Migrating from Military Analyst and MOLE
Some tasks you perform in Military Analyst and MOLE can now be performed directly in ArcGIS, using native ArcGIS functionality, which means:
- You no longer need to download and install separate applications to get the same capabilities.
- You no longer need to learn separate applications to accomplish tasks; you only need to know ArcGIS.
The following two tables describe the new (version 10) way you can do tasks that you did in Military Analyst and MOLE prior to version 10. It is recommended that you use the new way to do these tasks whenever possible.
|
Task in the Military Analyst extension |
Task in native ArcGIS at version 10 |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
Working with CADRG/ECRG, CIB, and DTED formats (including achieving display similar to best map set and locked map set) |
Working with mosaic datasets |
Use CADRG/ECRG, CIB, and DTED raster types. For details, see Data management for military data and the below section, Using DTED and RPF in mosaic datasets. |
|
Geodesy tools and commands |
Measuring geodetic distances |
To measure geodetic distances, click the Choose Measurement Type drop-down arrow and select Geodesic in the Measure dialog box. For more information on this dialog box and how to open it, see Measuring distances and areas. |
|
Coordinate Tool and coordinate conversion |
Using ArcMap Go To XY, Identify, and MGRS Locator capabilities |
For details, see Support for MGRS in ArcGIS and the below topic, Working with coordinates. |
|
Working with the following Military Analyst geoprocessing tools:
|
Using geoprocessing tools in the Data Management toolbox, including: |
For Table to Point, Table to Polyline, and Table to Polygon, see the topic below, Using geoprocessing tools and Model Builder. |
Terrain Analysis tools | Geoprocessing models using tools in Spatial Analyst and 3D Analyst. | See theTerrain Analysis in ArcGIS topic below. |
|
Task in the MOLE extension |
Task in native ArcGIS at version 10 |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
Adding military symbology to your map |
|
Using geoprocessing tools and Model Builder
Military Analyst includes geoprocessing tools that create features from tabular data. As described in the following table, a few of these tools have equivalent tools in ArcGIS. The other tools can be built by combining geoprocessing tools in models.
Military Analyst Geometry tools | ArcGIS equivalent |
Table To Ellipse | |
Table To Geodesy Line | |
Table To Line | |
Table To Point | Geoprocessing model. For details, see Convert a table to points below. |
Table To Polyline | Geoprocessing model. For details, see Convert a table to lines below. |
Table To Polygon | Geoprocessing model. For details, see Convert a table to polygons below. |
The following sections describe how to convert a table to points, lines, or polygons by combining tools in models. If you are new to geoprocessing tools and models, review these topics to help you get started: What is geoprocessing, Essential geoprocessing vocabulary, A quick tour of ModelBuilder, and A quick tour of creating tools with ModelBuilder. It is also helpful to keep in mind that geoprocessing tools in ArcGIS represent granular, single-step tools that are designed to be combined together in a model or script to build larger and more complex tools and workflows. This design provides a great deal of flexibility in building your own custom processes.
Convert a table to points
You can create a model that takes a table of X and Y coordinates and converts it to points. To make this model, combine the Make XY Event Layer tool and the Feature To Point tool. The result is a point feature class with attributes from the original table.
If you have MGRS, UTM, or USNG coordinates, you can combine the Convert Coordinate Notation tool with the Join Field tool in a separate model to achieve the same results. The difference between these two methods are the input coordinate types. Make XY Event Layer uses northings and eastings in a projected coordinate system or latitude and longitude in a geographic coordinate system, whereas Convert Coordinate Notation uses MGRS, UTM, USNG or other coordinate notations.
Convert a table to lines
The Military Analyst Table To Polyline tool built lines from a table of vertices and other attributes. You can achieve this same result in ArcGIS by stringing together this sequence of tools: Make XY Event Layer, then Feature To Point, followed byPoints To Line. The options for a Line field and Sort field allow you to group the vertices into separate lines and organize the vertices into a different order (the default order is the row sequence in the table).
