UC2009 Geodatabase Demo Theatres

Members of the geodatabase team will be giving presentations in the demo theatre area throughout the week at UC2009. These presentations are smaller and more intimate than the technical workshops, and revolve mainly around live demonstrations of specific areas of the software. It’s a good opportunity to delve into a topic of interest as well as get questions answered by a specialist on the material.

Here are the demo theatre topics and when they are offered:

Geodatabase Technical Workshops @ 2009 ESRI International User Conference

It’s that time of year again. The 2009 ESRI International User Conference is three weeks away and the geodatabase team is busy preparing technical workshops and demo theatres to present down at the San Diego convention center. There will also be a geodatabase island in the showcase area where members from the team will be available, so be sure to swing by with any questions or interests you’d like to talk about.

There’s a lot going on this year so there are a few web pages to help keep your finger on the pulse of this year’s conference:

ESRI UC Insider – An RSS feed that offers some insight into what’s happening at this year’s conference

ESRI UC Announcements – A site that highlights details about reservations, deadlines, agenda planning and other ways to plan your UC experience.

Also, here is a link to the Main UC page.

Below is a list of the presentations the geodatabase team is offering at this year’s UC. Each one is a link to the info page for that presentation:

Geodatabase Technical Workshops

Geodatabase Essentials Part 1 – An Introduction to the Geodatabase

• Tue, July 14, 8:30AM – 9:45AM, Room 6 C
• Wed, July 15, 1:30PM – 2:45PM, Room 6 C
• Fri, July 17, 9:00AM – 10:15AM, Room 4

Geodatabase Essentials Part 2 - An Introduction to ArcSDE Geodatabases

• Wed, July 15, 8:30AM - 9:45AM, Room 4
• Thu, July 16, 8:30AM - 9:45AM, Room 3
• Fri, July 17, 9:00AM - 10:15AM, Room 3

Managing Distributed Data with Geodatabase Replication

• Tue, July 14, 3:15PM – 4:30PM, Room 6D
• Thurs, July 16, 10:15AM – 11:30AM, Room 6D

Topulogy in the Geodatabase

• Tue, July 14, 1:30PM - 2:45PM, Room 6 C
• Thu, July 16, 8:30AM - 9:45AM, Room 6 C 

Geometric Networks in the Geodatabase

• Tue, July 14, 8:30AM – 9:45AM, Room 3
• Wed, July 15, 1:30PM – 2:45PM, Room 3

Working with Raster Data in ArcGIS

• Tue, July 14, 8:30AM - 9:45AM, Room 6 D
• Wed, July 15, 1:30PM - 2:45PM, Room 6 D 

Managing Raster Data in a Geodatabase

• Tue, July 14, 10:15AM - 11:30AM, Room 6 D
• Wed, July 15, 3:15PM - 4:30PM, Room 6 D

What is ArcGIS and the Geodatabase?

• Tue, July 14, 10:15AM – 11:30AM, Room 11B

Geodatabase Editing Workflows

• Wed, July 15, 8:30AM – 9:45AM, Room 6C
• Thurs, July 16, 1:30PM – 2:45PM, Room 6C

Geodatabase 9.4 Plans

• Wed, July 15, 10:15AM – 11:30AM, Room 6B
• Thurs, July 16, 3:15PM – 4:30PM, Room 6B

Editing with ArcGIS – Tips and Tricks

• Wed, July 15, 8:30AM – 9:45AM, Room 3

Enterprise Geodatabase - Tips and Tricks

• Tue, July 14, 1:30PM - 2:45PM, Room 6 D
• Thu, July 16, 8:30AM - 9:45AM, Room 6 D 

Administration for Oracle – An Introduction

• Tue, July 14, 8:30AM – 9:45AM, Room 4
• Wed, July 15, 1:30PM – 2:45PM, Room 4

Administration for Oracle – Advanced

• Tue, July 14, 10:15AM – 11:30AM, Room 4
• Wed, July 15, 3:15PM – 4:30PM, Room 4

Administration for SQL Server – An Introduction

• Tue, July 14, 1:30PM – 2:45PM, Room 4
• Thurs, July 16, 8:30AM – 9:45AM, Room 4

Administration for SQL Server – Advanced

• Tue, July 14, 3:15PM – 4:30PM, Room 4
• Thurs, July 16, 10:15AM – 11:30AM, Room 4

Enterprise Geodatabase – Tips and Tricks

• Tue, July 14, 1:30PM – 2:45PM, Room 6D
• Thurs, July 16, 8:30AM – 9:45AM Room 6D

Administration for PostgreSQL – An Introduction

• Tue, July 14, 3:15PM – 4:30PM, Room 6C
• Thurs, July 16, 3:15PM – 4:30PM, Room 7 A/B

Using SQL and Spatial Data Types with the Geodatabase

• Wed, July 15, 10:15AM – 11:30AM, Room 4
• Thurs, July 16, 1:30PM – 2:45PM, Room 4

Administration for IBM Databases – An Introduction

• Wed, July 15, 10:15AM – 11:30AM, Room 6C

Working with ESRI’s Spatial Data Type for Oracle

• Wed, July 15, 12:00PM – 1:00PM, Room 4

ArcGIS Implementation Examples at UC and Industry Specific Templates

A few posts ago we talked about the Water Utilities Resource Center. Along with all of the great content on that site another key aspect is their use of an industry specific, downloadable template. This template provides relevant basemaps, an updated water utility data model, and a series of ArcGIS Desktop editing tools so water distribution improvements can be added to the geodatabase efficiently. There is also documentation in the downloadable package describing its contents and a video on the site to teach you how to use the template.

The water utilities resource center is the first to venture into this realm of industry specific downloadable templates. There is also a Public Safety resource center now with similar content. In the future ESRI will be adding more resource centers for specific user communities as well as accompanying templates for their respective industries.

In following this new trend towards industry specific templates we will be focusing on various user communities at this year’s ESRI International User Conference. There is a new Track called ArcGIS Implementation Examples that will provide insight into essential applications in different user communities.

ArcGIS Implementation Examples Technical Workshops

Local Government Basemaps using ArcGIS - Tue, Jul 14, 10:15AM – 11:30AM, Room 30 B

Facility Management Applications using ArcGIS - Tue, Jul 14, 1:30PM - 2:45PM, Room 30 B 

Water Utility Applications using ArcGIS - Tue, Jul 14, 3:15PM - 4:30PM, Room 30 B

Land Records Applications using ArcGIS - Wed, Jul 15, 10:15AM - 11:30AM, Room 30 B 

Emergency Management Applications using ArcGIS - Wed, Jul 15, 1:30PM - 2:45PM, Room 17 A 

Steve Grisé is also doing an updated session in this track that will cover GIS Design and Implementation methods. There is some design theory/philosophy in the workshop but the emphasis is mostly on hands-on tools and project examples.

GIS Design Methods

Tue, Jul 14, 8:30AM - 9:45AM, Room 30 B 

Wed, Jul 15, 8:30AM - 9:45AM , Room 30 B

Technical Briefing Session
This session focuses on common marine data types and overview of the basic structure/tutorial of the Arc Marine data model.
Arc Marine - Managing and Analyzing Ocean and Coastal Data in ArcGIS - Tue, Jul 14, 12:00PM - 1:00PM, Room 6 C 

Special Interest Group (SIG) Meetings
Another great place to get to know your peers is at the Special Interest Group meetings and parties.
Climate, Weather, Atmospheric User Group - Tue, Jul 14, 12:00PM - 1:00PM, Room 24 B 

Census Special Interest Group Meeting - Tue, Jul 14, 12:00PM - 1:15PM, Room 23 C 

Facilities Management SIG - Wed, Jul 15, 12:00PM - 1:15PM, Room 26 A 

GIS in Homeland Security SIG - Tue, Jul 14, 12:00PM - 1:00PM, Room 17 A

PUG Social - Tue, Jul 14, 5:30PM - 9:00PM, Plaza Terrace (Upper Level) 

Health and Human Services User Group Luncheon - Wed, Jul 15, 11:45AM - 1:00PM, Room 29 D

