Make edits in a branch version

The National Renewable Energy Centre of Spain (CENER) wants to install solar panels on buildings in Madrid. First, they need to calculate the solar potential of each building. Buildings in a few neighborhoods have already been calculated, but it has proven to be a large project. To speed up the process going forward, multiple people will contribute to the project as data editors.

Versioning allows multiple people to edit the same data at the same time without applying locks or duplicating data. Each editor has an isolated view of the data and can merge their changes back into the default version. There are two types of versioning in ArcGIS: branch and traditional. Branch versioning facilitates multiuser editing through feature services and the Web GIS model.

This tutorial is part of a series about branch versioning:

• Prepare and publish branch versioned data
• Make edits in a branch version
• Reconcile and post versions

As the lead on the Madrid solar project, you want to ensure that you understand how the branch versioning process works before asking others on your team to participate in it as editors. In this tutorial series, you'll learn how to properly publish your data, then you'll test the editing process by creating versions, making edits, reconciling versions, and posting into the default version.

In the previous tutorial, you acted as the data owner, preparing and publishing the branch versioned data. In this tutorial, you will act as a data editor. You'll access the data that was published, create two named versions, and perform edits to the data in each of the versions.

This tutorial was last tested on November 28, 2023, using ArcGIS Pro 3.2 and ArcGIS Enterprise 11.1. If you're using a different version of ArcGIS Pro or ArcGIS Enterprise , you may encounter different functionality and results.

Requirements

• You or someone in your organization must have completed the first tutorial in this series, Prepare and publish branch versioned data
• ArcGIS Pro Standard or Advanced
• ArcGIS Enterprise base deployment (this includes access to ArcGIS Server and Portal for ArcGIS
• A portal account with publishing and editing privileges

Create two named versions

Now that your data is shared as a web feature layer with branch versioning enabled, it is ready to edit. All edits from now on should be made in a named version, to ensure that any conflicts can be detected, reviewed, and resolved when you reconcile the named version with the default version. Next, you'll create two named versions from the default version. Later, you'll use these named versions to make edits.

Note:

You or someone in your organization must complete the first tutorial in this series, Prepare and publish branch versioned data, before this tutorial can be completed.

Add a web layer to a map in ArcGIS Pro

First, you’ll connect to your organization’s portal and add the Madrid Solar Project web layer to a new map.

1. Start ArcGIS Pro.
2. Under New Project, click Start without a template.

   

3. Above the ribbon, click Not signed in and click Sign in.

   

4. In the ArcGIS Sign In window, type the username and password for a portal account with editing privileges. Click Sign In.
5. In the Catalog pane, click the Portal tab and the My Organization button.

   

   All of your organization’s portal items are displayed, including the Madrid Solar Project items you created in the first tutorial.

6. Right-click the Madrid Solar Project feature layer (the yellow icon), point to Add To New, and click Map.

   

   The data appears on a new map.

   

7. In the Contents pane, click the arrow next to Madrid Solar Project to expand the group layer.

   

   The group layer contains two layers: Buildings and Neighborhoods.

Create a version

Next, you’ll enable the Versioning tab on the ribbon, open the Versions view, and create a new version of the web feature layer.

1. In the Contents pane, click the List By Data Source button.

   

   The map’s layers are now listed according to their data source, rather than the order they draw on the map.

2. In the Contents pane, click the Madrid Solar Project data source, for example, sde.DEFAULT (Madrid_Solar_Project).

   

   Because you enabled branch versioning on this data source in the previous tutorial, the Versioning tab appears on the ribbon.

3. On the ribbon, click the Versioning tab.

   

4. In the Versioning group, click Manage Versions.

   

   The Versions view appears.

   

   In the Versions view, only one version exists, named DEFAULT. Every enterprise geodatabase is created with a default version, which contains the authoritative version of the data. Next, you’ll create two named versions that can be used to perform editing tasks.

   On the ribbon, on the Versions tab, in the Manage Versions group, click New.

   

   A new row appears in the table.

5. For Name, type Imperial Work Order 1.

   Each version has a name, determined by the version owner. Imperial is the name of the neighborhood that needs to be edited next.

6. Press Tab.

   The Owner field is already populated. The owner of the default version is always the geodatabase administrator. For named versions, the owner is the portal user who created the version.

7. Press Tab twice more. In the Description field, type Batch edit of solar potential field in the Imperial neighborhood. Press Tab.
8. For Access, choose Private.

   Version access can be public, protected, or private. Typically, there’s no need for anyone to access a version aside from the person who created it, so version access is set to private. When access is set to public, other people can perform edits in the version. When access is set to protected, other people can view the version, but not edit it.

