Jeff and his journey from ESRI UC to San Diego

For some fun, week-end reading check out Jeff Thurston's journal entry detailing his lengthy trip home to Germany from the ESRI User Conference... this experience would be great material for a sit com! Jeff experiences some typical and not-so-typical airline "issues" on this lengthy journey... gee, and I was complaining because the duty-free was closed in Seattle when I got there... enjoy and Jeff, hopefully you managed to read through all those Press releases you toted around with you!

A new S60 moblogging app (Beta) and more ranting on my carrier - Rogers wireless

A new moblogging tool for you to consider. By now many of you know that I'm always pushing the Symbian S60 smart phone lineup, particularly the new N series devices.. these bad boys are powerful, and feature rich, designed to support mobile entertainment, media, and multi-tasking. PixSense is a new way of taking, sharing, and managing pictures and videos captured with your camera phone. PixSense makes taking, sharing, and managing pictures with camera phones really easy; it makes it so simple, that all you do is Click, and then you're Done. Test drive the application with your smartphone by visiting http://beta.pixsense.com/ - oh, speaking of smart phones... kudos to Rogers Wireless here in Canada who decided to cut off my phone because I went slightly over in my current billing. I guess sending them between $100 and $200 every month for the last 2 freaking years hasn't made me a good enough customer for them. So, while I'm in San Diego for a week getting whacked on roaming charges, moblogging, text messaging, etc.. and consuming data services I wound up racking up my bill so their solution, turn it off! I then call their 1-800 number, go through a crapload of useless voice prompting options until 10 minutes later I can reach a real person... hey Rogers.. you guys suck! PS: I did eventually make a payment and reinstate my plan

Keeping up with the blogs from ESRI.. hey guys, don't stress out!

Rob Elkins mentions how he's wanted to blog more from the UC but has been busy... hey, no worries Rob, it's not that simple.. is it?? Not to blow my horn but I've been attending the UC since 99.. back then (99, 2000, 2001) I used to burn the candle at both ends taking in sessions from 8:30 till 5 and staying out till 1 or 2 AM almost every night. I also published a daily newsletter with daily reports, images, news updates etc... it aint easy!! Anyway, kudos to all the geobloggers who've been making the effort. Think its tough to blog from the event with a regular column.. you aren't kidding man. Make sure you don't burn out you bloggers.. there's been many a fine blogs that have gone by the wayside because the owners simply have had enough... pace yourself and don't stress out, that's my advice to you. Remember, your time is much better spent schmoozing with attendees and taking in sessions etc... than sitting in a corner dealing with technical issues... that can wait till you get home. My 2 cents - Se Rob's thread at http://myesri.blogspot.com/2006/08/live-from-uc-in-san-diego.html

GRASS GIS 6.1.0 released today

GRASS dev. team has announced today the release of GRASS GIS 6.1.0 -- This is the first release of GRASS as a proposed founding project of the new Open Source Geospatial Foundation. Some details... A new graphical GIS manager and menu system has been implemented, while the old GUI display manager has been retained and improved for legacy support. The NVIZ visualization tool has been enhanced to display 3D vector data and voxel volumes and supports the creation of on-the-fly MPEG animations. Additional improvements include substantial message translation (i18n) with support for FreeType fonts, including multi-byte Asian characters, and tools to allow new project locations to be automatically generated from input data or EPSG code. For more details see http://grass.itc.it/announces/announce_grass610.html

A few notes from the exhibition hall floor at the ESRI UC

On the exhibition hall floor at the ESRI UC there were a number familiar faces, as well as some unfamiliar faces. A couple of new names in the exhibitor list included Google (they were showing off SketchUp not Google Earth) and Adobe… many other new, less familiar names were also visible. Loads of interesting apps and services were seen – too many to list, however, a few that I got up and close with on Wednesday follow:
Englewood Co based Sanz had a crew on hand promoting Earthware and more specifically, Earthware Pro for ArcGIS. If you’re not familiar with the Earthware product suite, it’s been developed to help users “consume” imagery and, more specifically, to automate their workflow processes. Simply put, Earthware helps users realize the benefits of cataloging and provisioning. Automated cataloging enables a user to have fast access to imagery assets – essentially, fast access to the data you need. Provisioning enables users to perform a number of imaging processes like merge, mosaic, color correct, reproject, clip, and other commonly required imaging processes. Earthware Pro for ArcGIS is a component of EarthWare Pro that adds support for the direct provisioning from within the ArcGIS environment – use the tools you’re familiar with but leverage the provisioning capabilities of Earthware. Under the category of “new” is EarthWare Pro for ESRI Image server (and Pro for ArcSDE). Users configure an Image service (via a handy wizard-driven interface), add updates, and serve imagery to their users across the enterprise. Some of the features of Earthware are as follows:
- automated cataloging and watch folders: index imagery and monitor file repositories for updates and additions
- Find imagery: use a we search interface or ArcGIS
- Provision Imagery for new uses: create new datasets from existing data and load into image analysis workflows
- Web-based admin: create user groups and control/manage data access
- Users can license EarthWare Pro by Terrabyte or by CPU
- See http://www.sanz.com/

