ArcGIS 10 SP 3 released

 

Service Pack 3 for ArcGIS 10 was released today and as usual I am picking some of the issues fixed and posting them here. SP 3 is a big one with 443 fixes for Desktop and only 25 for Server.

Here are the issues I have picked from the bunch.

Desktop

• NIM004239 - Hillshade tool with model shadows option produces artifacts when used with low altitude values.
• NIM008882 - After copying and pasting a legend the copy loses custom legend settings.
• NIM047093 - Cut Polygon Features tool fails on feature classes that have been upgraded from low to high precision spatial references.
• NIM049488 - Weighted Overlay tool returns "Sum of % Influence Weights must equal 100" error when 5 or more input rasters are using user-defined % influence values.
• NIM053780 - Some floating point ASCII files display as integer rasters in ArcGIS Desktop.
• NIM055952 - When Building overviews, when the projection of the Mosaic Dataset and the Map differ, a tear (sliver) appears at certain scales (data across multiple UTM zones).
• NIM056042 - Calculate Adjacent Fields: Geometry restrictions are too strict. Users should be able to use this tool for grids that are not "perfect".
• NIM056576 - Calculate Field with Expression None and Expression Type PYTHON or PYTHON9.3 does nothing and no error/warning given. Calculate Field with Expression Null and Expression Type VB works fine. Occurs on numeric and text fields.
• NIM057253 - Projection information marked as Undefined in ArcGIS 10, but is read correctly by ArcGIS 9.3.1 SP1.
• NIM057356 - An unexpected error occurs when selecting by location on a layer that has a join and a definition query defined from joined field(s).
• NIM058074 - Performance of Calculate Field tool needs to be as fast with selection sets as it is without a selection when using SDE data.
• NIM059158 - In ArcGIS 10, fields are not displayed in field calculator when the raster attribute table has a joined table.
• NIM059194 - A 4 bit raster does not display in ArcGIS 10 when pyramids or overviews are present.
• NIM059888 - The legend patch size, title font, and spacing between items revert back to odd values if the values are changed and saved.
• NIM060426 - Toolbar cannot be placed in a desired docked position where it remains after closing and reopening a map.
• NIM060754 - Line Decoration does not honor the settings when the dataframe is rotated.
• NIM060806 - Text Boundary shifts when editing inline formatting of annotation with baseline alignment.
• NIM061029 - ArcMap crashes when exporting a map built with Data Driven Pages to PDF when the frame of the extent indicators is set with offset cartographic line symbols and the PDF pages options are set to multiple pages using page names.
• NIM061425 - Attributes of a featureclass become Read-Only when attempted to be edited through 'Attribute Edit window' after joining to a table in ArcGIS 10.
• NIM061605 - Using arcpy.mapping to move to the next time interval updates the map, but not the time slider.
• NIM061613 - Importing XML to file geodatabase using Case Tools in ArcGIS 10 (ArcCatalog) removes domains from tables.
• NIM061709 - When using Data Driven Pages with a Scale field, the data are not always centered in the layout.
• NIM061731 - Some parts of the TIFF image disappears when zoomed in close.
• NIM061779 - Strip Map Index Features tool produces an Output Feature Class having gaps along the strip.
• NIM062054 - Cutting polygon with condensed vertices causes ArcMap to crash.
• NIM062058 - Certain IMGs fail in the Zonal Statistics as Table tool in ArcMap 10 that worked in 9.3.1.
• NIM062251 - Cannot animate an ArcSDE feature class added from a direct connection when a server name is not specified in the spatial database connection properties.
• NIM062704 - Editing features using the attribute window may cause ArcMap to crash.
• NIM062844 - The Split tool has been enhanced to allow the ability to divide a line into more than 99 equal segments. Also, Construct Points has been enhanced to allow the creation of more than 999 new points.
• NIM063027 - Unable to successfully open map documents in 10 resaved in a previous version that contain unreferenced inserted images in the data frame; receive error 'Opening the selected ArcMap document failed. The data frames of the map document could not be read.'
• NIM063302 - Explode Multi-part feature tool empties the feature cache when used on a non multi-part feature.
• NIM063466 - The Mosaic function does not read the 'first' and 'last' mosaic method properly.
• NIM063816 - Zonal Statistics as Table fails with a large feature data set when using a "string" field as the zone field value.
• NIM064548 - Multiple attachments display when identifying a feature pointing to a historical version.
• NIM064600 - Scale dropdown list in ArcMap stops functioning after removing Add Data button from standard toolbar.
• NIM064663 - Slower connection time after upgrading geodatabase to ArcSDE 10.0, related to GDB_ITEMS table queries.
• NIM064691 - Importing PNG8 tiles on existing PNG8 tiles causes tiles to be overwritten instead of being blended.
• NIM064800 - Weighted Overlay crashes using common scale values for text fields.
• NIM064813 - The Fishnet tool fails to create output (when run three times in a row).
• NIM064860 - Make Query Table tool crashes ArcMap when selecting ObjectID of input table as Key Field.
• NIM065031 - In Data Driven pages with rotated data frames the north arrow shrinks when viewing the different pages.
• NIM065041 - In ArcMap, upon executing a geoprocessing tool in background that has a network analysis layer as derived output, the network dataset layer referenced by the input network analysis layer cannot be used for any further analysis.
• NIM065098 - Unable to Z Snap, by moving a vertex in "Classic Snapping".
• NIM065375 - Incorrect renaming of the Geodatabase object within ArcCatalog; results in corruption of GDB_items table and makes the renamed objects unusable within ArcCatalog.
• NIM065384 - The Grid Index Features tool in Data Driven Pages does not save the "connect" link for parameter > "Generate Polygon Grid features that intersects input feature layers and datasets".
• IM065445 - Adding a shapefile to a basemap layer will leak GDI objects each time the map is refreshed after changing the extent.
• NIM065524 - Weighted Overlay tool errors out when rasters are accessed via a group layer using user defined % influence values.
• NIM065725 - Web maps created or modified after March 2, 2011 (when the web map format was changed) can't be opened in ArcGIS Desktop 10.0. ArcMap 10.0 gives you the message "Invalid Web Map". ArcMap 10.0 SP1 gives you the message "Could not open the specified file." You should be able to open these web maps in 10.0 at the same level of support as earlier web maps (i.e. ArcMap will open the map but omit the map note features and any other currently unsupported content).
• NIM065895 - The Extract Values to Points tool gives incorrect values for geometrically valid features following a feature class with null geometry.
• NIM065978 - The patterns in a Marker Line Symbol may shift during Export or Printing when the line features intersect with the map frame.
• NIM065999 - ArcCatalog and ArcMap send usernames and passwords to token secured ArcGIS Server endpoints with the HTTP GET method which is logged in clear text in web server logs. (Using HTTP POST will instead prevent web servers from logging clear text passwords.)
• NIM066223 - Using an iterate file in ModelBuilder with KML to Layer tool causes ArcMap to crash when it attempts to go to the second iteration.
• NIM066402 - Multiple Ring Buffer tool has issue in the tool validator code that causes problems in ModelBuilder (using intermediate output data as input to M-R-Buffer is tricky).
• NIM066475 - ArcGIS Administrator is unable to return borrowed licenses if DNS resolution is required to reach the license manager.
• NIM066711 - The Generate Near Table tool crashes when processing more than one feature class in the Near Features field.
• NIM066815 - Colors of rasterized elements, raster layers, and inserted raster pictures are inverted when exporting to PDF in CMYK colorspace. This happens with JPEG or Adaptive image compressions.
• NIM066846 - Composite locator leaks memory in ArcGIS Server and may cause stability issues with the geocode service if system resources get low.
• NIM066864 - Masking is dropped when a map is exported to PDF, EPS, AI, and PNG for layers which utilize true curves.
• NIM067081 - ArcMap crashes performing 'Copy Parallel' on certain features.
