Latest Contributions by EllenBryson2

Mark: I too am very glad to see this AGX continue to be supported. Is it too late in the game to request/suggest a simple change in the next version? I would love the default polygon symbol to have an outline. The current default symbol for polygons is yellow with no outlines, so if you add a shapefile with multiple polygons, like HUC watersheds, it looks like all one polygon. My non-GIS users don't know easily that it might be multiple polygons. Thank you. Very much looking forward to the new version! Ellen . ... View more

Jutta and others: I have learned that my Add-in to show image dates is currently not working. It performed a hard Identify on the World Imagery service, and (I believe) the URL for the service might have changed. While researching the issue, however, I discovered that if the World Imagery is added to ArcGIS Explorer Desktop as a layer, and not used as a basemap, that the Identify function does work! See attached snapshot. To add the service as a layer, Add Content, Add GIS Services, New Server Connection,  http://services.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/services, and then add the World_Imagery service. With that layer visible, click anywhere on your map. I was quite pleased with this. I'm not sure if ESRI recently enabled this function, or I missed it in my research. Probably the latter. 🙂 ... View more

I believe that the Basemaps can be accessed through that ArcGIS Online item, but that is not the only way to access them. You can add most of the Basemaps to ArcGIS Explorer by Adding Content, GIS services, and then connect to http://services.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/services. From there you can add World_Imagery or other layers. Because the Basemaps do sometimes change, I have set up a configuration that all my users load automatically at startup. I created a new Basemap using the World_Imagery service above, and then include that Basemap in my configuation file, which all users default to. Then if Basemaps 'disappear' I can fix it one time in my configuration file, and my users might not even know it was gone. It works great! ~Ellen ... View more

Jutta Yes, it is an ArcGIS Explorer add-in. It was developed using Visual Basic 2008 about two years ago.I'd be happy to share it. It only returns the date for the highest precision data (most zoomed in). I didn't realize til your second email that you needed all levels. But perhaps it would be helpful. How do I get it to you? I don't see the option to attach it. You can reach me at ellen.bryson@usace.army.mil regards, Ellen ... View more

We've been using ArcGIS Explorer for several years now. So far, it locks up or bombs for us in fairly predictable ways. The main culprit is that folks are saving their Default base map with a reference to a web service or other data that ArcGIS Desktop can't find. If you delete the file named My Default Map.nmf under the ArcGIS Desktop folder, does that fix the issue? If the program can't find that file, it creates one, and this default map will not have any layers, so it "should" load quickly. I regularly remind my users to not save My Default Map, save their work to some other name, e.g., ParcelsWork.nmf I too love ArcGIS Explorer and am not sure that AGOL is going to meet our needs for a while. ... View more

Jutta: Yes, you can easily get the date in ArcMap. Use your identify tool and click on the image. I do not know of an easy way to do the same in ArcGIS Explorer. I have written an add-in that sends off a request to ESRI's map service requesting the image date. I'm happy to share that with you (and others if Jutta has a good experience with it). Regarding your comment about the slowness of ArcMap versus ArcExplorer: I have the same issue, and have often wondered about that. Does anyone know why that is so? ArcMap ought to be faster... Ellen ... View more

I have had good success with using the option to set a transparency color. (Tools, Appearance, Set Transparent Color, then click on the area you don't want drawn. Whatever color that pixel is won't be drawn for the rest of the image. Nice way to get rid of collars on images. ... View more

Michael made a great suggestion with the IN function. If you're wondering how to fix your original query, here's the solution. "Name" = 'New York' OR "Name" = 'Los Angeles' You need to mention the field name twice. And in this context I think the OR is what you want. ... View more

Hi Mark Do you know if this also addressed the issue where photos taken by an Apple IPhone do not map correctly? Thanks Ellen ... View more

