What's new in ArcGIS for Desktop

ArcGIS 10.3 is a full release of the ArcGIS platform. It includes new products, enhanced functionality, and stability improvements.

The following sections summarize changes in different functional areas of ArcGIS. Most sections include links to topics with more information for that specific area of the software.

ArcGIS Pro

ArcGIS Pro is a new application released as part of the ArcGIS for Desktop product. This new app combines data visualization, editing, and analysis using local content, content from ArcGIS Online, or content from Portal for ArcGIS for both 2D and 3D data. Content can be authored in both 2D and 3D and published as feature, map, and analysis layers.

ArcGIS Pro is a 64-bit, multithreaded application with a modern user experience that runs on the Windows platform.

Documentation

ArcGIS web help has moved to two new sites: ArcGIS for Desktop and ArcGIS for Server. Help also has been redesigned with a new navigation experience, and many sections of the help incorporate more end-to-end workflow topics rather than separate topics for individual tasks.

Geoprocessing

Following are new and improved tools for ArcGIS 10.3, arranged by toolbox.

Space Time Pattern Mining toolbox — new at 10.3

The Space Time Pattern Mining toolbox has two tools: Create Space Time Cube and Emerging Hot Spot Analysis. Create Space Time Cube takes potentially very large point datasets and builds a multidimensional data structure for analysis. Emerging Hot Spot Analysis takes the space time cube data structure as input and identifies hot and cold spot trends. You might use Emerging Hot Spot Analysis to analyze crime data, for example, in order to locate new, intensifying, persistent, or sporadic hot spot patterns.

3D Analyst toolbox

No significant changes were made to the 3D Analyst toolbox.

Analysis toolbox

Buffer has a new Method parameter to control whether planar or geodesic distances are used to calculate the buffer.

Spatial Join has two new spatial relationships that use geodesic distance; WITHIN_A_DISTANCE_GEODESIC and CLOSEST_GEODESIC.

Cartography toolbox

No significant changes were made to the Cartography toolbox.

Conversion toolbox

A new toolset, From PDF, has been added to the Conversion toolbox. It contains one tool—PDF To TIFF—that exports an existing PDF document to a Tagged Image File Format (TIFF).

The Copy Runtime Geodatabase to File Geodatabase tool has been added to support converting a runtime geodatabase into a file geodatabase.

Data Interoperability toolbox

No significant changes were made to the Data Interoperability toolbox.

Data Management toolbox

Nine tools have been added to the Geodatabase Administration toolset to help you manage your enterprise geodatabases. They replace functionality previously performed using ArcSDE administration command line utilities.

• Configure Geodatabase Log File Tables
• Create Raster Type
• Delete Schema Geodatabase
• Diagnose Version Metadata
• Diagnose Version Tables
• Export Geodatabase Configuration Keyword
• Import Geodatabase Configuration Keyword
• Repair Version Metadata
• Repair Version Tables

The Generate Licensed File Geodatabase and Generate File Geodatabase License tools have been added to the File Geodatabase toolset. Use these tools together to apply export and time restrictions to the file geodatabase data you send to clients or other agencies.

Six tools have been added to create, manage, and use control points with Raster Mosaics.

• Apply Block Adjustment
• Analyze Control Points
• Append Control Points
• Compute Block Adjustments
• Compute Control Points
• Compute Tie Points

The new Geodetic Densify tool replaces segments with densified approximation of Geodesic, Great Elliptic, Loxodrome, or Normal section.

The new Analyze Tools For Pro tool analyzes Python scripts, custom tools, and custom toolboxes for functionality that is not yet supported in ArcGIS Pro.

