We’re pround to have the Esri Utilities Team write a guest post for the Energy Advisor this month on their new desktop application, ArcGIS Pro.
Esri released a new desktop application, ArcGIS Pro, as part of its January 2015 ArcGIS 10.3 release.
Pro is an easy-to-use, standalone software that can be quickly installed and runs simultaneously with any version of ArcMap. This shortlist offers a guide to getting the most out of your spatial products and services with ArcGIS Pro.
Key benefits:
- Faster Editing
- Automated Workflows Using Tasks
- Enhanced Visualizations
- Easier Sharing
Editing
Editing is always enabled in Pro, so you no longer need to begin or end editing sessions.
You can draw layers on the fly, fast in 2D or 3D (see figure below). Snapping and constraint specifications guarantee your features connect precisely to each other.
A 64-bit processor reflects your changes immediately, whether you make them in the data or on the map.
Changes save when you apply them. Full integration means edits you make in the attribute table data or in the map are reflected throughout your project and the database.
Finally, note the familiar ribbon interface in Pro’s toolbars, which lets you access your editing and complimentary tools more intuitively, to save you time.
“Pro is designed so you can answer questions at the speed of your ideas,” Esri solutions engineer Suzanne Foss said.
Pro syncs seamlessly with Portal for ArcGIS and ArcGIS Online.
So if your field technicians are collecting damage locations during a storm event, your editors can view these features back in the office in near real time (see figure below).
As long as you host your features in ArcGIS Online or Portal for ArcGIS, your whole office can move faster.
When damage is resolved, analysts can load the damaged feature service and change its status to closed. These updates get reflected in the field – as well as across the company – instantly.
Subsequent releases of Pro will further enhance productivity and usability of network data. Although with this version you can view and query data in a geometric network, you can’t yet edit or trace it.
Tasks and Automation Tools
Pro introduces the concept Tasks, or shareable workflows.
A Task reduces training time and ensures consistency in workflows, which can be helpful for utilities with many users performing similar functions (e.g., characterizing vegetation encroachments along a corridor).
To use a Task, you define a set of steps – such as all the steps needed to characterize vegetation. You can annotate these steps with directions or more detailed notes.
After you publish or export this group of steps, other users in your organization can access them for self-guidance through their own workflows. This enables new hires to be productive on day one.
Additionally, in Pro you can now select features in bulk, build expressions in SQL mode, and verify expressions or save them for later.
Bookmarking now captures time and space, so you can explore data trends through history and location for advanced analysis and planning .
Python scripting and ModelBuilder are easy to access, and mouse and keyboard shortcuts shave more downtime.
Visualization
Pro enhances the visual options for your map products.
In addition to building 3D map scenes with realistic infrastructure and environmental features from 2D data, a transparency feature lets you symbolize with multiple colors.
You’ll see your infrastructure interacting with soil, weather, and vegetation in vivid reality.
“3D will not be required for every project,” Esri technical support provider Tom Oaks said. “But at times, it literally offers us a new way to look at our data.”
Dock multiple views for quick visual comparison, and modify symbols on the fly. Colors include a robust selection of schematic palettes, and you can build exportable map products with customized legends and scales.
Sharing
Pro works on the ArcGIS platform to make sharing a breeze. Share entire projects or a focused map selection. Select your desired shareable, lay it out with legend and scale, and configure your labels.
Publish these to named users to make them instantly available on any device, anywhere, anytime. In Pro, you’re literally three clicks away from publishing any information across your company.
Changes to the central database update instantly across the organization, too, meaning you can view up-to-date information across desktop, web, mobile, and solution-based applications (see figure below).
With Pro, you can streamline redlining. Any of your analysts can creates a standard feature service and publish this up to the entire organization.
They can share this with field technicians. In just a few seconds, really, anyone who needs access to this dataset can view and edit. From any device. In any location.
Your Utility and Pro
To get ArcGIS Pro, visit my.esri.com. Download and install ArcGIS Pro. (There is no uninstall required.) Every licensed Esri user who is current on desktop software maintenance can download and use ArcGIS Pro.
Once you install, log into your ArcGIS Online or Portal account. Enable users to access Pro. Log in and start using Pro right away.
For more information visit esri.com/software/arcgis-pro.
Skye Perry says:
First off, a big thanks to Esri for the guest submission! We do want to be very clear in our messaging around ArcGIS Pro – it is an awesome next-generation set of GIS tools and it is seamlessly integrated with ArcGIS Online and Portal.
However, there are implications for utilities who currently utilize ArcGIS Desktop, the geometric network, and Schneider Electric ArcFM. We’ll continue to post on these topics and hope to have some additional posts from Esri but in the meantime if you want to chat about this, we’d be happy to talk directly with you to explain where ArcGIS Pro fits in your organization today and where it will fit in the future!
We’re here at the Schneider Electric LINK conference this week and are always happy to set up a meeting a later date as well (contact us).