A Moment of Silence for MapObjects

June 8, 2010 9 Comments

Come July 1st, 2010, you won’t be able to buy more licenses for MapObjects 2.4.  MapObjects used to be a big part of my geo-coding, though I’ve not be using it for a couple years because it hasn’t supported the latest geospatial technology.  I know lots of people still rely on MO for their applications (some mission critical), but the writing is on the wall, MapObjects is not a choice anymore.  That said I still need to give ESRI some lovin for MapObjects.  MO, you won’t be missed but thanks for being there when I needed you.

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Implications of ESRI MapIt

July 1, 2009 11 Comments

So ESRI has a new product arriving:

Another major/joint effort involves the development of a new ESRI product called MapIt. This technology provides simple geocoding and mapping capability for the Microsoft environment. MapIt enables developers to create maps of their enterprise data stored SQL Server 2008 and Excel. MapIt is designed to give non-GIS organizations the ability to easily create maps and share them within a variety of Microsoft environments like SharePoint. Details will be announced in July.

There were rumors of such a product coming out at the DevSummit, but nothing came of it.  This appears to be the continuation of the Silverlight/WPF product that ESRI has been working on.  What is interesting here is it would appear not to be using ESRI Servers (ArcGIS Server/ArcSDE) and direct connecting to SQL Server then visualizing on Bing Maps.  It would appear that you can develop using ESRI’s APIs, but not deal with ArcObjects.  As an ESRI developer though, I’m wondering if this could be my new MapObjects?

No word on pricing and licensing, but I’m going to be paying close attention to MapIt in two weeks.

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Stopping Over-engineered GIS Applications

September 30, 2008 22 Comments

I was thinking the past week about a project that we will start working on soon. Simply put, it is updating a MapObjects IMS application we deployed almost 10 years ago, that is still working. When I saw that it was not only still running, but it was still a critical part of their business workflow, it started me thinking about why such an application was so successful. It obviously wasn’t the technology. Sure the back end runs on Oracle, but even the most ardent MOIMS supporter can’t claim that the Visual Basic application was cutting edge even back then. So that must mean there was something else going on that kept it running when most MOIMS sites are long gone.

Wont someone please think of the users?

Won't someone please think of the users?

History of GIS applications tells us one story that repeats itself again and again.  There is a horrible habit of pushing over-engineered applications that are not used by the target audience because no one has time to figure out complicated tools.  GIS vendors have not discouraged such habits and in some cases encourage them.  The GIS world is really good at writing GIS applications for GIS professionals.  I think this used to work before GIS and mapping became important in our everyday lives, but now that everyone everywhere is looking at deploying spatial applications focus needs to be put on what the end users are going to be doing with the application.

So back to that old MapObjects application, it did a really good job of doing what it was supposed to do.  Display information in a context that the users were comfortable working (the interface was familiar to them) with and meet their requirements (which were obviously well developed), fit within their websites, scaled well (even Visual Basic does that apparently) and wasn’t an obstacle to their workflows.  With MOIMS depreciated and the need to connect to more modern ESRI servers and Oracle databases the application needs to be updated, but not because it restricts their business practices and workflows.

Foisting this application on users of a bus system was poorly thought out, but the Google Transit version released a few weeks ago hits the target users right on.  The heavy GIS website might meet needs of users in the organizations internally, but externally it really highlights missed opportunities and wasted resources.  I’m personally really excited to see if we can replicate the success of the earlier MOIMS application with JavaScript APIs, KML downloads and other new technology and still keep is simple.  The key is listen to what the client really wants and be agile enough to deliver simple, focused, and fast products.

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