributions by TimHopper

The above two posts are slightly incorrect.  ArcPad 7.1.1 and ArcPad 8 are both supported with ArcGIS Desktop 10 if utilizing the ArcPad Data Manager toolbar.  The caveat here is that you must manually register the dll needed to utilize the ArcPad Data Manager toolbar.  Take a look at the following KB article that will walk you through this process: Problem:  ArcPad Data Manager extension is not visible in ArcMap 10 It's correct that it will only install the functionality available for your particular product version (ie: you won't have the same picture functionality with ArcPad 7.1.1 or 8 that you would with 10, etc.) but it will function exactly how you would expect for your particular version. Feel free to reply here if you have any trouble manually registering the dll. ... View more

Olivia, As posted above, you need to be using a computer with a Windows XP operating system.  This is a known issue in ArcPad while using Windows Vista or Windows 7. ... View more

This is a known issue in ArcPad 10. CQ00312733: Find tool in ArcPad should not require entering required fields for layer query pages when attempting to reach the Query page The workaround is as follows: 1. Open the axf file in ArcPad Studio. 2. Under 'Feature Layers' double-click your feature class to open the layer definition. 3. Under 'FORMS' double-click QUERYFORM. 4. For each and every control, double-click the control (which gets you to the control properties) and uncheck the box next to 'Required'.  5. Click OK on the Query Form and save the layer definition. 6. Use this axf file as a custom form each time you check out from ArcMap.  This way you won't have to go into ArcPad Studio each time and uncheck the required box. Feel free to respond if you run into any problems with this workaround. ... View more

There are a few bugs logged on this behavior.  I'll explain the nuts and bolts below. Back towards ArcPad 7.1.1 there was a substantial amount of available memory given to the tracklog.  This caused the tracklog to draw extremely fast.  What was found, however, was that the location of the GPS cursor was lagging behind the location of your actual gps position. To make the location of the gps cursor as accurate as possible, some of that memory which was once allocated to the tracklog was moved to the gps cursor.  This caused both the cursor and tracklog to display in the exact location where you are. The problem here is that the reduction in available memory for the tracklog has caused it to draw at a slower rate. The development team is working on different possibilities for improving this performance but also keeping the location of these items as accurate as possible. In the meantime, I'd take a look at an applet that Gareth recently created that's up on the resource center. How to archive GPS Tracklog This applet will archive the tracklog once an hour (or however often you'd prefer) to a new shapefile.  The less points there are in the current tracklog, the faster the tracklog draws.  You could then create a model (or something similar) to merge these shapefiles back in the office.  Yes, you'll only be able to see up to an hour's worth of the tracklog, but it should display at a faster rate. Hope this helps. ... View more

Can I ask that you expand on the following comment you made in your initial post: "The data collection software we had written for ArcPad seems to finally be working after having it "tweaked"." What sort of collection software have you written and how does it interact with ArcPad?  I initially was under the impression that you were successfully working with shapefiles in ArcPad, but I see that this is not the case.  Are you simply trying to create new shapefiles and add data to them in the field or have you written some sort of application the somehow sits on top of ArcPad? Are you receiving an error when you try to add the shapefiles to ArcPad or do you not know how to add them in the first place? From the main toolbar in ArcPad, there is a button with a yellow diamond with a green and white plus sign.  This button allows you to navigate to and add shapefiles to your document.  You also have the ability to create brand new shapefiles in ArcPad, via File (ArcPad icon in upper left) > New > Shapefile. You do not necessarily need ArcGIS Desktop to work with ArcPad.  ArcPad can function by itself as a stand-alone program.  If you did have ArcGIS Desktop, you have greater functionality with ArcPad by being able to "check out and check in" data. ArcPad Studio is a separate application for customizing ArcPad.  You can customize the way that attribute forms of shapefiles look and add additional functionality via scripting to ArcPad.  It is not required that you use ArcPad Studio.  ArcPad out-of-the-box will allow you to create new shapefiles or consume existing shapefiles. ArcGIS for Windows Mobile is a separate mobile application similar to ArcPad (does not have any interaction at all with ArcPad) and DOES require that you have ArcGIS Desktop.  You cannot create data or projects for ArcGIS for Windows Mobile without ArcGIS Desktop. For you, ArcGIS Desktop would come into play if your end result is utilizing the shapefiles used in ArcPad within an AutoCAD application.  ArcGIS Desktop has geoprocessing tools which will convert the shapefiles into a dwg or other format readable by AutoCAD.  Now, I do believe that there are also import tools in AutoCAD which will allow you to import shapefiles, but I personally don't have much experience with that.  If you're interested in learning how to import shapefiles into AutoCAD without using ArcGIS Desktop, I would post that question on the AutoCAD forums instead. The ArcPad Web Help and the additional links below will help to familiarize you with the capabilities of ArcPad. Field GIS: Collecting and Editing Data Using ArcPad 10 (free training course) http://training.esri.com/gateway/ind...&courseid=2103 ArcPad Videos http://resources.arcgis.com/gallery/video/arcpad Does this help? If you are running into particular issues with specific functionality in ArcPad and are current on your ArcPad maintenance, I would suggest logging a new support incident with Esri Support Services.  We'd be happy to help you with specific questions you had regarding utilizing ArcPad. ... View more

