Latest Contributions by MarkBockenhauer

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 [email protected] 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

If you are seeing the "desktop background" it has something to do with the graphics card (ArcGIS Explorer's use of the graphics card) and it may be possible to fix by installing a different graphics card driver. ... View more

Try seting the Geographic Transformation. Map Properties -> 2D coordinate system or 3D coordinate system  and choose the transformation for the coordinate system of your data. http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisexplorer/1700/en/map_properties_coordinate_systems.htm# ... View more

Try connecting with http://192.168.1.177/arcgis/services -mark ... View more

Are you referring to ArcGIS Explorer 2D, 3D or both? Are you adding a layer file, that references the image, or just adding the image directly? Taking a guess, if it is a layer file and you are working in 3D it could be the "raster resolution" layer property. In ArcGlobe check this property, set it if necessary, and save the layer file. [ATTACH=CONFIG]14383[/ATTACH] Mark ... View more

In ArcMap you can use an xsl style  to make this happen in the layer package. Right click on the layer in ArcMap Click Properties On the HTML Popup tab    Select the radio button for "As a formated page based on a XSL template"    then Click Load and Load the default template. [ATTACH=CONFIG]14382[/ATTACH] If you scroll down in the style you will see a section where it specifies how to determine if an attribute is "hyperlinkable."  You will see things like this:      <xsl:when test="FieldValue[starts-with(., '\\')]">       <a target="_blank">        <xsl:attribute name="href">         <xsl:value-of select="FieldValue"/>        </xsl:attribute>        <xsl:value-of select="FieldValue"/>       </a>      </xsl:when> The test for the field value is the important part.  Just add another one or change an existing test to set "c:" as linkable. <xsl:when test="FieldValue[starts-with(., 'c:')]">       <a target="_blank">        <xsl:attribute name="href">         <xsl:value-of select="FieldValue"/>        </xsl:attribute>        <xsl:value-of select="FieldValue"/>       </a>      </xsl:when> Any attribute in your data that begins with c: will be recognized as hyperlinkable. Mark ... View more

You could use Representations in ArcMap to symbolize the polygon with a point.  To use representations your data will need to be in a geodatbase format though. Mark ... View more

Matt, There is no way to change either of these. In the GPS case the Red Exclamation symbol means that it does not have a "fix" from the GPS device.  It shows as a green dot when it does have a fix. Mark ... View more