3 posts tagged with "Validation"

ArcGIS services can fail in ways that are easy to miss — returning bad data, broken extents, or empty feature sets while appearing perfectly healthy on the surface. The standard approach is to wait until something breaks in production. But it doesn't have to work that way.

This post, originally shared on LinkedIn, talks about why a proactive approach to testing ArcGIS services is worth building into your workflow — and how the right tooling makes it practical without adding overhead.

Over the past couple of weeks, I received some thoughtful feedback about the desktop tool around what it was missing compared to the Chrome extension. One thing that stood out was that many organizations have IT policies that prevent installing browser extensions on work machines. That made it clear that some of the extension’s functionality needed to live in the desktop app as well.

Version 1.1.0 brings a lot of that over.

Service-Level Assertion Checks​

A new addition in v1.1.0 is assertion checks for ArcGIS Map Services and Feature Services.

When you send a request to one of these service types, Quetzly now automatically runs a suite of checks and surfaces the results in a dedicated Assertions tab in the response panel. In addition to checking the HTTP status code, they also inspect the actual content of the service:

• Is the service reachable and returning a valid response?
• Are layers and tables defined?
• Is the spatial reference consistent with the reported extent?
• Do feature layers have data?
• For Map Services: does a live map export succeed?

This catches the kind of silent failures that look fine on the surface but will break an app downstream.

Assertion Checks in the Monitor​

The Monitor section now supports assertions too. If you have services that tend to misbehave, you can add them there and track their status at whatever interval you choose.

There's a new Enable Assertions toggle next to the Add button. When it's on (the default), adding an ArcGIS Map or Feature Service endpoint runs the full assertion suite on every check cycle — not just a ping.

The status column now shows three states:

• 🟢 All checks passed
• ⚠️ One or more non-critical failures
• 🔴 Critical failure (unreachable, no layers, bad status)

Hover over any status icon to see a full breakdown of every check that passed or failed. No more guessing what "unhealthy" actually means.

GIS Service Health Report​

You can now generate reports for an entire ArcGIS Server site directly from the desktop app. This reporting workflow was originally built for the Chrome extension, but it made sense to bring it into the desktop version so more people could use it regardless of their environment.

In the desktop app you will find a new Report section has been added to the sidebar.

Paste in an ArcGIS Server root URL and click Run. Quetzly will crawl all folders, discover every service, and run assertion checks across the entire directory. The results come back as:

• Summary cards: total services scanned, overall health score, critical outages, average response time
• A health donut chart and a service-type breakdown bar chart
• A sortable, filterable table of every service with its status and failure details
• Click any service name to jump straight to it in the API section

When you're done, you can export the full report as a PDF which is useful for sharing with a team or keeping on file.

Save URLs Directly to Sets​

A few smaller improvements made it in as well. Saving map layers and service URLs is easier in the Sets section, and the History tab now keeps track of ArcGIS Server sites you’ve previously run reports on, so you can reference them later without having to re-enter anything.

Sets alsonow include a text input where you can paste a list of service URLs (one per line) and save them as a named set immediately without needing a map loaded or any prior request history. The set shows up right away in the Sets list, and each URL is clickable to load it into the API section.

This makes it much faster to set up monitoring or batch-test a group of services from scratch.

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What's Next​

Looking ahead, I’m hoping to add sorting to the report table in the Chrome extension. It’s already part of the desktop app, so bringing that consistency over feels like the next step.

As always, I welcome feedback. Hearing how people are using the tool and what they wish it could do has been incredibly helpful. Let’s keep shaping this together.

You can follow along on the roadmap or share ideas through the feedback page.

Thanks for testing and reporting issues. This release wouldn't have happened without some great user feedback.

Download Quetzly Desktop →

Introducing Quetzly Validator for Chrome an Extension for ArcGIS Service Validation​

ArcGIS services can fail in ways that aren’t immediately obvious. A service might load fine in the REST directory, report a healthy status, and look normal at first glance — yet still return unexpected errors, missing fields, or incomplete data when an application tries to use it.

These kinds of silent failures are some of the hardest to catch. And in many cases, the first sign of trouble is a user reporting that a map isn’t loading. I wanted a faster, simpler way to validate services before issues reached users something lightweight enough to use during development, troubleshooting, or quick checks throughout the day. That’s what led me to build the Quetzly Chrome Extension.

Why a Chrome Extension?​

There are plenty of ways to test ArcGIS services, but most of them require setup, scripting, or switching tools. I wanted something that:

• works directly in the browser
• requires no installation beyond Chrome
• is available the moment you need it
• encourages quick, proactive checks
• fits naturally into everyday GIS workflows

The goal wasn’t to replace existing tools — just to make validation easier and more accessible.

What the Extension Does​

The extension runs a small set of checks against an ArcGIS service and highlights anything that doesn’t match what you expect. It currently validates:

• Layer count
• Spatial reference
• Attribute schema
• Basic export test
• Expected vs. actual values

If something looks off, the extension flags it immediately. It’s intentionally simple with no configuration files and no setup. Just quick validation from the browser.

When It’s Most Useful​

I’ve found the extension especially helpful for:

• verifying services right after publishing
• catching unexpected schema changes
• confirming a service is returning data before integrating it into an app
• troubleshooting user‑reported issues
• validating services during development

It’s designed for speed and convenience — the kind of tool you use multiple times a day without thinking about it.

A Note on the Desktop Version​

For batch validation or scheduled checks, I also built a desktop version of the validator. It’s useful when you need to test multiple services at once. But for quick, everyday validation, the Chrome extension is the fastest and simplest option. It's also a great option for those who are not allowed to install chrome extensions on their work computers.

Try the Extension & Leave a Review​

If you’d like to try the Chrome extension, you can download it directly from the Quetzly Chrome Web Store Page. It’s free to use, and early feedback is incredibly helpful at this stage.

If you find it useful, leaving a quick review in the Chrome Store makes a big difference. It helps others discover the tool and gives me a better sense of what’s working and what needs improvement.

Thank you to anyone who takes a moment to try it out. Your feedback really does shape where this tool goes next.