ESRI UC - technical update

Originally I didn't plan to post such detailed summary of presentations I went to but friend of mine, Jithen Singh, wants to put it on his blog, Scrappad. Then I figured why not. Just a few notes about it; these are the details I think are worth mentioning, from my own perspective. I have been in the GIS since late 80's and I do a lot of training courses. Because of this you may find some sessions to be quite brief.

Anyway, here is the more to the point technical summary of the sessions I have attended.

VISUALIZATION WITH ARCGLOBE

• Use ArcGIS Online to download template documents. These may have higher resolution imagery available than default ones, at least for USA.
• There is a façade tool from ArcScripts (id 14040) that improved 3d building display
• Use layer properties to have multiple displays of 3D data (no texture, low resolution texture, hi resolution texture)
• www.mayang.com/textures is free resource for download of various textures
• ‘3D graphics’ is a new toolbar at 9.3
• KML will have separate toolbar at 9.3
• ‘Find nearby’ tool will utilize ArcGIS web services
• Use ‘Cache deployment wizard’ to manage and deploy cache

LABELING, ANNOTATION EDITING AND TEXT PLACEMENT

• Straight option for polygon labeling is using longest axis of the polygon

ARCSDE CONFIGURATION AND UPGRADE STRATEGY

• We were given handout sheet with steps for upgrade (client and server, PC and Unix)
• Unicode support is enabled by default in 9.2. If not needed turn it off
• High precision allows storage of 4 503 599 627 370 000 geodatabase units (exact number)
• If using application server connection upgrade clients first
• If using direct connect upgrade simultaneously
• KB 31494 discusses support for 32 and 64 bit ArcSDE

MOBILE GIS USER GROUP MEETING

• Windows Mobile 6 comes in 3 flavors:
  • Standard (no support for touch screen, 2 tier security)
  • Professional (support for touch screen, 3 tier security, includes Remote Desktop Mobile client)
  • Classic (for PDA, non smart phone, etc)
• SILVERLIGHT RUNS ON LINUX

ADVANCED MOBILE BUILDER

• Calculate value tool is designed for model builder, can use code block
• 'Merge Branch' tool should be used in combination with precondition property to complete if/then
• Use !shape.area! statement in expression(s) to get access to area of features in a shapefile without adding and populating new field
• Probably there was more but I got sick and had to leave…

ARCGIS SERVER ADMINISTRATION, CONFIGURATION, TUNING AND OPTIMIZATION

• ESRI’s recommended connection type is direct connect (open to discussion IMHO)i
• For dynamic map services:
  • Use minimum number of required layers
  • Hide unnecessary fields
  • Use simple or character marker symbols
  • Use EMF instead of BMP for symbol fill
  • Use integer fields for symbol values instead of character values
  • Use ESRI_Optimized style (>50% speed increase)
  • Use annotation instead of labels
  • Build indices on fields
  • Use label weight and label priority sparingly
  • Avoid special effects on text (halo, background, etc)
  • Avoid text with 60+ size
  • Avoid Maplex
• For cached services set number to number of CPUs or Cores + 1
• Simplify data (generalize) and models
• Us in memory data for geoprocessing (models)
• If you have more than 4 threads per SOC process use high isolation
• For polled instances use 2-4 instances per CPU or core
• Citrix NetScaler can boost up network performance
• Have at least 2 GB of RAM per CPU or core
• Reduce number of services per server
• Use NAS, RAID and fast SCSI disks
• Use Server Statistics in ArcCatalog for investigation of possible issues
• Use Microsoft’s Fiddler for investigation of HTTP communication (www.fiddlertool.com)
• On XP disable Simple File Sharing
• Use web stress tools like MS application Test Centre or Jakarta’s Jmeter

MANAGING DISTRIBUTED DATA WITH GEODATABASE REPLICATION

• Replication can be used with other data distribution techniques like Mobile ADF
• You can replicate specific version, dataset of features
• 3 replication types are
  • Check In / Check Out – parent must be ArcSDE
  • One way – can be simple of full (support for networks and topologies)
  • Two way
• YOU MUST HAVE WRITE ACCESS TO DATA
• All data must be registered as versioned
• All data must have GLOBALID column
• All data must be in high precision
• For terrains, only components are replicated, not the terrain itself
• Metadata is replicated this is in the works for 9.3
• Connected synchronization – both GDBs are on the network, can send changes both ways or one way
• Disconnected synchronization – messaging done by user, gdbs are not on the network
• Send acknowledgment messages to reduce amount of information sent, also helps cleanup of data
• Replica reconcile policies
  • Favor database
  • Favor import – apply imported value
  • Manual – user must resolve conflicts
• Use Synchronize Changes GP tool for automation
• For schema changes
  • Field dropped – skips the field
  • Apply schema before synchronization
• There is new feature class, replica footprint created by geoprocessing tool. It includes replica properties
• Changes in 9.3
  • Extending replicas to file and personal gdb
  • Support for XML files over 1 GB
  • Improved logging in case of unsuccessful synchronization

ADVANCED CARTOGRAPHY IN ARCGIS

• Check samples in developer kit to create your own geometric effects
• New at 9.3
  • Greater selection handles
  • More keyboard shortcuts
  • Dialogs to convert units of measure
  • WYSISWG for editing representations
  • Disperse markers symbols GP tool

ENTERPRISE GEODATABASE TUNING TIPS AND TRICKS

• Client’s responsibility
  • Better workflow design
  • Better geodatabase design
  • Optimized ArcObjects code design
  • Optimized MXD
  • Testing
  • Understanding the technology
• Remote SDE install - for unsupported database
• Remote SDE install, CPU clock is the key, RAM is secondary
• Check PERMISSION_CACHE_TRASHHOLD keyword for SQL server at 9.2
• Use SP2 for SQL Server 2005

• Use built-in database roles like db_datareader (reduces time for reading of system tables)
• Sde commands use single precision
• User can control logging mode - ERRLOGMODE keyword
  • T- time stamp
  • C – computer
• Read KB 25129 about TCPKEEPALIVE setting

On personal note, it was a great opportunity to meet ESRI staff and other people whose books or papers I recommend to my students. This includes Cynthia Brewer, Peter Jolly and other.