Project Section¶
This section allows you to:
See the list of existing Pathfinder projects in your ArcGIS document.
Create a new Pathfinder project based on the current ArcGIS document.
Edit and upload the project content:
Add or remove layers added to a Pathfinder project.
Update the layer data in Pathfinder, if it has been changed in ArcGIS.
Change the number and width of the layer rings (influence areas).
Delete a Pathfinder project.
Edit the Start and End points of the project, for routing calculations.
Note
Multiple Pathfinder projects can be created in the same ArcGIS Map or Map 3D, for different areas. If you need to study different constraints or Start/End points options in the same area, create a single project with different scenarios.
Create project¶
To create a project, use the New Project button in the Project section.
A dialog opens to set some options.
- The options to generate a Pathfinder project are:
Name: user-given name. Since multiple projects can be created in the same ArcGIS Map, this name may be different from the Map name.
Description: text to identify or describe the Pathfinder project.
Area: the region where the simulations will be performed.
Start and End points: the points used to calculate routes. They can also be added or modified in the Scenarios.
Resolution: the spatial accuracy of the calculations. Its default value is 10 meters. It may be necessary to increase this value for very large areas. An error message will appear if the resolution must be increased.
The name, area, and resolution fields are mandatory.
The project area, start and end points can be defined from ArcGIS layers, data files or drawn manually when the user creates the project.
Note
The project area and the project resolution cannot be changed once the project is created. Just delete the project and create it again. The start and end points can be changed with the Edit Project Points button or defined in the Scenario Settings.
To draw start/end points or the project area, select the Draw option and click on the right Draw button. Then click on the map and edit the project area or selected point.
Edit project¶
To edit a Pathfinder project, first the user must select the it in the Active Project list, in the Pathfinder tab.
Then, clidk the Edit Project button to open the Project Content pane.
In this pane, the user can add, delete or rewrite layers in the Pathfinder project. The layers present in the ArcGIS document will be displayed, as shown in the image below, in two separate tables for vector and raster data.
Possible operations in this pane are:
Add layers. To include them in the Pathfinder project, the Include option must be checked. It is possible to include all the layers in the list by clicking Include all button.
Remove layers that are already in the Pathfinder project, by unchecking the Include option.
Rewrite layers. If the user has changed an ArcGIS layer included in the Pathfinder project (the geometry has been edited, or features have been added or deleted), we can update it by checking the Rewrite option.
Define the rings or buffers of each vector layer. Users can create multiple influence areas or rings around the original feature, so different resistance values can be assigned to each ring. By default, vector layers have only one ring. To generate more, click the Add ring button and change their default ring width value of 0 to a larger one.
For instance, this image shows how to create three rings for the Power lines layer. The first ring has a width of 10m, the second ring has a width of 100m and the third ring is 50m wide.
After all the options are set, click on Apply changes to apply them to the Pathfinder project. The Status log list will show when the process is done.
Multiple steps are performed during this apply process, including exporting layers’ data (within the project area), uploading them to Pathfinder, and calculating the ring geometries.
Note
The time required to complete this process can be long. Please be patient.
The maximum size for raster data is 200MB. If a raster’s size in the project area is larger, it will be resampled to reduce it.
Complex vector layers may need a long time to be processed, and they may fail to be loaded into Pathfinder. Consider spliting them by area or by attribute.
Edit project points¶
After the project creation, it is possible to change the start and end points in the Pathfinder project. In the Project section, click on the Edit Project Points button.
The options to specify the points are 1) to draw the new location point or 2) to select a new layer containing a point feature.
The procedure to draw the points is the same as when creating the project: select the draw option and then click on the right button with the pencil icon, then draw the point on the map.
Delete project¶
If the Pathfinder project is not needed any more, it can be eliminated by using the Delete project button.
Note
Deleting a project in Pathfinder does not affect the ArcGIS Pro document. No data or results will be removed.
Access the project on the web¶
Users can open the project in the Pathfinder web site to access functionalities only available online, like the Printed Report or the 3D visualization.
To access the project online, go to Pathfinder and enter your username and password in the login page.
Once logged in, you will see all the projects created in your Pathfinder account. The projects created from the ArcGIS add-in will have an ArcGIS_Pro_ prefix followed by the user-given project name.
To open a project, just click on the tile with its name.
Note
Do not change the content of the project (add/remove layers or modify parameters) in the Pathfinder web application. This would break the synchronization with ArcGIS: changes will not be transfered to your ArcGIS document, and later updates from the addin will overwrite changes done in the web application.
Disclaimer: the scenarios depicted in this manual do not represent actual customer projects or infrastructure proposals, and are presented for demonstration purposes only.
For more help, please contact Gilytics.