Hi Nathan This small clarification might help you. In the new AGX geocoder, you don't have to have every piece of an address to find a place. Even if you have limited information, as long as you structure the request by adding commas where needed, it will work fairly well. I've searched with success for just a street address and zip code, which is of course, unique in the US. I've also found locations using just the street address, city, and state, with no zip code. And if you type a city and state only, you'll find the center of the city. Here's how. AGX should prompt you as soon as you start typing an address in the address box, by 'bolding' the value it wants next, below your input. See my snapshot below, where I'm about the type  "pa." Region is bolded (ESRI uses Region for state). Notice the commas I used in the address to skip over neighborhood and subregion values. And here's what it found: You can also create your own locator, as Mark mentions, but if that's not an option, perhaps this will work well enough for your team. ~Ellen Bryson ... View more

Hi Elterrell You might want to post this question under the ArcMap forum. ArcGIS Explorer Desktop doesn't have a normalization function. Good luck Ellen Hi all, I have a map of a county precincts, all 195.  The attribute table shows the FID number, the Precinct number, a few columns such as district and shape, and most importantly it shows the number of Dems, Reps, and Unaffiliated voters.  I'm looking at making chloropleth maps which reflect the political party of the people in the precinct.  It's easy enough to map the number of Dems or Reps, but I'm curious how to use the percent of total function.  I'd like to show Dems are for ex: 50% of a precinct.  However, I think the Normalization tab is also tabulating the area, some of the district numbers, and other irrelevant information for this task. My question is...how would I go about using just the columns with the political parties as a percent of total? Many thanks in advance. ... View more

Hi Lansky.8 You should be able to load shapefiles in ArcGIS Explorer. You're off to a good start to make sure that you received .dbf, .prj., .shp and .shx. Those are absolutely necessary. If you try to add them, and AGX displays the .shp file, you know then that you have all necessary files. (If you don't have some of the files, ArcGIS Explorer won't even show you that in the file dialog. If you don't have the .prj file, it will allow you to click .shp, but it won't add, you'll get an error, Unable to add, or similar.) Regarding metadata, might you perhaps mean the attribute data? You can click on any feature in the shape and get the attribute data for that shape. If you're working with ArcGIS Explorer and you have 2500, you can view the attribute table as a whole. (Click on the layer in your Contents area, then Tools, then Attribute Table. If you did in fact mean metadata, I'm not sure of a way to display that in ArcGIS Explorer. I just tried updating my metadata for a shapefile in ArcMap but was not successful my new metadata in AGX. Anyone else? Hope this helps a bit and Good luck ~Ellen I'm new to GIS and downloaded ArcGISExplorer to decide if I need the full ArcGIS product.  I have received several shapefiles from colleagues but I'm unable to load them in the Explorer.  I have files with extensions .dbf, .prj, .sbn, .sbx and .shx.  However, when I click Add Content:Shapefiles, and navigate to the folder only the .shp file can be uploaded.  This creates a boundary, but no metadata. Any advice or help would be much appreciated. ... View more

Perhaps this suggestion will help you. When you add Content and then select ArcGIS Server, make your url fit this pattern. http://yourserver.com:6080/arcgis/services That is, force AGX to use port 6080. I had some troubles connecting to external servers after they upgraded their ArcGIS server software. We learned that the upgrade made this the default port. So some servers I had previously connected to no longer worked. And it seems to be true for our internal server too. If this does work, speak with your AG Server administrator and see if they can run  the ArcGIS Server web adapter. (google arcgis server and port 6080). That will fix it so you don't need to port (I believe!) Do let us know if this works. I'm trying to understand connections in AGX better. Ellen Hello!  In ArcGIS Explorer Desktop 2500, I cannot successfully add either an internally-hosted or ArcGIS Online-hosted service.  The method I'm using is: Add Content > ArcGIS Server (I've tried all of these options) > paste URL into the Server dialog > Next. I have tried services which require authentication, and services which don't; services hosted by my internal ArcGIS Server, and services hosted by our ArcGIS Online account--all with the same result: "Failed to connect to http://server/our/info/here" The same URLs work like a charm in a browser, just not in ArcGIS Explorer Desktop.  Any thoughts on what I could be doing wrong? Thanks! ... View more