New and updated parameters

• Select Layer By Location has a new Invert spatial relationship parameter to select features that do not match the specified spatial relationship.
• Assign Default To Field and Set Subtype Field tools have new Clear Value parameter to clear the default value of a field’s default or subtype.
• Build Seamlines has three new parameters.
  1. The Area of Interest parameter accepts polygon features that define where seamlines are to be built.
  2. The Query Definition parameter is an SQL statement that specifies specific raster datasets within the mosaic dataset on which seamlines will be built.
  3. The Update Existing Seamlines parameter controls whether to update new seamlines and regenerate existing seamlines that are affected by the addition or deletion of mosaic dataset items.
• Synchronize Mosaic Dataset has a new Refresh Aggregate Information parameter that specifies whether to re-include data that may have been removed from the mosaic dataset.
• Set Mosaic Dataset Properties has two new parameters. The Processing Templates parameter allows you to specify the function chains that you want to use to process a mosaic dataset or the mosaic dataset items. The Default Processing Template parameter defines the default function chain that will be applied when the mosaic dataset is accessed. The Data Source Type has new choices for SCIENTIFIC, VECTOR_UV, and VECTOR_MAGDIR.
• Set Raster Properties has new a Key Properties parameter that allows you to set a variety of raster dataset properties.
• Create Mosaic Dataset has new choices for product definitions; VECTOR_FIELD_MAGNITUDE_DIRECTION and VECTOR_FIELD_UV.
• Alter Mosaic Dataset Schema has new Raster Types choices: Frame Camera, GRIB, HDF, and NetCDF.
• Project has two new parameters, Preserve Shape and Maximum Offset Deviation, to better maintain the shape of the projected feature.
• Alter Field has new parameters to control the field type and length, whether the field is nullable, and to clear the field alias.
• Save To Layer File , Package Layer and Package Map can save to versions 10.2 and 10.3
• Select Layer By Location has new spatial relationship, WITHIN_A_DISTANCE_GEODESIC, that uses geodesic distance to select features.
• Calculate Value has a new Time Unit data type.

Editing toolbox

No significant changes were made to the Editing toolbox.

Geocoding toolbox

Create Address Locator has a new Enable suggestions parameter to allow character-by-character auto-complete suggestions to be generated for user input in a client application.

Geostatistical Analyst

Empirical Bayesian Kriging has been enhanced to better support worldwide interpolation and interpolation at the poles by using chordal distance (an approximation of geodesic distance).

GA Layer To Contour has new parameters to control classification type, class count, and class breaks. The Contour type parameter has a new SAME_AS_LAYER option.

Linear Referencing toolbox

No significant changes were made to the Linear Referencing toolbox.

Multidimension toolbox

No significant changes were made to the Multidimension toolbox.

Network Analyst toolbox

The Find Routes and Solve Location-Allocation tools have been added to the Server toolset. Solve an advanced network analysis using a single tool rather than a series of tools; additionally, set service usage limits and publish the results as a geoprocessing service.

The network analysis tools in the Server toolset, including the two listed above, have new travel-mode parameters. Choose a travel mode, which is preconfigured on your network dataset, to quickly and consistently model the movement of cars, trucks, pedestrians, and so on.

Solve Vehicle Routing Problem has new parameters to ignore invalid order location and to specify a travel mode.

Generate Service Areas has a new parameter for travel mode.

Update Traffic Incidents has new provider options.

Parcel Fabric toolbox

No significant changes were made to the Parcel Fabric toolbox.

Schematics toolbox

No significant changes were made to the Schematics toolbox.

Server toolbox

MXD to WebMap creates a web map within a portal from an MXD map document, and requires an account that can authenticate with ArcGIS.com or a local portal to publish services and create the web map.

Spatial Analyst

The Sample tool was updated to support multidimensional data.

A new tool Viewshed 2 has been added to the Surface toolset.

A new toolset containing six tools for Segmentation and Classification of rasters has been added.

• Classify Raster
• Compute Segment Attributes
• Segment Mean Shift
• Train ISO Cluster Classifier
• Train Maximum Likelihood Classifier
• Train Support Vector Machine Classifier

For more information on these updates, see the Extensions section in this topic.

Spatial Statistics toolbox

Optimized Hot Spot Analysis and Incremental Spatial Autocorrelation now provide rounded default values.

Tracking Analyst toolbox

No significant changes were made to the Tracking Analyst toolbox.

Python and ArcPy

ArcGIS 10.3 has been upgraded to include Python 2.7.8. The third-party Python library netCDF4 has also been added.

New ArcPy functions, GetActivePortalURL, GetSigninToken and ListPortalURLs have been added.

ArcPy geometry objects now support densify, angleAndDistanceTo, pointFromAngleAndDistance, and segmentAlongLine methods. The Extent object now supports JSON and polygon properties. The SpatialReference object now supports a latitudeOfOrigin property.

