Attribute Transfer Tool Equivalency in ArcGIS Pro

[RichardFairhurst]

The Attribute Transfer Tool behavior in ArcGIS Pro is not equivalent to the behavior of this tool in ArcMap Desktop.  The tool behavior is only equivalent when the user's clicks on a single feature for both the source and the transfer targets, in which case no dialogs appear in either program.  However, if the user ever clicks on more than one feature for either the attribute transfer source feature or destination feature in ArcMap Desktop, a dialog listing the features by their layer Display tab expression that provides access to a list of feature attributes appears to allow the user to select the exact feature they want to use as the source or destination feature.  Clicking on more than one feature can occur when a user clicks on the boundary between two adjacent features in feature classes that aren't designed to have actual overlapping features and can't be avoided in feature classes that are designed to have overlapping features.  An example of the dialogs that appear in ArcMap Desktop when more than one feature is clicked for either an attribute transfer source feature or destination feature is shown below:

In ArcGIS Pro when the user clicks on more than one feature for the source or the target no dialogs appear and the tool always uses the feature with the lowest ObjectID to do the transfer.  If the user didn't want to use the feature with the lowest ObjectID for either the source or the target, the tool behavior nonetheless does a transfer based on that rule and results in data corruption.  The ArcGIS Pro version of the Attribute Transfer tool needs to provide an option for the user to choose the source or destination feature they want whenever they click on more than one feature that provides the same functionality that the ArcMap Desktop Attribute Transfer tool dialogs above provide.

[MichaelVolz]

If ESRI does not plan to provide equivalency with this tool (Optimal solution), what would a workaround workflow be to perform the same action as it is done in ArcMap?

[RichardFairhurst]

I also should mention that if multiple Attribute Transfer mappings have been set up that the number of dialogs that can appear for both the source and destination features can increase if the user cancels these dialogs to bring up another transfer mapped feature set.  Pressing the escape key can also cycle through the available source features when a single source feature is clicked and the dialog doesn't appear, but this is not true when a single feature is clicked in the first available target layer.

This behavior can also occur when a feature class in the transfer mapping set up is used for multiple layers containing different definition queries which can lead to multiple dialogs appearing if the user cancels any of the dialogs and features in any of the other layers were clicked.  The dialogs appear in the Table of Contents order of the available sources or destinations beginning with the top most layer and continuing to the lowest layer clicked that is used by the transfer set ups. 

It may be difficult to replicate this behavior in a single dockable window, which is typically the favored approach for tools in Pro as opposed to using multiple dialogs, which is the favored approach in ArcMap desktop.  However, in order for true equivalency to be achieved, these behaviors are additional requirements that the ArcGIS Pro version of the Attribute Transfer tool needs to provide.

Obviously as the complexity of the transfer set up configurations increase, the user must assume greater responsibility to understand the tools possible behaviors and spend more time controlling the selectable layer and editable layer settings to manage their edits, but without the behavior I described in my original post, the tool becomes next to impossible to use when multiple features are clicked in a single layer in ArcGIS Pro even with the absolutely simplest transfer set up configuration in place.

[RichardFairhurst]

@MichaelVolz I have not done a lot of experimentation to determine the best available options for overcoming this problem under the current ArcGIS Pro limitations.  I can say none of the options appear to be worth the effort unless the tool is transferring the shape of the source feature to the target or the number of attributes being transferred is very large and difficult to transfer using standard manual value copy and paste operations between attribute tables. 

I have found that the tool respects layer definition queries, so if a query can be written to ensure that the desired source or destination feature is available to be clicked and all other overlapping features are filtered out is a possible solution if the user is careful not to click the boundary of multiple features.  This assumes the user anticipates that overlapping features would otherwise occur and can figure out a query that ensures only a single desired featured is clicked.  The tool won't alert the user if they actually still had overlapping features exposed to the tool in their layer, so it is wise to first verify that only the desired features are clicked using the Explore tool first before doing any transfers.

