Layer Catalogs vs. Referencing a Layer Catalog Site

Andrew Vitale

September 21, 2016 15:28

With my recent upgrade to Essentials 4.6.1 and HTML5 Viewer 2.7 (kudos to everyone at Latitude – the install process was smooth and easy), I’ve been examining Layer Catalogs a bit more closely.  I’ve gone through the documentation and I think I have Layer Catalogs working in its intended manner (after I figured out that the Layer Catalog tool had to be added to the toolbar.  The documentation was a bit light on that step). 

 

 also have been comparing the Layer Catalog concept versus simply Referencing a Layer Catalog Site in a given production Site.  I have developed a few observations and questions.

1. Observations - Referencing a Layer Catalog in a given Site allows the complete list of layers within that Layer Catalog to show up natively in the Layer List.  With Layer Catalogs being added to a production site, the user has to manually choose to go into the Layer Catalog and add desired layers with each session. 
2. Questions: What is the major advantage in using Layer Catalogs instead of simply referencing a Layer Catalog from a given production Site?  I imagine it is strictly meant for those layers that would truly not be used very often but could, on occasion, be needed by certain users in certain situations.  Was this the intention Latitude meant by giving administrators the option of using a Referenced Site vs. a true Layer Catalog? The process for end users to call up layers from a Layer Catalog is a bit manual if a layer is needed on a semi-regular basis.  Do I have the differences between these two processes (Referencing a Site vs. Layer Catalogs) correct?  Are there other differences I should be aware of?

If anyone has any insight or would like to talk further, please let me know.  Thanks everyone!

 

 

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  Cam Barnard

  September 21, 2016 17:08

  Hi Andrew,

   

  The major advantage of using Layer Catalogs is performance. When there are a significant number of 'occasional use' layers (100s or 1000s) the performance of the viewer suffers if they are all included directly in the layer list by default. The Layer Catalog provides simple mechanism to allow end-users to locate and add layers 'on the fly' from a curated and authorative source maintained by the GIS administrator.

   

  As you've noted this is a 'per session' activity, the addition of the layer won't be remembed next time you load the viewer. Having said that, any layers you add this way are persisted along with all your other session based information with the Save/Load Project feature.

   

  Hope that helps!

   

  Cam

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  Andrew Vitale

  September 21, 2016 21:24

  Thanks Cam,

   

  I have noticed some odd behavior with the layers in a Layer Catalog.  I have 'Allow Identify Operations' checked on, and yet the applications that include this as a Layer Catalog cannot pull info using an Identity tool.  Are Identify Operations not allowed on Layers within Layer Catalogs?

   

  Andrew

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