Automating Comprehensive GIS Data Quality Control Webinar Q&A

On June 11, 2025, we held a webinar: Automating Comprehensive GIS Data Quality Control. 

Tired of spending hours manually reviewing data to identify errors? Explore a deep dive into leveraging ArcGIS Data Reviewer to automate workflows that improve data quality, streamline maintenance, and decrease risk for data consumers. 

You can now watch the webinar recording (updated to address issues during the live session) and explore our Q&A from the live session in this blog. If you cannot find the answers you were looking for, please post your questions in the  ArcGIS Data Reviewer Questions community.  

Webinar Questions

What is the difference between Topology Rules and ArcGIS Data Reviewer?

Geodatabase topology and Data Reviewer are both capabilities that support the creation and management of high-quality data. There are advantages to using both capabilities in data management workflows.

A key difference between these capabilities is the aspects of a feature’s quality that can be assessed. Data Reviewer checks assess multiple aspects of a feature’s quality that include its integrity, attribution, as well as a feature’s spatial relationship to other features. A geodatabase topology is used to enforce a spatial relationship between features. This includes assessing spatial relationships, such as overlaps, intersections, and gaps.

Why do some Data Reviewer checks appear to be duplicates of Topology rules?

Several checks in Data Reviewer superficially appear to be the same as those available as Topology rules. An example of this is the Find Dangles check and the Must not have dangles Topology rule. Although similar types of errors can be detected, the Find Dangles check distinguishes itself by offering a search distance parameter (Dangle Tolerance) to minimize false positives, as well as allowing the inclusion of additional features (Additional Features to Compare) when determining if a feature is a dangle. 

Other implementation differences between the two workflows include: 

Why does Data Reviewer have two workflows for assessing data quality?

Data quality control processes vary according to the specific goals and requirements of the data product. These may range from the quality standards of organizations that manage authoritative data for a nation to students using third-party data in their mapping projects. To accommodate these varying needs, Data Reviewer offers multiple workflows for evaluating data quality. 

Interactive or ad hoc workflows facilitated by Run Data Checks allow users to quickly assess different aspects of a feature’s quality. Initially released in ArcGIS Pro 3.4, this workflow enables users to interactively author and run automated validation of feature layers in their map. A record for each feature that fails validation is stored in a series of tables within the project’s default geodatabase and returned as a layer in the map to support error correction and reporting.  

Data Reviewer’s integration with attribute rules supports organizations with extensive quality requirements by enabling consistent and repeatable workflows. In this workflow, configured Data Reviewer checks support the implementation of both constraint and validation attribute rules that are applied to feature classes and tables in the geodatabase. Evaluation of a feature’s quality is supported in both ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Enterprise, where all rules defined for a given feature are evaluated together. A record for each rule that a feature fails during validation is stored in system-maintained tables within the same geodatabase as the feature and can be viewed in the Error Inspector. Error features are tracked through a defined life cycle that identifies who found the error, who corrected the error, and who verified that the correction was complete. The centralized storage of rules and errors enables a consistent and repeatable data management approach that improves efficiency, reduces cost, and provides transparency. 

When were Run Data Checks introduced?

The ability to evaluate a feature’s quality using Run Data Checks was first introduced in November 2024 with the release of ArcGIS Pro 3.4. This release included 8 of the most used checks in Data Reviewer. In May 2025, the ArcGIS Pro 3.5 release included an additional 28 checks supporting interactive evaluation of a feature’s quality.  

What types of geodatabases are supported with Run Data Checks?

In ArcGIS Pro 3.5, Run Data Checks supports validation of features and rows stored in both File and Mobile geodatabases. 

Can Run Data Checks evaluate only a subset of features in my feature class or table? 

Yes. The Run Data Checks workflow supports the ability to evaluate a subset of features in your feature class. This includes evaluating only those features based on a layer’s Definition Query, a selection in the active map, or an attribute filter (Attribute Filter parameter) specified in the Reviewer check. 

Can you import Reviewer Batch Jobs (.rbj files) into ArcGIS Pro?

Yes. The Export to Attribute Rules tool enables you to convert rules stored in a Reviewer Batch Job into Reviewer  validation attribute rules. The tool generates comma-separated value (.csv) files that can be imported as attribute rules. A .csv file is generated for each feature class or table that contains rules referenced in the batch job.  

Can you run Data Reviewer checks using ArcGIS Enterprise?

Yes. When sharing web feature layers that contain validation attribute rules, you can enable the Validation capability to implement automated review of your data. Once you publish the feature service, you can add the layers to a map and run the rules using Error Inspector, utilize the Evaluate Rules Geoprocessing Tool or the Evaluate REST API endpoint.  

Is it possible to only validate features that have changed in a named version?

Yes. The ability to validate only those features that have been added or modified in a version is supported in web layers that have been shared with the Branch versioning and validation capability enabled. This option is available in the ArcGIS Pro Error Inspector pane when evaluating feature layers within ArcGIS Pro. Learn more about evaluating rules using the Error Inspector.  

What types of geodatabases are supported with Data Reviewer-based attribute rules?

In ArcGIS Pro 3.5 and ArcGIS Enterprise 11.5, validation and batch calculation attribute rules are supported in file, mobile, and feature services published from branch versioned enterprise geodatabases. Constraint and immediate calculation attribute rules are supported in file, mobile, and enterprise geodatabases (branch, traditional, and non-versioned). The flavors of enterprise geodatabases that are supported are SQL Server, Oracle, and Postgres. 

Does Data Reviewer work with hosted feature layers from ArcGIS Online? 

Data Reviewer-based workflows do not currently support the evaluation of hosted feature layers from ArcGIS Online. The team is conducting a research study to identify use-cases and data quality challenges customers encounter in ArcGIS Online. If you are interested in participating in this research, please contact the team at datareviewer@esri.com. 

How is ArcGIS Data Reviewer licensed?

ArcGIS Data Reviewer is an optional extension to ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Enterprise. In ArcGIS Pro, Data Reviewer is available as an add-on to the Creator and Professional user types and is automatically included in the Professional Plus user type. See the User Types documentation for more information. 

In ArcGIS Enterprise, Data Reviewer is available for the Standard and Advanced editions of ArcGIS GIS Server. The extension is a CPU-based license that is required for each GIS server that is federated with the organization. See the ArcGIS GIS Server capabilities and extensions documentation for more information. 

For more information on ArcGIS Data Reviewer, please visit the product page. Did you not find the answer you were looking for? Join us on the Esri Community to ask your questions there and share your ideas.