Monthly Archives: August 2010
What’s New in 10: The good ship DS Mapbook has sailed; hello Data Driven Pages
Hello, this is Cassandra bringing you another blog post about some new functionality and/or tools that are now available with ArcGIS 10. This time I am here to declare that the good ship DS Map Book has set sail for the last time. Starting at ArcGIS 10, ArcMap now has map book support integrated directly in the application via Data Driven Pages!
For an overview on Data Driven Pages, please have a look at the ArcGIS Desktop Blog topic – Data Driven Pages.
To get started using it, I highly recommend going through the tutorial available right in the ArcGIS 10 Web help, as it sure helped me get a better understanding of all of the new tools and functionality available: Building map books with ArcGIS.
In regards to DS Mapbook and ArcGIS 10, DS Mapbook was built on VB6/VBA, which is no longer supported by Microsoft. Also, at version 10, ArcGIS Desktop no longer installs VB. You will be able to run a separate installation program that requires authorization from Esri’s Customer Service to add VBA support to ArcGIS 10 Desktop. For more information on the status of VBA within ArcGIS, see the following Support Services blog post: Farewell to VBA.
Please leave any comments in the comment section below this blog post. NOTE: You must be logged in to your Esri Global Account to leave comments.
- Cassandra L., Desktop Support Analyst, Esri Support Services
Setting the Edit and Snapping Environments in ArcGIS 10 to the Classic (9.x) Format
There are several differences between the ArcGIS 9.x environment and editing in version 10. These changes include a new ‘Create Features’ window, a redesigned editor toolbar, a new snapping interface, new edit sketch properties and attribute windows, new geodatabase topology rules, an editing geoprocessing toolbox, and new parcel editing functionality. This blog post provides an overview of the new Editing and Snapping interfaces and explains how to revert to the ‘Classic’ 9.x interfaces.
Editing Toolbar
In ArcGIS 10, the new editing environment allows the use of feature templates and includes a new ‘Create Features’ window that appears on the right-hand side of the ArcMap window. This window provides a streamlined editing experience and allows users to interactively define the types of features to be created. There are some situations where features will not be added to the ‘Create Features’ window. Layers that are not visible in the table of contents, that are beyond the visible scale range, or that do not satisfy a definition query will not show up in this window. This is further explained in the Best Practices for Using Feature Templates section of ArcGIS Desktop 10 Web Help.
As with any new functionality, this new way of editing may take some getting used to. The good news is that there is a way to revert to the editing environment used in previous versions of ArcGIS. The following is a brief overview on how to switch the editing and snapping features in ArcGIS 10 to the ‘Classic’ version 9.x format.
For editing:
- Close ArcMap and ArcCatalog. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the ArcGIS folder, which is located at ‘C:Program FilesArcGIS’ or ‘C:Program Files (x86)ArcGIS’ (on 64-bit machines).
- In the ArcGIS folder, go to Desktop 10.0UtilitiesAdvancedArcMapSettings.exe. Double-click on AdvancedArcMapSettings.exe.
- In the AdvancedArcMapSettings window, go to the Editor tab and uncheck ‘Create features using templates’ as indicated below.
- Click ‘Apply’ and the close the window.
- Start ArcMap 10. The editor toolbar now appears in the ArcMap 9.x format.
See figure 2 and 3 below for a comparison between the editing environment in ArcGIS 10 and 9.x.
Snapping Interface
In ArcGIS 10, the snapping interface has changed significantly. The new ‘Snapping’ toolbar in ArcGIS 10 can be turned on or off for certain types of features including points, endpoints, vertices, and edges. At certain times, it may be beneficial to revert to the ‘Classic’ Snapping Environment from previous versions of ArcGIS, so that snapping can be turned on and off for individual layers.
To Revert to the ‘Classic’ Snapping Environment:
- In ArcMap, start an editing session.
- In the Editor Toolbar, click ‘Options’ in the editor menu.
- Under the General tab, check ‘Use classic snapping’ as indicated below.
- Click ‘Apply’ and ‘OK’.
- Point to ‘Snapping’ in the Editor menu and click ‘Snapping Window’. The ‘Snapping Window’, entitled ‘Snapping Environment’, appears on the right-hand side of the ArcMap window.
- In the ‘Snapping Window’, click the vertex, edge, and end boxes for the layers you want to snap.
- Check the boxes located at the bottom of the ‘Snapping Environment’ window to enable snapping to either ‘Edit Sketch’ or ‘Topology Elements’.
- Once the layers you wish to snap are selected in the ‘Snapping Environment’ window, it can be closed or kept open while working. Any settings that have been changed are saved automatically.
Please leave any comments in the comment section below this blog post. NOTE: You must be logged in to your Esri Global Account to leave comments.
