Latest Contributions by ChrisCrabtree

Hello all, I've read several posts on here about the question I'm asking but there's a lot of terminology on the ArcGIS Online side that I'm not familiar with (sounds like different user roles) so I wanted to ask the question my own way. I've been out of the GIS field for around 5 years now and I've never used ArcGIS Pro. The last version of ArcGIS I used was 10. something. The organization I work for is slowly pulling me back in to the GIS work I used to perform so I'm wanting to transition us to ArcGIS Online. I've had a free account for years where I play around and make different things, but I'm now needing a full blown ArcGIS Online account where I can have Creators, Viewers, Mobile Workers, and editors.  I'm looking for myself to be the creator account, 2 individuals to be mobile worker accounts do they can use Survey123 and go out to collect field data, an editor account for another entity that does not do mobile data collection but o=would instead work on things from the office, and maybe a couple viewer accounts. I will be creating a lot of the data at first and will be working with old shape files that I have and manipulating data on my workstation, so I'm wanting to use ArcGIS and everyone tells me to start using ArcGIS Pro since I've been without GIS for 5 years. I guess instead of relearning ArcMap just learn ArcGIS Pro.  Does buying an ArcGIS Online account guarantee me a license to use ArcGIS Pro? I believe I will be the only person needing it, but I was curious if the different account types (Creator, Mobile Worker, Viewer, Editor) came with particular desktop licenses.  Thanks everyone! ... View more

Hello all, I currently work doing IT, but have a degree in GIS and do GIS on the side. Mostly creating data sets for government agencies and cartography work. I've recently been asked by several local government about doing GIS contract work for them, and what they all seem to want is online mapping applications. I've created tons of web maps using ArcGIS explorer online and have used ArcGIS online for one organization years ago, but my question is, if I have multiple agencies wanting me to do this and they all want me to handle the accounts would it be advisable for me to handle all agencies under one account. What I'm asking is, can I myself as a contractor have an account in which I pay a fee for, and then charge agencies a fee for creating and hosting their applications under my account? Since each agency only wants 2 or 3 maps it seems like it would be cheaper if I consolidated all the maps under one account, but also would ArcGIS online be the solution for this or something else. Also could each agency have a their own user account so when they logged in they would have access to only their applications? Thanks! ... View more

I'm working with a polygon shape file that I'm editing in ArcGIS Desktop. I have one large polygon that is used as a footprint for a building and I'm cutting the polygon trying to separate it to categorize rooms like a blue print. In desktop is shows up fine but when I upload it to ArcGIS Explorer Online it displays my rooms as cut up looking triangle. Does anyone know why it would be doing this? I attached a picture. Thanks! ... View more

I know that title sounds strange but I don't know exactly how to word what I'm wanting to do. I'm currently making a territory map of Tennessee with certain areas of Tennessee divided into districts. I attached an example of the map I'm working on. For me to create this map I had to select the counties in each district and export them into their own shape file, and then edit the district and move it out to space it. I'm just trying to put a little distance in between the districts instead of just changing the symbol to reflect the change. Currently I'm exporting each district into it's own TIFF file and then using Photoshop to put the distance in each district, but i figured there was a way to do this in layout mode without all the hassle of using Photoshop, but that may be asking to much. So is it possible to do this in ArcGIS Desktop 10.2? Thanks! ... View more

Hello all! I work for small county / city government. I'm the GIS administrator and I'm used to make professional maps and now I've been asked to make theme park styled map for special events and more specifically a Christmas parade next week. I know this isn't really a GIS type question since nothing on the map itself will be referenced to anything and will be a complete cartographic mess, but the city is wanting a fun map for children that represents the parade route and local amenities. I assumed some other GIS Professionals had been put in the same spot for local government. I've looked into using ArcGIS, but it doesn't seem practical for this type application. I've looked into SimCity products and even online city building games, so my question is, ha anyone had experience using any type of software that can do this? Thanks! ... View more

I've been working with GIS for several years now, doing data collection and also using some of the analysis tools with ArcMap but I have a question that’s been puzzling me for some time and I've came to several conclusions and I figured I'd just ask the experts. I work for a 911 center and they have a GIS system. The files are stored locally on each computer, not on a server or online. They have a custom built desktop application they use, I know that ArcReader is running in the background, and the program is using a PMF file. I know that when updates are done to the system they are saved and then exported as a PMF file and then the geo database along with the PMF are copied over to each dispatch station. My question is, and this is very vague so bare with me, What is used to design a custom desktop application? The application has several search fields, they are blank fields and as long as you type 3 characters it will search the designated feature class in the geodatabase and bring back a box of results. I assume the application is built using visual basic studio along with something that ESRI has to go along with it, but I'm not for sure. I've seen things online such as publisher, and arc objects, but I've never really got a straight answer on it. The reason I'm wondering this is, I would like to learn to build custom desktop applications such as this using the same method if possible. I’m currently in the process of trying to convince my county government that we need GIS across the whole government platform, so far they agree but we are such a small county that we do not have internet and cell service all over the county and for me to convince the government this is something we need, I’m going to have to be able to show that we can have a desktop application where no network service is needed to pull up information such as address, streets, utility lines, and things of that nature. Our 911 center is hopefully going to upgrade their system soon where all the information is stored in 1 location on the server (I know this sounds crazy, our 911 center is still living in the 1800’s) but, what I’m currently looking at is the Local Government package that ESRI offers, I’m going to get the city and county governments to go in together and purchase this, and from what I can see it seems like everything in the GIS world is going to the cloud or based somewhere where you have to have a network connection to access your data, I simply can’t work with that. I know it’s going to be time consuming but in the end there are several agencies where I will have to actually go out to their vehicles and copy over the updated data because they have no way of accessing this stuff over a network. I know programming isn’t easy, and asking someone to tell me how to build an application sounds crazy in itself, but I’m willing to learn if I was pointed in the right direction. I have taken every GIS related class I can find at all my local community colleges and universities, and I’m fixing to start VB and C+ classes, but I can not find anyone who teaches how to build applications for GIS. It’s always, ArcGIS online, cloud, server based, flex viewer, or something. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, ... View more

I work at an E-911 communications center. I work a little with the GIS system we use, I collect some data such as fire hydrants, landing zones, trail systems, things likes that but I don't get to mess with the really neat stuff. I know When a 911 center receives a 911 call from a cell phone or land line the number is sent to a processing company (Intrado is who we use) but after the information is pulled from the company's database how is that information sent back to the 911 center and populated on the map? I know there is some type of database that is used along with the GIS system t generate the data an populate it on the map but I was just curious of the process. I have searched and searched online but have not found any good information on the subject.  Just trying to lean a thing or two!  Thanks! ... View more