Hello, From your post it seems as though you have ArcPad functioning correctly and can successfully create and manipulate shapefiles with ArcPad.  Your main question is how to get shapefiles into AutoCAD, is this correct? If this is the case then it's probably not so much an ArcPad question but rather a general ArcGIS Desktop question.  Do you have access to ArcGIS Desktop?  You'll need to use ArcGIS Desktop to export those shapefiles out to a format which AutoCAD can read.  ArcPad does not provide this type of functionality. Here's a few web help articles which discuss the workflows that can be used to export shapefiles or feature classes to cad drawings: Exporting data to CAD drawings http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//001000000076000000.htm Export To CAD (Geoprocessing Tool) http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//00120000001n000000 You have the ability with this tool to export using default settings or to use an existing seed file to alter the way the cad drawing looks after running the GP tool. If you run into any issues utilizing these tools or have additional questions about their functionality, I would suggest posting to the general ArcGIS Desktop usage forum: http://forums.arcgis.com/forums/5-ArcGIS-Desktop-General If I've misunderstood and you're having trouble actually creating and working with the shapefiles in ArcPad, please respond here with some additional info. Thanks! ... View more

It all depends on what workflow you're attempting to use and whether or not you're using ArcGIS Desktop as well. If you're not using ArcGIS Desktop, there really isn't any "export / import" functions that you would use.  You create shapefiles in ArcPad, consume them, and then could transfer those files into another third party product. If you are using ArcGIS Desktop, there are basically two options that you have.  Using the ArcPad Data Manager toolbar in ArcMap, you can export either geodatabase feature classes or shapefiles out to ArcPad.  If you intend to check data out and then check the changes made in ArcPad back into the original dataset they came from you must utilize feature classes and check your data out for disconnected editing.  Using ArcGIS Desktop, you could then export those feature classes out to shapefile format to use in your third party product if you wish. If you simply want to use shapefiles, that's fine as well, but please be aware that there isn't any check in process for shapefiles.  After you've completed your field work with ArcPad you would be left with a stand-alone shapefile.  There isn't any way to check that data back into the shapefile it originally came from.  To check out to shapefile, in the ArcPad Data Manager, select the option to check out for background shapefile > make editable.  This process automatically creates the apl files (layer definition) that the Tree Inventory tutorial walks you through. Here's a few links regarding this functionality: Get Data for ArcPad (from the ArcPad Data Manager Toolbar) http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcpad/10.0/help/index.html#/Get_Data_for_ArcPad/00s100000068000000/ Get Data from ArcPad (checking edits back in) http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcpad/10.0/help/index.html#/Get_Data_from_ArcPad/00s10000006r000000/ Field GIS: Collecting and Editing Data Using ArcPad 10 (free training course) http://training.esri.com/gateway/index.cfm?fa=catalog.webCourseDetail&courseid=2103 ArcPad Videos http://resources.arcgis.com/gallery/video/arcpad Hope this helps. ... View more