Python toolbox Value Table parameters have been enriched to support drop-downs and dependencies between columns.

For advanced web map printing workflows, the updateLayerFromJSON function on the arcpy.mapping.Layer class will apply the renderer (or other layer properties) as specified in the webmap_json to the corresponding vector layers staged in a template map document.

The Network Analyst Python module added a function to get travel modes. The function returns travel mode objects that can be applied to a solver properties object (RouteSolverProperties, ClosestFacilitySolverProperties, ServiceAreaSolverProperties, ODCostMatrixSolverProperties, VehicleRoutingProblemSolverProperties, or LocationAllocationSolverProperties) using the new applyTravelMode() method.

Mapping

Labeling

The Maplex Label Engine in ArcGIS 10.3 has improved stability, scalability, and performance.

Placement improvements include the following:

• Improved integration between street labeling and key numbering
• Better placement along curved roads and rivers
• Labels using the Never Remove parameter have improved faster placement
• Improvements in aligning contour labels to the page and elevation
• Labels with callouts and leaders now take halos into account when placing and have improved performance

Internationalization improvements include support for kashidas to stretch straight Arabic text in both display and export.

Geodata

Geodatabases and databases

File geodatabases

You can create a license file to distribute with file geodatabases you share with other people and organizations. This helps ensure that your data will only be used by the people you intended to use it, and you can set time limits on the data's use. See License a file geodatabase for more information.

Desktop and workgroup geodatabases

ArcGIS for Desktop and ArcGIS for Server Workgroup include an installation of Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express, which you can install and enable as a database server to store desktop and workgroup geodatabases. If you have an existing database server on a previous SQL Server Express release, you can upgrade it to 2012.

Note that the installation names have changed. At ArcGIS 10.3, the installations are called Database Servers to match the ArcGIS for Desktop user interface.

Enterprise geodatabases

ArcSDE administration command line utilities are no longer available with ArcGIS for Server. Instead, use the tools in the Geodatabase Administration toolset of the Data Management geoprocessing toolbox and the geodatabase administration items available from the database connection in ArcMap. See Migrate from ArcSDE administration commands for a list of common tasks and tools.

The ArcSDE application server is no longer available with ArcGIS for Server. New connections to 10.3 and later release enterprise geodatabases are made through database management system clients installed on the ArcGIS client machines. If you upgrade your geodatabase to 10.3, you will need to update the existing connections used by your maps and web services to connect through the database management system clients. You can still use an ArcSDE service to connect from ArcGIS 10.3 clients to 10.2.2, 10.2.1, 10.2, and 10.1 enterprise geodatabases.

In previous releases of the enterprise geodatabase, the default number of connections allowed was 64. This limit helped prevent overloading the server when all or most connections to the geodatabase were made through an application server running on the same server as the geodatabase. Beginning with 10.3, there is no limitation imposed on the number of connections to new 10.3 geodatabases or geodatabases upgraded to the 10.3 release.

ArcGIS Data Store is a new component available with ArcGIS 10.3 for Server, which allows you to easily set up a highly available enterprise geodatabase to store data for the hosted feature layers you publish to Portal for ArcGIS. See What's new in Portal for ArcGIS 10.3 for more information.

Enterprise geodatabases in DB2 now use a DB2 function—MON_GET_CONNECTION—to clean up connections. Grant execute privileges on this function to your geodatabase users rather than grant SYSMON authority to them. Additionally, the sde user no longer requires SYSMON authority to create or upgrade a geodatabase in DB2. See Privileges for geodatabases in DB2 for more information.

Databases

ArcGIS now supports the 1.0 OGC GeoPackage format. When you create SQLite databases using the CreateSQLiteDatabase ArcPy function, you now have the option to use the GeoPackage format. You can also add GeoPackage tables to an existing SQLite database and connect to GeoPackages you create outside of ArcGIS.

You can connect from ArcGIS for Desktop to view subsets of data from ALTIBASE and SAP HANA databases. You can use the data in your maps and perform analysis on the data.

You can view features with z-coordinates stored in Teradata 15.0 from ArcGIS 10.3.