Also on the floor… Oce – high-quality, wide format plotting and printing solutions. Front and center on display was the Oce TCS 500, a lightning fast, quiet, efficient, printing power horse sporting a whopping 80 GB hard disk… sweet! Imagine this:
- print an E-size color plot in 60 seconds or a monochrome plot in less than 40
- Print, copy and scan simultaneously
- One touch copying and scanning
- Can handle up to 200 E size plots in a run!
- Emulate the color output of other printing devices
- Select color profiles that adhere to international standards
- Sophisticated queue management and administration
- Fast and simple changing of media
- Rapid production of check plots
- Multi- roll support (load 3 or 4 different media types or sizes at the same time)
I was drawn into the Oce booth by the very personable crew and have to admit that I easily spent about 45 minutes with them getting the low-down. After watching the plotter in action I was sold… that is, if I needed a plotter I would have been sold! Thank goodness my old employer back in College didn’t have one of these badboys or I never would have accrued all that over time watching the plotter, changing paper rolls etc…. for those big, time sensitive print jobs! See http://www.oceusa.com

Pushpin from Placebase – offers developers a Javascript API for creating Google-map-like applications. Perhaps a bit of a surprise, the company was on hand promoting their new API. Using the company’s tools, developers can create highly functional interactive maps for the web. Data is pre-rendered for swift performance and developers can easily plug-in their own data. The company makes available API docs and samples and those that contact the company can get a demo key to take a test drive. See http://www.pushpin.com

Geospatial Experts & GPS Photo Link – simply put, this is software that enables users to map their photos (within ArcGIS). Provides for creation of ESRI SHP files, google earth views, photos marked with GPS position. GPS-Photo Link works with most digital cameras and GPS devices (direct support for Trimble, Garmin, Magellen, and Leica). See http://www.geospatialexperts.com/

Trimble & ESRI -- Interested in a GPS, software bundle? Trimble had the solution with the GeoCollector field data bundle bringing the user a rugged handheld device, integrated GPS, and the latest release of ArcPad – this solution is designed to be a turn-key mobile GIS solution. For more on this see http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/geocollector/index.html. Keep in mind that there are numerous other hardware devices available for your mobile mapping needs – and yes, many of them will run ArcPad – for example, the Thales MobileMapper CE (see http://products.thalesnavigation.com/en/) attendees of the ESRI UC got a chance to see this device and had some chances to win one (Actually about a dozen of them) by wearing a button with a number and locating their mate… once again one of the best promotional gimmicks at the show!

Maple leaf fan Ted, with his crew from Avenza Systems Inc., was showing off the recently released MAPublisher 7.0 for Adobe Illustrator (speaking of Adobe, they were also exhibiting – this is a first at ESRI UC I believe). Released last month, 7.0 is the latest version of the company’s cartographic application suite, designed to enable users to produce high-quality maps from their GIS data. Recall new functionality shipping with this latest release include an “intelligent” labeling engine, new grid, graticule, and scalebar generators, a new and improved MAP attribute engine, advanced selection filters, and much more. Some more features in this release:
- new scale bar generator
- new expression builder
- new import table functionality
- auto centering
- support for double byte and international character sets
- to see numerous examples of professional maps produced with MAPublisher all you need to do is flip through a copy of the ESRI Press Map Book! See http://www.avenza.com/

And of course, the ArcGIS 9.2 Island
I’ve already covered off a number of the enhancements that you’ll find in ArcGIS later this fall when 9.2 ships (note: if you’re waiting for ArcGIS Explorer it will be available once the shrink wrap is taken off ArcGIS 9.2).

Recall the focus of this major release will include:- Improve the quality and usability of ArcGIS via customer driven improvements.- Extended the ArcGIS platform- Better documentation
Other general improvements include:
- new keyboard shortcuts, mouse wheel support
- numerous new and improved tools, including a my places tool, measure tool, and go to XY tool
- faster geocoding
- HUGE, integrated help utility
- Direct read Miccrosoft Excel files
- New COGO tools

If you can’t wait to get your hands on 9.2 then you may be able to catch a preview when the ESRI crew goes on the road with the ArcGIS 9.2 Nationwide seminar series. The seminars will cover off the latest enhancements inn the following products: ArcGIS (ArcView, ArcEditor, ArcInfo), Server, EDN, ArcSDE, ArcIMS, ArcPad, and MapObjects. Between September and November tour stops will be made in Anchorage, Vegas, Pasadena, Atlanta, Austin, Orlando, New York, and many places in between. See www.esri.com/92seminar for details... oh, I forgot to mention that the seminars are Free!