   

   Note:

   In this tutorial, the default version is set to Public access to avoid the need for extra user accounts. However, for your own workflows, it is recommended that Access be set to Protected for the default version. This ensures that only portal users with elevated privileges can make edits directly to the default version. To learn how to change the access type of a default version, review the Protect the default version documentation.

   There are two blank fields in the table:

   • The Reconciled field shows the date and time of the last reconcile operation. The field remains empty if it has not been reconciled since it was created or since it was last posted.
   • The Validated field shows the date and time of the last evaluation of attribute rules. It will appear blank if the geodatabase has no attribute rules defined, or if the rules have never been evaluated. This property is only available for branch versions.
9. On the ribbon, on the Versions tab, in the Manage Versions group, click Save.

   

Create another version

Next, you will follow the same process as above to create a second named version.

1. Right-click anywhere on the Versions view and click New.

   

2. For Name, type Imperial Work Order 2.
3. For Description, type Attribute edits in the Imperial neighborhood.
4. For Access, choose Private.

   

5. Right-click anywhere on the Versions view and click Save.
6. Close the Versions view.

In this module, you added the Madrid Solar Project web feature layer to a new map in ArcGIS Pro. You enabled the Versioning tab on the ribbon and opened the Versions view. From there, you created two named versions. Next, you’ll make edits to the data in both versions.

Make edits in the Imperial Work Order 1 version

Eventually, your team will collect solar data and calculate solar potential for all buildings in Madrid. So far, this process has been completed for six neighborhoods. On the map, the buildings in these neighborhoods are symbolized in shades of orange and red, indicating their solar potential.

For the seventh neighborhood on the map, Imperial, the data collection process is only partially complete. Next, you’ll continue to make edits to the buildings in the Imperial neighborhood. However, your data is now branch versioned, so all edits that are made from now on will be made in a named version. Performing edits in named versions helps to ensure that multiple people can edit the data at the same time, and that conflicts between their edits are noticed and resolved.

Connect to a named version

Once branch versioning is enabled, no one should make edits in the default version, which is reserved for reviewed and finalized data. So before you make edits, you’ll connect to one of the named versions.

1. In the Contents pane, right-click the Madrid Solar Project workspace and click Change Version.

   

2. In the Change Version window, click the Imperial Work Order 1 version (for example, ADMIN.Imperial Work Oder 1).

   

3. Click OK.
4. In the Contents pane, confirm that the Madrid Solar Project workspace now includes the text Imperial Work Order 1, for example, ADMIN.Imperial Work Order 1 (Madrid_Solar_Project).

   

   The change in the workspace name confirms that you are now connected to the named version instead of the default version.

Select buildings for editing

Now that you have connected to the Imperial Work Order 1 version, you can make edits to the data in this version.

In the Imperial neighborhood, attributes such as hours of sunlight, area, and incident radiation have been collected, but solar potential has not yet been calculated, which is why all of the buildings in this neighborhood are symbolized with a pale yellow color. Next, you’ll select the buildings in the Imperial neighborhood so you can edit them all at once.

1. On the ribbon, click the Map tab. In the Selection group, click Select.

   

2. On the map, click the boundary of the Imperial neighborhood to select it.

   

3. On the ribbon, click Select By Location.

   

4. In the Select By Location window, for Input Features, choose the Buildings layer (for example, Madrid Solar Project\GIS.Buildings).

   The features in this layer will be evaluated for selection.

5. For Relationship, choose Within.
6. For Selecting Features, choose the Neighborhoods layer (for example, Madrid Solar Project\GIS.Neighborhoods).

   This layer has only a feature selected: the Imperial neighborhood. The tool will find and select all buildings that are within the selected neighborhood.

   

7. Click OK.

   All buildings in the Imperial neighborhood are selected. Below the map, the Zoom to selected features button indicates that 387 features are selected.

   

8. In the Contents pane, right-click the Buildings layer and click Attribute Table.

   

9. Below the attribute table, click the Show Selected Records button.

   

   The table now shows only selected records.

Perform a bulk edit to calculate solar potential

All of the values in the Potencialidad solar field are set to zero for the selected buildings. You’ll use the Calculate Field tool to calculate the solar potential of each building in the Imperial neighborhood based on the data already collected in the other fields.

1. Right-click the Potencialidad solar field header and click Calculate Field.

   

2. In the Calculate Field window, for Expression Type, choose Python.
3. In the POT_SOLAR = box, type or copy and paste the following: (!Building_AREA! * !rad_incide!) / 20.

