Latest Contributions by MarkBockenhauer

Is it just me or does the Analysis Buffer tool crash Explorer Beta when it is run for other users too? Thanks Barry Yes, the buffer analysis tool is not functioning correctly in the beta release, and it does crash.  It will be fixed for the final release. Mark ... View more

I have 36 users working with 1750 and today i updated a few to beta 2012. I use the previous - next addin (PreviousNextExtent.eaz) and every time i open beta 2012 the software asks me if i want to install it. I cant get rid of some useless for my users buttons through Application Configuration Manager eg add overlay text and map text I get some problems during navigation. and for the end a little request: I would really like to have the date of the bing maps imagery i see. We did change the way add-ins are handled by ArcGIS Explorer. For ArcGIS Explorer users with Add-ins that update to ArcGIS Explorer 2012; When ArcGIS Explorer 2012 starts for the first time a prompt will be shown to install each Add-in that is on this system.  Once accepted on future starts of ArcGIS Explorer 2012 the add-in prompt should not occur.  I assume that you have accepted the add-in, but you are still prompted to install it when you start ArcGIS Explorer in subsequent sessions. Yes, we identified a problem with the Add text button and application configurations.  It will be fixed at final, thanks for bringing it to our attention. What kind of problem do you see during navigation? Mark ... View more

Does the 2012 Beta work with the 1750 SDK?  I cannot seem to build an add-in with the 1750 SDK.  It looks like the MakeEaz MSBuild task cannot find the ESRI.ArcGIS.Utilities.Compression assembly.  I tried copying both the SDK and assembly files to both "Explorer" and "Explorer (x86)" bin directories, and registering the Compression assembly, but I still get the FileNotFound exception during my project build. Attached is the error. No, the 1750 SDK will not work with ArcGIS Explorer 2012.  With the final release we will have an ArcGIS Explorer 2012 version of the SDK. Until then, you can develop add-ins with ArcGIS Explorer 1750 and use those Add-ins with ArcGIS Explorer 2012. Mark ... View more

I have a user who has the Beta, but needs the ESRI fonts... they tried to install the 1750 font pack but no go. I've got some layers built... and we need to keep the symbology consistent. Thanks Cam Cam, I think this might work for your case.  Install 1750, install the expansion pack.  Uninstall 1750, but leave the expansion pack on the machine and install ArcGIS Explorer 2012.   With the final 2012 release the 2012 expansion packs will also be available. Mark ... View more

I'm sorry but in my opinion that is an unacceptable solution. People shouldn't have to search for or manually select jpgs or png images to get decent symbols. Why is it so hard to include some basic styles and allow for selection similar to ArcMap or even the basic symbology in ArcPad? Having the ArcPad symbology would be a huge improvement. For such a big release there doesn't seem to be much improvement. I guess I'm stuck with .lyr files. Curious if you guys even listen to users/customers? I remember seeing many posts in the forums about Explorer Desktop symbology and there is no plan to improve it even after all that feedback. Nathan, Yes, we do listen to users and customers.  In a future version of ArcGIS Explorer (post 2012) their likely will be changes to the available symbols and the user experience for working with them.  We have thousands of enhancement requests and software ideas in our database; often the requested enhancement is the most important issue for the person that submitted it. We are well aware that when we do not address an issue, the person that submitted it will be disappointed, and we do not take this lightly. Our users' needs are important to us too! We have the challenge of prioritizing all of these requests against one another and defining a project to address the requests in a reasonable time frame.  We also have to look at the ArcGIS Explorer Desktop product and weigh whether the requested functionality is a good fit.   This is particularly true of functionality that exists in other Esri software products.  ArcGIS Explorer Desktop is not a copy of ArcMap or ArcGlobe.  ArcGIS Explorer is meant to be complimentary software for visualizing content created by ArcGIS Desktop (ArcMap, ArcGlobe, ArcScene) and ArcGIS Server.  It's primary role is to allow those who do not have ArcGIS Desktop to work with and view the content created by those who do have ArcGIS Desktop.  ArcGIS Explorer Desktops availability and price point (free download) lowers the bar for accessing / viewing ArcGIS content. ArcGIS Explorer does have capabilities for viewing "raw data"... shapefiles, geodatabase, rasters, text files, but admittedly there is not a strong cartographic toolset for defining how this data should be displayed (ex. symbolize by attribute). At this time ArcGIS Explorer map authoring is focused on assembling content that has already been cartographically rendered (ArcGIS layers, Services, Web Maps).   As ArcGIS Explorer evolves the functionality and user experience in this area could change. Your enhancement requests are important to us and will be considered as we continue to enhance existing software and create new software products. We do have requests for specific symbols and symbolsets in our user requests database. Thanks, Mark ... View more

