Getting started with data editing (Defense Mapping)
Esri Production Mapping contains several tools for data extraction and editing. These tools allow you to manage both the geometric and attribution aspects of a feature so you can ensure that data conforms with a product specification or other business rules you are using.
Before you begin data extraction and editing, some setup work is required. Below is some guidance on setting up the editing environment before you begin extracting or editing features in Production Mapping.
Before data extraction begins
The way features are created and edited is usually managed by the product specification your organization is using or other business rules. Business rules can come from industry standards or product specifications, subject matter experts, or standard operating procedures. For example, a business rule could be that whenever a bridge is created, there must be an overlapping road. Using the Production Mapping construction tools, you can automatically create bridges with overlapping roads.
There are several ways to create new features in ArcMap, mostly through the use of construction tools or other tools such as Production Trace. Before creating new features, it is recommended that the following be considered:
- Do features need to comply with rules for spatial relationships between features? For example, does a telephone pole point need to be created at the end of each telephone line?
- Do certain fields need to be populated once the feature is created and brought to the editor's attention? For example, is it required that the street name be populated when a new street is created?
- Are there any metadata fields in your data that you want to automatically populate? For example, do you need to automatically populate fields for the creation or modification date for features?
- Are you working with z-enabled data? For example, do you need to snap to features based on z-values or populate z-values for existing features?
The product library
When editing with Production Mapping, business rules such as feature templates, field configurations, and validation rules are stored in the product library. For this reason, it is important for you to set the product library before you begin editing.
The database you are editing is referred to as the production database. A product library can contain multiple sets of rules, and each set is related to a schema or data model version. By setting the active data model version, you are indicating what schema was used to create the production database so the Production Mapping editing tools will automatically know what set of business rules to use as you create and edit features.
Learn more about creating and setting the product library in an Oracle database
Learn more about creating and setting the product library in a SQL Server database
Learn more about creating and setting the product library in a geodatabase in SQL Server Express
Learn more about creating and setting the product library as a personal or file geodatabase
Learn more about choosing the current data model for a production database
Feature templates
Feature templates can be used to create basic point, line, and polygon features. With Production Mapping, you can create composite templates, which allow you to combine different geometries into a single template. For example, you can create a polygon that uses another layer as the outline. You can also create a template to create two overlapping line features to represent a railroad over a bridge.
Composite templates allow you to create multiple features at once, but can be especially useful when features are spatially related to each other, as with bridges and roads.
Before creating composite templates, the following must be completed:
- Create feature templates for all the feature types that will be created during the editing process.
Remarque :If templates are not created, the layers will not be available to you during an edit session.
- Review the product specification to see which feature combinations would work with composite templates, for example, roads with bridges.
- Load all the layers you want to use to create composite templates into the table of contents.
- Ensure that feature templates are available for all the layers to be included in composite templates.
Field configurations
Field configurations allow you to control the way fields are displayed in the Feature Manager and manage the controls used to populate fields. These settings can help you to guide editors so they know which fields are mandatory when a feature is created, what domains to use to populate field values, and so forth.
You can also designate fields as feature-level metadata. This allows you to automatically populate certain fields that have data about the features being created or edited. For example, if there is a CREATION_DATE field on a feature class, you can configure it to automatically populate the current date when a feature is created. These fields are applied to all the feature classes and tables in the data model, so they only need to be set once for the entire workspace.
Field configurations are stored in the product library so they can be available to all editors and the Feature Manager.
Before creating field configurations, the following must be completed:
- A data model and data model version must be created for the schema for which field configurations are going to be created.
- Decide which fields may be required upon feature creation, which would be useful as feature-level metadata, and which could be considered system fields that the editor does not need to see.
- If applicable, create custom domains to limit the values editors can choose as they are creating features.
- If applicable, decide on groups, or categories, for fields that will be visible to editors as they edit attributes for new and existing features.
Snapping
Snapping ensures that features are created seamlessly, without gaps. Production Mapping works with both classic snapping and the Snapping toolbar. The linear referencing tools, Sketch Halo, and z snapping, all require classic snapping to be used.
Z snapping ensures that the z-value on the feature being created or modified is set to the z-value of the snapped feature so that the feature is coincident with existing features. This allows the feature to be snapped using the x- and y-coordinates, as well as the z-value.
Before z-snapping can be used in an edit session, the following must be completed:
- Classic snapping must be enabled.
- Layers must be configured for regular x,y snapping.
- Layers must be selected on the Production Z Snapping window.
Enhanced validation rules
When features are created or edited, there are different conditions you may need to set up to ensure that the features are valid. These conditions can include enhanced validation rules that can be created with Reviewer batch jobs. The batch jobs include individual checks that can validate attribution for features based on specific conditions you define. You can also create validation rules to check the geometries of features.
The batch jobs are saved and stored in the product library so they are centrally available to all editors during the feature creation and editing process.
Before batch jobs can be used to validate features, the following must be completed:
- Decide which conditions need to be validated when attribution changes are applied.
- A data model and data model version must be created for the schema with which batch jobs are going to be associated.
- Create batch jobs for these attribute conditions.
- Associate the batch jobs with the data model version.