• NIM067117 - Generate Near Table hangs when the maximum number of closest matches parameter is set to a number that exceeds what will be returned.
• NIM067121 - When identifying a mosaic dataset in ArcMap, it returns values for the rasters that are not displaying.
• NIM067135 - A map containing two or more layers, symbolized with cartographic representations, creates different EPS export file sizes until the map has been exported four or more times in a row. Visually, the maps are identical.
• NIM067203 - Maplex Reduce Font Size is not working for point labels.
• NIM067257 - When using a Feature Set with the Multiple Ring Buffer in a Model an error is generated.
• NIM067258 - Files greater than 1GB produced with Export to PDF (either UI or ArcPy) get created but can't be opened.
• NIM067561 - One representation line symbol layer appears thinner when exported to PDF at 1200dpi; 1100dpi and lower and 1210dpi and higher are fine.
• NIM067760 - The Fillet tool can crash ArcMap if a 3rd party software is installed that is not managing events correctly.
• NIM067967 - Calculate statistics in memory for rasters that do not have valid statistics as required by the function.
• NIM068057 - Invalid Package error returned when unpacking a package if the My Documents has been redirected to a location using a UNC path.
• NIM068206 - A mosaic dataset has slivers/gaps between overviews when the data frame is in a different projection than the mosaic dataset.
• NIM068265 - The Multiple Ring Buffer tool generates unexpected output when more than two distances are specified and the dissolve option is set to "ALL" (ArcView and ArcEditor license level only).
• NIM068460 - The spatial reference information is not recognized for ECW images.
• NIM068587 - Adding a new field to a layer that has a Definition Query causes ArcMap to crash after being in an Edit Session.
• NIM068659 - ArcMap crashes when exporting a video from the Time Slider on Win 7 machines.
• NIM069245 - Reference scale is cleared out when zooming in and out with certain layers after installing ArcGIS 10 Service Pack 2.
• NIM069514 - Extract Values To Points with option for appending attributes of raster incorrectly writes string field values. Also creating incorrect values in the table.
• NIM069516 Build overview does not take the default mosaic method defined in the mosaic dataset.
• NIM069683 - Line events are not offset parallel to underlying routes.
• NIM069863 - When exporting a mxd to PDF that contains a polygon feature class symbolized using a representation rule designed with a hatch fill pattern that is partially covered using the donut effect, the polygons that cross the edge of the data frame do not retain the donut effect and appear symbolized with a solid.
• NIM070077 - Overviews are incorrect when high resolution data is added to a mosaic dataset before low resolution data is added.
• NIM070106 - Selecting a row from the Raster Attribute table on a 16-bit unsigned raster causes ArcMap to crash.
• NIM070159 - A memory leak while reading Bathymetric Attributed Grid (BAG) format crashes ArcMap.
• NIM070195 - CV table of Kernel Interpolation dialog in the Wizard has 3 columns filled with NaN for 10 SP1 and 10 SP2.
• NIM070285 - GALayerToGrid GP tool is too slow when non single sector searchneighborhood is used (fast in 9.3.1 and slow in 10).
• NIM070349 - Converting Scale Text to graphics in layout view changes the text from the current scale to the default text in the Scale Text Selector dialog box.
• NIM070495 - Import Mosaic Dataset Geometry does not recognize the fields added to the mosaic dataset in the same model.
• NIM070623 - Make Grids and Graticules Layer: Shift in tick placement.
• NIM070624 - Make Grids and Graticules Layer: User modifications to coordinate systems properties not persisted.
• NIM070625 - Make Grids and Graticules Layer: Point features do not clip to the AOI/Neatline like gridlines.
• NIM070675 - Add Field to Analysis Layer tool should succeed with warnings if the field already exists.
• NIM070676 - Add Field To Analysis Layer GP tool crashes when a map layer object is specified as input network analysis layer.
• NIM070757 - Some TIFF datasets written in ArcGIS 10 don't display in the correct location in 9.3.1 when the projection units is feet.
• NIM070854 - Fail to publish the service with default layer in 10.0 SP2.

