Latest Contributions by RichPriem

What happened to this Stretch Type for Symbology on a single band raster grid, which seems glaringly absent in my version 1.4 release. Also missing are related options to customize the Histogram.  These are extremely helpful for non-linear stretch on the many Surfaces (Grids) that is not normally distributed.  Are there plans to implement these in a future release, and if so when can we expect?  Also, is there any documentation of plans for future releases posted on the web that we could review? ... View more

Please try harder to recognize that geologic surfaces have discontinuities.  They are not just a solid, continuous, rectangular grid.  There are often linear discontinuities (faults), exclusive holes (fault gaps, salt penetration), and inclusive edges (pinch-outs, erosion, or end of interpretation).  And these features need to be displayed as nice smooth features, not stair-steps, zig-zags, scallops, or other unappealing and non-geologic shapes.   Value:  many geoscientists refuse to accept or embrace ArcGIS because of these shortcomings.  Some of it is purely the aesthetic appeal of the resulting maps, and some is more significant deficiencies in modeling and making calculations on the geologic surfaces.   The Petroleum User Group (PUG) has been pushing this subject for years, as shortcomings in the ability to adequately process and display these features are a significant barrier to increased usage in our industry.  Progress has been made, but there is still more needed.   Recognizing progress, we are glad to see: 1. Spline with Barriers:  this interpolation tool solves the issue of faults, but the python implementation has some flaws (shift due to rotation) and performs quite poorly in comparison to other interpolation tools. 2. Contour with Barriers:  this was a good step forward, but fell short as the Polygon option was never implemented. Following are the next priorities, which are each documented separately with additional details. 1. Blank Grid/Raster inside Exclusive Polygons:  this seems like it should be extremely easy, please just do it.  Reference: https://community.esri.com/ideas/7299 2. Color Fill Contour Polygons:  finish implementation in Contour with Barriers.  Reference:  https://community.esri.com/ideas/1387 3. Spline with Barriers:  resolve shortcomings in the implementation mentioned above.  Reference: https://community.esri.com/ideas/7309 Note: this is a strategic request, consolidating several issues from the Petroleum User Group:   http://www.pugonline.org/index.php?q=the-list/ascending For additional information, contact  Rich@Priemere.com   ... View more

Performance for opening an ArcGIS Document (MxD, SxD, GxD) needs to be improved.  It is a significant irritant to many users, and an excuse for others to just not use the application at all.   Current architecture appears to prepare everything that might ever be needed immediately upon opening the document.  Why not offer some “just in time” options to minimize that up-front work?   Most end users are not particularly adept at managing their documents, and often end up accumulating hundreds of layers.  Many of those layers are disabled, yet significant time can be spent connecting to each data source across a network environment.  Worse, often a user will be hunting around through a group of documents, waiting a long time to open each, just to see the table of contents, and realize that it is the wrong document, and move on to the next one!   To substantiate, here are some statistics from monitoring more than a hundred users over a period of time, during which there were more than 3000 document open events.  We measured the elapsed time, and categorized with breaks at 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, and 5 minutes.  Only 10% of the open events were less than 10 seconds, about half were more than 30 seconds, 20% more than a minute.  Thankfully, only 2% were more than 5 minutes, but about a quarter of all the users had had this off-putting experience, and more than three quarters had at least one experience of more than a minute.    Suggestion is that the Open process be staged in several JIT (just in time) events.  These could be used from the ArcGIS map interface, and with developer methods that are exposed.  Each layer would contain a number of properties to flag the status.  When a particular property is requested, but still unknown, then and only then is the data source inspected for the required information.   Another suggestion is a user tolerance for startup time, along with a progress meter and/or interrupt option.  Work through the above JIT stuff until the allowed time has expired.  For multiple data frames, only process the active data frame first.  And for any disabled layer, defer processing it (and all descendants) until after enabled layers have been processed.  When the tolerable amount of time has elapsed, interrupt the process, and do what you can with what is available.  Perhaps put the map into “Pause” mode if not all of the visible layers have been processed yet, so the user can disable things before resuming the drawing. ... View more