Tag Archives: migration
Evaluating Data Readiness for Loading into the Parcel Fabric
In preparation for loading your parcel data into the parcel fabric there are a number of criteria you have to meet. A critical step in the process is to match your source data to the Local Government Information Model, with all its domains and specific attributes. In this blog I’d like to highlight some of the automated checks in ArcGIS Data Reviewer that can help you validate your data prior to migrating it into this new schema, as it is better to identify any errors before you move to the fabric.
Moving to Add-ins (Recycling VBA)
In the Spring edition of ArcUser there is a nice article by Craig Gallant (LJB Inc) on converting existing projects to ArcGIS Add-ins.
Here how’s the article starts…
You might ask this after installing ArcGIS 10. With the release of ArcMap 10, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is on the way out. As the online help article “Migrating VBA customizations to ArcGIS 10″ explains, “VBA no longer provides the best toolset for customizing ArcGIS and is not included in the default installation.”
At ArcGIS 10, there are two new ways to customize in ArcGIS 10: Python and the new ArcGIS Desktop Add-in. [Add-ins are a new way to customize and extend ArcGIS 10. They are authored in .NET or Java and Extensible Markup Language (XML). They provide a declaratively based framework for creating a collection of customizations that can be conveniently packaged in a single compressed file that is easily shared. Add-ins do not require installation programs or Component Object Model (COM) registration.] Both options have advantages and disadvantages. You need to pick the option that best suits your application. This article shows how, with a little refactoring, existing VBA code can quickly be converted to an ArcGIS Desktop Add-in.
Migration Resources for Developers
The following post is from Ralf, a member of the ArcObjects Team.
John and I were preparing for our Desktop migration technical workshop and realized that there are a lot of links to resources we wanted to share with you. So we figured the best way to bring this information to you and the rest of the Desktop developer community is through a blog post. Below are some links to help you in the migration process.
- Custom component migration overview:
- Standalone application migration overview
- Runtime binding for Visual C++ developers
- Bootstrapping the ArcObjects.Jar – Runtime binding for Engine Java developers:
- ArcGIS Code Migration Analyzer plugin for Visual StudioType changes between 9.3 and 10
- ArcPy
- Intro to Add-ins .NET
- Add-ins Walkthrough
- VB6 migration overview
- VB6 migration walkthrough
- General VB6 migration topics
- Common issues when migrating VB6 to .NET
- Upgrading VB6 code to a more .NET style of programming
We hope you find these links useful when migrating your applications to ArcGIS 10.
Enjoy the Dev Summit!
-Ralf
Exporting other file formats associated with FGDC CSDGM metadata
Exporting FGDC metadata always involves exporting a correctly-formatted XML file. However, you may have to create additional FGDC-specific files that present the same information in different ways such as structured text and HTML files.
The old way…
In ArcGIS 9.3.1, you would repeat the process you used to export an item’s FGDC metadata to an XML file as many times as necessary, choosing the appropriate export format each time. If you used the Export Metadata button on the Metadata toolbar, you would pick different types from the Format drop-down list. If you used the USGS MP Metadata Translator tool in the Conversion toolbox you would run the tool again using other conversion types.
Both methods first created an FGDC-compliant XML file then used the USGS metadata parser utility, known as mp, to transform that XML file to the other formats. A version of mp is provided with ArcGIS to support this task.
The new way…
In ArcGIS 10, if you are managing your FGDC metadata content in the Description tab, you would take the FGDC-compliant XML file that you already exported from the item’s metadata and use the USGS MP Metadata Translator tool to produce the other file formats from it. A model can be created to export all needed FGDC files in one step, as illustrated below.
If you are editing an item’s metadata using the 9.3.1 FGDC metadata editor add-in instead of the Description tab, you can export the other FGDC file formats the same way that you export an XML file—using the USGS MP Metadata Translator tool. Use the appropriate conversion types to generate the file formats you need. A model can be built to export all needed FGDC files in one step, as illustrated below. This same model can be built and used in ArcGIS 9.3.1.
Exporting standards-compliant metadata
Continuing the discussion about how to perform familiar metadata tasks in ArcGIS 10, this post looks at exporting ArcGIS metadata to standards-compliant metadata formats.
ArcGIS 10 creates and manages ArcGIS metadata as part of the item. When you share items that have ArcGIS metadata with other ArcGIS users, those items come with information that is relevant within ArcGIS such as thumbnails. However, sometimes you might work with an item’s metadata apart from the item outside of ArcGIS; typically, that metadata must be in a standard-compliant format.