Some suggested definition queries that may be useful for restricting the available source or destination features include setting the area or length of the features to be less than or greater than a certain size or setting the ObjectID to be above a certain value.  Other query options would be specific to the data the user is working with.  For example, in some cases setting the available features to be above a certain date in a date field or greater that a certian alphabetical value in a text field could work.  The user still has the responsibility to verify that only the desired source or destination layers are selectable and only the desired destination layer is editable before doing the transfer and should avoid having more than one tranfer set up configured at a time.

If I discover any other options, I will post them here, since even if Esri adds equivalency to a future release of ArcGIS Pro they won't implement it in any of the other releases for users that are not ready to update their release.

[MichaelVolz]

Richard:

Your thorough analysis is extremely helpful.  Do you know if the Attribute Transfer Tool works on data consumed through a service (SaaS) in either ArcMap or Pro, as that is the general direction of industry?

My org has never used this tool in data consumed from a service, which is why I ask.

[RichardFairhurst]

@MichaelVolz I have not used services in any of my workflows and am retiring next week, so you will have to do the experimentation on that yourself.

[WNye]

I agree with @RichardFairhurst that this is a necessary update for the Transfer Attributes tool. Many organizations use this tool and commonly have situations where features are coincident with each other. Not having the ability to select between overlapping features makes the tool's use problematic and less efficient.

[RichardFairhurst]

Another important aspect of the dialog behavior in ArcMap is that when the user clicks an item in the list in the left-hand pane, the feature in the map flashes.  This allows the user to visually confirm that they have selected the correct item in the list that they want the transfer to affect before they commit any change by hitting the OK button to proceed.

The current behavior of the ArcGIS Pro tool carries with it the strong potential for silently introducing data corruption and confusion rather than being reliable as one of the primary tools for correcting it, and for that reason is virtually worthless for replacing any of my ArcMap workflows that rely on this tool.  Additionally, as it currently stands, ArcGIS Pro has no alternative editing workflow that can serve as a passable substitute for the Attribute Transfer tool provided in ArcMap.

[RichardFairhurst]

As an illustration of a common workflow I do with the ArcMap Attribute Transfer Tool, I need to reshape building permits which were originally created as overlapping shapes based on the underlying common lot, because at the time of intake the condo parcels did not exist.  I need to resshape these permits to match the final condominium parcel.

In the picture below there are 10 overlapping permit shapes and each condo parcel overlaps a single common lot parcel within the same feature class.  Without the ArcMap dialogs, this task would be nearly impossible, but with them it is easy to match up the legal descriptions contained in the permits to the desired condo lots.

The final permit shapes.

The ArcMap Transfer Attribute Tool dialogs are the key to this entire workflow which results in a dramatic increase in the resolution of my permit data and greatly enhances my ability to understand the arrangement of the permits that can lead to better analysis results and opportunities.

If I used the ArcGIS Pro Attribute Transfer Tool I would have to first filter out the common lots as source features, since they have the lowest object ID and would prevent me from selecting the condo lots as my source feature.  I then would have to select every source feature in the order of the object IDs of the target features to match them up correctly rather than by the logical and natural arrangement of the legal descriptions of the source features.  Being forced to know the order of the target features that ArcGIS Pro will pick in order to select my source features operates exactly backwards to the way I need it to work, which should naturally be driven by the source feature I choose, not the target feature it will force me to choose.

ArcMap does not require me to work through the features in the random order of the target permit Object IDs, nor does it require me to take any preliminary steps to filter out the source common lots with lower ObjectIDs before I can start editing.  I can simply choose the desired condo parcel from the source dialog and the desired permit from the target dialog in whatever order makes the most sense to me (in this case the order of the condo lot numbers) rather than the arbitrary ObjectID order of the target permits. 

It is typical in ArcMap for me to tackle workflows like this involving hundreds of overlapping features in my target feature class.   The amount of forethought I would be forced engage in and the number of QC steps I would have to add to prevent errors to accomplish the same task in ArcGIS Pro seems intentionally designed to make my head hurt or to prevent me from even attempting to enhance and maintain my data in the way that I want it.

This workflow alone makes it impossible for me to justify taking advantage of any ArcGIS Pro enhancements that would block my data from being backward compatable with ArcMap, since none of the enhancements Esri has provided is as vital to my data's usefulness and integrity as this ArcMap Attribute Transfer Tool behavior.