Server

• NIM051468 - The Service Configuration tag <SchemaLockingEnabled> does not work for MXD map services with File Geodatabase feature classes.
• NIM063428 - Marker symbol offset setting is ignored with MSD-based map service when feature access is enabled.
• NIM064027 - Publishing an Esri Optimized Map Service with a Query Layer takes longer than publishing the same MXD as a Classic Map Service.
• NIM064918 - ArcGIS Server WMS services should not use the cache when the request's coordinate system does not match that of the cached service.
• NIM065844 - Using the tool 'Export Map Server Cache' crashes ArcGIS Desktop if the cache to be exported was created with a previous version of ArcGIS Server.
• NIM070046 - ArcCatalog crashes while generating a map cache with more than 16 or 30 instances when using a feature class at scales larger than 18K.
• NIM070188 - A query layer operation through the service directory against a layer with a Point ZM SHAPE field hangs, or returns an error message, when the return geometry is set to true.
• NIM070446 - The blending feature in Import Map Cache Server tool corrupts adjacent areas in cache tiles.
  NIM070874 - MapServerLegendInfo does not return the raster legend class when legend symbol is null.

REST API

Java:

• NIM071096 - Validate user input before writing to the HTML pages in the Services Directory.

.Net:

• NIM066822 - MaxJsonLength exceeded error message is returned when an input geometry to an SOE contains a large number of vertices.
• NIM070072 - Input to operations in Geoprocessing Service and Geometry Service are not culture invariant.
• NIM071005 - Validate user input before writing to the HTML pages in the Services Directory.
• NIM071006 - When input is invalid, clean-up input data returned in error messages.
• NIM071110 - Time is not honored if the identify operation is layers:layerid option is used in the request.

To see the complete list of issues addresses go to resources page and for download go here. Desktop and Server download file is only 401 MB.

I’ll have a look at issues addressed in ArcSDE soon and I’ll post them here.

Esri acquires Procedural

One of most interesting news I have heard from esri in a while came yesterday morning. My friend Ryan is attending Esri International User Conference and he sent me a brief e-mail:

Esri bought procedural and city engine. Just found out.

The reason why I find this exciting is in the potential of what we, GIS specialist, can do with tool like CityEngine. If you don’t know about Procedural and their product you may have seen a documentary titled Megacities from National Geographic. This was done in CityEngine and other tools for media production. To find out more read this article. If you liked Prince of Persia movie, the city was built in CityEngine. For gamers out there, Unreal, CryEngine, Unity engines are integrating with CityEngine too.

What does CityEngine do?

From Procedural’s web site:

CityEngine is a standalone software that provides professional users in entertainment, architecture, urban planning, GIS and general 3D content production with a unique conceptual design and modeling solution for the efficient creation of 3D cities and buildings.

It is standalone tool that can rapidly create large number of objects. Objects can be buildings, wall, roads, street furniture or they can be imported. Object generation and placement is based on rules. Rules can be easily created and modified and scene is easily regenerated.

Above screenshot is taken from a tutorial video. Visit Support page for access to lot more videos. For automation scripting language is the Python. Another bonus!

CityEngine and GIS

Benefits and use cases for using CityEngine in or with GIS are numerous. Firstly, it supports shapefile as input data format. Since it is now part of esri family I would expect geodatabase support in near future. Having shapefiles allows you to control or define rules from those attribute values, like number of floors, building type (residential, commercial, etc), building style/era and so on. Example can be found over here with more information and brief video is below.

ArcGIS and CityEngine

Some areas where CityEngine could be used in GIS:

• City planning
• Road (re)design
• Landscape design and evaluation
• Shadow analysis
• Viewshed analysis
• Intelligence and security analysis
• Telecommunications

Map-controlled modeling feature is the one that almost every GIS user can take advantage of. An image determines type of features that will be generated or where blocking zones will be.

Map controlled modeling

Parametric modeling allows dynamic changes of features. Take streets for an example. This is very nicely illustrated in this video.

Interactive streets remodeling

There is lot more to be explored and tested but that is for another time.

