In the old application, the GetCapabilities url is tested with HTTP response status code. If the GetCapabilties request cannot get success code, it is invalid. However, this method does not work in any situations. Somtimes, even if the url is not correct, the server can still return a successpage without any GetCapabilties contents.
The FGDC Service Status Checker used in the new application can parse the XML response and identify if the response is a successful GetCapabilities document.
This is an ArcMap add-in application which can access the CSW Catalog Services to locate WMS services that can be added as layers in an ArcMap (v10) project. This is a simplified version of the ESRI CSW client for ArcMap (built from scratch) that is configured specifically to search the USGIN catalog (http://catalog.usgin.org/, ESRI Geoportal), the OneGeology catalog (http://portal.onegeology.org/, GeoNetwork OpenSource), and GeoData.gov (http://geo.data.gov/, ESRI Geoportal).
You can search for available services by key words (text box) or the extent of the ArcMap View frame. The search results will be displayed in the list box. The application checks for a successful getCapabilities request to determine if the service connection information in the metadata actually works, and enables the 'add to map' function for operational sevices. These services can be selected and added as layers in the ArcMap project.
ESRI Provides a CSW client that plugs into ArcMap. The client can be used to browse and query ESRI Geoportal servers. The spatial data query results can be displayed in ArcMap if the query results originate from a live data source. Browse to http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/geoportal/free-addons.html for instructions on how to download and install the CSW client.
The CSW client can be used to query the USGIN Geoportal. The geoportal is currently a development version located on our development server. The following list outlines the steps required to install the profile for the USGIN's development geoportal.
I have recently developed a prototype ArcMap addin to load GeoSciML WFS into an NCGMP template geodatabase. The application was developed using ESRI's ArcObjects 10 API, C# in Microsoft's Visual Studio 2010, and ArcMap/ArcCatalog 10. The addin reads a WFS http response or WFS xml file. It parses the WFS-xml data and creates spatial features in an NCBMP template database. The current version only processes WFS response that describe polygons. The tool or addin also populates attribute table data in the NCGMP database. The source code for the application is hosted on Google Code and can be accessed at this url: http://code.google.com/p/feature-service-toolbar/
You will have to install the subversion application if you want to download the application's source code.
This extension was built to deal with a bug in ArcMap 9.3.1 which issues invalid WMS 1.3.0 GetMap requests. Specifically, ArcMap sends requests which specify the format in which exception notifications should be returned as "application/vnd.ogc.se_xml". This was a valid exception format for WMS 1.1.1 requests, but not for WMS 1.3.0.
Some WMS servers may ignore this, and return exceptions in the default "XML" format. Others may not ignore it, and instead send back an exception which says that the GetMap request was invalid. When this happens in ArcMap, you will not see any data, and a window labeled "ArcMap Drawing Error" may appear containing the text of the exception returned from the server.
Note: ESRI says that this bug has been fixed at ArcGIS Desktop version 9.4.
ESRI offers CSW clients for ArcGIS Desktop and ArcExplorer as part of their free Geoportal add-ons.This client allows you to search various CSW metadata catalogs for dataset and service (WMS, WFS) metadata records within ArcGIS Desktop and ArcExplorer. The discovered services can then be added as a map layer to the GIS application.
The current down-loadable version may not work well with the USGIN metadata profile. Future versions of this add on will likely work out of the box. Meanwhile, we are working on a how-to document to make the client work with a USGIN CSW service.
