Latest Contributions by MichaelLohr

Maybe this doesn't work for everyone, but we serve some data layers to the online maps from our own ArcGIS server, and we do the standard labeling in the MXD file prior to publishing. It seems to behave pretty well on both public maps and on limited access maps. We do have an organizational account. ... View more

Might be the gov shutdown, but it went unavailable a couple weeks ago. Searching for a shutdown contingency plan at Bureau of Land Management yields a 2011 document that basically says all BLM operations except emergencies will halt operations. http://www.doi.gov/shutdown/upload/BLM-Contingency-Plan-Dec-15-2011.pdf ... View more

This is what shows on the online map details for that layer http://www.geocommunicator.gov/ArcGIS/rest/services/PLSS/MapServer But it redirects you to DOI general web page. Several searches lead to the geocommunicator site, and all redirect to the general Dept of Interior page. They have done something with that server. Its still available in the ESRI online library, you can search for it and find it, and try to add it to your map, it just doesn't display anything. ... View more

What if you made a new group that only contained the map/layers you wanted to cleanly share? Then just invite the same people as in the other group. Its a pain because they all have to go respond to another Invite Request, but it keeps from cluttering up the other group. ... View more

If you have an Organizational subscription account and are an administrator on that account, then you can go into the organizational settings, in Security, and set it to not share data outside your organization. If it is a personal account, all your maps have to be public. Prior to the subscription based accounts, you could make your maps and groups private. I switched one over like that recently, to a subscription based account and it was quite an experience. Currently ESRI is providing a base level subscription to those people participating in the ESRI Business Partner program, through the end of 2013, I think. Hope that helps some. ... View more

Thanks for the reply, Charlie. The link to the NED FAQ spells out all the detail on the vertical datum, including that in the conterminous US, all elevations are NAVD88 Meters, but some areas outside may be other datums. I verified this by checking some old scanned hardcopies of a USGS quad map and comparing the online streamed version from the ESRI mapping service. It matched up being NAVD88 Meters. Your reply led to the answer. I would think someone would want to edit the description on ther USA Topo service to include a description of the vertical datum and a link to the NED info, like you provided. ... View more

PLSS layers for your specific area may not be a published map service. Some government agencies seem to publish some GIS layers but a lot of them do not. There could be some state agency that published a statewide PLSS layer, they are available, generally in shapefile format. But the published services you can attach to via the AGOL can be hard to find, you have to know the specific URL addess of the published service. A possible workaround, maybe a little clumsy but should work, is to add in the ESRI map service for USA Topo into your online map, which are the USGS Topographic maps. They do have section lines on them once you are zoomed down in far enough. You could use that to target your area, then turn that off and the aerial back on and go to tracing your forested areas. Hope that helps. ... View more

Looks like you solved this one but here is another thought related to it. We often build custom maps for agencies that are not public maps and frequently have issues getting outside organizational accounts successfully added to the proper Map Group. There are usually 2 settings that can be a problem. One is the Organizational Security setting that Mike referred to where you allow sharing with outside your organization (in our case we don't allow anonymous access). The other setting is in the ESRI profile for the target user, sometimes they will have that set to be not discoverable, and so it prevents you from "finding" them in the database to send the Invite to join the group. I also heard that the Explorer version will go away in the summer update but that the functionality will be built into the standard viewer. If you used the Presentation functionality, that is replaced by the ESRI for Office application, and won't be built into the Online Viewer. ... View more

If your contour SHP file is arc (line) based and not polygon based, you won't be able to shade the area between the contours directly. If you have a polygon based SHP file and have an attribute field that labels the elevation range between contour lines, then it is a matter of symbolizing the layer based on the contents of the elevation range field, and assigning one of the color ramps available. Some raw contour SHP files require considerable processing to be able to do the nice thematic shading. The other option is to create a raster based grid file or a TIN where each individual cell has an elevation assigned to it. This can be generated from a properly configured SHP file but may require one of the advanced extensions like Spatial Analyst or 3D Analyst. Hope that helps some. I have wrestled with contours many times. Good luck. Mike L ... View more

I think JM's intent was to make it the students responsibility to create the Map Group and invite the instructor, minimizing administering the groups by school IT or instructor. Good thought as the student experience is a little deeper for it. Beyond that, this has been an issue for me also, not with students but with clients. The whole idea is to promote using the online maps, and this is problematic as some map contents may be sensitive and not suitable to public posting. Trying to get non-GIS people to create an ESRI Global Account is not very fruitful, let alone Map Groups or anything else. This is the domain of us GIS nerds. We end up jumping through hoops and setting up accounts for clients, which they can then transfer to their email. Map Groups are a workable answer if the number of groups needed is not too many at one time. But it is limited and not conducive to easily sharing sensitive maps. Good discussion. Thanks to all. ... View more