Latest Contributions by SarahGreenlaw

Yes.  A Scale slider is a great idea, similar to the time slider. faster and more efficient when working with the map. ... View more

The data is just stored on a drive within our network which all computers can access.  I did not want to have each computer have the data locally because it is changing dynamically by me and I can just overwright the data on the network drive that everyone uses so they have the most current on their Explorer.  What is an SDE server?  We are going to have about 50 users on this system for now.  Mainly the TMK .lpk is slow (probably because it is so big) but it is still very usable. If you are going to go the route of having the data on a networked drive there is a main issue.  When I moved from Arcmap 9 to 10, when I made changes to a .lpk and then overwrote to the network, .lpk's were unreadable by ArcGIS Explorer.  Turns out the .lpk which Arcmap 10 spits out was a bit different than 9 and was making Explorer fussy so they were all broken data.  I had to re-upload a main map for the Explorer users to download and save.  Once that was done Explorer has no problem until I update another shared .lpk using Arcmap 10 which were originally made from Arcmap 9. Hi Dustin, Thanks for the reply - it is very timely.  An SDE server is just an ArcGIS Server.  For more info, see here.  We have our target data stored on an ArcGIS Server, which I edit on, but when I do geoprocessing, I save the results on my C drive as I don't have write access to the server.  Our GIS IT consultant told me that in terms of speed, it goes like this, from fastest to slowest: 1-ArcGIS Server, 2-local computer, 3-network drive.  I have found that queriying and doing geoprocessing on data on our network drive is significantly slower than doing the same on my local machine, so I opt for that.  I back up my work every couple of weeks on a network drive. We didn't have the issue you did with the layer files as everything was in 10 to begin with.  But yes, I should note here that ArcGIS Explorer layer files are not readible by ArcGIS 9.3.1 - it's a bug that hopefully will be fixed, because v.10 layer files can be read by 9.3.1.  The way I got around this (because I had to view them in 9.3.1 in order to do some editing on our server, which is still back in the 9.3.1 stone age) was that I used the "Extract Layer Package" tool in ArcGIS 10, and then copied the resultant output to my 9.3.1 computer and dragged in the layer file.  it worked no problem! hope this helps somebody with similar problems. Sarah ... View more

Amen! this really needs to happen, sooner rather than later.  So, does "under consideration" mean it's going to come out in the 10.1 release??? ... View more

The main .lpk we have problems with is 11MB TMK which is the largest since we have attached tabular data to it.  All the rest are mostly under a 1MB.  We are displaying about 27 .lpk's at once.  I have all of the .lpk's on a network drive.  I publish the map and upload to Argis.com "Groups" which I then download to each PC with the same access to the network drive.  Works great aside from the occasional draw issue. Hi Dustin, yeah that's a lot of layers and data. do you have an SDE server you could save the data to? or have you tried saving it on your users' local machines? how many users do you have? I reduced the number of layers in my map (although users can still add them through 'add content') and have all the data stored on each user's C drive - we have 12 users.  I know this is not the best solution (I would prefer to save it on a server - we're working on that) but I found working with the data on the network was really slow.  I guess it all depends on your organization's network latency.  So you're using ArcGIS Explorer Online? sounds like a great idea! I didn't know you could do that and still use local data. ... View more

great idea! and thanks for noting that it's been around for SO LONG!!! oh my goodness, what is UP with this? is it really that hard to create???  I also wrote a similar idea, before seeing yours - Create a hyperlinked KEY MAP for Data Driven Pages!!! let's rack up the votes and GET THIS DONE!!! Seriously, what good is a PDF map book without a hyperlinked index map? Data driven pages is awesome, but it needs to be kicked up a knotch for full functionality.  ... View more

just found out that this request has been kicking around for ELEVEN YEARS!!!! Since 2001, people have been asking for this! wow. see also a similar request in this idea ... View more

This is a VERY good idea! I have to go back & forth creating the layers in ArcMap, then bringing them all individually into ArcGIS Explorer.. and it would be so much easier to set it up without a dual system.  ... View more

Although time has passed from the last posting, I wished to provide insight. Under C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\Temp, the A3 folder contains the caches that need to be purged on a regular basis, especially if the same default map or AGE project is opened time and again. By not clearing the cache, the feature class/layer symbology [not labeling] will disappear. As a resolve to the matter, I use a .vbs script that purges all of the C:\Temp folder when a user logs in and for those, that rarely logout during the day, a desktop shortcut to purge as needed during the day. I have also upgraded from AGE 1200 to the latest version 1500. Thanks Shelly for the advice here! I wanted to note that I tried your solution with Build 1750, and it worked. However, I am using Windows 7, and the path was different: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Temp\E3\MapCacheV1 The other solutions I've tried (note by users above) seemed to work temporarily, but the problem persisted with features dissapearing on zoom. But once I went to that folder and deleted its contents, it worked fine. I think I will have my IT department create something for users where it clears this folder on login. thanks for the advice! ... View more

