What's New in ArcPad 10
Support for ArcGIS Online basemaps
Users can now open base maps from ArcGIS Online. Both the Standard and Premium (Bing) map services can be used as basemaps in your ArcPad project.
When using ArcGIS Online basemaps with existing data, ensure to add your existing data to the ArcPad map first. ArcPad will then re-project ArcGIS Online basemaps on the fly, to match your existing data projection. If you do not have existing data, you can add an ArcGIS Online basemap to a new map, and create a Quick Project using the basemap.
Performance
Whether opening a new map, panning or zooming, ArcPad responds faster than in previous versions. New spatial indexing in AXF's improves the response time for editing AXF features, and changes in the way the map is drawn gives users more immediate feedback when panning and zooming.
Particularly on VGA Windows Mobile devices, a significant amount of additional memory is available. This is most noticeable when large tool button sizes are used
StreetMap now operates in its own memory space, significantly improving the amount memory available to both StreetMap and ArcPad, ensuring it can be used successfully on a greater range of windows mobile devices.
Quick Capture
The Quick Capture toolbar is a dynamic toolbar generated by ArcPad, and its contents are defined by the open layers in your map. With the Quick Capture toolbar you have a one click ability to create new features in your map.
You can change which tools appear on the Quick Capture toolbar by checking/unchecking symbol categories on the Quick Capture tab of the Table of Contents dialog. You can have as many tools as you like.
Custom Forms for related tables
When checking out features classes that have related tables of data, custom forms are now created by the ArcPad Data Manager for both the features classes and their related tables. The custom forms can be used as is in ArcPad or further customized in ArcPad Studio.
Incorporating photos in your ArcPad project
The ArcPad Data Manager now allows users to specify which fields contain photos and to nominate where and how these are stored on the PC and windows mobile device. The check out check in process will also move photos to and from your mobile device.
When the user nominates fields to contain hyperlinked photos during the Get Data for ArcPad wizard (in ArcMap), ArcPad will automatically show only those fields on the picture tab of the attribute dialog.
New camera module
The new camera module, ArcPad Camera, is the default camera module on all Windows desktop and Windows Mobile devices This module works on a significantly greater range of hardware, and behaves the same on all devices.
Once the camera is launched within ArcPad either by
- using the camera buttons on the Quick Capture toolbar
- choosing to add a photo as an attribute to a feature
You also have the opportunity to modify the properties of the ArcPad Camera, including
- choosing which camera to use (a must for devices that have multiple cameras)
- choosing the photo resolution
- designate a hardware button with which to take photos
The currently selected photo resolution will be displayed in the title bar of the photo for your reference. To capture the photo either tap OK or the designated hardware button.
New ways to 'Get Started'
The new welcome to ArcPad dialog, presents four simple choices for getting started:
- New Map starts ArcPad with a blank new map
- Create a Quick Project launches the Quick Project wizard
- Choose a map to open will launch the Open Map dialog
- Open last map used, will open the last successfully closed map used in ArcPad
If you intend to always use the same option, before clicking it you should check the 'set as default and don't ask again' check box. Next time you start ArcPad your preferred start method will launch automatically. The Welcome dialog can be restored at anytime by enabling it in ArcPad Options.
Quick Project Templates
When choosing to start with a Quick Project you now have a choice to apply a template. You can choose from the sample templates included in ArcPad or your own.
The default choice is a project containing three layers, points, lines and polygons. Each layer has default attributes of name, category, date, comments and photo. The Project will have an automatically generated unique name.
Choosing a template will create a Quick Project that contains layers based upon the templates layers instead of the default points, lines and polygons layers.
You can create your own template by:
- Creating your own custom shapefiles (with custom forms and symbology)
- Saving an ArcPad map document (apm) called Template.apm in the same folder as these shapefiles
- Zip all these files together and name the zip file with the name you wish to see in the Template drop down in ArcPad
- Add your zip file to the template folder under the ArcPad installation directory
Quick Project to GDB toolbox script
The Quick Project to GDB toolbox script, previously released on Arc Scripts is now included in ArcPad. Use this script to import your Quick Project to a new geodatabase. If your Quick Project is based on the default template, category fields will automatically be converted to coded value domains in your new geodatabase.
Integration with ArcLogistics
If a licensed copy of ArcLogistics Navigator is installed on the same device as ArcPad, the ArcPad Goto tool can be configured to use ArcLogistics Navigator rather than the default Line of Sight navigation in ArcPad.
To configure ArcPad to use ArcLogistics Navigator, simply select the application in the Navigation tab of the ArcPad Options.
To use ArcLogistics Navigator, select the feature you wish to Navigate to with existing ArcPad tools and or tap the Goto tool. You can select features directly from the map using the Goto tool on the Browse toolbar, or select features first within the advanced select or find dialogs. On each of these dialogs, the Goto tool appears, and once clicked ArcLogistics Navigator will launch and navigate you to that feature. When ArcLogistics Navigator reaches the destination, you will be returned to ArcPad.