SOAP is for cleaning…
March 6, 2009 13 Comments
Of course this is not surprising in the least bit, but Google is abandoning their SOAP API to focus on their RESTful APIs. Most developers, myself included, prefer working with RESTful services and I’m interested in seeing if other companies will start “retiring” their SOAP APIs for their newer RESTful ones. ESRI, MapGuide, and GeoServer are all great RESTful implementations, but they are still young and immature. Just looking at the ESRI ArcGIS Server Mashup Challenge submissions, you can see the sheer number of REST API, JSAPI, Flex API projects and the lack of Web ADF projects. As these RESTful APIs get more mature, it is clear that ESRI SOAP APIs are destined to follow Google’s SOAP APIs into depreciation.
Even John Brown looked at ESRI's RESTful API for salvation.
About James Fee
Classic image James, I’m stealing it!
We’ve started migrating our older Web ADF applications to the Javascript API this year. The older Geocortex ArcIMS stuff is being abandoned for the JSAPI and the Google Maps extender. The more you work with the REST API, the more you understand why it is such a great way to go. Plus we’ve begun to integrate other REST APIs out there into our applications that we wouldn’t have even though of doing before.
SOAP? Are we still talking about that? The days of AXL are long gone. GET me a URL all day baby!
I agree REST is great, but the title of your article reveals your North American perspective. INSPIRE requires SOAP. Good thing you don’t consult in Europe.
DISA’s Net-Centric Enterprise Services use SOAP as well. We sneak REST in whenever we can but when we have to interact with NCES participants, we have to use SOAP.
Artificial policy constraints aside, REST is superior, though.
FYI the ESRI rest apii back-ends into the SOAP api, so don’t expect it to go away any time soon…
Way to bring the reality check, Dave!
@Europe: Just because INSPIRE is SOAP doesn’t mean they are making a good decision. I could fill a blog about what I think INSPIRE is doing wrong (and probably another with what they are doing right). SOAP isn’t going anywhere in the next few years, but we are at the tipping point right now and if you want people to use your services, REST is the only way to go.
@Dave: As we’ve talked, the REST API is very lacking for ESRI at this point. In Google’s case their REST API is more feature complete than their SOAP so it makes sense to abandon it. Eventually that will happen with ESRI (at least I hope so).
@Seam Gillies: Curious, does it matter to a RESTful zealot that ESRI’s REST API is a cover for SOAP?
Short answer: no.
the web adf has nothing to do with the soap interface. the best arcgis server soap clients are not the ones of the awful adf blingbling.
@James: very curious to know what you think, in depth, about INSPIRE.
Thanks in advance
@James, I am also really interested to know your opinion about INSPIRE, since I’ve been involved in some EU projects related such as ORCHESTRA (heavily based on SOAP)
LOVE the John Brown pic. This was on the cover of Kansas’ (the BAND) first album. It was only upwards from there. Carry On, Wayward Son!
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