I could go on and on about what was on the floor… maybe later!

27th ESRI USer Conference in June!

Just a heads-up as I remembered that ESRI has announced that next year's user conference will be much earlier than previous years... be prepared to travel to San Diego for the week of June 18... don't worry though, the weather forecast is for 76 degrees and sunny! Save the date

Maps24 releases AJAX API and new developer zone

Mapsolute, the crew who brought you Maps24 (a very cool mapping service) have just today announced a new, open AJAX API. Some details... To best support this new Web 2.0 API, Mapsolute has also launched an extensive developer network (http://www.devnet.map24.com) that provides detailed information on the AJAX API including manuals, tutorials, API documentation, source codes and FAQs. The network also includes information on interfaces such as Map24 Web Services and a discussion forum.

Back from the ESRI UC

Just a quick note to update the blog with news that I just got back home. Luckily I didn't caught up in any of the hoopa associated with the new FAA rules that went into play today (re. liquids on plane). I've got a bit of unpacking to deal with and will be going over a crapload of notes, updating GISuser.com etc... I have loads of goodies to discuss after the event, I only wish I could have stayed for a couple more days. The Thursday night basj should be a good one tonight.. looking forward to seeing a few pics float around the blogosphere later this week. On a side note, kudos to the dumb-ass from Tipcell for managing to bombard our user forums with crap over the past couple of days... I'm looking forward to thinking up some ways that I can freak out their mail server so if you have any ideas please let me know. In the interim, here's the tipcell jokester's info if you'd like to block his IP from your site or maybe sign up his email addresses for a ton of junk mail etc...
219.136.173.249 mail: sales@tipcell.comname: keiresingMSN: keiresing9988@hotmail.com http://www.tipcell.com Tel: 00862084401688ICQ: 239470786 -- GOD I HATE THESE PRANKSTERS.. can you tell? Hopefully I won't hear much more from him but somehowe I won't hold my breath. Still at the ESRI UC and want to see some cool stuff on the floor... I suggest you make the following stops before you leave: Sanz Earthware (very cool image provisioning app), OCe Plotter (talk about a cost effective workhorse!), ArcGIS Explorer at the ESRI ARcIMS pod. Looking for some images from San Diego? Check out the ESRI UC 26 section now with 100+ photos - see http://www.flickr.com/photos/gisuser/sets/72157594232295748/

Session Notes - Usability enhancements in ArcGIS at 9

From the waht's new at 9.2 session... The Biggest complaint regarding usability was that it required too many mouse clicks to do something. Within ArcMap ESRI has repaired some 600 issues with a strive for consistency across all applications. Hundreds of new shortcuts added for faster navigation Some of the other fixes you'll find waiting for you in 9.2 include:
- added support for the mouse-wheel. Drag map and scroll to zoom in/out. Right click context menu with many shortcuts.
- Customize where the full extent action takes you. Very useful if publishing to the web as that property is adopted and applied to your data properties.
- Birds-eye map viewer window – view your window with none of the ArcMap “stuff” around it. Very useful for those of you with dual monitor workstations!
- Easily add your own scales into the scale control dialog – automatically converts your units to a common format
- Very easy to annotate your maps with locations and coordinates
- More robust measurement tool, supports many units, click on any feature and retrieve the area in any unit desired.
- Simple access to tabular data. View very large field contents, easy turn on/off data fields to see only what you need.
- Easy to calculate area of a feature via calculate geometry dialog – also ability to add unit abbreviation characters into the field for labeling.
- Select multiple features to create subsets of your data, simple add/remove ability.
- Online documentation with flash animations of what’s coming – see ESRI.com homepage for article on What’s new in 9.2 (220+ pages as a PDF)
- New search engine supporting documentation

Making great looking maps (without using other apps)
- added intelligent, reactive symbology
- improved productivity
- more control over symbols
- customize symbology to individual features and drive the symbology by attributes of data
- graphic conflict detection according to pre-defined rules
- expanded animation capabilities
- multi-dimensional support for NetCDF – commonly used format for use with oceanographic and hydrologic data modeling
- Improved 3D usability with new geoprocessing tools, addition of terrains and a terrain data format, and 3D visualization improvements.

what's New in ArcGIS 9.2 – a major release - some hints on what's coming

ArcGIS 9.2 – a major release
- Improve the quality and usability of ArcGIS via customer driven improvements.
- Extended the ArcGIS platform
- Better documentation

Goal is to ship final release this fall - Pre release was July 2006

Key enhancements
- make it easier to use and fix bugs
- improve docs
- make good looking maps without using other apps
- add more powerful visualization
- make the geoDB easier to use
- improved support for cAD and other data stds
- better automation for worklows using geoprocessing
- make it easier to author and deploy GIS maps across the web

More than 4000 bugs have been fixed in total!

