4 replies to this topic

[rt90]

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone knew of a way to share an ArcGis .lyr (and corresponding shapes, of course) with others across the internet or at least a LAN? Just distributing the lyr with included shapefiles, or creating a layer package with all inside wouldn't be an issue if there was some way to view* it without ArcGis Desktop (license cost issues: one ArcGis Desktop license per person wishing to view* this data seems a bit excessive).

I think I've given ArcGis Explorer a fair chance but to be honest it seems slow and unstable; didn't even get far enough to see whether it would be possible to have a projected view (flat) instead of that globe or follow links or query.

May well be that I've missed something obvious, but I feel fairly certain that nothing non-Esri can read .lyr or .mxd files.

*Pan, zoom, turn layers on/off, query, maybe even follow links.

(It would be concievable, I suppose, to take the shapes and distribute them via a GeoServer instance as a WMS service; using SLDs to approximate how they look and behave how they now do under the .lyr (or an mxd).)

[Unit Seven]

Try having a look into ArcReader which we have had a loot of success with. It does mean you will need the ArcPublisher extension to create the ArcReader files. If this is an option I can give you some more info. BTW this can also encrypt the data in a locked GDB so you can distribute valuable data as well. It can also have a timeout on the database for sample or trial data.

Cheers,

Sam

[jrat]

I have had great success with Arc explorer. You just need a good internet connection. However the layer packages look different in explorer than they do in arc map.

[frax]

Jrat - are you talking about ArcGIS Explorer (Google Earth lookalike) or the old ArcExplorer java?

[rt90]

Unit 7 - thank you for your suggestion. As I understand it, ArcPublisher can be used to publish maps on a network or to a file that the ArcReader application can view. Seems like a potential solution; I shall mention it to those in charge.

Jrat - I will give it another go just to be sure, but the slowness I percieved didn't just have to do with network bandwidth. Also, the 'globe' view will be less accepted by those expecting a 2d map, and I'm not sure if ArcGis Explorer has an info tool, or a follow-hyperlink tool.

ArcExplorer can only open shapes and rasters, it would seem.