The failure mode is always the same: a second inventory appears, the two drift apart, and within a year nobody trusts either one.
Decide what the system of record is — once
Geometry and identifiers should live in one place, usually the GIS. Condition, inspections, treatments and costs live in the asset platform. Writing that division down prevents most integration problems.
Use stable identifiers
Every integration depends on a key that survives edits. A persistent segment ID that does not change when geometry is re-split is worth more than any other single data-quality investment.
Round-trip, do not fork
Import geometry in, push condition and completed work back out. Both systems stay current and neither becomes a stale copy of the other.
- •Import from shapefile, geodatabase, GeoJSON or an Esri service
- •Export condition and work history on a scheduled cycle
- •Keep a documented field mapping so successors understand it
Do not require Esri to participate
Esri is the most widely used GIS platform, but it is not the only one, and many smaller agencies have no ArcGIS licence at all. A workable setup should support both worlds — connect to Esri services where they exist, and work directly from non-proprietary, open spatial formats such as shapefile, GeoJSON, GeoPackage and KML where they do not.
Frequently asked questions
- Do we need ArcGIS to use AtlasView?
- No. Esri is the most common GIS platform, not a requirement. AtlasView connects to Esri services where you have them and otherwise works directly with open, non-proprietary spatial formats such as shapefile, GeoJSON, GeoPackage and KML.
- How often should data sync?
- Most agencies push condition and completed work back to GIS monthly or quarterly, aligned to their reporting cycle.