Closing thoughts

Procedural and CityEngine are great addition to the set of tools esri users have at their disposal and I am really looking forward to work with it again. In addition to being great tool, support is also very good. Turn around time on the question I asked was few days (head office is in Switzerland) and answers were simple and precises. They did follow up afterwards and provided me with number of useful links.

Procedural is frequently updating the software and below are some features important to esri users.

• Export to shapefile
• Export to Collada
• Mulitpatch support

Now it is waiting game to see what and how CityEngine will be offered to esri customers.

New features of ArcGIS Explorer 1700 – Part I

 

This release of ArcGIS Explorer features two new important tools – Query and Spatial Query.

Query

Dialog for Query tool is very similar to one in ArcMap but there are subtle differences. For example you don’t have to double click on field name to select it. The same applies to unique values. Once query is completed you must `Test` it first as seen on screenshot below.

When query is executed results are added to your map as dynamic layer where query used is part of the title.

Spatial Query

For spatial queries one can create lines, polygons, circle, square or select any of existing map notes. If you remember any features can be converted to notes (http://blogs.esri.com/Info/blogs/arcgisexplorerblog/archive/2011/06/08/extracting-features-from-services-using-explorer-desktop.aspx) and then used for spatial query. Spatial relationships are basic: cross, contain and intersect. Here is an example of cross relationship spatial query.

Geotagging images

Now we have ability to geotag images in core Explorer. Previously, it was possible with an Add-In. Process of geotagging images is very simple. Add an image and if it’s not geotagged it will prompt you if you would like to do that.

 

Geotagged images will be displayed in the map at selected location and with thumbnail in table of content – nice touch. In addition you get a copy of image with name <original name> Geotagged.jpg so your original photos are untouched.

 

If you need to share your images easy option is to create a folder in TOC, move geotagged image layers in folder and then share it like a layer package. Once layer is added to ArcMap use HTML popup to display the images.

GIS Wikipedia is alive

As ESRI user I am used to visit support center in search for software requirements, technical articles or description of workaround and known bugs. Now ESRI has created a new Wiki site  http://wiki.gis.com/

Even if it is initiated by ESRI Wiki.GIS is not about ESRI, it is about GIS and us, users being successful in what we do day to day.

Wiki.GIS.com is a community-generated, GIS-centric encyclopedia that serves as a repository for factual, unbiased GIS content. Wiki.GIS.com will seek to involve the GIS community in an ongoing process of creation and collaboration of conceptual GIS information. Wiki.GIS.com will use the passion and knowledge each one of you has, in order to offer another resource for users to help others. All content ownership will be shared by the GIS community

There is already reasonable amount of content there including list of all ESRI software, 32 free software packages and Google Earth section with 5 pages.

As described below it is up to us to make this work.

The success of wiki.GIS.com depends on the contributions of GIS professionals, students, and the GIS community-at-large. We invite all the people who have a common interest in sharing GIS knowledge and ideas to create a login account on wiki.GIS.com and then begin editing existing pages or adding their own GIS-related content to the wiki. We have a list of requested pages on the wiki for which we are seeking content, but please feel free to add more topics/content as you deem fit. All unbiased GIS-related content is welcome.

 

NZ ESRI Conference – day 2

The second day of NZ ESRI User Conference is over. It was a busy day with lots of activities from us (Eagle Technology) to make sure everything is set up and working.

As usual we have a stand with number of PC running demos of various technologies including ArcGIS 9.4 beta, ENVI, Dekho and Apos.

Another quite popular feature is “Doctor’s office” where uses come to quickly resolve technical issues. Here is how it looks at quiet times.

Below is the main doctor’s office, set up for different versions of Desktop and Server products.

Every year there is a “Benefits from GIS” poster exhibition and this year entrants are show below. These pictures may not showing complete poster or the fine details but just as an illustration of submissions.

 

 

Once the winning poster is chosen I’ll post better pictures and judges description of main points.

The highlight of the conference is an opportunity to meet people and catch up from last conference over a cup of coffee (and later in the evening a glass of beer or wine).

