Performance was drastically improved as well. One street network, which took two minutes and 14 seconds to draw as a shapefile on the Novell server, took only 22 seconds to draw as an ArcSDE for Coverages layer. Real GIS ArcSDE for Coverages meant real GIS to the Regional Board office. It does, however, have a few drawbacks. The tables have limited functionality, and there is no geocoding capability from an ArcSDE for Coverages layer.
Staff work around that by converting the layers to shapefiles when more utility is needed.
This has proved to be a blessing in disguise. Staff have been able to convert the layers to shapefiles, make corrections, and e-mail the revised shapefiles back to the administrator. The administrator then replaces the layer with the corrected version so all staff will see the changes. The administrator changed the geometry in the original ArcInfo coverage. The same held true for attribute changes.