Using ArcGIS Desktop (aka ArcCatalog and ArcMap) 9.3 to connect to MassGIS' GeoServer WMS and WFS

ArcMap 9.2 did not communicate well with MassGIS' GeoServer WMS and WFS. However, ArcMap 9.3 is a great improvement. Below are the steps to connect.

WMS: This example shows connecting to a WMS (Web Map Service) layer in ArcCatalog first. To connect to a WMS layer in ArcCatalog 9.3, click on “GIS Servers”.

Double click on “Add WMS Server”.

Fill in the URL box with this value: http://giswebservices.massgis.state.ma.us/geoserver/wms then click the “Get Layers” button:

Since there are over 850 layers in the MassGIS WMS, it takes a minute to connect and list them all, but you will get:

They are listed in descending alphabetical order by title. Choose one or more layers (such as Ecoregions) and click OK.

A new choice appears in ArcCatalog that can be opened, and actually still lists all the layers (this list is ascending alphabetical order by title).

One layer can be added to ArcMap by dragging.

The layer is shown with a default style (symbolization) setup. This default style will usually match the one presented in OLIVER. The symbology can't be changed in ArcMap (with a WFS connection the symbology can be changed). The projection is lat/long (Massachusetts appears stretched east to west), but can be changed by changing the projection of the data frame to Massachusetts Mainland State Plane 1983 meters.

As you can see, the legend is quite small, but there is an option when you right click on the layer to “Add WMS Legend to Map”.

It is also possible to identify a feature:

But with the WMS you cannot see the attribute table, select features. The WMS returns an image of the data. For features that you can work with, you need to connect to the layer with the WFS (Web Feature Service) below.

WFS: To connect to a layer via WFS, in ArcCatalog click on “Interoperability Connections” instead of the “GIS Servers”. Then click on “Add Interoperability Connection”. Chooose “WFS” from the Format dropdown. Then, replace “UNSET” with “http://giswebservices.massgis.state.ma.us/geoserver/wfs” in the “DataSet” box. Click on the … next to “Read from Source” and choose Massachusetts State Plane Mainland NAD 1983 meters.

Then, click on the “Settings” button, then on the ”…” next to the “Table List”. ArcCatalog will connect to the server to retrieve the (more than 600) layers available to show in a list.

The list is alphabetical by GeoServer layer name (these layer names, by MassGIS convention are the same as SDE layer names). Choose a layer, such as GISDATA.ECOREGIONS_POLY and click OK. You'll see the one layer in ArcCatalog.

The layer can be previewed in ArcCatalog. Now the layer can be dragged into ArcMap. With the WMS, the layer has a default style. With the WFS, the data is displayed in a random color. The symbology may be changed in any way. The data can be identified, the attribute table can be opened, features can be selected. The WFS layer or selected features of it can be converted to a shapefile. Here is a screenshot of the layer with symbology changed and a feature selected.

If you decide that you want to add another WFS layer to the map, you can go back to ArcCatalog and, using the existing WFS connection, right click, select “Connection Properties”, click the “Settings” button again, then the the ”…” next to “Table List” again, and put a check mark next to another layer and click OK.

Note: Each layer that is added in WFS format needs to be 'indexed' by ArcCatalog before you add it to ArcMap. This can take some time as all the features in the layer are accessed. Once this is done then adding to ArcMap and displaying is very fast. It also appears that the indexing has to happen each time the connection is made. http://maps.massgis.state.ma.us/images/wfs_indexing.jpg