Hi Paul, the ArcGIS layer reader is configured to read the paths out of a .lyr of ArcMap binary/proprietary format.

In ArcPRO they created Lyrx layerfiles which have JSON.

Reading up about ArcPro projects *.aprx, a project contains two types of items. One type includes maps, scenes, layouts, and other views of your data. The other type is connections that provide access to the contents of folders, databases, and other resources.

Maybe you find this tool useful Update data sources—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

The internet forums tell me: you could use python to rename the .aprx file extension to .zip, extract the contents of the zip, in the map folder re-write the layer xml and change the WorkspaceConnectionString and Dataset tag values to point to a new database/layer location/layer name, then zip up all the files, and rename the .zip file back to .aprx

In terms of FME, reading XML Tutorial: Getting Started with XML (safe.com)

• view the schema
• seperate child elements
• view in data inspector

Thanks, very interesting. I'm not presently trying to repoint the layers at different data sources - just trying to get a list of the (many) layers out of the projects used in a webmap, but that may become more pertinent in coming weeks.

Best

Paul