Blog meetup reminder and random notes from Wednesday morning at ESRI UC including a look at ArcGIS Explorer

Most of the folks from the blogosphere taht are here in San Deigo already know about the geoblogger hook-up taking place tonight but I'll remind you once again about the Google sponsored event... I can't make it as I'm flying out at 7 PM (darn).. maybe next year I guess!
Mister Tiki Mai Tai Lounge801 5th Ave, San Diego, CA(619) 233-1183 - Time: 8pm, 9 August.
Just an FYI, I'm now in Room 6A here at teh coonvention center preparing to listen to a session on what's new in ArcGIS 9.2. Just left Dick's where we had a decent, fast lunch and a couple of 32 ounce cokes to keep me going! Prior to that I was on the exhibition hall floor for a few hours taking in the latest in GIS solutions and enabling technologies. Some of the things I got to see include:
- a nice presentation of ArcGIS explorer from Bernie Sekalski (sorry about the spelling!). Expect the free viwing client to be available in the near future, once 9.2 ships. The objective of this client is to further enable the consumption of web services. Very cool about this is the ability to run your models or other people's models as well as provisioning for alot more GIS functionality and analytical capabilities... it really is lots more than a simple, free viewer. The support for not only KML data but SHP files, geo rasters and local content make the client a huge step above using ArcView explorer. I didn't get a chance to see the session for developers on how to create and ready your data and apps for viewing in explorer but apparently its pretty slick and simple. The ability to download and even share your own Globes with others will no doubt make the online community resource quite popular down the road - you can get a glimpse of it by visiting http://www.esri.com/explorer/.
- pushpin LE from Placebase is very cool and will be a welcomed tool for developers looking for Google maps-like functionality - check out their API - more info at http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/8572/

OOPS, gotta go as the session is starting

Overheard at ESRI UC - It's Cool To Know Where You Are

Some quotes and things we've heard (and overheard) at the ESRI UC... my favorite... It's Cool To Know Where you Are. I heard this great line mentioned by a couple of people in reference to the fact that everyone is into mapping and knowing where you are. Once you know your coordinates you can find out some really cool information.
Other things overheard:
- ArcGIS is becoming more affordable
- “I have a guy in my area that won’t upgrade from ArcView 3x”
- ESRI “suggested” that a county to not display their GE application in the Defence Industry showcase on the exhibition hall
- I think a lot of you will be collecting LIDAR soon
- Google Earth is a kind of basemap
- If you haven’t already moved to the geodatabse then 9.2 is the time to do it
- At 9.2 the cad conversion capabilities are REALLY strong
- Trimble’s new GeoCollector – everything you need to get up and running with mobile GIS – out of the box

ArcGIS fundamentals and what's new in 9.2

From Clint Brown's session – ArcGIS fundamentals and
what’s new in 9.2 and the geodatabase.

Goal in development of ArcGIS 9.2– a desktop system
for professional GIS users. Made up of applications,
developer tools, and data - supporting Desktop,
Server, Developer, mobile GIS

With the desktop, design, edit, model, deploy
Clients: Professonal GIS, web maps, ArcGIS explorer
maps, custom (embedded) maps, mobile maps.

Geodatabase storage – personal; file; ArcSDE GDB;
GeoDB XML – this year, pay attention to the file
Geodatabase (a tip) stored in a folder, up to 1 TB,
any platform, single editor and a few readers.

Shipping ArcSDE with ArcEditor & ArcInfo – you’ll also
get MS SQL server express
Inside ArcCatalog are al the tools needed to setup SQL
Server Geodatabases
- Also new at 9.2 is personal and workgroup ArcSDE
- Also a way to represent the full Geodatabase schema
as XML
- Geodatabase setup to work with multiple versions and
maintain versioning and manage history(s)
- Maintain multiple copies and to manage and
synchronize copies (eg. Update police data more
frequently than other departments)