David C. and Jake P., ArcGIS Desktop Support Analysts – Esri Support Services, Charlotte, NC
Important Deprecation announcement for ArcGIS 10 and future release of 10.1
At each release, Esri assesses if there are any platforms (operating systems, databases, development environments, hardware, etc.) that are not being used as much anymore or are at the end of their supportability. In addition, we look at our own technology stack to see if some of the newer functionality has superseded older functionality. In either case, we try to give as much notice as possible for any changes in supported platforms or functionality in deprecation notices.
We would like you to review the ArcGIS 10 and 10.1 Deprecation Plan to be familiar with this information as you plan to migrate to ArcGIS 10 or think about plans for the future when 10.1 is released. The deprecation document is also linked from Knowledge Base Article 38202.
Esri is committed to providing the best possible support for our products. Please let us know if you have any concerns with this information by leaving a comment on this blog.
Mike H., Program Manager
User Advocacy Group, Esri Support Services
Chat Interaction Lost – When Using Google Chrome
If you are a Google Chrome user and are having difficulty accessing Esri Support’s ‘Chat with an Analyst’ from your Web browser, please follow the steps below:
- Click the ‘Tools’ drop-down menu (the one that looks like a wrench) on the top right-hand side of your Web browser.
- Click Options > the ‘Under the Hood’ tab > the ‘Content Settings’ button > the ‘Pop-ups’ tab.
- Select the ‘Allow all sites to show pop-ups’ radio button.
- Click ‘Close’ on both dialog boxes.
This should allow you to view and use the ‘Chat with an Analyst’ pop-up window without running into the error or having the warning message returned.
If you do not want to allow all sites to show pop-ups and just want to make an ‘exception’ for only the ‘Chat with an Analyst’ pop-up window, follow the steps below:
- Click on the ‘Customize and control Google Chrome’ drop-down (the drop-down menu that looks like a wrench) on the top right-hand side of your Web browser.
- Click Options > the ‘Under the Hood’ tab > the ‘Content Settings’ button > the ‘Pop-ups’ tab.
- Click the ‘Exceptions…’ button.
- Click ‘Add…’ in the ‘Pop-up Exceptions’ dialog box.
- In the ‘New Exceptions’ dialog box, enter the following domain name into the ‘Pattern:’ text field: support.esri.com.
- Make sure the ‘Action:’ drop-down is set to ‘Allow’.
- Click ‘OK’.
- Click ‘Close’ on all the dialog boxes.
This should allow only the ‘Chat with an Analyst’ pop-up window to appear when using Google Chrome.
Please send any feedback that you have concerning ‘Chat with an Analyst’ to the following e-mail address: chatfeedback@esri.com.
Please leave any comments in the comment section below this blog post. NOTE: You must be logged in to your Esri Global Account to leave comments.
- CTI group, Esri Support Services
In ArcGIS 10, raster data in TIFF format may be shifted or in the wrong geographic location
In ArcGIS 10, some TIFF images do not display in the correct geographic location. Two issues have been identified:
- Improper handling of the page resolution tags for TIFF images that do not have georeferencing information, for example, scanned TIFF images. (NIM059086, NIM058733, NIM059010, NIM059379)
- Improper handling of the comma separator for TIFF images with a certain projection. (NIM058922, NIM057405)
Two knowledge base articles have been written that discuss these issues in more detail. Links are provided below:
- Some TIFF images do not align with feature data in European locale in ArcGIS 10
- Some TIFF images (with resolution tags defined) display in the wrong location in ArcGIS 10
UPDATE: 08/27/10 – A software patch is now available that addresses this issue. Esri recommends you download and install the ArcGIS 10 (Desktop, Engine, Server) Raster Format patch at your your earliest convenience.
Note: If you have loaded these TIFF images to a mosaic dataset, after installing the patch, the Synchronize Mosaic Dataset geoprocessing tool can be run to correct the extents of the footprints and raster datasets.
If you have loaded these TIFF images to a raster catalog or to a geodatabase, these images should be removed and reloaded.
We are sorry for any inconvenience these issues may be causing you.
Please leave any comments in the comment section below this blog post. NOTE: You must be logged in to your Esri Global Account to leave comments.
- Eric R., Raster Development Lead – User Advocacy Group, Esri Support Services
New Behavior on the Esri Knowledge Base Article Browse Tree
You have always been able to browse through Esri technical articles by going to the Knowledge Base Technical Articles hierarchy of folders:
URL: http://resources.arcgis.com/content/kbase
You can ‘drill-down’ through the list of folders to get to a list of the specific articles you are looking for, which looks like this:
For many years, these articles were listed ‘Latest modified last’, which basically created an article list with the oldest articles at the top and the newest at the bottom.
Starting this week, we’ve reversed that order, so the newest articles are now at the top (default) and the oldest articles are at the bottom. It’s a small change, but one you’ll probably enjoy, because it will save you lots of scrolling when you want the most recently published articles.
At any time, you can reverse the order to oldest articles at the top:
A. In the ‘Browse Filter’ box, under ‘Order By:’, click the ‘Article ID ascending’ radio button.
B. Click Go.
We hope that you find this new default behavior and filtering option helpful when you use the Knowledge Base – Technical Articles browse tree.
If you have any comments or questions, please leave them in the comment section below this post. NOTE: You must be logged in to leave comments on blog posts.
-Web Support Team - Esri Support Services
Troubleshooting Tips – Local Map Services Not Working
Have you ever come to the ArcGIS Resource Center and checked out or tried the samples built using one of the Web APIs? If you haven’t, these samples can be found at the following links:
For those of you who have tried some of these samples, I want to provide some quick troubleshooting tips to help you when your local map services are not working with the samples.
Let’s look at the following scenario: You check out the samples online, they work well. You copy the code over to your local machine and run them there, they work great. Now, you want to use your local ArcGIS Server map services. So, you publish a map service using ArcCatalog or Server Manager, and you are able to preview it. You then make changes to the REST service endpoint in the code and run your Web API-based application, but the map doesn’t appear in the Web browser. In this situation, here are a few things that you could test:
- Check if you can view the map in the REST Services Directory.
If you cannot view the map, it could potentially be an issue with the installation, and the first thing I would suggest is adding a new instance of ArcGIS Server Manager. Please see the following knowledge base article for more information: HowTo: User the AddInstance utility to create a new instance of ArcGIS Server Manager. - Check if a cross-domain access policy file exists.
If you are working with either the Silverlight API or the Flex API, you will need to check for a cross-domain access policy file. To access data from a different server than the one hosting your Flex or Silverlight application, the remote server needs to have a cross-domain policy file in the root directory. This can be done by using a clientaccesspolicy.xml or crossdomain.xml. In most cases, you just need to place the .xml file at the root of your Web site (e.g., for IIS, c:inetpubwwwroot). Please see the following ArcGIS Web Help article for more information: Deploying your application. - Check if the cross-domain access policy file has proper permissions. If you have placed the cross-domain access policy file but the application still doesn’t display the map, make sure you can access the cross-domain access policy file in a Web browser. If you can’t, check for permissions on the file. Make sure ‘Internet Guest Account’ has the permission set to ‘read (and execute)’ this file.
Other potential issues:
- Make sure the extent that you are setting is using the correct values, i.e., the values are in-line with the spatial reference of the map service.
- Make sure you are using the right layer class, for example, for a cached map service, use ArcGISTiledMapServiceLayer class.
I hope these troubleshooting tips help you to get your local map services working with the samples from the ArcGIS Resource Center.
- Kripa J., Esri Support Analyst – SDK group, Esri Support Services
Chat with an Analyst
Are you looking for a particular help topic or knowledge base article? Do you just need a quick tip to get started with learning a new topic?
Sometimes waiting for an e-mail response or calling into Support takes more time than you actually need to spend talking with an analyst. The solution has arrived!
Last week, Esri Support Services introduced Chat Support. As quickly as you can fill out a Web form, you can chat with one of our specialists in the technology using an instant message window.
On the Esri Support Center Homepage, click the ‘Chat with an Analyst’ button. Complete the Web form with your customer information. A chat window will appear, and within just a few minutes, an Esri Support Analyst will begin troubleshooting your question. The chat window also features an approximate wait time, so you’ll have an idea when the next Support Analyst will be available.
Once you connect with a Support Analyst, you can send screen shots or other documents using the ‘Attach’ button. You can also request to initiate a screen sharing session using GoToAssist. If your question can’t be answered during the chat conversation, the Support Analyst will continue to help you via phone or e-mail. Every chat is logged as an incident, but now you don’t have to hold the phone to your ear.
If a Support Analyst isn’t available within a few minutes, your question will be automatically logged as a Web form incident, so you don’t have to watch your chat window for hours. A Support Analyst will follow up by e-mail with their best recommendation.
Give Esri Support Services’ new Chat with an Analyst feature a try! It might just turn out to be your favorite way to get in touch with our team.
Go GIS!
- Emeline R., Senior Support Analyst – ArcGIS Server Usage group, Esri Support Services
In ArcGIS Desktop 10, Item Description launched from the ArcMap Table of Contents > Data > Item Description does not work
In ArcGIS Desktop 10, launching the Item Description for a layer by right-clicking on it from the ArcMap Table of Contents > Data > Item Description does not work.
Note: Launching the Item Description from the Catalog Window or ArcCatalog does work.
This is a known issue. For updates on the status, you can use bug number NIM057099. Esri is working on a permanent solution to this issue. In the meantime, please use the following workaround:
- Shut down ArcMap and ArcCatalog.
- Download the following ZIP file: Data Source Item Description window.zip.
- Extract the .reg file located in the ZIP file to your hard drive or desktop.
- Double-click the Data Source Item Description window.reg file. This adds a registry setting that enables the functionality.
- Open ArcMap.
- The Item Description launched from the ArcMap Table of Contents > Data > Item Description will now work.
Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please leave any comments in the comment section below this blog post. NOTE: You must be logged in to your Esri Global Account to leave comments.
- Jeff M., Desktop Development Lead – User Advocacy Group, Esri Support Services
