Advantages of the new Printing (based on ArcGIS Pro) compared to the Legacy Printing (based on Chromium)

Alignment with Esri technology

• Printing (based on ArcGIS Pro) is based on the official printing toolbox of Esri. Therefore, we profit from all future bug fixes and enhancements that Esri publishes.

• It also uses ArcGIS Pro PAGX layout items stored in your ArcGIS Enterprise Portal for defining the prints, as opposed to the proprietary Template format that Legacy Printing (based on Chromium) uses.

Fully integrated in several VertiGIS products

• Printing (based on ArcGIS Pro) accepts two different formats of printing requests:

  1. Print requests based on web maps are sent from web-based products, such as VertiGIS Studio Web or VertiGIS Networks.
     This format allows simple one-page prints, as well as multi-page prints with additional pages containing an extensive legend.

  2. Print requests based on MAPX are sent from VertiGIS Studio Desktop.
     This format offers the capabilities of the webmap based print request and additionally allows grouping multiple print types and layout template formats in one single output (called a "Map Book"), potentially resulting in documents with up to 100 and more PDF pages.

  Here is an overview of the capabilities of Printing (based on ArcGIS Pro) that are currently supported in the various VertiGIS products:

Better performance - ongoing investment

• Printing (based on ArcGIS Pro) is the technology we will invest in for future advancements with VertiGIS Studio Printing. We focus most on larger, more complicated printing tasks and implement improvements to benefit all users.
   

Vector-based outputs

• Printing (based on ArcGIS Pro) improves quality through vectorized content, even at 96-dpi screen quality.

• It also provides the ability to print ArcGIS feature services and vector tiles.

  • Legacy Printing uses configured print templates and a Chromium browser to render print output. The output is raster-based.

    Printing (based on ArcGIS Pro) produces a greater amount of vector-based output, which means that the printed results will typically exhibit improved quality. The output is vector-based.

• Printing (based on ArcGIS Pro) uses configured Esri print layouts and a geoprocessing task installed on your ArcGIS Enterprise to render print output. The output is vector-based, supports newer Esri basemap and layer formats, and is generally faster.

Switch between existing templates and new layouts

• The VertiGIS Studio Printing Designer retains the same print design interface, but now offers the ability to work with either the existing legacy printing layouts or the new ArcGIS Pro layouts.

• Printing (based on ArcGIS Pro) is capable of converting Legacy Printing layouts to ArcGIS Pro layouts. Therefore, in addition to creating new ArcGIS Pro layouts, you also have the option to convert existing legacy layouts into ArcGIS Pro layouts in the Printing Designer.

Installation

• Printing (based on ArcGIS Pro) supports independent installation from the ArcGIS version in use.

• There is a separate installer for setting up the geoprocessing task on ArcGIS Enterprise, as it must run directly on the ArcGIS Enterprise server. This installation is the first step in preparing to use Printing (based on ArcGIS Pro).

• Printing (based on ArcGIS Pro) is delivered as a set of Geoprocessing Tools that are deployed to your on-premises ArcGIS Enterprise environment. All print processing is executed by your ArcGIS Server, not by the machine hosting the VertiGIS Studio Printing application.

• This architecture differs significantly from Legacy Printing, which uses a Chromium-based print engine installed directly on the server where the product is deployed.

More advantages are that the Printing Engine…

• generates printouts via a web tool, which you can access via the ArcGIS Server REST interface, referenced in the VertiGIS Studio project. The 64-bit architecture of ArcGIS Enterprise helps to avoid the known memory limitations of 32-bit processes.

• eliminates problems with displaying transparencies (for example, selection graphics).

• aligns functionality with the Esri platform, through integration via a web tool.

Further links:

• Printing Help - VertiGIS Studio Printing Engine

• Printing Help - What’s New

• An Introduction to the VertiGIS Studio Printing Engine – VertiGIS Support

• What is the difference between an Esri Printing Tools print and a VSP Engine Tools print?

• Using the VertiGIS Studio Printing Engine in a Studio Web Application.