Geocoding

• A new address locator style, US Address—Single House Subaddress, allows you to create address locators for addresses that contain subaddress information such as identifiers for apartment units, townhouses, duplexes, or stores in a shopping plaza. See Commonly used address locator styles for more details.
• You can create an address locator that supports autocomplete functionality, and publish it as a geocode service. To support suggestions, you can build a new locator with ArcGIS 10.3 for Desktop, and publish it as a geocode service with ArcGIS 10.3 for Server. Addresses can be searched by suggestions using the geocode service in ArcGIS Online, Portal for ArcGIS, ArcGIS Pro, or other supported applications via the API. Learn more about Creating an address locator with suggestions enabled.

Raster

There is a lot of new development within the core raster functionality. There are 13 new raster functions in the latest release. There are new rendering capabilities to help render multidimensional data using the vector field renderer. Block adjustment tools have been added to help you more accurately geolocate items within a mosaic dataset. The Frames Camera raster type is a new raster type that you can use to add data from a supported frame camera. The Processing Templates tab for the mosaic dataset allows you to manage the processing templates associated with your mosaic dataset. The latest Full Motion Video Add-In will be compatible with this version of ArcGIS.

The 13 new raster functions that have been added are ArgStatistics Function, Classify function, Curvature Function, Elevation Void Fill Function, Python Raster Function, Recast Function, Resample Function, Segment Mean Shift Function, Statistics and Histogram Function, Transpose Bits Function, Unit Conversion Function, Vector Field Function, and Vector Field Renderer Function.

The Python Raster function allows you to convert your Python syntax into a raster function. This allows you to perform a Python script on the fly, just like the other raster functions. This allows you to create custom functions, which allows you to chain them within a raster function chain.

Multidimensional and scientific data can now be rendered using a vector field renderer, and can also be stored as a mosaic dataset. The vector field renderer allows you to render either one variable as a scalar, or two variables with the vector field options. These multidimensional datasets can be stored in a mosaic dataset, using one of the three new supported raster types: GRIB, HDF, or netCDF. The mosaic dataset provides a great data structure to store multidimensional data, since it allows you to manage time and vertical dimensions.

The Vector Field renderer allows you to render multidimensional or scientific data. These data types have two variables to render, and require a special renderer. You can render magnitude and direction or a U and V variable set.

The Block Adjustment tools allow you to properly place your mosaic dataset items in the correct geographic location, taking both ground control points and overlapped features into account. This will not only place your data in the correct location but will also deal with areas of overlap as well. The Block Adjustment window provides a user interface for editing your control points for your block adjustment.

The raster function template is enhanced to support three operation modes, a definition expression, and a new thumbnail. A raster template can work in the following three modes:

• A regular function template that applies to a mosaic dataset or image service
• An item template that applies to a raster item
• An item group template that applies to a group of items, where the group is defined by a group field name and tag field name

A raster function template can have a definition query, which further selects raster items that are applicable to the template. A raster function template can have a picture to further describe what the template does.

The Frame Camera raster type allows you to add data to a mosaic dataset with the images from a supported frame camera. You need to create a Frame Table and a Camera Table with the correct metadata to properly create the mosaic dataset. Once the two tables are correctly populated, the Frame Camera raster type can be used to create a mosaic dataset that stores the meta information.

The Processing Template tab within the Mosaic Dataset Properties dialog box allows you to manage the processing templates associated with your mosaic dataset. In the past, you were able to use a processing template with image services, but now you can use them on your mosaic datasets as well.

The latest version of Full Motion Video is version 1.2, and it is compatible with ArcMap 10.3. Full Motion Video allows you to play live streams of video or video files in your map.

Parcel editing

Regenerate fabric

The Regenerate Fabric command has been moved to the Parcel Editor menu on the Parcel Editing toolbar.

Load a Topology to a Parcel Fabric geoprocessing tool

The Load a Topology to a Parcel Fabric geoprocessing tool can be accessed from the parcel fabric context menu in the Catalog window. Right-click a parcel fabric, point to Import, and click Parcels to run the tool.

Parcel construction

At ArcGIS 10.3, you can choose to merge collinear parcel line segments into a single straight line when building parcels from construction lines. Parcel lines must be collinear; that is, there must be no bend angle at the points where the lines connect. Choose Merge connected lines at points where there is no bend on the Advanced tab on the Parcel Editor Options dialog box.

