Creating a database view changes the SHAPE field data type to long integer

Description

When creating a database view for a feature class in ArcMap, the SHAPE field data type is changed to long integer in the database view.

Cause

This issue occurs because the database view is created from a feature class with binary storage type. There are three tables in the geodatabase associated to the SHAPE field of the feature class. A database view does not recognize three-system tables and only reads one table, which is the business table. When creating a database view, the SHAPE field of the business table is read as a binary and converted to long integer.

For more information on geometry data types in ArcGIS, refer to: SQL Server data types supported in ArcGIS.

Solution or Workaround

Use the Migrate Storage tool to change the geometry type from binary to geometry. For more information about the tool, refer to: Migrate Storage and Data migration from one storage type to another.

Note:
The SDE user must connect to the geodatabase with database owner level privileges to run the tool.