Agriculture SIG - Wed, Jul 15, 12:00PM - 1:00PM, Room 23 C

ArcGIS Pipeline Data Model User Group - Wed, Jul 15, 12:00PM - 1:00PM, Room 28 C 

Water/Wastewater/Stormwater User Group - Wed, Jul 15, 12:00PM - 1:00PM, Room 25 A/B 

Highway and Public Transportation Management SIG - Wed, Jul 15, 12:00PM - 1:00PM, Room 23 A 

Marine and Coastal GIS SIG - Thu, Jul 16, 12:00PM - 1:00PM, Room 23 B 

Mariners will also be interested in:
Arc Marine - Managing and Analyzing Ocean and Coastal Data in ArcGIS - Tue, Jul 14, 12:00PM - 1:00PM, Room 6 C

Preconference Seminars
Pre-conference seminars require special registration but they provide a lot of information on specific topics.  

Pipeline Workshop - Sat, Jul 11, 8:30AM - 5:00PM, Room 27 A/B

Arc Hydro Groundwater 2009—Managing Groundwater Data in ArcGIS - Sat, Jul 11, 8:30AM - 5:00PM, Room 23 C 

GIS Hydro 2009 - Modeling and Managing Water Resources　- Sun, Jul 12, 8:30AM - 5:00PM, Room 23 C

There are a number of other related sessions that you might also be interested in.  We encourage you to look at the UC Agenda Search page to start planning your personal UC schedule.

New Code Gallery Download: Geodatabase Domain Tools

A new sample has been added to the code gallery that shows how the Geodatabase API can be leveraged to provide greater control over domains than what is possible with ArcCatalog out-of-the-box. It contains a custom geodatabase property page, written in C#, which when installed will appear alongside the existing Domains property page. The page provides the following functionality:

• For ArcSDE geodatabases, displaying the owner of domains
• Sorting and reordering coded value domains
• Finding and optionally removing references to domains
• Exporting domains to XML workspace documents

Check out the sample HERE

Raster Clipping – Part B - Using an irregular shape to clip a raster dataset

This is a follow up to last week’s post. Last week we talked about clipping raster datasets based on a single polygon or graphic.  This week we will look at clipping a raster dataset based on selected features within a feature class.

Sometimes you will have many polygons in a feature class and will want to use a specific set of features to clip your raster data. This can be done by creating a selection set within ArcMap.

First you will want to make a query or choose a selection set. In my example I will choose any feature that has an area of 5000 units or more. 

Now that we have the selection set, we will use the Clip (Data Management) geoprocessing tool, to clip out only the selected areas. Be sure to choose the polygon layer from the dropdown, and also to check the Input Features for Clipping Geometry checkbox.

After the tool has run, only the selected (blue areas) are clipped out. The other features that were not in our selection set will be excluded in the output.

Better Raster Clipping options in ArcGIS

Many users like the Extract by Mask option that the Spatial Analyst tools provide, however they may want to perform the clip on a multiple band raster or may not have a Spatial Analyst license. 

Good news, at ArcGIS 9.3 we have added functionality to clip a raster dataset within the core ArcGIS Desktop tools. Now, the Clip geoprocessing tool and the Export Raster Data dialog box in ArcMap both allow for clipping of multiple band rasters. This post will go into more detail highlighting both methods.

Method 1: Using the Clip Geoprocessing Tool

The raster Clip GP tool has been enhanced to allow you to clip a raster based on the geometry of a feature class. Clipping based on the geometry means that you will use the boundaries of all the features in the feature class to clip the raster and not a minimum bounding rectangle of those features. To perform this, follow the steps below:

• Open the Clip geoprocessing tool in the Data Management tool box
• For the Input Raster parameter specify the raster dataset that you would like to clip.
• For the Output Extent parameter specify the feature class you would like to use as the clip extent (mask).
• Check the Use Input Feature for Clipping Geometry checkbox.
• For the Output Raster Dataset parameter specify the path, file name, and extension.
• Optionally, specify a NoData Value. This is a very good idea when you are clipping with an irregularly shaped feature class. Usually you will specify a value of 0.