Tia, I have a few questions / troubleshooting steps for you.  Normally when we see issues like this it's the raster that's not displaying, not usually the vector data. 1. Which version of ArcGIS Desktop are you using? 2. Are these feature classes or shapefiles? 3. Did you check out your data using the ArcPad Data Manager?  If you did, did you check out for disconnected editing or background data?  If background, was it to axf or shapefile? (Or if using 9.3.1 did you use the ArcPad toolbar?) 4. If you check out only the feature classes and not the MrSid, do they display in ArcPad? 5. If you're checking out using the ArcPad Data Manager, did you check out the MrSid as original raster format or did you manually copy the MrSid to your device outside of the checkout process? 6. Do you see the same behavior in both ArcPad on the desktop as well as your Nomad?  If you haven't tested on the desktop, please do so and note the behavior. 7. Try checking out the layers one at a time (without the MrSid) and open their maps individually in ArcPad.  Do you see a difference between the individual checkouts and the project with the combined layers? 8. When you say "One of my four layers is visible in the project selection window", what exactly are you referring to? 9. If you check out only the vector layers and they all appear in ArcPad, you'll probably need to take a look at that MrSid.  If the same issue occurs regardless of whether the MrSid is in the map or not, you can disregard what I've written below. I have seen issues where although the layer properties show that the raster has the same projection as the vector data, the underlying projection file for the raster is actually slightly different than that of the vector data. Open the projection file for the MrSid in a text editor.  In an additional text document, open the .prj file that's associated with the vector data.  These can be found at... C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Desktop10.0\Coordinate Systems Do the two files appear different (as in the information in each is in a slightly different order)?  If they do, make a copy of the projection file for the MrSid.  In the new copy, delete the contents via the text editor and copy and paste the contents of the prj file from the coordinate systems folder above.  Swap this copied projection file for the original.  Try adding the MrSid and vector data to ArcPad, do you see any difference? - - - - - Long story short, there's probably something going on with one or more of your pieces of data.  Work with them all individually to see if you can pick out one or more layers that are causing the problem.  If they all work individually, then start to combine them together.  See if you can use the process of elimination to determine which piece of the puzzle doesn't fit quite right. Feel free to respond after trying some of the things above. ... View more

Asawari, Unfortunately, MapTips are not supported in ArcPad.  While this could potentially work on a desktop computer (but has not been included in ArcPad), devices that run a Windows Mobile OS would not be able to utilize this technology.  MapTips allow you to hover your mouse over a feature and return a text string.  The Windows Mobile OS requires that you actually tap on the screen, it does not allow for "hover" capabilities. My best suggestion would be to create a custom pointer tool which would automatically return either the entire attribute table or a message box containing the info from a few controls when a feature was selected by clicking on the map.  This, however, would require that you have a background in vbscript or jscript. ... View more

From the looks of it, you're running into the following bug: CQ00312474: Fields for external list values only show on XP machines (not on Win7/Vista) When you are utilizing a dbf table to populate the drop-down lists of a combobox control it requires that you select both the Values and Text fields (Code and Description) from the dbf table. Unfortunately, these lists appear blank on Windows Vista and Windows 7 computers.  Until this issue is resolved, you MUST select these values via ArcPad Studio on a computer with a Windows XP operating system. ... View more

David, A few questions regarding your DDA issue: 1. Are you using the DDA.exe that shipped with ArcPad 10.0, found in the "ArcPad 10.0 StreetMap Data" folder? 2. Does your data reside in the "StreetMap_Premium_NA_v11.3_Mobile_for_ArcPad" folder? 3. When you start the DDA, are you only adding the streets.sdc layer, or have you tried many different layers? 4. What options are you using in the "Extraction options" screen? 5. If you're just adding individual layers to the DDA, try opening the _navi_na.navmap file and attempt to extract all of the data for a small location. 6. Are you running the DDA directly from the DVD or have you copied the contents of the DVD to your computer?  I've seen an issue pop up a few times over the years (not working correctly when run from DVD/CD but runs appropriately from the desktop) but I recently worked with a customer who was able to complete the process for v10.0 directly from the DVD.  If you're running it from the DVD, try copying the DDA.exe and data to your computer and run it from there. ... View more

Robert, A few questions - 1. What mobile device are you using? 2. What XY and Z coordinate systems are you using? 3. Are you using 'Height above ellipsoid' or 'Mean Sea Level'? 4. If you're using MSL, did you specify a geoid separation value?  There are online calculators which can give you the value for your location. GPS Preferences > GPS Height tab > Geoid Separation GPS Height 5. When you say that the values are high, are you determining this by prior collected data you know to be correct? 6. How long are you waiting on each point before you take it.  Also, are you averaging?  If you wait on a point for several minutes (even give it 10-15 minutes on a single spot as a test) does the accuracy of the elevation improve? Thanks. ... View more