Just installed the beta and noticed the same atrocious symbology. Will there be ANY improvements to symbols in the 2012 release? As described to me once, the symbols in Explorer are way to "cartoony" and need to be more professional looking. There should be more of an option other than "use layer packages or use .lyr files". layer packages seem to have less functionality than directly adding shapefiles. Users can't change colors or mess with popups from a layer package. So if somebody wants different colors for something they have to go back to the source to get a new layer file. If the symbols won't be changed at least make it easier to install and use symbol or style packages from ArcGIS Desktop within Explorer. Or even allow users to download symbol packages or esri fonts. Something. But either way something has to be done with the symbology. There are no plans to add or change the symbology in ArcGIS Explorer 2012.   In regards to points you can add images to use as symbols.  http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisexplorer/2012//en/dialog_manage_my_symbols.htm# ... View more

Can you expand on this a little more? Will this be like the 9.2/9.3 days where you had to install Bing maps as an extenstion (virtual earth if i remember), which required registering with Microsoft and ESRI? Where are we to obtain a bing maps key in the future and where are we to input this key to gain access to Bing Maps. My agency already has a Bing Maps key but other people might want to know some details on this. This is the URL to obtain a key from Microsoft.  http://www.bingmapsportal.com/ There is no registration with Esri,  the ArcGIS Explorer 2012 final version will have an option for entering in a Microsoft key to enable the use of Bing Maps data. ... View more

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, it should work, we will take a look at it. Mark ... View more

Installed the beta last Friday. Background: I have used the previous version only a little, so there is a decent chance I am using it suboptimally and the performance issues I see are a result of user error. Use case: We have data in shapefiles representing streets in the USA and Canada. Supporting these feature classes and shapefiles are extra tables about maneuvers, etc. The data is stored centrally and is read only. I am evaluating ArcExplorer Desktop as a potential replacement for the couple copies of ArcView 3.3 the field collection guys use to study some tricky intersections. They load up the appropriate shapefile (usually half a million to a million streets) in AV 3.3 very quickly and the guys zoom to their intersection and use a combination of Identify, symbology, and occasionally relates to figure things out. We'd like to move off AV 3.3 before it stops working with some version of Windows. We'd also like to eventually move the data to geodatabase. Here's what I've tried: keeping the data in central shapefiles, local shapefiles, local filegeodatabase, local layer package. Here's what I've seen: ArcExplorer draws the shapes very, very slowing, spending a large amount of time telling me it is "streaming." I can start AV 3.3 and look at the data in the same time I am waiting for the data to render. The field guys will never accept this performance hit. In just a little looking, I was also not able to figure out how to handle the user need to look at other tables by relate. I didn't spend much time on it, though, because the slow drawing was a total deal breaker. I assume I am doing something incorrectly, but if the performance difference is unavoidable, I think our guys will want to stick with AV 3.3 - it is familiar and fast. What am I doing incorrectly? You aren't necessarily doing anything incorrectly, but you may be able to get a better user experience by trying the following: 1. Make sure your coordinates system of the map matches the coordinate system of the data, if possible. Projection on the fly is always slower than drawing in the coordinate system of the data.  From the file menu (ArcGIS Explorer icon upper left)  Click map properties and 2D coordinate system, specify the coordinate system of your data.  Also, when working with a lot of features your going to get better performance working in 2D, rather than 3D. 2.  Use a Display range.  In ArcGIS Explorer on the appearance tab you can set the Minimum scale at which the data draws, the data won't display when zoomed out beyond the specified scale (or if using ArcGIS Layers, Layer packages, ArcGIS Explorer will honor visibility settings stored in the layer).  You can specify a display range that ensures the data only draws when zoomed in close.  This narrows the extent of the data fetched for display and improves performance.   Make use of another layer that draws fast (like an ArcGIS Explorer basemap) so that your users have a point of reference for where they want to zoom in, but only draw the large dataset when zoomed in close. Mark ... View more

