FileMaker and ArcView

[ZuperZZ]

Hi,

Does anybody work with ArcView and Filemaker as data source?

I will be part of a team in a project to develop a "Geodatabase", they currently use the ArcView 8.3 but not linked with any database (they have none at this moment).

So I will be the "database expert"

I have no problem with the databases itselfs, are quite simple to develop.

My first aproach to the ArcView showed to me that is "too" related with our dear MS Access.

I have a lot to investigate yet, I will try to avoid the use of Access, I don't feel confortable using it (to say it somehow ... polite but if I have no chance ...

That's why I'm interested in hear your experience in this.

Thanx

ZuperZZ

[bruceR]

Keep us posted on what you find. My stepdaughter is using Arcview and I looked into this a little bit myself. Using Google I did find a lot of relevant information showing that other people are doing this.

[QuinTech]

Hi ZuperZZ. I had done some work with Arcview and FM a few years ago. It's mostly faded from my memory now, but if you are interested i could try to locate some sample files and send them on to you (Arcview 3.x, FM 5).

Basically, i would launch a script in FM that created a dbf that conformed to ESRI's shapefile format, and then launched an Arcview project set to run an Avenue script upon launch (Avenue is/was ESRI's scripting language; i don't know if it's still in use, i seem to remember that it was on its way out). That Avenue script geocoded my set of data (i was doing all point shapefiles to represent people) and allowed me to manipulate that geodata. I would then close Arcview, and be presented the option (in FM) to import the geodata back in.

This was in a system where the FM database was the main data store, and the Arcview project was (relatively) less complex, but it looks like you may have the opposite scenario. In that case, you could do something similar, launching your FM database from within Arcview and using FM as the subordinate application, then passing data back to Arcview.

I never experimented with ODBC possibilites, and really don't know if they even exist--my abilities were significantly more limited at the time i designed this system. But as i said, i'll try to locate those files if you think they'd be helpful.

Jerry