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To Integrate or Not to Integrate: That Is the Question
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You’ll want to check out this wildly popular webinar! When it comes to ECM, integration is critical. We’ll explore the types of integration CPS deploys and dive deep into our Partner, DocuNav’s integration with ESRI and GeoDocs. We left the Q&A segments in the video because we thought they would be valuable for those who didn’t see the live webinar.
What You Will Learn
This session provides an in-depth look at how organizations can bridge the gap between Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). By integrating Laserfiche with ArcGIS through the GeoDocs platform, users gain the ability to interact with professional records directly through a map-based interface. This approach moves beyond traditional keyword searches, allowing for spatial queries—such as drawing circles, polygons, or freehand shapes—to retrieve documents associated with specific geographic coordinates or map layers.
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The demonstration highlights two primary administrative workflows: associating existing Laserfiche records with map locations and importing new files directly into the repository from the map. Key technical features include the use of "polygram" searches to find documents touching specific parcels, the ability to view document previews (PDFs and images) without a direct Laserfiche login, and the mapping of Laserfiche templates to ArcGIS feature IDs. This integration is particularly valuable for public works, engineering, and city planning departments that manage high volumes of location-dependent data.
FAQ
Can a user search for documents within a specific radius or custom area?
Answer:
Yes. GeoDocs supports several spatial search methods, including rectangular, circular, triangular, and freehand shape searches. Users can draw these shapes on the map to narrow down locations and retrieve all records tied to that specific area.
Is it possible to search for documents that aren't tied to a specific ArcGIS layer?
Answer:
Yes. Documents can be searched geographically by latitude and longitude (lat/long) even if they are not associated with a specific layer. An example provided was a police department searching an intersection for traffic incident reports regardless of which map layers are active.
What file types are supported for document previews within the GeoDocs interface?
Answer:
GeoDocs currently supports previews for text files, image files, and PDFs. Electronic documents (such as proprietary software files) do not currently support the preview feature, though they can still be stored and accessed.
How does the system handle documents that belong to multiple parcels?
Answer:
The integration allows one document to be associated with multiple field values. If a single document applies to multiple tax parcels, a search of any of those parcels will retrieve the same document.
What is the "Polygram" search used for?
Answer:
The polygram search is typically used for layer-related searches. It allows a user to draw a line or shape that "touches" specific parcels or road segments; the system then highlights those areas and retrieves the documents associated with the touched features.
If a user doesn't have a Laserfiche login, can they still see documents?
Answer:
The demonstration showed that users can view document previews and even download files through the GeoDocs integration without having logged into Laserfiche. However, a Laserfiche login is required if the user needs to hyperlink directly into the full Laserfiche environment to view additional metadata or audit history.
Can a static hyperlink be created from an external ESRI viewer to a document in GeoDocs?
Answer:
No. GeoDocs is a dynamic application that performs real-time API lookups. When a search is conducted, it queries ArcGIS for feature IDs and then queries Laserfiche for matching documents. Because this process is dynamic, there are no static hyperlinks for external applications to use.
How are existing "legacy" documents in Laserfiche brought into the GIS integration?
Answer:
Administrators can use the Data Management feature to perform a bulk association. By searching for documents in a specific Laserfiche folder or template, they can map those records to ArcGIS layers by identifying a common link, such as a Parcel ID or Zip Code.