   

4. Click OK.

   In the attribute table, the Potencialidad solar field is populated with values ranging from 0.047611 to 4.408547 for the selected records.

   

   Note:

   The expression used in this tutorial to calculate solar potential is for illustration only. The true solar potential values for buildings in the Imperial neighborhood can be found in the original dataset. Those values were calculated with a suitability model using the percentage of hours of sunlight, orientation, slope, and area of each building.

5. Close the attribute table.
6. On the ribbon, on the Map tab, in the Selection group, click Clear to clear the selection.

   

   On the map, the buildings in the Imperial neighborhood are now symbolized in shades of orange and red to reflect their new solar potential values.

   

In this second module, you connected to the Imperial Work Order 1 version, selected a group of features, and used the Calculate Field tool to calculate the solar potential for all the buildings in the Imperial neighborhood.

Make edits in the Imperial Work Order 2 version

When your team begins editing the Madrid Solar Project data, multiple people will be editing multiple versions, often at the same time. Next, you’ll test editing in the second version that you created earlier in this tutorial. You’ll manually change the solar indicator of one building in the Imperial neighborhood.

Making edits in two versions will allow you to test reconciling versions later, in the final tutorial in this series.

Connect to a named version

The Madrid Solar Project workspace is still connected to the Imperial Work Order 1 version. Before performing the next round of edits, you’ll connect to the Imperial Work Order 2 version.

1. In the Contents pane, right-click the Madrid Solar Project workspace and click Change Version.

   

2. In the Change Version window, click the Imperial Work Order 2 version (for example, ADMIN.Imperial Work Order 2).

   

3. Click OK.

   In the Contents pane, the workspace updates with the new version name.

   

   On the map, the buildings in the Imperial neighborhood are once again symbolized in a pale yellow color. The edits you made in the previous module to calculate solar potential belong to a different version and are not visible.

Edit attribute values

Next, you’ll select the Municipal Sports Center building. You’ll edit its incident radiation value to reflect more recent and accurate measurements. You’ll also recalculate its solar potential value based on this change.

1. On the map, zoom to the Imperial neighborhood.

   The Municipal Sports Center is near the center of the neighborhood. It is the large rectangular building between the street labeled Paseo Imperial and a set of three sports fields.

   

2. On the ribbon, on the Map tab, in the Selection group, click Select.

   

3. On the map, click the Municipal Sports Center building to select it.

   

   You recently recalculated incident radiation for this building and found that the current value reported in the data was incorrect. You’ll update this value now in the feature’s attributes.

4. On the ribbon, in the Selection group, click Attributes.

   

   The Attributes pane appears, displaying the attributes for the selected feature.

5. In the Attributes pane, edit the Radiación incidente (incident radiation) value to 0.00512.

   

   Since the Potencialidad solar values are derived from the Radiación incidente values, you’ll update this field as well, using the same calculation that you used earlier in this tutorial.

6. Edit the Potencialidad solar value to 1.876058.

   

7. At the bottom of the pane, click Apply or ensure the Auto Apply check box is checked.
8. On the map, the color of the building changes to orange, slightly darker than the yellow of the surrounding buildings.

   

   Next, you’ll commit your edits.

9. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab. In the Manage Edits group, click Save.

   

10. In the Save Edits window, click Yes.

    You have finished editing for now, so you’ll change the feature layer data source back to the default version.

11. In the Contents pane, right-click the Madrid Solar Project workspace and click Change To Default.

    

    On the map, the color of the Municipal Sports Center building changes back to yellow. The edits you made in the two named versions are not present in the default version.

    

12. Close ArcGIS Pro. There is no need to save the project.

In this module, you connected to the Imperial Work Order 2 version and modified the Municipal Sports Center building’s attributes.

In this tutorial, you created two named versions of the Madrid Solar Project web feature layer. You connected to each version in turn to make edits. In the first version, you performed a bulk edit using the Calculate Field tool. In the second version, you manually edited the attributes of one building.

In the next and final tutorial in this series, Reconcile and post versions, you’ll reconcile the two named versions with the default version and resolve any conflicts that exist between them.

Acknowledgements

• The Buildings feature class is from the Potencialidad solar de las cubiertas de los edificios de la ciudad data shared on Ayuntamiento de Madrid geoportal (accessed October 4, 2023; last updated November 8, 2021).
• The Neighborhood feature class is from the Barrios municipals de Madrird data shared on Ayuntamiento de Madrid geoportal (accessed October 3, 2023; last updated December 7, 2021).
• World Topographic Map sources: Esri, HERE, Garmin, FAO, NOAA, USGS, OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GIS User Community