ArcGIS Image Server now included in ESRI Developer Network

EDNWhile it was announced at the Developer Summit, the “official” news that ArcGIS Image Server will be part of EDN is welcome.

ArcGIS Image Server, a server-based solution that provides fast access and visualization of large quantities of file-based imagery processed on the fly and on demand, has been added to the suite of software provided to ESRI Developer Network (EDN) subscribers. Both ArcGIS Image Server extensions, Orthorectification and Seamline, are also included.

ArcGIS 9.2 SP2 Due “Mid-April”

As I’m sure many of you who subscribe to ESRI’s email announcement list saw, ESRI is planning to release ArcGIS 9.2 SP2 sometime near mid-april. For those who missed it, you can view the changes here. One thing to keep in mind is ESRI’s definintion of a Service Pack may be different then yours. These aren’t just bug fixes, but feature releases (especially ArcGIS Server). So you’ll want to start paying attention to these Service Pack announcements in the future (remember there is a planned SP3 due later this summer) so that you’ll not miss out on new features.

ESRI Developer Summit 2007 Day 1

Rob Elkins and Dave Bouwman have some great posts on the morning sessions. Rather than repeat what they’ve written I’ll point you in their direction.

Rob Elkins – 2nd Annual ESRI Developer Summit
Rob Elkins – ArcGIS Server takes the Stage (Author – Server – Use)
Rob Elkins – Plenary Session continues..
Rob Elkins – Online GIS
Dave Bouwman – Dev Summit: Plenary Session Notes
Steven Citron-Pousty – Plenary session

The notes that most of you will be interested in is what’s planned for 2007 with ArcGIS:

  • Maintain 9.2 (bug fixes, performance, documention, critical issues)
  • Enhance ArcGIS Server (OGC, enhance Web ADF)
  • Overhaul Desktop User Interface
  • Overhaul Core GIS components (Geodatabase, mapping and graphics, Geoprocessing)
  • Develope standard mobile application framework
  • Enhance ArcGIS Online

Beyond that the new stuff in 9.3 future releases will include:
ArcObjects Core:
– new compiler, 64-bit executibles
– simplified API (COM, .NET, Java)
– improve install, update, license management
Mapping and Graphics
– map data model (Geodatabase)
– new graphics engine (2D & 3D)
Geodatabase
– integrated metadata catalog
– XML & 64-bit object ID fileds (SDE, File Geodatabase)
– 3D information models
Geoprocessing
– core framework performance and improvments
ArcGIS Desktop
– Integrated desktop user interface
ArcGIS Server
– Fast dymanic map (new graphics engine)
– Improved Geoprocessing
– Integrated catalog and search

ArcGIS 9.1 not in Extended Support….Yet

Back in November, before we all got our ArcGIS 9.2, ESRI posted an updated ArcGIS Desktop Life Cycle PDF that showed that ArcGIS 9.1 had entered “Extended Support”. I guess they changed their minds because it appears that 9.1 is still in “General Availability”. We are back to the

ArcGIS 9.1 will be moved to Extended support 3 months after ArcGIS 9.2 begins shipping.

which means that if ESRI says 9.2 shipped “mid-November” then 9.1 will transition to Extended Support mid-February. I don’t recall ever seeing ESRI repost this, but that doesn’t mean that 9.1 or even 9.2 will be certified to work with Microsoft Vista.

ESRI does not currently support ArcGIS products on Windows Vista and does not have plans to add Vista support to ArcGIS product versions up to and including 9.2. However, ESRI is committed to supporting ArcGIS on the Windows Vista operating system and intends to add support for Windows Vista in service packs released after ArcGIS 9.2 Service Pack 2, as well as future releases of ArcGIS products.

So 9.2 will be certified down the road, but 9.1 will not. ArcGIS 9.1 is in General Availability at the time of the Microsoft Vista release and I guess that doesn’t mean that ESRI will support it.

I've scratched my head so much over ESRI that I'm going bald

What is fixed with ArcGIS 9.2 Service Pack 1

Wondering if ArcGIS 9.2 SP1 will address your problem? Check out ESRI’s ArcGIS 9.2 Service Pack 1 – Announcement page and find out.