Hi Lee.  that's great about Adobe.we know that and we do that now with a lot of maps.  but here we are dealing with 4,000 stinking map sheets and that is a little too much to MANUALLY link!  besides, why the heck should we have to go to an outside source to fix somethign up that ESRI should easily have within the base application?!! after all, this is a SPATIAL relationship.  I just don't see the logic in doing this manually.  help us work smarter not harder ESRI!  ... View more

We have had the same problem with some of our data diss-appearing as well. I have all data setup to stream layer packages. Mainly sections of a TMK layer will just not draw at certain zoom levels.  Our solution for the time being was to train the users on how to "right click" the data in the contents window and just refresh.  Seems to work for us for the time being.  I'm assuming this clears the cache for the data being refreshed. Hi Dustin, thanks for the suggestion for refreshing the layers.  This is still not working totally properly for us. How large are your datasets and how many layers do you have in your map? I'm wondering, when you say you are streaming the layer packages - where are you streaming them from? local C drive? network? server? thanks! Sarah ... View more

actually it turns out that the above solution didn't work for us.  It seemed to work at first, but then the problem came back.  We are using layer packages too. I contacted ESRI tech support, and they suggested trying it with just a couple of layers that I was having problems with.  Then, there were no more lines dissappearing. Attached is a screen shot of our map - we have quite a few layers. So I removed some of the layers that were non-essential, and it seems to be working fine now.  My application configuration includes the "Add Content" button, so users can always add content as they need it for a particular application. ... View more

I've also had the exact same problem but seem to have found a means to work around it.  I'm using Explorer build 1500. In my current case the failing layers are layer packages (.lpk) built in ArcGIS 10.  I've also watched it happen last week in shapefiles and FGDB feature classes.  Only two out of several layer packages are experiencing this issue in my current Explorer project.  They work fine for a while panning and zooming, but it seems that once the cache for these particular layers gets to a certain size of around 2mb they start to fail in the map (I've been watching the file sizes in the default cache directory C:\Documents and Settings\...username...\Local Settings\Temp\E3). My work around is to change the 'Refresh Options' for the particular problem layers.  Go to Layer Properties, Source Data, and choose the radio button for "At a specific time interval".  It doesn't seem to matter what time interval you set. I tried "1 hour" and also "1 minute" and both worked immediately to solve the problem.  You need to save the your project for the setting to take effect permanently. As a side note...It seems like the refresh option for "When the map is opened or the layer is added" would similarly solve the problem but it does not.  That option apparently has a bug.  See this forum http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/15362-Help-me-understand-caches-and-refresh-options?highlight=explorer+cache -Rick thank you so much Rick! your solution works! btw, this problem has persisted in ArcGIS Explorer Build 1750, and I thought there was nothing I could do about it.  but it caused major irritations for my users! and the only way I got around it before was to remove the layer, then add it again.  But it didn't solve it permanently.  I am using .lyr files built in ArcGIS 10. ... View more

you are so right Duri.  why create a map book that you can't easily navigate through? this is BASIC functionality!!! ... View more

this is VERY well done Duri! THANK YOU for taking the time to create this! I hope that ESRI encorporates some of your ideas, because they are fantastic! they should hire you as a developer!!! ... View more

YAY! ESRI saved the day! here is the answer I got from Tech support today. >>> <support@esricanada.com> 12/20/2011 2:23 PM >>> Hi Sarah: Upon further investigation, I have been able to save edits without using the 'Save As...' command by unchecking the box to 'Always open this map' when specifying the map to reference in the Application Configuration Manager. Please ensure that the document you are working on references the *.nfcg file as outlined in the last email. Regards, Jonathon H. ESRI Canada Technical Support >>> <support@esricanada.com> 12/20/2011 1:00 PM >>> Hi Sarah: I hope you are well. It seems as though the only way save edits to a map using an application configuration is to use the 'Save As...' command. As you have previously indicated however, this results in the loss of the application configuration. Nonetheless, you can still define  the application configuration used in the original file by opening the saved document > click the ArcGIS Explorer button > Set Application Configuration > browse to the *.ncfg application configuration that you are using. This will copy the application configuration that you had previously setup to the new file. Let me know if this helps. Regards, Jonathon H. ESRI Canada Technical Support ... View more