What’s new in ArcGIS 9.2
- shipping fall 2006
- responding to trends in GIS
o making GIS easier to use – improved docs, addressing
issues and problems (ie. Added functionality to mouse
buttons and wheels, keystroke shortcuts)
o locational accuracy is increasing (higher res, new
sensors, GPS accuracy, richer content.
o A high-precision framework for data management and
integration (a higher precision GeoDB (useful for
cadastral workflows, raster georeferencing, terrain
datasets)
o Enterprise spatial data management (SQL access to
the GeoDB, a variety of distributed editing and
synchronization environments like desktop, web,
mobile, custom, open)
o GIS modeling and spatial analysis – enhancements
with many modeling tools, workflow automation
o Visualization in 2D, 3D, and over time – creating
compelling visualizations using Globes, charts,
animations, etc… support time series modeling data
formats.
o Enhancements to map finishing and printing – tools
for generalization, PDF creation and layering, webmap
publishing, better rules-based symbology and symbol
rotation… many automated cartographic tools.
o Addressing trends in mobile GIS with smart clients
(ArcPad) enabling better synchronization with the
enterprise. Some solutions include: Trimble’s Geo
Collector, Go Sync MapBook, Redline

- support for new GIS computing platforms (web,
server) with a price point attractive to all
- make it easier and fun to use and apply GIS**
- provide important new capabilities
- responding to users’ issues
- provide a framework for meeting GIS trends
- high coordinate precision
- map projections and coordinate mgmt for raster and
CAD
- new cadastral editor for survey analyst
- manage massive sets of measurements
- geoprocessing on servers
- ArcGIS Image server will come with 9.2 – currently
in beta
- Enhanced data format support (WMS, KML ,DXF, GML
etc…)

End of Clint's discussion... stay tuned for more on
9.2 later

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Video casts from the ESRI conference?

Videos from the conference... I'm a bit confused as to what the policy is regarding this one... I just noticed a video of some of the material presented at yesterday's keynote session showing off ArcGIS Explorer while at the same time I ran into Jeff Thurston earlier todady who had his video camera in tow yesterday and was politely "asked" to put his video cam away... hmmm. Guess I'll have to try and locate someone about the official policy. No doubt there will be plenty of MP3s floating around in the blogosphere but it would be nice to know what the oficial word is.

More on ArcPad 7, 7.0.1, and 7.1 - from the ESRI UC

A little more from this mornings final session as we depart to sprint away for lunch... some notes from the ArcPad session (part 2). Recall that 7.0.1 will be available very soon and 7.1 is comming next year. What’s new in 7.0.1 - signif. Performance gains (Trimble users will really appreciate this with start-up time shrunk from as much as 2 minutes down to 20 seconds!) - usability enhancements - quality improvements

Currently there are 14 languages supported. 7.0.1 has 2 more languages added including Korean. Tip - getting data out of ArcGIS -- use the “get data for ArcPad 7” tool within ArcGIS, select data, export, and extract data to a specified folder for subsequent use in ArcPad (SHP files) – will convert any data format and any projection.

So what data can you move for use in ArcPad? Shapefiles, rasters, symbologies, ArcGIS graphic layers and styles.

Preparing your Data for ArcPad - create new SHP files within ArcPad – note: add custom input forms using Quickform tool - use existing SHP files and create forms using QuickForm tool - extract data from the Geodatabase (checkout only necessary data) - for faster performance suggest you use SHP file indexes and use scale dependent symbology and labeling
Query data in ArcPad - indentify by attrs - hyperlink to external files (photo, video) - locate features by coordinates - find by attribute query - locate via measuring distance
Data Capture and Editing - capture point, line, polygon, text - create geometry - add attributes
Using a GPS in ArcPad - view GPS position window - set GPS preferences to control the incoming GPS input - activate GPS tracklog - select GPS capture tool (GPS point, GPS vertices, GPS streaming vertices)

Using other capture devices - use rangefinders to take offset measurements (range, bearing, inclination, etc…) - use digital camera to capture and associate images with features or photo layers. View photos with the identify and hyperlink tools. - A number of supported offset methods are available for those collecting data in hard to reach environments (supports simple offset, 2 point offset, and traverses)

At version 7, ArcPad is much more useful than what we saw a couplle of years agao (ala version 6) and this application is very simple to use. If memory serves me right you can demo it for free (see the esri website) and give it a test run for yourself. See the bundled solutions from eSRI or Trimble for n out of the box solution that will get you up and running with your field data collection.