The first ArcGIS 9.2 service pack, ArcGIS 9.2 SP1 is planned to be available as a download to the public late the week of December 25, 2006. This service pack is to help address issues users have encountered in the ArcGIS 9.2 release. CD media will also be made available by request. The 9.2 SP1 page will be available in the next couple of days and will provide a detailed list of the issues addressed

ESRI ArcGIS 9.2 SP1 delayed until after Christmas

Rusty Planet reports that ESRI Tech Support is saying that Service Pack 1 for ArcGIS 9.2 will be delayed until after Christmas.

The Tech Support operator did say that ESRI plans on releasing the Service Pack next week (week of December 25th).

The ESRI Gatekeeper says there are no Service Packs around here

THERE IS NO SERVICE PACK HERE, NOW GO AWAY!

ArcGIS Image Server “now available”

Jonathan emailed me to let me know that ESRI is now pushing ArcGIS Image Server on their front page. Image Server has always been sort of a phantom product, you heard about it at the conferences, but damn if you saw a thing on the website. Well there is an overview in the ESRI help if you want to see what all the fuss is about and probably a podcast on its way.

The ArcGIS Family of products keeps you and your kids safe!

ArcGIS 9.2 Service Pack 1 Due Week of December 18th

Thanks to Joel for the heads up via email!

The first ArcGIS 9.2 service pack, ArcGIS 9.2 SP1 is planned to be available as a download to the public late the week of December 18, 2006. This service pack is to help address issues users have encountered in the ArcGIS 9.2 release. CD media will also be made available by request. The 9.2 SP1 page will be available in the next couple of days and will provide a detailed list of the issues addressed.

Righteous!
Righteous Dude!

ArcGIS 9.2 Beta has closed

ESRI ArcGISYes as of today, the ArcGIS 9.2 beta is closed. All the beta forums are now read only (actually not all, but most) and beta users are supposed to use normal ESRI support methods. ESRI has created a new website, ArcGIS 9.2 Prerelease (login with your existing ESRI account), where you can still download software updates and get information about the prerelease and release candidates. And the best news? ArcGIS 9.2 will begin shipping November 2006 to customers (though I’ve gotten reports that ESRI sales reps are saying December 2006).

Keep an eye out for that 9.2 Beta survey and fill it out. Tell ESRI you’d like to see MORE blogs and MORE wiki’s in the future and that they were helpful. Personally I liked the beta site so much more than the previous beta sites ESRI has done. I hope this new portal is the future as both the beta site and the new ESRI Customer Care portal are such a big improvement over the older sites.

ArcGIS Explorer, ArcExplorer and ArcWeb Explorer

Tying to explain ArcI can’t tell you how many times I’ve read that people are getting these three products confused. ArcGIS Explorer is ESRI’s ArcGIS Server desktop client. ArcExplorer is ESRI’s GIS viewer (either MapObjects or Java based) and ArcWeb Explorer is ESRI’s flash based ArcWeb browser client. About the only things that they have in common are that they are free and they are made by ESRI. ESRI’s propensity to name things with the prefix “Arc” causes some of this confusion, but having two products with the prefix Arc and Explorer in their name could be worse.

ArcWeb seems to be included in ArcGIS as well as on its own. ArcGIS extensions usually have ArcGIS in front of their names (e.g. ArcGIS 3D Analyst or ArcGIS Publisher), but Maplex for ArcGIS and ArcScan for ArcGIS both append ArcGIS to the end. It is even worse on the server side as only ArcGIS Server adheres to the ArcGIS naming convention. ArcIMS and ArcSDE (both which predate ArcGIS) continue to hold on to their older names and ESRI Image Server doesn’t even have the word Arc in it.

ESRI Developer Network which is really ArcGIS Server and Engine Developer Network also doesn’t use Arc. One could go one, but I think everyone gets the picture. The bigger problem as I see it is that ESRI still isn’t getting any better at naming (taking ArcGIS Explorer and ArcWeb Explorer as the example). It is hard enough to explain the difference between ArcGIS Desktop, ArcView, ArcEditor and ArcInfo these days without new products making it worse. I guess eventually there will be two products, ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Server and the licenses will dictate how they are to be used. Still ESRI doesn’t seem to like to give up on these old names so I’m sure we’ll see ArcIMS and ArcSDE soldier for years to come.