productionmappingteam
Recent Posts
Leveraging Geoprocessing in ArcGIS Workflow Manager – Part 2
In part 1 of this blog series I wrote about interactive geoprocessing (GP) steps in ArcGIS Workflow Manager. Now, in part 2, we’ll move onto automated GP steps and wrap up the discussion from there.
At the end of part 1, you’ll recall we had pre-populated all of the required parameters for a GP tool.
And I was wondering why, with all of a tool’s arguments pre-populated, do we still need to show a dialog box to the user?
Right. And the answer is that we don’t. If all of the parameters have been correctly pre-populated, there are a number of alternate ways that you can run a GP step without prompting a user for anything. These include:
Leveraging Geoprocessing in ArcGIS Workflow Manager – Part 1
In my previous blog I introduced you to the different types of custom steps available in ArcGIS Workflow Manager including those that make use of Geoprocessing (GP) tools. Today, we’ll explore using GP steps in a Workflow Manager workflow.
Okay. How do I get started?
Geoprocessing steps use the same tools, models, and scripts that you can access through an ArcGIS toolbox. The easiest way to set up a GP step is with the out-of-the-box JTXDesktopSteps.LaunchGPTool custom step. Refer to the online help for more information about how to create step types.
Introducing Custom Steps in ArcGIS Workflow Manager
The notion of “custom steps” in ArcGIS Workflow Manager can be confusing. Many people hear “custom” and think immediately of software development. With Workflow Manager, the reality is that a workflow designer will create and configure many different step types by using the Workflow Manager Administrator application. Even steps available out-of-the box – including special purpose steps called “Custom Step Objects” – will likely be customized in Workflow Manager Administrator to your organizations specific environment.
This blog post will discuss step customization (somewhat), Custom Step Objects (mostly), and how they can help in your workflows. If you remember nothing else, just remember that using custom steps in Workflow Manager doesn’t necessarily equate to writing custom code!
A Spatially Enabled Document Management System
We all know managing spatial data, map products, and documents are critical to the success of any GIS work being performed. When producing many versions of your map documents and outputs, current databases and file systems are not well equipped to simultaneously manage these. And it can be a daunting task to manage changes to these files, including knowing which version is the latest and being able to access historical versions if necessary. Also, conflicts may arise when files are not centrally managed which can compromise a schedule or budget, introduce unnecessary risks, and jeopardize the success of your work. Typically, you would use the geodatabase for spatial data storage and management, SharePoint for document management, and maybe a file server for your map product management. If you’re looking for one tool that could do all of these and more, you are reading the right blog post!
Integrating ArcGIS Data Reviewer and ArcGIS Workflow Manager to Automate Data Validation
As you know, ArcGIS Data Reviewer and ArcGIS Workflow Manager are available as standard extensions, but they’re also part of Esri Production Mapping. If you are looking to automate your data validation workflows, we just posted a couple of blogs topics describing how to do this. The first blog – Automating Data Validation Workflows – talks about using the custom steps available in Data Reviewer within a Workflow Manager workflow. The second blog – Advanced Data Validation Workflows – takes it a step further and discusses other ways of utilizing the custom steps. It also outlines the additional capabilities that you can leverage while integrating Data Reviewer and Workflow Manager. Be sure to read these posts, they might help you get creative about how you perform data validation.
What makes up Production Mapping?
In a previous blog topic we provided an introduction to Esri Production Mapping and its benefits. Now that you know what sorts of organizational challenges are solved by using Production Mapping, let’s talk about some of the key capabilities that allow you to produce high quality geospatial data and maps faster and with fewer resources.
We all know that a generic production workflow consists of four main stages – collecting, editing/updating, reviewing data, and producing the final output (which may be data in another format or cartographic products). While ArcGIS provides a number of tools to produce geospatial data and maps, there are not many tools to automate or standardize the production processes and to ensure consistency and repeatability while also keeping track of work in progress. Esri Production Mapping extends ArcGIS Desktop to support the production stages by providing tools to manage workflows, perform advanced editing and intelligent attribution, ensure data quality, and produce high-end cartographic products. These tools are flexible, allowing you to configure them to suit your industry- or your organization-specific requirements. We hope that providing an overview of the major functionality will help you understand what makes up Esri Production Mapping. Today’s topic will also serve as the starting point for future topics where we will discuss these functionalities in more detail.
Production Mapping for Emergency Management Maps template released!
We recently released the Production Mapping for Emergency Management Maps for ArcGIS 10 template on the Local Government Resource Center. This first release delivers several Esri Production Mapping cartographic capabilities for producing emergency management map products. Functionality in the template includes:
- Views of the Public Safety Basemap and the map products, including an Incident Action Plan (IAP), Incident
Briefing Map, and Hazard Map.
UC activities for Esri Production Mapping
As we get closer to the Esri International User Conference we wanted to put together a list of activities related to Esri Production Mapping that you may find useful. You can find a similar list specifically for ArcGIS Data Reviewer here.
Esri Showcase
Esri Production Mapping editing experts will be available at the Geodatabase Management island in the Esri showcase area to talk specifically about the editing tools within this solution. Production Mapping cartography experts
will be at the Mapping & Visualization island where they will demonstrate and answer your questions related to the cartography tools within this solution. Both showcases are open on:
- Tue, July 12th from 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM
- Wed, July 13th from 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM
- Thur, July 14th from 9:00 AM – 1:30 PM
Making Data and Map Production Better and Faster with Esri Production Mapping
For our first Production Mapping blog topic, we wanted to talk about what is this product named “Esri Production Mapping” and how does it help users? Let me first set the stage by talking about the common challenges that GIS organizations are facing today and then go on to describe Production Mapping’s role in solving these.
We all know that GIS organizations make up the core of the geospatial infrastructure, creating the foundational spatial information for GIS systems. These organizations are essentially the ‘authoritative content producers’ who have the responsibility of providing high quality, accurate geospatial data and maps that other organizations, and sometimes even lives, depend on.