Next post is coming up tomorrow, hopefully with more photos.

ArcGIS Explorer 900, Part 2

Since my first post I was quite busy so this post is coming later then I wanted. In the meantime ESRI was busy writing about it on ArcGIS Explorer blog.
There are four new posts about release 900 after it was released. The posts are:

• Getting started: changing display options and the basemap
• Getting started: the ribbon
• Before you get started with the new release
• New version now available and what's new

There is one something I have noticed but I haven’t heard from other users. When I start AGX my Vista is changing colour scheme to Basic. This usually happens when application does not have enough resources. In addition to that when starting AGX  from home (using wireless network) for a short time I internet connection is gone. My guess is again maxing out resources of PC. By the way that is HP laptop with Core 2 Duo 2.3 GHz and 2 GB RAM.
Unfortunately, I still don’t have time to explore new options. The ones I am really interested are package layers, projections, presentation mode and customization. When I get more information I summarize them here.

ESRI UC 2009 Day 2 update

Day two at the User Conference seems to be quiet or there aren’t many updates yet. A friend of mine, Jithen Singh,  already did a hard work of compiling a list of news for upcoming version of ArcGIS 9.4.
Here are some highlights for Desktop:

• Extension of layer packages to include tools, models, globes and diagrams
• Improved Table Of Content – allows rendering of cartographic representations
• Add models into toolbar
• Multiple page PDF export
• Support for Windows 7
• Run geoprocessing in the background

For full list of changes for Desktop, Server and Mobile go to Mandown.

ESRI UC 2009 Day 1 update

Here are most interesting bits from day 1 of the ESRI User Conference. Unfortunately these are not first hand news but compiled from number of blogs and news from the internet.

Plenary session
In first part Jack has described the vision of this conference – Maps and GIS are changing and there are new ways to take advantage of GIS.

ArcGIS Explorer 900 was showed and new features were demonstrated (more on that later).
Second part was about the next release – 9.4. Highlights of upcoming 9.4 version are:

• Run in parallel with 9.3 on same machine
• New dockable windows (attribute table, ArcCatalog, etc)
• Search integrated in ArcMap
• Search for symbol by name
• Predefined edit tasks
• Integration of Python in ArcMap
• New Base maps for continuous redraw and panning
• Improved 3D performance and SketchUp support
• Open geodatabase API

ArcGIS Explorer 900
Information about AGX 900 is know for a while but now the key features were shown and more details can be found on AGX blog. These include:

• Toggle between 3D and 2D
• Use of layer packages from ArcGIS 9.3.1
• Presentation mode
• Ribbon interface
• Bing data support
• Support for all ArcGIS projections and transformations
• Customization without programming

Other news

• ArcGIS API for Silverlight/WPF released
• ArcGIS API for Silverlight/WPF toolkit released on Codeplex
• MapIt product released

This is just a very quick pick of most interesting topics. More details coming soon.

ESRI 2009 User Conference starts tomorrow

Tomorrow is the start of User Conference for 2009. As expected there is an official page providing lot of information like featured sessions, on-line agenda, accommodation and other.



Collection of quick links include Facebook, Twitter and Flickr pages. As alternative you can simply subscribe to RSS feeds from this page.

If you haven’t been at the Conference you know it is really busy and spread across very large area. To help you find your way use UC Route Finder. This will show distance and time required to get to the destination and it is also viewable in 3D.



Very soon we are expecting a flood of news from the Conference. I am hoping that ArcGIS Explorer 900 will be released within next few days. AGX blog has plenty of information and photos from specialist events where it will be demonstrated (homeland security, education, etc).

It will be quite hard to keep up with all news but hopefully in next week or two I’ll be able to pick out most interesting news and videos.

Q & A about 2009 ESRI International User Conference

2009 ESRI User Conference is near (13-17 July) and ESRI has published the results from survey. Make sure you have plenty of free time if you want to read the full Q & A document – there are 178 questions and answers!



