ArcGIS Pro

What's new in topographic production at ArcGIS Pro 3.1

Welcome to another release of ArcGIS Pro! We’re excited to share details about the newest functionality available with the topographic production extensions for ArcGIS Pro 3.1. Highlights include:

New surround elements

An Image City Map (ICM) is a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) map product. In the previous release of ArcGIS Pro, the Calculate Metrics geoprocessing tool was enhanced to support the precision of the ICM product. This tool populates metrics for features in a geodatabase, including Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) values. With the ArcGIS Pro 3.1 release, those values are used to create the two new elements.

Both elements are tables that appear on a layout. The Guide To Numbered Features element helps find a feature on the map in the layout and the Index To Streets element helps find a street. A column in these tables lists feature IDs and another column lists the corresponding MGRS value. This MGRS value corresponds to a cell in the grid where the feature is found. The Index To Streets element is configured with a Street column that lists the name of streets. Both elements can be configured with more columns that represent other feature attributes such as area.

Watch how the elements are inserted and configured after using the Calculate Metrics geoprocessing tool to obtain MGRS values in the following video.

 

Topographic Production toolbox

The Topographic Production toolbox has a new geoprocessing tool to help ensure the height values for spot heights are accurate. Typically, spot heights derive their height value from an elevation attribute of the contour line next to them. The Validate Spot Heights geoprocessing tool checks that the spot height values are higher than or equal to the corresponding contour line’s height. Using the configured contour interval value, the tool also checks for missing contour lines between a spot height and a contour’s highest point. Watch the tool in action as it selects spot heights that fail this validation in the following video.

 

MGCP metadata

If you’re working with MGCP data, options have been expanded to work with MGCP Urban Vector Data (MUVD). The Import MGCP Metadata and Export MGCP Metadata geoprocessing tools both support MUVD metadata at this release. Watch the following videos to see how MGCP metadata is imported and exported.

Metadata add-in

Now you can also preview the metadata in a comprehensive format rather than in XML. The Defense Mapping extension product data files include a Metadata add-in that can be installed with a just a few clicks.

Once installed, it appears in the ArcGIS Pro Add-In Manager. Then from the Options menu, you can specify the type of metadata that you are working with. Once that’s done, you can right-click the XML file in your project and choose a new, “View Topographic Metadata” option. This opens a Metadata tab with the XML formatted for easy review. The following video demonstrates how to install the add-in and use it to preview MUVD metadata.

 

Other enhancements

There is a new enhancement to workflows that involve data maintenance. The step in a workflow that opens a map can be configured to clip the map and its data to the job AOI. This means less data to handle, which requires less processing power. Jobs run in the background are also now prioritized.

When it comes to generalization, the following is a list of enhancements included with the Defense Mapping and Production Mapping product data files:

Keep on the lookout for more content involving workflows and generalization soon!

About the author

Josue Aguirre

Josue was a journalist in the Marine Corps spending most of his active duty term at the air station in Yuma, Ariz. He now writes and maintains the documentation for ArcGIS Defense Mapping, ArcGIS Production Mapping, and ArcGIS GeoPlanner. He spends his free time with family, glamping every chance they get.

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