You export ArcGIS metadata to a standard-compliant XML format using the Export button in the Description tab, which opens the Export Metadata geoprocessing tool. ArcGIS has translators that know how to take ArcGIS metadata content and produce XML files that are formatted correctly for different metadata standards. Each metadata style knows which translator to use to create an XML file that is appropriate for the standard it supports. Therefore, the first step in exporting standards-compliant metadata is to make sure ArcGIS 10 is configured correctly for that metadata standard.
For example, metadata catalogs typically require published metadata documents to be provided in a standard-compliant format. To publish an item’s ArcGIS metadata you would export it to a standard-compliant XML file, then publish the exported file.
Exporting an ISO 19139-compliant XML file
The old way…
In ArcGIS 9.3.1, you would edit an item’s metadata using the ISO metadata editor, then export it to an ISO 19139-compliant XML file using the ESRI Metadata Translator tool in the Conversion toolbox. You would manually open the tool and select the ESRI_ISO2ISO19139.xml translator, which extracted information from the item’s ESRI-ISO metadata elements and produced a correctly-formatted XML file.
The new way…
In ArcGIS 10, three metadata styles are associated with ISO 19139-format XML files: ISO 19139 Metadata Implementation Specification, INSPIRE Metadata Directive, and North American Profile of ISO19115 2003. After editing an item’s metadata in the Description tab, click the Export button in that tab. All three styles instruct the Export Metadata tool to use the ESRI_ISO2ISO19139.xml translator. This translator was updated for ArcGIS 10 to export information from the item’s ArcGIS metadata elements. It also checks the metadata style, and will handle some content differently for the INSPIRE and North American profiles.
Don’t use the ESRI Metadata Translator tool directly; extra processing steps are needed to handle ArcGIS metadata correctly. Use the Export Metadata tool instead; it performs the other steps, then uses the ESRI Metadata Translator tool to complete the transformation.
If an item has ESRI-ISO metadata that hasn’t been upgraded to ArcGIS metadata yet, the same translator will export information from the appropriate ESRI-ISO metadata elements instead.
Exporting an FGDC-compliant XML file
The old way…
In ArcGIS 9.3.1, you would edit an item’s metadata using the FGDC metadata editor. Then, you would export it to an FGDC-compliant XML file by clicking the Export Metadata button on the Metadata toolbar in ArcCatalog and choosing FGDC CSDGM (XML) from the Format drop-down list. This same task could also be performed using the USGS MP Metadata Translator tool in the Conversion toolbox with the XML conversion type. Both methods extracted the FGDC-formatted XML elements from an item’s metadata and arranged them in the correct order.
The new way…
In ArcGIS 10, first ensure the FGDC CSDGM Metadata style is selected in the Options dialog box.
Edit an item’s metadata in the Description tab, then export it to an FGDC-compliant XML file by clicking the Export button. The Export Metadata tool opens, and is automatically set to use the ARCGIS2FGDC.xml translator. It knows how to extract information from the appropriate ArcGIS metadata elements and organize it to create an FGDC CSDGM-compliant XML file.
If you aren’t managing your metadata using the ArcGIS metadata editor in the Description tab, you can’t export the information you’ve provided using the Export button on that tab. If you are using the 9.3.1 FGDC metadata editor add-in instead, the information you’ve provided is stored in FGDC XML elements in the item’s metadata. You can export this information to an FGDC CSDGM-compliant XML file using the USGS MP Metadata Translator tool in the Conversion toolbox with the XML conversion type.
The next post will discuss how to export metadata to other file formats that may be used to share FGDC-style metadata.
- Aleta (Metadata Team)
Configuring ArcGIS for a metadata standard
The first series of posts about metadata discussed the goals for the changes made in ArcGIS 10. The next series of posts will focus on the transition from ArcGIS 9.3.1 and how to perform your familiar tasks in the new ArcGIS 10 metadata environment. It is meant to help those of you who were using metadata in a previous ArcGIS release to transition to the ArcGIS 10 release. If you never created metadata before ArcGIS 10, you probably don’t need the information in this particular post.
This first installment in the second series of posts builds on an earlier post, and looks at how to configure ArcGIS to manage metadata correctly for a specific standard. This is always the first metadata task you need to perform in ArcGIS.
The old way…
To configure ArcGIS 9.3.1 for a specific standard you had to individually select all of the correct utilities for that standard by performing the following tasks.
- Select the metadata editor in the ArcCatalog Options dialog box.
- Select a stylesheet for viewing metadata from the dropdown list on the Metadata toolbar.
- Set your favorite stylesheet as the default in the ArcCatalog Options dialog box.
- Enable or disable the correct synchronizers using the Set Working Synchronizers dialog box to automatically update metadata appropriately.