Full list is available here. I will post my pick of most interesting questions from this list later this week.

ArcGIS 9.3.1 REST Services Patch

Another patch for ArcGIS Server 9.3.1 was released. This patch addresses cases where, under heavy load, adding additional SOC machines does not improve performance when using REST services.

Issue fixed with this patch is:

• NIM045052 - Adding additional SOC machines does not improve ArcGIS Server system performance when using REST services.

Even if this does not apply to Desktop or Engine but one of assemblies for Desktop and Engine is affected.

File is GIS931-Server-RestSvcs-Patch.msp and it is 2.1 MB. Full details are available here.

ArcGIS, WPF and Surface in action

Yesterday Richie posted an article and video about “Police dispatcher for Microsoft Surface” application they (ESRI Application Prototype Lab) ported from Silverlight API to Windows Presentation Foundation and Surface.

Go here for full details, video is also available on YouTube.

If you liked that then have a look at similar example “Cross Country Mobility for Microsoft Surface.”

Creating effective web maps seminar

Eagle Technology is hosting a complimentary seminar about creation and deployment of modern web maps maps and make the most of your investment in GIS data and infrastructure.



Some spaces are still available in Wellington and Auckland.

Location: Auckland, Eagle Technology office
Date: Tuesday June 30, 2009

Location: Wellington, Eagle Technology office
Date: Thursday July 2, 2009

The same seminar will be held in the morning and repeated in the afternoon.
Please advise which session you would like to attend as places are limited.

AGENDA:

Morning session:
9:00-10:15: Design Strategies for Authoring and Publishing
10:15-10:30: break
10:30-12:00: Building Web Applications

Afternoon session:
1:00-2:15: Design Strategies for Authoring and Publishing
2:15-2:30: break
2:30-4:00: Building Web Applications

To register visit - www.eagle.co.nz/gis931

Layer package patch for ArcGIS 9.3.1

New patch was released yesterday to addresses issues with downloading secure content from ArcGIS Online when using ArcGIS Desktop. If you are not using ArcGIS Online this is not a critical patch but ESRI is recommending download at earliest convenience.

File to download is gis931-DLL-patch.msp and it is only 1 MB.

3D hypsographic shaded print

It is interesting how things coincide…

In end of May I was in Wellington teaching “Cartography with ArcGIS” course and thought “I should write a post about that 3D print I did...” And several days later there is a post about 3D prints on Free Geography Tools blog.

Back to the 3D print I did. The print was done quite a while ago, for a NZ ESRI User Group Conferecne  in October-November of 2006. About one month before the Conference I got an e-mail with brochure about 3D printers from Contex. One of the vendors at the conference has these printers but they don’t offer print services. Eagle Technology is the main sponsor of the conference so was in contact with vendors. Luckily, there is another company in Auckland that has 3D printer and it is interested in collaboration. That company is 3D Print. When we met they showed me promotional GIS/mapping model they have. It was a standard size (30x30cm) tile with a city in flat area with satellite image draped on top. It wasn’t impressive since tallest feature on print was about 2cm tall. I have suggested that we put something together – I can provide data/model and they would print it. So we started working on this project.

I have access to topographic data for whole New Zealand including the 20m contours lines.  The question was what area to choose. One of immediate candidates was Wellington area for several reasons: conference is held in Wellington and terrain has interesting features. It didn’t take me long to create a DEM and hillshade from available data. Then I started experimenting with the colours. I have experimented a bit with elevation colour ramps (like described in this post). Here are some test combinations applied on top of Swiss hillshading. There are subtle differences visible in highest mountain region in southeast.




Here is one of the first tries I liked the best.

This is looking promising and I though it would be nice if I could get bathymetry data for Cook Straight. Luckily, National institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (NIWA) was very interested and I got the shapefile data for Cook Straight. And it was really exciting to work with the data and see the results. Cook Straight has very interesting features as you can see. From supplied data I created the DEM as displayed below.

Next step is to combine two datasets. The result is shown below.

Now it is back to the colour schemas. NIWA has a colour ramp they are using but I didn’t like it that much.