Convert a table to polygons
Making a Table To Polygon equivalent is exactly the same as Table To Polyline (described just above), but at the end you add the Feature To Polygon tool. This gives you polygon features as the output instead of polylines.
Using DTED and RPF in mosaic datasets
Users of Military Analyst DTED and RPF catalogs will likely want to move their data to mosaic datasets because of the advantages mosaic datasets have to offer. There are two ways to move this data to mosaic datasets: using a Military Analyst catalog as the source for a referenced mosaic dataset or reloading the original source files into a new mosaic dataset. The second method is the recommended method. While the first option, tocreate a referenced mosaic dataset from the existing catalog, may seem like the easier task, it will limit your data management options later. For example, you will not be able to build overview or add functions at the raster level. To create a referenced mosaic dataset from a DTED or RPF catalog, right-click the catalog and select Create Referenced Mosaic Dataset.
The second option, creating a new mosaic dataset from the original source DTED or RPF files is not difficult and is the recommended method. Mosaic datasets are designed for multi-resolution rasters, and works well with DTED, CADRG, and CIB. The process of creating and adding military data to mosaic datasets is outlined below. First, you will need to create a mosaic dataset using the Create Mosaic Dataset tool. Next, add DTED, CADRG, or CIB to the mosaic dataset using Add Rasters To Mosaic Dataset. The Add Rasters To Mosaic Dataset tool will load an entire folder or nested folder hierarchy into a mosaic dataset. If you have folders in different locations you can use several Add Rasters To Mosaic Dataset tools together in a geoprocessing model and run the whole set as a single process. You should consider the coordinate system of your source data. It is highly recommended that your data be in a projected coordinate system instead of a geographic coordinate system. Mosaic datasets make this easy because you do not have to project your source data. The mosaic dataset can have a different coordinate system than the source data. So, for example, if your source CADRG is in a geographic coordinate system, the mosaic dataset used to display it could be in a projected coordinate system.
ArcGIS.com also has two desktop application templates that will assist you in creating basemaps from CADRG and CIB formats. These are the Scanned Maps Template and the Imagery Basemap Template available from the ArcGIS for Defense and Intelligence group. These templates include a geodatabase schema, tools, sample data, and documentation to get you started building basemaps from CADRG, CIB, and other mosaic datasets.
Terrain Analysis in ArcGIS
All of the Military Analyst tools for terrain analysis use tools available in Spatial Analyst and 3D Analyst. Like the Table To Point and Table To Polyline tools discussed above, the terrain tools in Military Analyst simply chained tools together to form a workflow, or geoprocessing model. You can build the same functionality using these tools. As a side note, the tools found in Spatial Analyst and 3D Analyst assume that you are working in a projected coordinate system. It is highly recommended that your source rasters for elevation data be projected when used for analysis purposes. The easiest way is to load the elevation rasters into a mosaic dataset; set the mosaic dataset to a projected coordinate system as explained in the previous section. Coordinate systems with regard to mosaic datasets are discussed in the previous section.
Radial line of sight
At the core of the Military Analyst Radial Line of Sight tool (RLOS tool) is Spatial Analyst's Viewshed tool. Viewshed takes one or more observer points or observer polylines and returns a raster showing areas that are visible and are not visible to the observers. The RLOS tool in Military Analyst adds the ability to interactively add observer points before running the Viewshed. You can create the same behavior in ArcGIS using a geoprocessing model that strings together a Feature Set, which interactively adds points from the map, and then the Viewshed tool. Additionally, Military Analyst RLOS uses Raster To Polygon to output polygons instead of a raster. This model shows which areas are visible to observers you add by clicking the map.
