MXDPerfStat

• Developed by ESRI, but is an unsupported tool which requires ArcGIS Desktop or ArcGIS Engine.
• It is a command line tool, but don't let that scare you. With a .bat file it is very easy to run (see below).
• Can be downloaded at ArcScripts: http://arcscripts.esri.com/details.asp?dbid=15570

What does it do?

• Opens up the specified MXD in an engine app and runs through all the layers at specified scales
• Measures the draw time of each layer at each scale
• Outputs a XML file that has all of the stats in a few nice tables (uses a XSL file to style the XML file)
• Tells you some good information for each layer at each scale, like how many features/vertices were drawn
• Gives you recommendations when the draw time is over preset tolerances, such as "set scale dependency," or "simplify geometry"

Where do I use this?

• Publishing optimized dynamic map services on ArcGIS Server
• Using MXD's in a production environment where you want to make the map as fast as possible (i.e. ArcGIS Engine app)

Limitations

• Maplex license needs to be single use (not a floating license)
• Does not support WMS layers
• Does not support Image Server layers

Setting up the .bat file

• Create a .bat file with Notepad in the same location as MXDPerfStat.exe
• In the .bat file type in (remove quotes): "MXDPerfStat -MXD" followed by the path to the MXD
• If the path to the MXD has spaces in it, put quotes around the path
• If you don't put in any thing else it will use default scales and choose the center of the MXD as the coordinate it zooms to at larger scales (closer in)
• Scale can be added like this: "-scale 50000000;25000000;10000000;5000000;2500000;1000000;500000;250000;100000"
• The location it zooms to can be added like this: "-xy 1633113.213;79654.84" where x,y are from the Dataframe Coordinate System in the MXD

At 9.3.1 ArcGIS Desktop includes a new toolbar called Map Service Publishing. It has an analyze feature that is similar to what MXDPerfStat, but doesn't completely replace it. We'll look into that another time.