Latest Contributions by MarkBockenhauer

Greg, ArcGIS Explorer requires a spatial reference (a .prj file).   In ArcMap using Toolbox you can define the projection.  ArcGIS 10 pictured. I also attached a .prj file that is for a WGS 84 geographic coordinate system.   You could rename it to match your shapefile name.  For example: tiles.shp tiles.dbf tiles.shx Rename the attached wgs_84.prj.txt or tiles.prj  and place it in the folder with your shapefile. If your shapefile coordinates are in WGS 84 it should load into ArcGIS Explorer in the right place. Mark ... View more

In ArcGIS Explorer you could share the notes as a layer package.  Then open the layer package in ArcMap and export the features to a shapefile. or you could share the notes as KML.   It might be easier for you to convert the KML into a shapefile. Mark ... View more

Both of these coordinate systems have equal performance in 3D if they are fully cached map services. ... View more

In 3D all of the point symbols are anchored at the bottom center of the icon.  This keeps them from sinking into the terrain when the view is tilted. In 2d you will see that the anchor position changes based on the symbol.  The pins are anchored at the point of the pin, while other symbols like the cars are anchored at the center of the symbol. Mark ... View more

If you want to share from ArcMap 10 to other ArcGIS Explorer users you can use a layer package.  Right Click on the layer in ArcMap and create layer package.  Use the HTML popup properties of the layer to control which attributes appear in the popup window. If you need to create KML, there is away to create it using ArcGIS Explorer 1500. Download the query plus add-in. http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=86d1eb20b0564b9f8a528e0e723ae3e6 This add-in will allow you to select the features from your shapefile that you want to share as KML. Add your shapefile to ArcGIS Explorer. Use Query Plus add-in to select the desired features. Add the selection to the ArcGIS Explorer map.  This step creates notes out of the features. Right click on the notes and share them as KML. Mark ... View more

Paul, .tif files just are not user friendly when it comes to displaying them in a web page. Popup windows in ArcGIS Explorer and ArcMap/Globe are just "web browsers in a window."  The standard <img src="image"> generally does not work for .tiff files in most browsers. To show a .tif image in a popup window you can use windows media player or another "embeddable app", and use the <object> to "embed" it. To see the popup in ArcGIS Explorer you will have to use a layer package.  Define how the popup should appear using the HTML popup layer property in ArcMap or ArcGlobe. I have created an example here that you can take a look at.  http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=e9b5b2bacbda46ff81731d52066b699b This example uses windows media player to display the .tif file. This example is an NMC (ArcGIS Explorer layer) that references a Layer Package (which contains attachments) from ArcGIS online. The HTML Popup properties for the layer package define how and which attachments display in the popup window.  Also note that ArcGIS Explorer 1500 fully supports the display of attachments in the popup window, but ArcMap / ArcGlobe do not (they only support the first image attachment).  However, you can see all of the attachments in ArcMap and ArcGlobe by using the identify tool. When you add a geodatabase feature class directly to ArcGIS Explorer through the Add Content menu, it is not possible to define a popup display that will show attachments. Mark ... View more

William, After opening the layer package in ArcMap can you save the layer file to your disk, and open the layer file in ArcGIS Explorer?   This is not the solution to the problem, just trying to narrow down the cause... is it the package, or the contents of the package... ?? Also, are you using ArcGIS Explorer on the same computer that you have ArcGIS 10 installed on?  This is not a problem, I am just trying to understand the exact setup, so I can ask the right questions, and potentially provide the right solution. Do you have service pack 1 for ArcGIS 10 installed, or just straight ArcGIS 10? When you install ArcGIS Explorer 1500, what happens when you try to use it?  In regards to system requirements ArcGIS Explorer 1500 is virtually the same as ArcGIS Explorer 1200.  There may be another cause for the problems you encounter, un-related to hardware. Mark ... View more

In your temp folder you will find the full setup after downloading and running the downloader.exe %temp%\ArcGISExplorer\1500\Setup ... View more