Lets look at our data. Below is a raster dataset and feature class.  We would like to clip our raster dataset with the red feature class polygon.

If we clip the data with the Use Input Feature for Clipping Geometry box unchecked, then we end up with the minimum-bounding rectangle of the features in the feature class.

However if we check on the Use Input Feature for Clipping Geometry checkbox and we use 0 as our NoData Value, then we end up with the desired result.

Method 2: Using a Map Graphic to Specify Raster Extent

If you do not have a feature class already created, you can simply use the Draw tools to create a graphic in ArcMap and then clip the raster based on the graphic.

To clip the raster based on this graphic, follow the steps below:

• Right-click on the raster dataset in the map's table of contents, point to Data and click on Export Data.

• In the Export Data dialog, make sure that the Selected Graphics option is used. It is a good idea to specify NoData.

• When specifying a NoData value, you will want to use a value that is within your current pixel-depth, and is not currently being used in the image. Usually the value of 0 is chosen.

The end result will be a clipped raster based on the shape of the graphic in map.

Stay tuned for next week’s post, Clipping a raster dataset based on selected features within a feature class.

Water Utilities Resource Center and the Geodatabase

As we have highlighted in earlier blog posts the resource centers are a great place for user resources which span the different ArcGIS products and workflows. One interesting aspect to this are the community or industry specific sites. The first such resource center, the Water Utilities Resource Center, has been up for months and will keep getting better as more content is added.

The geodatabase is really the foundation to a sucessful utility implementation. How the Water Utilities Resource Center ties into the geodatabase is probably best highlighted in a series of posts on the Water Utility blog:

Building and Maintaining Water Utility Geodatabases: Part 1 - Part 2

The videos in the media gallery are another great resource which explain how to leverage some of the work the Water Utilities team has completed. This is just the first of many community specific resource centers which will be added to the Resource Center in the near future.

Community Page on the Geodatabase Resource Center

There is a new tab on the Geodatabase Resource Center that opens up a Community Page. This page is similar to those found on other resource center pages but is geared towards geodatabase topics of course.  

There are four sections of the Community page:

Blog – A list of recent posts from this here blog you’re reading

Media Gallery – Video content from conferences, the help system, whatever we feel like putting up, etc…. There’s an RSS feed on this one if you wanna be pinged when new vids are uploaded.

Forums – Links taking you to geodatabase related forum threads

Knowledge Base – Links taking you to geodatabase related technical articles

This makes for a good collection of geodatabase resources so be sure to check it out.

ExecuteSQL Command for ArcMap added to ArcGIS Desktop .NET Code Gallery

During the Implementing Enterprise Applications with the Geodatabase presentation at the 2009 ESRI Developer Summit a couple weeks ago, we talked about a handy tool that can be added to ArcMap to send SQL to the connected database. This tool uses the IWorkspace.ExecuteSQL method and it can be very useful in starting and stopping a DBMS trace directly from ArcMap when profiling an operation.

The tool can be downloaded from the ESRI ArcGIS Resource Center for developers in the ArcGIS Desktop .NET Code Gallery. Click here to go directly to the tool.

ESRI TV

ESRI has a Channel on YouTube called ESRI TV which serves as a good place to find helpful videos and demos. It’s worth checking out and mining for any areas that interest you.

Here are some geodatabase related entries:
Managing Geodatabase Topology with ArcEditor
ArcGIS Diagrammer - Demonstration Video
ArcGIS User Guide for Water Distribution Network Editing Template

There is also a handy 4 part Data Management series:
Create, Update, and manage asset information using ArcGIS Desktop
Experienced desktop user employing ArcEditor in a Planning Department
Experienced desktop user employing ArcEditor in a PWD
Data Replication

Geodatabase Presentations from the 2009 Dev Summit

This week ESRI hosted the annual Developer Summit down in Palm Springs. The geodatabase team was there to answer user’s questions, announce a few of the 9.4 projects that are in the works, and give several technical sessions.

I’ve gathered the slides from our presentations to post up here on the blog. Click on the thumbnails below to view PDFs of the various presentations.

