Category Archives: GIS How To

2020 Census Redistricting Data

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It seems like we have been waiting forever for some 2020 Census Data. Well, you can get started with the P.L. 94-171 2020 Census Redistricting Data. It has been available since August 12. You can find the FAQ page for the product here. Keep in mind the redistricting data only includes demographic characteristics by state, county, city, down to the block level:

  • Race and ethnicity.
  • Population 18 years and over.
  • Occupied and vacant housing units.
  • People living in group quarters like nursing homes, prisons, military barracks and college dorms.

Note you will need to merge the data files with the tract/block group/block TIGER/Line Geodatabases. A feat that has become a little more difficult since you need to manipulate the data a bit to do it. You can read the technical document to find out more.

There is another option and probably an easier one.

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Add Google Maps to ArcMap and Pro

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So you want to add Google Maps to ArcMap or Pro? Impossible you say? Well here is an early Christmas present just for you … yes you can!

Before you proceed, think about why you would want a crowd sourced Google Maps basemap in your GIS anyway? There are better solutions today, like the basemaps provided by ESRI or even your own creations. For a government agency, replacing authoritative GIS data with crowd sourced data might not be a good idea.

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Excel Not Working in ArcMap

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Maybe you used to be able to open up Excel files in ArcCatalog and ArcMap, or maybe your new install will not open them.  You get this great message when you try to open Excel files:

Failed to connect to database. An underlying database error occurred. Class not registered

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This happens when your IT group moves you to Microsoft Office 365 in the cloud, or you never had Microsoft Office on your computer.  ArcCatalog and ArcMap depend on certain Microsoft Office system drivers to be installed on your computer which allows you to open Excel files in your GIS.  Sure would be nice if the error message would tell you that!

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Moving To PostgreSQL (Part 3)

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Welcome back!  Last time in Part 2 we configured PostgresSQL on a Linux server.  Now it is finally time to create an Enterprise Geodatabase in PostgreSQL.

Keycodes File

You now need to find your keycodes file.  This file was created when ArcGIS Server was installed on one of your servers.  This file is written to \Program Files\ESRI\License<release#>\sysgen folder on Windows servers and /arcgis/server/framework/runtime/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/ESRI/License<release#>/sysgen on Linux. Copy the keycodes file to a computer that you run ArcGIS Desktop on.  You will need access to it when creating the Enterprise Geodatabase.  Continue reading →

Moving To PostgreSQL (Part 2)

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Welcome back!  Last time in Part 1 we installed PostgresSQL on a Linux server.  Now we need to do a few things to get it ready so we can create an Enterprise Geodatabase in it.

Postgres User

When PostgreSQL was installed, a postgres user was created.  The postgres user is the default “superuser” to the PostgreSQL database.  Right now the postgres user password is unknown to you.  You must change it in Linux and in the PostgreSQL database.

Log back in to the Linux server and at the Linux prompt, use the passwd command to change the postgres user password.  You might need to use the sudo command with it for it to work.  Continue reading →