James, There are a variety of ways to manage this depending on what you want to allow your users to do.  Providing the application configuration (NCFG) shortcut to the users in your organization is pretty straight forward and probably easy for everyone to understand from a management perspective. You could let your users browse and open any map, just take away there ability to save it.  You could also put the main map in a folder that your users only have read access to,  that way they could not over-write it, but they could save the map to their own computer and make their own variation of the map, or make new maps if they need to. If you want to make sure they are using the map that you provide, giving them an Application Configuration (NCFG) is a good solution. Mark ... View more

James, I see two main things to consider. 1.  Lock files on shapefiles used by ArcGIS Explorer. 2. Make sure ArcGIS Explorer users can't mess up the map. For 1 This is how I would approach the problem.  I would create layer packages out of the shapefiles, placing the layer packages in a central location.  I would then build my ArcGIS Explorer map using the layer packages.   In the future the shapefiles can be edited (ArcGIS Explorer is not referencing them, so they are not locked), the layers also can be modified (except for the name) and just overwrite the layer package with a new layer package to update the ArcGIS Explorer maps.  Just make sure the Layer Package you are over-writing has the same name, and the same number of layers with same names inside.  To keep it simple one layer package per layer (shapefile) in your map. (don't use groups layers) One thing for you and your map users to be aware of, when you update the layer package, the ArcGIS Explorer user will not see the update until they re-open the map.  You could make this be the default map, and they just shut down ArcGIS Explrorer and restart, or they just go to the file menu - Open and select the map, to reload it and see the update -  No restart required.  You would still need to notify them when an update occurs though. For 2 You most likely want to use an Application Configuration.  There are many options available for the amount of control that your users will have. The basic idea is to create an application configuration (NCFG) and deliver that to your users.  The NCFG is a custom configured "view" of the ArcGIS Explorer application and a specific map. Take a look at the help here http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisexplorer/1500//en/appconfigs.htm The NCFG can even be accessed by reference, so you could make upades to it and your users will just see the changes when they open ArcGIS Explorer... changes to the ArcGIS Explorer interface and/or the map.  A lot of flexibility. You can try this application configuration to get an idea for how they can be used. http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=8943032b54c2490991a6c5887e2f969d Mark ... View more

When you click on the map it does somethng like this? Does it occur in both 2D and 3D? What language is your computer running in?  it may have something to do with this, but I am not sure. Mark ... View more

Does this occur with all layer packages or is it specific to particular one? If you open this layer package in ArcGIS Explorer does it work? or does ArcGIS Explorer still hang? http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=170b5e6529064b8d9275168687880359 Mark ... View more

1. Is the layer broken?  Nothing displays in the map, but the layer in the table of contents has a red exclmation point next to it? or 2. The symbols on the map display keyboard characters instead of the symbols that the map was created with. Possible solution for 1 The red exclamation point means that the computer you are using the map on, does not have access to the data.  Often this is because the map (NMF, NMC) was created by adding data from a local drive letter location on the machine.  ArcGIS Explorer maps reference the data where it is on the machine.   Broken data links also occur when referencing ArcSDE and served (services) data that the other machine or user does not have access to. If you right click on the layer and click properties, you can click "source data" to find out where the data is being accessed from. If you want to share local data (shapefiles, rasters (imagery), filegeodatabases), creating and uploading layer packages to ArcGIS Online and building your ArcGIS Explorer maps out of the online content, is the best way to go. Especially if you are sharing to computers that have access to the internet, but not your local machine or local area network. http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisexplorer/1500//en/sharing_map_and_map_content_files.htm It is easiest to share with others if the data sources are internet based (http://)  ArcGIS Server Services and ArcGIS online (layer packages) work great for enabling this. Possible Solution for 2 The map is using symbols that are comprised of ESRI Fonts.  The second machine does not have ArcGIS Desktop installed on it, and only has ArcGIS Explorer.  The base ArcGIS Explorer install, does not install all of the ESRI Fonts (they increase the download size too much).  To get the ESRI fonts on the second machine, you just need to install the Fonts Expansion Pack at http://resources.arcgis.com/content/arcgis-explorer/1500/download Download fonts expansion pack now Mark ... View more

Uli, You can use a filegeodatabase for this exercise.  You will not encounter the field size character limit using a filegeodatabase. Mark ... View more

Ben, 'Get unique values' only works for local data sources.  It is not supported for services. Interrogating the service for the unique values can be a costly operation for the server and the client.  There is no option to turn it on for services. Mark ... View more