And here is why. On its own I wouldn’t mind using it but it in my opinion it does not work well with elevation tint.
 
Here are some test screenshots.


After some testing I have decided to go with blue colour ramps and here are most likely candidates.



With colours almost sorted there was a next challenge – what data format will work the best for 3D print? According to printer’s manual it will work with VRML, 3DS and DXF/DWG data. I had a bit of problems with exporting data as VRML (I was using ArcGIS 9.2 pre-release then). Once exported VRML didn’t really give us the result we were expecting. There was lot of trouble reading the file and getting the texture (picture correctly positioned on top of model). In next try, I made a 3DS file and send it to 3D Print. Few days later I have also sent a DXF file and the image file of the final colour separately so they could experiment and choose the best option.

Eventually, the figured out the best data format and the way to print this (I am not too sure what format was used in the end) and they made first test 3D print from supplied data and this was the result.


Looking at this we have agreed that this is nowhere near to what we have expected. To make it better 3D Print made it bigger, to cover 4 tiles and to have a base and side walls. Each tile is 30x30cm and height depends on the features of terrain. The result was much better. The model was in our Auckland office and then taken to Wellington by one of our staff members about two weeks before the conference. Unfortunately, two of four tiles got broken in transport because the box with print was checked in at the airport. And that was under two week before the Conference!

Then the good guys at 3D Print decided to do more tweaking and make another run/copy of the model. The main reason for tweaking were the colours. All colours came out lighter then everybody has expected or liked. To my surprise, new model looked so much better than the first one.

Here are the photos of the second model taken with my Sony DSC P7 camera (old and not very good).


As you can see even new printed tiles broke but this is not visible when put together.
For the print we have included logos of all parties involved. Can you spot the spike under letter A in EAGLE?

There are some nice features of the terrain visible even if I use just two tiles.

Here are some close up shots to illustrate terrain and undersea features.



On the photo above you can see ‘terraces’ result of undersea configuration – large areas with very small slope. The same effect is noted on Free Geography Tools blog.

For this print we decided not to use solid base in order to save time and material for printing. Here is an underside of one tile.


Lessons learned
This was an interesting experience for several reasons. Firstly, working with new printing technology. Using 3D prints can really bring out the characteristics of the terrain (in this case). These are especially attractive for students and for people who can’t easily create mental picture of an area looking at the topographic map. 3D print as a company was very keen to work with us and demonstrate use of this technology in GIS and mapping.

Choosing symbology was quite difficult considering I had to combine bathymetry and terrain in single product. This would not be that difficult if it was a medium with known characteristics, like paper. In the first try colours used looked fine on screen and test print on paper but when used in 3D print they came out pale. To highlight the coastline I used orange colour that was too strong any line symbol was too wide. Lakes and swamp outlines were also too strong and too wide.

Printing in 3D is not cheap. One tile 30x30cm costs around $300 NZ. All together this printing costs were around $3,000 NZ. Once printed you should take care of the prints since there are quite fragile.
If I get the opportunity to do this again I would be delighted and hopefully the process would be less troublesome.

ArcUser – now as an electronic magazine

Being New Zealand distributor for ESRI means we get the publications like Arc User from USA. Because of that I don’t often go to the News section of ESRI’s home page.
Today I went there to check of of the article I saw before. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that ArcUser is available as electronic flipbook magazine. To view this you must have Flash player installed.

You can flip the pages like with real magazine or use the arrows at the bottom of the screen.

Going to the first page also shows how to use 3D Issue publications (and ArcUser is published using this technology). Quick start explains Quick Start, Icons options and also includes FAQ section.



As expected there is a search functionality built in.

If you don’t want to view on-line the magazine can be downloaded as an off-line version (this didn’t work for me this time) or you can resort to good old PDF.
PDF version has a slightly sharper text rendering while graphics is the same.  PDF may take longer to download than the flipbook. The latest issue is just over 10 MB.
Content of the ArcUser is as it always was – great with range of articles from introduction to developer level.