Coming at 7.1 - maximize screen real estate - toolbars – floating, docked, more configuration options, one touch hide/show - related tables (highly anticipated) 1 to many relationships, database rules supported in data rather than forms - easier to create forms - object model enhancements to support relationships I'm off to lunch... Later - Ooh.. for more onn ArcPad see the Arcpad team blog at http://arcpadteam.blogspot.com/

Sidenote - GIS Job Boards and Thursday night party tickets

A thought... here at the covention center the JOB boards are in a new location this year and not in th ehallway outside the main session rooms. you need to run through the map gallery and enter the public Internet access area. The job boards are already getting very full, with about 10 posting boards jam packed with great job opportunities. There's also loads of resumes there for job seekers and anyone looking for or having in their posession extra or unneeded tickets for the Thursday night party are encouraged to give them up there. Speaking of that I have access to a couple of tickets to the very fun Thursday night party. If you need them try to find me and ask me about them... I'm glad to help out someone in need (unfortunately I won't be here thursday night for the Irish-themed bash in the park)

the text messaging time saver

A side note here... I'm always amazed at how many people don't have support for txt messaging on their mobile or they simply don't use it! A sample use.. while I'm blogging here I'm also getting messages from home countering offers on the sale for my house... it's stressful but what a huge time saver! Don't have mobile access via txt, IM, or similar... spend the extra $2 a month and get it!

ESRI UC session - A Look at ArcPad 7 - part of ESRI's mobile GIS strategy

My next stop is the session on ArcPad 7 and the road ahead to 7.1 - for release Q2, 2007.
ArcPad 7 overview and recent timeline – recall 7 was released at end of last year with added support for range finders and digital cameras as well as many other major enhancements. SP1 was released in May 5, 2006 (added fix for Trimble’s GPS correct 2.0.
7.0.1 planned on release shortly after the UC
ArcPad 7.1 target release date Q2, 2007
Recall GeoCollector was announced about 2 weeks ago – it’s a professional mobile GIS/GPS solution bundling Trimble GeoExplorer pro GPS handheld pre-loaded with ArcPad 7 SP1along with Trimble’s GPSCorrect 2.0 – alos includes a license of GPS Analyst extension for ArcGIS desktop

What is ArcPad 7 Part of ESRI’s overall mobile strategy – a mobile GIS app for field mapping applications. Allows input from GPS receivers, range finders, digital cameras and other devices. Includes out-of-box display functionality enabling data editing and analysis as well as support for extensive customization –extending the Geodatabase to the field.

Enhancements for ArcPad 7
- improved performance
- enhanced editing (snap, undo, repeat, segemented lines)
- camera and rangefinder support
- improved symbology and labeling
- support for graphics layer (for redlining)
- import/export tools for ArcGIS
- customization with new wizards for creating forms - no programin required (nice!)
stay tuned for more

Brown to room... any of you connecting other GIS products to your Geodatabase?

Clint Brown asks a room of about 300 or 400... "are there any of you who connect your GIS to other systems (CAD, GeoMedia, Microstation etc...)"there's a quiet pause and about a dozen hands went up... WOW. Clint was amazed and I was equally surprised. Perhaps people are being shy, or there's a room full of committed ESRI users here... amazing. Not to knock any of the other vendors but it's quite amazing that more people don't have multi-vendor licenses kicking around... boy have times changed!

Register looks at mobile web still being a turn off

An interesting read at theRegister this AM... the article with a tagline "Give us maps not blogs" dscusses recent research in the UK regarding the mobile internet... I like this snippet fromm the piece: The study suggested that users aren't inherently adverse about using the net on the move. Nine in ten said they'd use mobile internet services providing they could be sure that pages would load faster and they'd avoid high charges -- Amen! I couldn't agree more

note on 9.2 and the personal and workgroup ArcSDE

Some random thoughts and notes fromm Clint Brown's discussion on the geodatabase at 9.2:
Introducing at 9.2 – personal and workgroup ArcSDE
Personal – included with ArcInfo and ArcEditor, 3 usaers at a time, 1 editor
Workgroup – part of workgroup ArcGIS server, any number of users supported
- admin and manage both using ArcCatalog
- - no DBA required
- limited to the use of 1 GB RAM and once cocket
- max size up to 4GB per geodatabase
- managed with ArcCatalog

New at 9.2 – a terrain dataset – pts and lines used to create a TIN, user defines rules for resolution, scale etc…useful for the integration and management of LIDAR data.
A rondom quote... "I think a lot of you will be collecting LIDAR soon" (Clint Brown)

shorter days at ESRI UC

An observation: it seems to me that the days here at the ESRI user conference are slightly shorter this year compared to years past. Lunch breaks are longer, the last sessions end earlier and breaks are longer as well. This is a welcomed change I think as before it could seem like the days were very long, it was tough to sprint to lunch and back and attendees were burning out by Wednesday evening. Cramming all the great sessions into a slightly shorter day is challenging though as once again there were 3 sessions that I really wanted to hit this morning at 8:30... flip a coin I guess. The days may be shorter (slightly) but that's just led to longer nights for many!

