How to replace a shapefile with more current data?

[GavinMcGhie]

Hi all
We've build a web map to show our active construction projects. It's simply a basemap and the construction layer which was added as a zipped shp. This latter layer will need to be updated on some schedule (i.e. monthly). Since I spent 20-30 minutes configuring the symbology, pop-ups, etc, I'm wondering if there is any way to simply replace the shp with a new one having more current data? Schema and all would remain exactly the same. All I can seem to do is add the new layer, reconfigure it again, and delete the old one. Ideally I want to hand the process off to the Engineer that owns the data, but it's a hard sell if he also has to configure it every time.
Thanks, Gavin

[MikeMinami]

There is no way to update the features from a shapefile. Once a shapefile is loaded into a map, those features are stored in the map.

Soon, we'll be releasing subscriptions for ArcGIS Online that will allow you to create services out of your data. You can update your data directly in the service and any web map that references the service will immediately reflect changes made to the data. Thus, all of your symbolization and popup configuration will be retained. This will be the recommended workflow moving forward.

Thanks,

Mike

[GavinMcGhie]

Thanks for the feedback Mike. Can you give some basic idea of how these new services would work? For example, will it be like a cloud based ArcGIS for Server in which I would publish a map service from an mxd? Meaning I would make a copy of my data and mxd to the cloud and then have some control of that service? I'm planning to listen to the ArcGIS Online for Organizations at the end of the month- is this "subscription" the same thing?
Thanks, Gavin

[MikeMinami]

Yes, this is ArcGIS Online for Organizations.

The workflow is you author your maps in ArcGIS Desktop and publish them to ArcGIS Online. The data is moved to ArcGIS Online and a service is created from it. You can also turn shapefiles and CSVs into services as well. Here's a link for more information.

http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcgisonline/index.html

Thanks,

Mike

[EricDaniel]

There is no way to update the features from a shapefile. Once a shapefile is loaded into a map, those features are stored in the map.

Soon, we'll be releasing subscriptions for ArcGIS Online that will allow you to create services out of your data. You can update your data directly in the service and any web map that references the service will immediately reflect changes made to the data. Thus, all of your symbolization and popup configuration will be retained. This will be the recommended workflow moving forward.

Thanks,

Mike

Mike,

Can you explain or point me to how you can update the hosted feature service as gman would like to do?  Wouldn't it be a pretty manual process?  Or could he upload a large updated CSV or Shp file to overwrite his current Hosted Feature Service without effecting the symbology of the webmap using it.

[MikeMinami]

I was describing a scenario where the data would be updated on the server. So instead of editing in ArcMap, you'd be doing so against the hosted service. Any updates in this context would be reflected on the web map. We do have more work to do regarding database synchronization, where the data is being updated simultaneously on the server and on a local database. This functionality will not be there for the initial release of hosted services.

Thanks,

Mike

[GavinMcGhie]

Hi Mike
Being a utility with critical information that we cannot be without in the event of a disaster or otherwise (i.e. the "cloud" is unavailable), we're very unlikely to ever edit or maintain our data in the cloud. More realistically, we will continue to edit our data locally, with existing tools and workflows, and would want to push those changes to the cloud as a copy.

We already do this internally as some editing occurs on SDE, some on PGDBs/FGDBs, some in access or xlsx files, etc. A lot is done in SAP that then flows to GIS as well. Then we have processes that push all of these changes to our local SDE. The expectation that similar agencies would change their ways and host all of this info in the cloud is somewhat unlikely in my own opinion. It would be good to hear that ESRI is working towards a way to easily update the cloud with relevant local data as that would be most useful.

Another suggestion is to keep in mind that many of us cannot or will not want to host our data somewhere outside of our control. I don't know that we would put our utility network anywhere but our own servers due to privacy issues. I'm (slowly) discovering that I can point to our local map services using ArcGIS online and make a map with cloud resources, but using local data. Anyone can then see my map, but not the local data unless they are on our network. Ex. I just created a map using ArcGIS Online and pointing only to local map services. I then moved that to mobile using the JSON and can see it on an iPad on the local network. Once I figured  it out, it only took moments to have a running iPad map. I think this is a good model that should be explored further. I'd really like to be able to add a basic search by attributes tool or similar without a ton of work.

Anyway, thanks for listening!
cheers, Gavin

[MikeMinami]

Gavin,

In your case is seems like having a public ArcGIS server is the best solution. You would conrol the data on the server. If that server is pointing to your local data, then any changes made to it would be reflected in the web services that point to it.

Thanks,

Mike

[GwenWolph]

There is no way to update the features from a shapefile. Once a shapefile is loaded into a map, those features are stored in the map.

Soon, we'll be releasing subscriptions for ArcGIS Online that will allow you to create services out of your data. You can update your data directly in the service and any web map that references the service will immediately reflect changes made to the data. Thus, all of your symbolization and popup configuration will be retained. This will be the recommended workflow moving forward.

Thanks,

Mike

Mike,
We have been overwriting a published feature service with a newer version of the feature service (either updated data, or a layer removed or added), and have noticed that any maps that were created with that feature service are not updated with the new information - the map has to be recreated.  Shouldn't any maps or applications that were created with the feature service reflect the updated information in the feature service?  Recreating all of the maps and applications isn't really a feasible workflow.

Gwen

[MikeMinami]

If there are new features added to the published service, they should come through. However, if you have defined popups and you've made schema changes (ie added, removed fields), these changes will not show up because the schema information is stored in the web map. Other people have asked for the ability to refresh the layer in the web map based on schema changes, but it's challenging to solve the problem, e.g., what should happen if you delete a field that is used in a popup. We'd have to define some interface that pointed out differences and allowed you to solve it--which is sort of recreating the popup. However, if you were to just add fields, some sort of refresh option to pick up the new fields would be useful. So, if this is what you are seeing, we are aware of the issue, but have no immediate solution.

Thanks,

Mike