Hi,
I'm still working on my map for a local school. I thought I had a workflow sorted but have encountered odd SVG behaviour to which I cannot find any mention:
I have SVG files (roads, rail, shoreline etc) exported from ArcGIS* vector data (shapefile). This exports a page/layout with the map content and objects filling/defining the page area. I can import these into Inkscape on separate layers as required, where I can delete the the rest of the page objects, leaving my data.

However, importing some layers makes the contents of another vanish, even if that layer is locked. I've tried various combinations but with no success.

I'm new to SVG - is there anything I should be aware of?
There are no settings in ArcGIS for the SVG export.
Cheers
Jonathan

*I first tried exporting as DXF but after a short wait, nothing appears.
BTW, I've experimented with the pencil fill is looking promising, but I've hit this snag...

Thought I'd found a workaround. Not sure which action worked but I used a different data layer for the shoreline - it was polygons but now swapped for a polyline version. Also set other polygon data to have no fill as the SVG filled polygons had 2 entities per object - the outline & the fill. This has worked all afternoon...till now. I'm fairly sure it doesn't like the polygons. Just had an import make the layer above go empty. Gah!

I'm not familiar with ArcGIS, and don't understand clearly what you're doing. But it sounds possible that a) newly imported content is simply covering up other content, or b) if there are clipped and/or masked objects being imported, the clipping and/or masking could be causing some funky behavior, either alone, or possibly related to deleting "the rest of the page".

Brynn,
I only mentioned ArcGis in case someone else had trodden this path (it's mapping/analysis software)

I think the behaviour is funky as content disappears from layers below or above the active /importing layer.
I don't think it is covered up as if I select an area bigger than the page, it reports nothing selected.
Not sure quite what you mean about clipped & masked objects, but there are also sometimes spurious objects (weird triangles stretching across the page etc) where the SVG file creation process has got confused with the data topology. I get this sometimes when exporting to DXF for CAD or AI.
I have tried selecting & ungrouping objects, right down to the outline line & fill of a polygon, which I thought was the end of the line...

There are clearly (or otherwise) subtleties & multiple objects within these SVG files, eg the page extent, misc borders etc. it will just be a question of working through in a controlled way to find them.
Cheers