Tuesday morning at the ESRI user conference and a super session

Hello, sorry about the absence... yesterday afternoon was quite busy, as can be expected, with the afternoon keynote presentations blending right into the fabulous evening map gallery social hour(s). As usual the map gallery delivered, with hundreds, no thousands of maps on display. the works of what seemed like every county in the US, non-profits, public agencies, military, emergency response crews, you name it... how does anyone pick a favorite?? I have to say that I was captivated by all the work from last years response to hurricane katrina (on display front and center in the gallery this year). Equally impressive was the BC experience map by STM. Funny as the actual BC experience is located close to my hometown in Victoria BC but I have yet to experience it - until now! On display was a 1/4 size model of the 3D map made up of hundreds of panels derived from millions of elevation points. you really need to see this model to appreciate it as it is an exact scale model of the Province of BC, with the curvature of the Earth precisely modeled - that's how big this map is. The map gallery closed and we capped off the night some seafood. Waking up at 7 this AM (ya i know I slept in) I started the day with a nice walk through the gaslamp, a healthy breakfast, and now a "super session" from Clint Brown where he'll be discussing the gedatabase, geodata design, open geospatial data management, and federated data management.. I'm missing the talk on what's new in ArcGIS 9.2 so I hope Clint delivers.

4H GeoKids taking the stage at ESRI UC

It's always inpirational hearing from the kids and once again at the ESRI user conference the kids delivered. This year it was a group from the 4H youth organization that took center stage to show us all what they have accomplished and where they are going with GIS and geospatial technologies. This presentation likely drew the biggest and longest rounds of applause (as the kids usually do) as we saw images and heard details of how GIS and in particular, ESRI solutions are helping the non-profit youth organization solve a wide range of community problems and help initiate projects (like determining safety zones, parks planning, etc...). Hearing these stories always gets you motivated and I have no doubt that most of the people in the room were moved to at least think about how they could help a local orginazation or community group by offering up some skills or just a little bit of their own GIS knowledge and skills. Even keynote speaker Senator Bob Kerry made numerous references about the 4H kids and how such a smart and enthusastic group of kids makes him feel good and offers great promise for us (and the planet) moving forward... kudos to the 4H Group and I will definitely pass the word on that GIS professionals around the Globe are encouraged to offer up some help to a local non-profit like 4H. For more about 4H see this thread on the ESRI UC weblog

A new "geo" blog at Carbon Cloud

the crew at Carbon Project just informed me of their latest addition to the geo blogosphere... enter Carbon Cloud, a resource to keep you informed of the developments affecting the Carbon Project and all that interests them... Good luck! See http://carboncloud.blogspot.com/ and their latest post "Google blinds competition"

Notes from the open session at ESRI UC 26

Like James indicated, it’s a bit tough to blog in detail, live from within the session hall, however, I can get you some of the points and highlights of things we’ve been hearing about so far today.

13,500 professionals from 127 countries taking the stage here in the conference. These are GIS professionals from a variety of disciplines. To start Jack asked us all to meet someone news (as he does every year). The week ahead we were reminded is all about sharing and communication

What we all do:
To kick off the presentation Jack has been going through a reminder of what exactly we all do and providing some amazing examples of uses and users of GIS and ESRI solutions.
logistics, security, public safety, conservation, emergency response. Etc…
Last year recall Hurricane Katrina put many GIS users to work in a tragic, real life emergency. Many people here at the UC were involved and working on the response.
Global change, planning, public safety and E911, homeland security, business geographics, telecommunications and infrastructure planning/management, agriculture, mining… geography in education, health
Applications are considering geography as a whole

Special achievement in GIS awards have been handed out to some 100+ ESRI power users.
Making a difference award -- National informatics center of India – built a national infrastructure. Dr. Sharma was greeted and introduced to us on the stage

Also… special achievent award – NGA – Lt. Gen James Clapper

President’s Ward – OS, Britain
“Built one of the most successful GIS’s I’ve ever seen” (Dangermond) – a complete geospatial org! An ambitious undertaking launched in 2001 –completed early and under budget (OS MasterMAp) – million+ featured Updates inn the DB take place withing 6 months of the landscape changing

Meeting the challenges that face us:
Greater human understanding
Sense of responsibility
The courage and will to act
Collaborative efforts
Strong leadership

GIS enables us to make a difference and provides us with a new medium for understanding and modeling our World. Provides for intuitive visualization, helps us create order and meaning of the planet and understand nature and ecology. GIS influences how we do things and how we reaspond. It provides us with with the ability to build a common understanding. We can author and share our geographic knowledge. The web is now geographically enabled with many services, and users. The future web will evolve to be a great collaborative tool with many users and authors. … GeoWeb. Google and Microsoft have introduced tools that provide a new way of interacting and seeing. GIS on the web creates many possibilities for sharing geographic knowledge… share maps, data, analysis, Globes, metadata… this will create a whole new way of thinking that is open and interoperable. Individual systems and communities will use each other’s services… sharing content freely and interoperability are key.