- Select the correct exporter for your metadata standard each time this task is performed, either using a button on the Metadata toolbar or by using the correct geoprocessing tool.
If you accidentally selected the wrong utility for a task you would end up working with the wrong set of metadata content and you would get incorrect results. There was no way to simply tell ArcGIS to create metadata for a specific standard.
If you wanted to create FGDC CSDGM-compliant metadata, you got a bye for some of these tasks because the default metadata editor was the FGDC editor, the default stylesheet displayed some FGDC metadata content, and the FGDC metadata synchronizer was enabled by default.
The new way…
To configure ArcGIS 10 for a specific standard, choose the appropriate metadata style from the Options dialog box in any ArcGIS Desktop application. This one choice sets:
- The stylesheet used to display metadata
- The pages included in the ArcGIS metadata editor
- The exporter used to generate a standard-compliant XML document from ArcGIS metadata
- The XML schema used to validate an exported, standard-compliant XML document
The default settings support creating simple descriptions to accompany items that can be published to ArcGIS Online. That means, people who want to create FGDC CSDGM-compliant metadata no longer get a bye when it comes to configuring ArcGIS 10 for that style of metadata; to view and edit complete metadata content and export standard-compliant XML documents you must choose a different style.
ArcGIS 10 is designed to use and maintain ArcGIS metadata. You create it using the ArcGIS metadata editor, which is available within the Description tab, and it is updated automatically to include an item’s properties by the ArcGIS metadata synchronizer. Turning synchronizers on and off is not a relevant task for ArcGIS 10. Existing metadata created with a previous version of ArcGIS must be upgraded to ArcGIS metadata to manage that content in the Description tab.
Configuring ArcGIS 10 for ISO metadata standards and profiles
Choose the appropriate style in the Options dialog box for the ISO metadata standard or profile you need to follow. To create ISO 19115- or ISO 19119-compliant metadata content, choose the ISO 19139 style; ISO 19139 is the implementation specification for those metadata content standards.
Since the supported ISO metadata profiles subtly modify the base standards, all of these styles are very similar. An extra page might be available in the editor, and some shared pages and the exporter might work a bit differently for each style. However, because the profiles don’t provide custom versions of the ISO 19139 XML Schemas, all styles are validated the same way.
Any existing content provided with the ArcGIS 9.3.1 ISO metadata editor that is read-only is displayed with gray text under the ArcGIS Metadata heading alongside your ArcGIS 10 content. Any existing 9.3.1 FGDC metadata content that is present will also be displayed under the FGDC metadata heading.
If an item has existing 9.3.1 ESRI-ISO metadata content and no 9.3.1 FGDC metadata content, ArcGIS 10 will automatically upgrade the existing content to the ArcGIS metadata format when you look at its metadata. Otherwise, upgrade to ArcGIS metadata using the Upgrade Metadata tool.
Configuring ArcGIS 10 to create FGDC metadata
First, install Service Pack 1, which provides the FGDC CSDGM Metadata style. Then, choose this style in the Options dialog box.
Metadata content created and managed using the Description tab in ArcGIS 10 is displayed under the ArcGIS Metadata heading, as illustrated below. Any content entered with the ArcGIS 9.3.1 FGDC metadata editor is displayed under the FGDC Metadata heading.
At first, under the ArcGIS Metadata heading, you will only see:
- The item properties added automatically by ArcGIS
- Any FGDC metadata content that corresponds to the general item description
- Any attribute descriptions provided using the ArcGIS 9.3.1 FGDC metadata editor; these are shared with ArcGIS metadata
To manage your FGDC metadata content in ArcGIS 10, upgrade it using the Upgrade Metadata geoprocessing tool. The upgrade process copies all existing FGDC content to the appropriate ArcGIS metadata elements. After upgrading, the old 9.3.1 FGDC metadata content isn’t removed, so you’ll see the same information under both headings. If you edit your metadata in the Description tab, your changes will be saved in the ArcGIS metadata format (the big blue oval in this diagram) and will only appear under the ArcGIS Metadata heading.
Using the FGDC metadata editor add-in with ArcGIS 10
The FGDC metadata editor add-in gives you access to the ArcGIS 9.3.1 FGDC metadata editor in ArcGIS 10. This editor is provided as a temporary measure while you become comfortable with the new metadata environment. It lets you edit existing information stored in all FGDC CSDGM XML elements (the yellow oval in this diagram) in an item’s metadata.
Choose any metadata style other than Item Description in the Options dialog box to see this 9.3.1 FGDC metadata content under the FGDC metadata heading. Any edits you make using the add-in will appear under the FGDC Metadata heading only. This content will not be updated automatically by ArcGIS 10, for example, when the number and extent of an item’s features change.