Linear line of sight
The Military Analyst Linear Line Of Sight tool (LLOS tool), is based on the 3D Analyst extension's Line of Sight tool. The Military Analyst Linear Line Of Sight (LLOS) tool matches an observer point to a specific target point over a surface and returns a line feature attributed to show if the target is visible to the observer and to show which portions of the line along the surface profile were visible to the observer. The tool matches input points for observers and targets and creates the input lines that the 3D Analyst Line of Sight tool needs. In recent versions of ArcGIS, 3D Analyst includes a tool that will build the necessary input lines. The Construct Sight Lines tool takes point features for observers and targets and builds the lines connecting an observer to a target, which can be used by the 3D Analyst Line of Sight tool to do the point-to-point visibility. You can create a tool like the Military Analyst LLOS tool in a model by using two Feature Sets to interactively add points for observers and targets. Next, take these two feature sets and use them as inputs into Construct Sight Lines. Construct Sight Lines is then linked to Line Of Sight. This model will allow you to manually add points on the map for your observers and targets and see which ones can see each other.
Hillshade
In Military Analyst, you can create a hillshade by selecting a tool from a toolbar and dragging a box around an area. In ArcGIS, you can use the Image Analysis window tohillshade the whole surface or even apply a color shaded relief. The Image Analysis window can be docked so it is always available or can be tabbed with the Table of Contents or Catalog window so it will stay out of the way when it is not needed. To activate the window, select Windows > Image Analysis. Highlight your elevation surface, then under Processing, click the down arrow next to the color ramp and select the black-to-white ramp. Then click the Shaded Relief button. You should have a new hillshade dataset added to the Image Analysis window and Table of Contents. If your source elevation data is not in a projected coordinate system (see recommendations above in Using DTED and RPF in mosaic datasets) you still have the ability to add a z-factor to the Image Analysis window's hillshade function. In the window's options, click on the Hillshade tab and enter an appropriate Z Factor. If you are not sure what z-factor to use, the Spatial Analyst documentation has recommendations on applying a z-factor.
Working with coordinates
ArcGIS has always been able to display the X and Y coordinates of the cursor in the map. In recent ArcGIS versions, you can now display the cursor coordinates as either MGRS, UTM, or US National Grid (USNG) coordinates. In the ArcMap table of contents, right-click Layers and select Properties. Then in the Data Frame Propertiesdialog box, click the General tab. In Units, click the down arrow next to Display. Select one of the linear units or coordinate notations, including MGRS, USNG, and UTM, which are at the bottom of the list. Click OK to close the dialog box.
Military Analyst has a coordinate tool that helps with manual coordinate conversion. ArcGIS now has, built into ArcMap, the same capabilities as the tool, plus additional capabilities that Military Analyst doesn't have. The Go To XY tool allows you to pan, zoom, flash, or mark a location that is in Decimal Degrees, Degrees Minutes Seconds, Degrees Decimal Minutes, MGRS, USNG, and UTM coordinates. Click the Go To XY tool, select your input coordinate type from the down arrow, type the location's coordinates, and press Enter.
If you work with MGRS coordinates the MGRS Locator in the Find tool has further options to help you. On the ArcMap Tools toolbar, click the Find tool and select the Locations tab. Select MGRS (Military Grid Reference System) under Choose a locator. Type your location into the MGRS Coordinate box and click Find. A list of results is presented (though with MGRS you should expect only one). If you right-click on the result, you can pan to that location, mark the location, or create a bookmark.
What if you have a table of coordinates that you want to convert from one format to another? If you used Military Analyst, you probably used the Convert Coordinates In File tool for this task. In ArcGIS, the Convert Coordinate Notation tool, or CCN, performs a similar function in a slightly different way. The ArcGIS Convert Coordinate Notation converts coordinates between Decimal Degrees (DD), Degrees Decimal Minutes (DDM), Degrees Minutes Seconds (DMS), Global Area Reference System (GARS), World Geographic Reference System (GEOREF), Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM), United States National Grid (USNG), and Military Grid Reference System (MGRS). However, the output will be point features with the converted coordinate format as an attribute. If you wish to add the original attributes back into the resulting point features, you can chain the Convert Coordinate Notation tool with the Join Field tool in a model.
