[GIS] How to reproject geodatabase (*.gdb) with datasets and featureclass using custom transformation

arcgis-desktoparcmapcoordinate systemfile-geodatabasewms

I have a file geodatabase in arcMap which in in EVEREST_1830 datum and Modified UTM projection.
Now I need to use OpenStreetMap or googlemaps imagery WMS layer as base layer and overlay the datasets. I know that I can Project each feature class in the Gdb to WGS 84 and do Overlay. But I will take time to project each featureclass. So the short-cut might be to bring the WMS imagery layer to local (.gdb) coordinate system or to bring the .gbd to WGS 84. Is it Possible?

In Short:
Is it possible to project a whole geodatabase including all datasets and feature class (*.gdb) in ArcMap to a another projection system using a user defined custom transformation? Or is there a tool, python script etc…

Best Answer

You cannot reproject a geodatabase since it does not have a coordinate system. The spatial reference information is stored within each feature class, raster, and other geodatabase objects. The geodatabase is just a container which handles metadata information.

Your options are:

  1. To go through each feature class and reproject it (you will get a new output feature class; it's OK to use a custom transformation - if you already have created one, this is stored within C:\Users\%user%\AppData\Roaming\ESRI\Desktop10.%version%\ArcToolbox\CustomTransformations folder). You can use a GP tool Batch Project (Data Management) for this.
  2. To add all your feature classes to an ArcMap document and define a needed coordinate system for the data frame which implies all your data within this data frame will be reprojected on-the-fly (provided that there is a valid way to do this). This may result in a worse performance since reprojection on-the-fly takes time.
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