The ESRI Development Process
9.2 is the biggest and most productive release yet – some 1000 person years
Attention to quality, and documentation
Better quality and productivity – thousand sof bugs fixed, better documentation, more content and a new way of documentation. Focus on support for 3 diff categories of standards making it a truly open platform – support for OGC and ISO standards.. and support for DXF and KML.. more on that later..

ArcGIS Technology – using the web as a platform.. new clients for Mobile, Web map, and Explorer. Desktop tools will be more stable and much new functionality rolled into extensions. Better attribute edition, integration with CAD, COGO support, and new data models.

Animation and visualization – enhanced 3D visualization and temporal analysis and modeling
New tools, extending the geodatabase model (ie. A new terrain surface XYZ data structure) provides for ability to siplay additional detail as you zoom into your data.
Improving arcGIS server for raster data management
Image server to be packaged with ArcGIS Server – on the fly processing of imagery on the server… much faster raster processing and display on the web.

Open access to the Geodatabase using SQL
Introduction of history fields (ideal for managing land records)

ArcIMS 9.2 – new webmap viewer, .Net and Java integration
ArcGIS Server is a new platform – now a complete comprehensive server-based system; out of the box services, simple to install, scalable, high performance, interoperable, affordable. – no longer simply a developer application (.net and java flavors).

New licensing of ArcGIS Server – make what you do more available – think taking your data and drag/drop/serve
Advanced – geopreocessing and editing
Standard – mapping and visualization
Basic – data management

ArcGIS Explorer is getting loads of airtime and has been on the screens quite a bit this morning - ass we likely expected. Once available (date?) this free client should be a very powerful tool, enabling not only simple viewing but users can actually perform spatial apps and real "GIS" using it! Support for SHP and KML data is provided as is the support for a number of raster data formats... sewwt. Some of the Globes and templates that will be available for all are spectacular to say the least... imaging your very own Globe using National Geographic quality cartographic data... that's what you'll have with arcGIS Explorer... and much more.

Gotta go get some lunhc and, as luck would have it, I have multiple offers comming inn on the house today so I'm also communicating with the realtor and my wife while I blog fromm the session... can you say Multi-tasking!!!! Later ;0) (PS: sorry about any typos!)

start up video

To get things rolling the video crew at ESRI
entertained us with a very cool montage of events
past, showing us snippets us video of presentaions and
conference moments from the past. Set to music it was
quite cool and showed loads of ESRI staffers behind
the scenes... these are the guys who make this huge
event all happen and typically run without a hitch...
nice job. JAck is now on the stage... later

Monday AM kick-off at ESRI UC

Well, after a long and fun week-end here in San Diego
its time to get down to business so I'm now in the
mainn exhibition hall here at the convention center
waiting for the Monday kick-off session and keynote to
take place. Monday is always a real rush here as JAck
and crew take center stage to show off the latest
applications and give us a glimpse at the road ahead.
Today we'll hear all about ArcGIS 9.2 and 9.x, ArcGIS
explorer should get some decent attention (my guess)
and I suspect we'll likely hear loads about IMS and a
variety of web-enabling solution. Scott Moorehouse,
David MAguire, John Calkins, Clint Brown, and many
other key ESRI staffers will no doubt pump us all up
with their presentations as they always do. The room
is filling up quite fast already as people try to
squeeze innto the few vacant front row seats that are
still around. Back tracking a day or so, I had a
typical Saturday trip to the conference, although I
definitely had some good karma on the first leg of the
journey. A perfectly timed drop-off at the airport,
followed by a non-eventful but rapid process through
INS at the border. I then used my better instincts and
made my way to a monitor to see if there were any
earlier flights to San Diego. Low and behold there was
a 4:00 PM flight (just 45 minutes away). A jog to the
counter where I request switching flights is a no
brainer and easily done thanks to the good folks at
Alaska Air (this makes up for them inflicting some
serious damage on a perfectly good suitcase on a
recent flight from Denver!). I then decide to push my
luck even further and ask for an exit row seat as the
clerk prepares to issue me a boarding pass. He says to
me…. “I have one left and it’s a window seat too”!
Awesome… you gotta like it when things work out. So, a
fast, smooth flight out of Seattle takes us over a
smoldering Mt St. Helens (I kid you not) and I get in
to San Diego at 7:45 instead of 9:35… what a great
start. Sunday was bag pick up day and several of us
took in a ball game at Petco. the Padres won the game
in extra innings which led us to celebrate over at
Dick's for the rest of the evening. An impromotu crowd
of us managed meet up at Dick's where we had a fun but
productive evening greet-up and discussion of what we
expected over the next several days. I'll leave you
now as things are about to get started here.