The following improvements have been made to prevent building parcels with dangling lines, building sliver parcels, and building parcels with inconsistent dimensions:

• Construction points that lie very close to neighboring lines are detected and highlighted in the construction grid. These points can be easily snapped to their closest neighboring line.
• Inconsistent bearing and distance dimensions are highlighted in the construction grid.
• Very short lines are highlighted in the construction grid.
• Construction points are highlighted in the construction grid when the construction line does not connect to any other construction line in the network.

Learn more about parcel construction improvements

Services

For a summary of new and improved functionality available in ArcGIS 10.3 for Server and ArcGIS 10.3 Web Adaptor, see What's new in ArcGIS 10.3 for Server. For Portal for ArcGIS, see What's new in Portal for ArcGIS 10.3.

Extensions

ArcGIS 3D Analyst extension

The following new functionality and improvements are available in ArcGIS 10.3 3D Analyst:

• The LAS dataset now supports Optimized LAS (ZLAS) & LAS version 1.4 files.
• LAS To Multipoint supports Optimized LAS files.
• Parallel decompression for Optimized LAS (zLAS) is supported in ArcMap, ArcScene, and geoprocessing.
• New default color ramps are used by the LAS dataset layer for elevation, return, and scan angle.
• Esri Optimized LAS supports LAS 1.4 files.
• Three new geoprocessing tools are available in ArcGIS Pro: Locate LAS Points By Proximity, LAS Point Statistics By Area, and Classify LAS By Height.

ArcGIS GeoEvent Extension for Server

ArcGIS GeoEvent Processor for Server is now called ArcGIS GeoEvent Extension for Server.

ArcGIS Network Analyst extension

• Model travel modes on your network dataset so that when you perform analyses, you can quickly and consistently model cars, trucks, pedestrians, and so on.

• Configure a service area index on your network dataset to generate service areas more quickly than before. The index also improves the look of the output polygons.

• The vehicle routing problem now supports planning for inbound- and outbound-wave transshipments. The InboundArriveTime and OutboundDepartTime fields on the orders feature class provide access this new feature.

• Between the 10.2.2 and 10.3 releases, two new network analysis tools were added to ArcGIS Online ready-to-use services: SolveLocationAllocation and FindRoutes. GIS professionals can connect to the service through ArcMap. Developers can connect apps to the services too.

  ArcGIS Online services provide network analysis capabilities to those who don't have a Network Analyst license or those who do but don't have high-quality street data.

ArcGIS Spatial Analyst extension

There are seven new Geoprocessing tools available for Spatial Analyst in ArcGIS 10.3. One other tool has been updated to support multidimensional input data.

Viewshed 2

The new Viewshed 2 tool determines raster surface locations visible to a set of observer features. This tool offers enhanced functionality over the existing surface visibility tools (Observer Points, Visibility, and Viewshed) in the following areas:

• This tool performs its calculations using geodesic methods.
• Greatly improved performance for visibility analysis is possible with this tool on systems that have a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) available, provided that your machine has an appropriate NVIDIA graphics card with CUDA compute capability 2.0 or opencl 1.2, and a current driver.
• It optionally accommodates vertical uncertainty in the input surface and produces an observer-visible region relationship table for up to 32 observers (points, multipoints or polylines) which can be related back to the input observer feature class.

Because this use of GPU processors is new to the ArcGIS system, please be sure to read carefully the How Viewshed 2 works help topic along with the tool help. There is also is a technical article, FAQ: Release notes for the Viewshed 2 tool, which provides more specific requirements and configuration details to help you get the maximum benefit from using this tool.

Segmentation and Classification toolset

With the Segmentation and Classification toolset, you can prepare segmented rasters to use in creating classified raster datasets.

The available tools are as follows:

• Classify Raster
• Compute Segment Attributes
• Segment Mean Shift
• Train Iso Cluster Classifier
• Train Maximum Likelihood Classifier
• Train Vector Machine Classifier

Sample tool

The Sample tool was updated to support multidimensional netCDF data as input.

The following two parameters were added to the tool:

• The Unique ID field was added to enable joining the output table back to the source table.
• The Process as multidimensional checkbox was added. This parameter allows you to determine if the samples will be taken from the current slice of a multidimensional dataset, or from all slices.