New Geodatabase SDK Article: “Common Geodatabase API Programming Mistakes”

We’ve added a new article to the Geodatabase SDK entitled “Common Geodatabase API Programming Mistakes”. It’s a list of mistakes we’ve seen a lot of users make and that will cause either unwanted behavior or a performance hit. This is going to be a living document – as our users come to us with questions or problems we’ll be adding to this accordingly.

The article can be found here

On Monday afternoon at the 2009 ESRI Developer Summit we’ll be presenting a pre-summit seminar called “Developer’s Guide to the Geodatabase”. A lot of the material in this article will be referenced during that presentation. Hope to see you there.

The Geodatabase Team at the 2009 ESRI Developer Summit

We’re just two weeks away from the 2009 ESRI Developer Summit in Palm Springs. A lot of geodatabase team members are going to be at the Wyndham to give technical sessions. We’ll also be on hand in the showcase area to answer any questions you may have and talk about the things you’re working on.

The best time to get any questions addressed and mingle with geodatabase team members will be at the ‘Meet the Development Team’ session help on Wednesday from 10:30 – 11:00.

Here is a list of presentations our team will be giving at the conference:

Demo Theatre

Geometric Networks for Developers
Alan Hatakeyama, Craig Gillgrass
Wednesday - 12:00pm, Oasis 1 (PSCC)

Presummit Seminar

Developer’s Guide to the Geodatabase
Craig Gillgrass, Colin Zwicker, James MacKay
Monday - 1:00pm – 4:00pm, Catalina/Madera (Wyndham)

Technical Sessions

Effective Geodatabase Programming
Erik Hoel, Brent Pierce
Tuesday – 1:00pm – 2:15pm, Pasadena/Ventura/Sierra (Wyndham)

Developing with ArcGIS Raster APIs
Hong XU, Peng Gao, Robert Berger
Wednesday – 1:00pm – 2:15pm, Smoketree A - E (PSCC)

Distributed Geodatabase Development
Gary MacDougal, Khaled Hassen
Wednesday – 2:45pm – 4:00pm, Smoketree A - E (PSCC)

Implementing Enterprise Applications with the Geodatabase
Brent Pierce, Tom Brown, Forrest Jones
Wednesday - 4:30pm – 5:45pm, Smoketree A - E (PSCC)

Working Effectively with the Geodatabase Using SQL
Tom Brown, Kevin Watt
Thursday – 8:30am – 9:45am, Primrose C/D (PSCC)

Geodatabase Management Learning Pathway

ESRI’s Training and Education department is now offering several learning pathways. These learning pathways define a set of ESRI training courses which are designed to focus on a particular aspect of GIS.

Specific to the geodatabase among these is a Geodatabase Management Learning Pathway. This pathway consists of 5 courses chosen from a select list of topics geared towards designing, implementing and managing geodatabases in a multiuser environment. Completing the courses awards you with a pathway certificate.

You can learn more about the learning pathways from the Training and Education website and from this list of frequently asked questions about the learning pathways.

The training and education site also has a number of instructor led and virtual campus courses (some of which are free) that revolve around geodatabase topics. Click HERE to view a list. These courses offer valuable insight and are a great resource for getting trained in specific areas.

Implementing and managing ArcSDE geodatabases on SQL Server Express - New Podcast Series

There is a series of 3 podcasts by Olena Smith worth checking out on the ESRI Instructional Series Podcasts site dealing with implementing and maintaining desktop and workgroup geodatabases. Desktop (aka personal ArcSDE geodatabase) and workgroup are both ArcSDE geodatabases implemented on SQL Server Express.

The power of these types of geodatabases is that they give you full ArcSDE capabilities (multi-user editing, versioning, replication, archiving, etc…) but only for a limited amount of users and database size.

The series walks through installation, creation, administration and maintenance of these geodatabase types and is a good introduction to their capabilities.

Here are links to the podcast mp3s and transcripts:

Episode 1 - Installing ArcSDE for Microsoft SQL Server Express
MP3
Transcript

Episode 2 - Creating Desktop and Workgroup Geodatabases
MP3
Transcript

Episode 3 - Administering and Maintaining Desktop and Workgroup Geodatabases
MP3
Transcript