Content provided by Aleta (Metadata Team)
VBA licensing at ArcGIS 10
ArcGIS 10 is the last release to support development with Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Traditionally, VBA has been a convenient way to add functionality within your ArcGIS Desktop application, but as the software moves forward, we have newer and simpler methods for customization.
With the release of ArcGIS 10, we’ve introduced and expanded several of the methods for customizing, extending, and scripting in ArcGIS Desktop. As we’ve introduced new methods, we are deprecating support for VBA in ArcGIS Desktop. Moving forward, we encourage you to make use of some of the more robust solutions for extending ArcGIS Desktop. These solutions include the new desktop add-in framework, python scripting, and the standard com extensibility model (writing custom components). At ArcGIS 10, you may still use VBA while in the process of migrating your code, but there will be no VBA support as of ArcGIS 10.1.
To continue using VBA at ArcGIS 10, you must request a VBA authorization number from your customer service representative. The VBA authorization numbers are not included with the VBA install, nor included automatically with other authorization numbers you may have received. If you wish to obtain the VBA authorization number, please send an email directly to your customer service representative.
Update for ArcGIS 10.1
We realize that some of you still have VBA code in your workflows and we want you to be able to take advantage of ArcGIS 10.1 for Desktop. To keep running your existing VBA code at 10.1 you’ll need to download and install the ArcGIS VBA Compatibility setup and then request a VBA authorization similar to ArcGIS 10.
Note – There is no ArcObjects SDK for VBA at 10.1 as new development with VBA is not supported.
Migrating DSMapBooks to Data Driven Pages
Migrating your map books from the Map Book Developer Sample, DSMapBook, to data driven pages in ArcGIS 10 is a pretty straight forward process. It is not automatic, but many people have already done it and have found it to be quick and easy. The majority of the standard map book functionality is available in ArcGIS 10 without needing to write any Python scripts or having to dig into ArcObjects. How you do things with data driven pages is different, but the functionality for multiple pages, printing and exporting, creating index features, adding dynamic titles and text, creating locator maps, etc. is all there, out of the box.
It will depend on the complexity of your maps, but if you already have map documents and index layers, the basic process for migrating to data driven pages is not difficult. The workflow is as follows:
1) Open the map document
2) Open the data driven pages property page,
3) Select the layer you used for your map extents as the index layer
4) Update your dynamic text and titles using new dynamic text tags
If you have dynamic locator maps or custom page effects (like highlighting the current page), you can achieve these with some new data frame properties. The following blog post should help with this:
http://blogs.esri.com/Dev/blogs/arcgisdesktop/archive/2010/02/02/Creating-dynamic-locator-maps-and-adding-page-effects-to-your-data-driven-pages.aspx
This gets more complex if you have customized the map book developer sample, or if you use the indexing functionality to generate a place name index, or a gazetteer. These require using some of the new arcpy.mapping Python scripting capabilities. If you have customized the developer sample in some way, first I would recommend reading about and trying the new functionality in ArcGIS 10 related to data driven pages. Some of the common customizations can be done out of the box now. If you are not able to accomplish what you need, the next step would be evaluating whether you can do it with using the new arcpy.mapping Python module that is available. We have included many sample scripts on the Resource Center to help you out including a sample for generating indexes
Supported map books, without the need for a developer sample should be a big benefit at ArcGIS 10. The migration process should be straight forward, and once it is done, it’s done. Spend some time reviewing the resources that are available and then give it a try with one of your map books. Here are some other resources that might be helpful to read before you start:
Blog post on creating map books with ArcGIS 10
Blog post on data driven pages
Desktop help on enabling data driven pages
Desktop help on working with dynamic text
Blog post on getting started with Python and map automation
ArcGIS 9.x to ArcGIS 10
Migrating from ArcGIS 9.x to ArcGIS 10 is straightforward. All your data (maps, layers, rasters, geodatabases, etc.) is directly readable in ArcGIS 10. However once you start using ArcGIS 10, you will need to save your documents (maps, layers, etc.) out in 9.x formats in order to share them with 9.x users. Use the Save a Copy command in ArcMap to create 9.x version of your map document. For more info on Save a Copy command.
Geodatabases can remain in 9.3.1 format and be used in 9.3.1 and 10. However, if you want to take advantage of the new geodatabase improvements in ArcGIS 10, you need to upgrade the geodatabase to 10, at which time 9.x clients will not be able to read it. In order to help with sharing data among various versions, the Create Geodatabase tool now allows you to create older versions of the Geodatabase so you can copy features from ArcGIS 10 into an older geodatabase to share with other users.