Hey, ... Is it possible to add the new Web Feature Services hosted by ArcGIS Online or is it planned to add such a functionality? At the moment there only seems to be support for common GIS-server technologies. I think this would be a perfect addition to reach a maximum integration between both systems. best regards Richard We agree that this would be a great addition. However, Feature services are currently not supported. Support for these will be added in a future release, post ArcGIS Explorer 2012. Mark ... View more

I seem to be in some strange loop for Add Ins, though. When I go to Resources > Add Ins, it asks if I want to restart to load one. Not sure what it's loading, but restart doesn't end the popup. I've got: Add Ins Online File WithCoordinates Raster Georeferencing Create or Add GeoTagged Images I'm also unable to remove any of them. I also had a third party Add In developed for search and rescue. I can't install that, though it worked on build 1750. Workaround is to keep 1750 on my machine. Can I then use 2012 beta off a USB? Thoughts and comments welcome Thanks! George George, For ArcGIS Explorer 2012 we changed how the Add-ins are handled when added to the software.  As a result you will be prompted to Accept all the add-ins that you currently have installed when you run ArcGIS Explorer 2012.  It is expected that user experience for adding and removing should work as it previously did.  I will have to take a look and see if I can find a scenario where they are not handled properly. It is also expected that all add-ins 1500 - 1750 should work in ArcGIS Explorer 2012.  Those that do not will need to be looked at on a case by case basis.  If you can send the Add-in we can take a look. Yes, you could run ArcGIS Explorer 2012 from a USB or copied folder on a machine that is running 1750.  The only issue is that the cache files created by ArcGIS Explorer 2012 will not be useable by 1750, so when running 1750 data that was cached and viewed in ArcGIS Explorer 2012, will not display in ArcGIS Explorer 1750.  For basemaps you may even see an error message in regards to an "invalid layer".  To correct this problem you just need to clear out all of the ArcGIS Explorer cache. (delete %tmp%\E3) Mark ... View more

Noticed that the Beta version is for 32-bit. Are there any plans to release a 64-bit version? We have done a lot of customization using the Add-in functionality within version 1750, will it still worj in 2012? Regards, Stefan ssteenekamp@ppf.org.za Stefan, Yes, a 64 bit version is planned, it currently lags a bit behind the 32 bit version, as we get the code working in 64 bit.  Yes, Add-ins from 1750 will work In ArcGIS Explorer 2012.  For the 64 bit version you will need to confirm that the add-ins were targetted at "Any CPU" Mark ... View more

Did we lose the option for Bing basemaps?  I do like having the option to finally put text on the map - kudos for that. Esri is phasing out the complimentary use of Bing Maps in its ArcGIS products.  The final version of ArcGIS Explorer 2012 as well as other Esri products will be "Bing Ready", which will allow you to input a Bing Maps key that you obtain directly from Microsoft.  After you input the key you will be able to use Bing maps as you did previously. Mark ... View more

When I attempted to add a base map to ArcMap, the basemap opened in AGX as a new ArcGIS Layer and not in ArcMap. So, initial problem is kind of solved, but I don't think what just happened was by design. Dan, It certainly was not by the initial design...  For ArcGIS Explorer 2012 we did work to "separate" ArcGIS Explorer desktop from ArcGIS Desktop, this is what allows it to run off of a USB, a side affect is that for shared file types, things like layers and layer packages that can be opened in ArcGIS Explorer, ArcGlobe and ArcMap, we do not have a real clean file association solution.  So, we made the decision that if ArcGIS Explorer is running, it takes the file association.  This is something we will continue to look at,  when double clicking in windows explorer or opening content from the ArcGIS online webpage we can't really control which Esri app will get the common file type, but when opening from an application (opening basemap in ArcMap) we should be able to direct it to the correct application.  This could be a future SP fix for ArcMap. Mark ... View more

After installing to any location, you can just copy the "Explorer (86)" folder and all of its contents to any windows folder / usb location and then run the software by double clicking the e3.exe in the Explorer (86)\bin folder.  You could also set up a shortcut to the e3.exe location. Mark ... View more