If you can uninstall 10.0.3, install 10.0.2 and verify that the problem does not occur we would be interested to get our hands on that data here in support services.  If you have ArcPad maintenance you could log an incident and we can take a look at it. In relation to issues with checking out rasters: 1. If it's the same raster that's used across many maps, etc, you could copy the raster directly to the mobile device and add it in ArcPad. 2. Export to jpeg2000, or another format, before you export to ArcPad.  That way, you can just export as original raster. What type of rasters are you starting with initially? You can use the Image Analysis window (Windows menu > Image Analysis) to clip your raster, or you could use the Clip GP tool. Data Management tools > Raster > Raster Processing > Clip You then just check out the clipped rasters as original raster format. Feel free to respond with more questions. ... View more

You can also set a default value for your date field (that's a text or integer field). Via ArcPad Studio: Go into the properties of the Text control (within the Edit Form) and set it's default value to Now(). This will automatically record the Date/Time within the text field when the edit form is opened. See my post on the following thread which discusses this topic a little bit. Default date value If you set the default value to Now() on an integer field it will only give you the year, such as 2011. Hope this helps. ... View more

David, I agree with what Hannah has written above.  Here's what I've seen surrounding this particular type of issue. There is a general bug or two which have been logged that encompass the many parts to this one issue.  It is necessary, however, to look into the smaller components that feed that issue.  All of these come back to two mainly two things (1) the microsoft sql compact edition database and (2) limitation of processing power on most mobile devices. CQ00312809: Errors are received when adding a large number of layers to ArcPad on a mobile device CQ00313039: 7+ schema-only feature classes checked out for disconnected editing produce low memory errors on mobile devices 1. Having many feature classes checked out for disconnected editing is taxing on the processing power of those mobile devices.  Even if they are schema-only and small in disk size, they can still utilize a lot of the memory of the device.  I've seen this same behavior in different datasets ranging from 8-50 feature classes, the average number at which I see memory issues arise is in the late teens, early twenties.  Limiting the number of feature classes that are available for that particular project (having multiple maps for different crews or projects is a good practice to follow) is the best way to reduce this issue. 2. If your feature classes have many domains specified this can cause a performance issue.  The same functionality via dbf look up tables does not cause the same behavior. CQ00312880: Poor performance in ArcPad 10.0 SP2 opening edit forms for AXF with many domains 3. The number of fields in your table (hundreds) can sometimes cause an issue. The best way to handle this behavior is to turn off the visibility of fields which your field crew doesn't really need via the Fields tab of the Layer Properties of a feature class in ArcMap.  Then during the checkout process, make sure that you check the box for "only take visible fields". 4. You mention relationship classes.  This is another thing that's been documented as contributing to low memory errors. CQ00312879: Performance is severely degraded when utilizing multiple relationship classes within an axf on a mobile device. I've not seen this issue creep up until perhaps 15-20 tables are in the document.  This, in-turn, often means that there are many feature classes in the document as well. 5. Background shapefiles perform better than background axf files.  If you don't mind sending your background non-editable layers out to shapefile this will help improve performance.  I know you said you only have one simple street shapefile, but I would still use the process of elimination to make sure that it's not contributing to the problem. 6. Use definition queries to limit the amount of data that's drawn on the screen.  Either send your def queries out via the checkout process or perhaps create custom buttons which will limit the features that are drawn at one time.  The following snippet will get you to where you need to  be to set the queries via vbscript. Application.Map.Layers("MyFeatureClass").Filter = "FIELDNAME = 'Test'" The "FIELDNAME = 'Test'" that you see above is the same thing you would see in the Filter tab of the Layer Properties via the ArcPad Table of Contents. 7. Reverting from 10SP3 to 10.0.0 will most likely not cause a difference in this behavior.  This is an artifact of axf files, not so much the current version of ArcPad.  There were quite a few fix issues in SP3 (10.0.3) and I would recommend using this newest version. All in all, testing, troubleshooting, and using the process of elimination should work to get to the specifics of this issue in relation to the points above.  The quickest way to see these issues diminish would be to limit the number of feature classes in the document. ... View more