There are many reasons to begin working with ArcGIS Pro 1.1. When you decide to use Pro for your workflows, it’s important to know how to migrate your content. The first step to bringing your existing GIS work from other ArcGIS applications into ArcGIS Pro is to create a blank project. A blank project template contains a single folder connection to your project’s home folder, which is the location of the project file (.aprx) that exists on disk. Inside this file you will find all of your resources: maps, layouts, layers, tables, tasks, tools, connections to servers, databases, folders, and styles.
When the blank project template is created, no map or content is opened with it. There are a few paths to begin working with your data. You can add a new Map from the Insert tab, Add a Folder connection, or right-click in the Project pane to add individual items to your project. The fastest path to migrate ArcMap, ArcGlobe, Scene, and map service documents is by clicking Import on the Insert tab.
For those familiar with ArcMap, it’s important to note that when you import a map document (.mxd), Pro will open with one map and one layout, even if you never made any edits in layout view. Each data frame will be imported as a separate map. All map layers will be imported, along with their symbology and other layer properties. Symbols are imported, but any .style files used to create your maps in ArcMap will need to be converted separately to the .stylx format used by ArcGIS Pro.
After the import process is complete, you can view, open, and manage the imported content in the Project pane. If ArcGIS Pro could not access the data sources specified in the original document, you will see an indication next to the layer in the Contents pane.
To access other data in a project, you can add a folder connection from the Insert tab. Connections to folders, servers, and databases can be added and stored within the project. Storing connections in the project keeps your list of connections relevant to the project being worked on, instead of cluttering it with a history of all connections you have ever used.
Your existing toolboxes, models, and scripts can be reused in ArcGIS Pro, too. However, if you use arcpy.mp (Pro uses Python 3), you may need to make adjustments to work with project files (.aprx). To create a shortcut to your favorite tools in your project, you can find them in the Geoprocessing pane and add them to the gallery on the Analysis tab.
If you want to port your custom code and extensions for ArcMap into ArcGIS Pro, take a look at the capabilities of the ArcGIS SDK for .NET to determine whether you are ready to migrate your work into ArcGIS Pro.
You can create and maintain all project items using item descriptions or standards-based metadata in a manner similar to ArcGIS for Desktop. Any items previously authored with metadata will continue to use the same ArcGIS metadata previously authored; no importing or conversion is required. Note that you cannot export projects in ArcGIS Pro to .mxd, .sxd, or .3dd documents. Projects can only be saved for use in ArcGIS Pro. For more information about getting started see the help system.
Article Discussion: