Esri REST API Could Be an OGC Standard

June 16, 2011 Leave a Comment

Update: @ThomasG77 gives a head up on Twitter the confirmation by the OGC on the status of the Esri REST API and the OGC process.

Now I’m sorry if I butchered that name, I don’t recall being briefed on what the API Is called these days.[ref]Seems like REST API for ArcGIS Server would be right[/ref]  It appears that over last weekend Esri announced that they were “giving” their REST API to OGC as a standard.  Big news if you ask me given that the OGC has just never been able to get an OGC REST Standard adopted.  Plus it might make more sense given that the Esri REST API is pretty damn awesome and you got to think that the OGC would rather have awesome over a committee standard that no one uses.

One curious outcome of this is that we could now have a JSON standard in OGC, in this case Esri JSON.  GeoJSON, despite the fact that almost everyone uses it, is a community standard[ref]And there isn’t anything wrong with that[/ref] not an OGC one (like GeoRSS).  If the OGC adopts the Esri JSON standard in the REST API, we could finally have a JSON standard for the INSPIRE project [ref]Does anyone else use OGC on purpose or is it only by law?[/ref]  Brian Flood thinks it make sense and I tend to agree with him.  Bill Dollins isn’t so sure.

If this is all going to happen, we’ll see a couple things come out of this.  First off we’ll probably see Geoserver and Mapserver start supporting this standard[ref]Though we’ve seen Esri’s REST API documented for months, no one that I know of has implemented it[/ref] which means that Esri Desktop users can add these servers without having to use WMS or WFS.  It also may mean that clients such as QGIS, gvSIG and OpenLayers will have native Esri REST API[ref]And thus Esri ArcGIS for Server[/ref] reading.

If OGC was an open organization, we’d probably know more.  Heck, something to talk about at the UC next month, right?

Wonder how Esri was able to do this?

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WMS — Dead? No, But Does Anyone Really Want to Work With It?

February 23, 2011 6 Comments

Sophia Parafina threw this gem up over the weekend [ref]3 day weekend no less[/ref].

Don’t get me wrong, W*S style services will have a long tail, because we’ve spent a decade expounding it’s virtues to the Federal government. However, it’s time we recognize the WMS is OBE.

Go read the details.  Me?  I’m no fan of WMS by any means, but tile map server urls can be just as complicated and undocumented.  OGC WMS URLs?  A mess at any level, but documented.  Pick your poison, but at least tile map services can scale.

Either way conquering web mapping URLs can make you pass out.

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iExtMap for iOS

August 19, 2010 5 Comments

I reviewed ArcGIS for iOS a couple weeks back and liked what I saw.  One of my biggest disappointments was the lack of OGC support.  ESRI says it is coming, but in the meantime I took it upon myself to try out other iOS mapping clients.  One that has caught my eye is iExtMap.  You may recall Alper Dincer from the 2009 ESRI Dev Summit Challenge where his ExtMap took first place.  While not built upon ExtMap, Alper has released iExtMap for iOS.

So what does iExtMap bring to the table?

  • Google Maps Base Maps
  • Blank Base Map for your own base map
  • Displaying ArcGIS Server Dynamic and Tiled Services
  • Displaying WMS as Tiles
  • Displaying KML/GeoRSS files
  • Displaying static tiles (for Arc2Earth users)
  • Bookmarking
  • Geolocation
  • Identify (in next release)
  • Query (in next release)
  • Measurement (in next release)
  • Open Street Maps (in next release)
  • WMS improments (in next release)

So let us look at iExtMap in detail.

The iExtMap Splash Screen

The first screen you see when you start up iExtMap is the Maps window.  From here you can navigate whatever maps you have added to iExtMap.  Google is the default background map and in the Base Maps screen you can see how you can choose which “base map” you wish to have in your background.


The Map Tab on iExtMap

Choose your Base Map

After choosing your background base map, you go to the Layers tab to add layers.  The first thing I tried to add was a KML out of WeoGeo Market.  This was easy to add and actually looked pretty good on the iExtMap screen on my iPhone.  Just grab the URL to the KML and like that it is added.  Adding ArcGIS Server services and WMS is also as easy as copying a URL and pasting.  The only issue I ran into was that WMS needs to be in EPSG:900913 making your choice of WMS smaller than it should be.  This is a know issue and an update is planned in the future to address it.

Adding a KML to iExtMap is very simple.

After adding the layer, put a check next to each one you want to view on your iExtMap Map.

And here is that KML - viewed on the iExtMap Map.

The bookmarks are very strait-forward.  You either bookmark a view on the Map or manually input the coordinates.

Manually creating a bookmark in iExtMap

The Bookmarks tab in iExtMap

One actually fatal issue of iExtMap is that you can get caught in an info box and have no way to break back out.  Make sure when you are on the Map tab, not to click on the links at the bottom of the view (I’m assuming these are the credit links).  If you do you get stuck on the “about Google Maps” page with no way to get back to the map unless you exit the app.  Hopefully this flaw will be fixed very quickly.

DO NOT CLICK!

Don't get me wrong, the about page is very nice. You are just stuck on it if you get here - yikes!

Overall though, I think there is a ton to like about iExtMap.  Out of the box you have OGC support (KML and WMS) which I really think is critically important.  Support for ArcGIS.com (ArcGIS Online) layers is there as well so you have an iOS app that can work across OGC and proprietary services.  Alper should be commended on his efforts and I can see myself using this quite a bit to work with OGC services.

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ArcGIS Explorer Online Beta is Released

May 26, 2010 15 Comments

So hopefully not lost in the ArcGIS.com release is ESRI’s latest GIS tool, ArcGIS Explorer.  The one sentence explanation from ESRI about what it is:

ArcGIS Explorer Online is similar in appearance to the desktop version of ArcGIS Explorer, and has some of the same capabilities, but it’s a lighter weight version that works in a browser, and is built using Microsoft Silverlight.

ArcGIS Explorer Online is a Silverlight based browser application

So what we have here is a cross platform GIS analysis platform.  I’ve liked what I’ve seen from ArcGIS Explorer Online and I think it is a solid start to platform agnostic client applications.  It requires Silverlight to run, but I’m able to use it flawlessly on my MacBook Pro laptop.  It mimics the Microsoft UI standards with the ribbon, but I’ll be frank that I’m beginning to like the ribbon interface.  Of course if you hate it, you’ll probably hate the app.

Presentations are important to ESRI and ArcGIS Explorer Online

When you start working with the app, the first thing that will catch your eye is what ESRI has stuck in the upper left of the toolbar.  If I had never seen ArcGIS Explorer Online before, I’d assume that ESRI would have put “Add Data” or “Search” or even “Basemap” in that prime spot.  But as you can see to the left, Presentation gets the first place everyone looks.  I’m not sure if this is by design but ESRI thinks we’ll be making lots of presentations with ArcGIS Online.  I had see Bernie Szukalski use the presentation mode with great success at the ESRI Developer and Business Partner conferences so I get the power.  I’d just assume presentations would be a ribbon on its own and not on the primary one.

The basemap button doesn’t disappoint.  If there is one thing ESRI has gotten right over the years, it is the freely available basemaps they’ve offered up through ArcGIS Online ArcGIS.com.  These are all available here including the Bing layers, ESRI’s Imagery and Streets, the wonderful ESRI Topographic map and of course now the OpenStreetMap layer.

There are tons of basemaps available including OpenStreetMap

Adding content is where I think ArcGIS Explorer Online will eventually shine, but for right now it is limited to only web services that are available on ArcGIS.com or ArcGIS Server services.  I’ve been told OGC support will be coming soon, but as of today you can only add ESRI web services or consume services from ArcGIS.com.

As you’d expect, you can save your maps to ArcGIS.com and choose to save them privately, share with a group or share with the world.  There is no ability to share a permalink as you might with Google Maps, but saving to ArcGIS.com and then sharing that URL is probably the method for now.  ESRI also has provided some “Featured Maps” (I’m assuming this comes from featured maps on ArcGIS.com) that you can get started with.

You can grab existing "Featured Maps" that ESRI provides to get started.

I like the start of ArcGIS Explorer Online.  Building it on Silverlight seems like a smart move as it runs flawlessly on any computer I used.  The biggest limitation I see right now is the lack of OGC support (WMS, WFS, CSW and of course KML) but ESRI has told me that is coming down the road.  I also would have liked to see a permalink feature to share quickly with friends maps I create, but I’m guessing ArcGIS.com is the driving force here so I might as well get used to sharing ArcGIS.com links.  I’m not sure how I could share my ArcGIS Server services with ArcGIS Explorer Online (embed or link that I can put in a blog post), but hopefully that part of the story will be set by the ESRI UC.

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GSS – Style your web maps with CSS client side

May 22, 2009 2 Comments

As Steve pointed out, this is does deserve two exclamation points!!

Just like CSS for styling web pages, GSS is a specification for designing maps. Adapted for dynamic data sources, GSS can define changing geographic elements, display multiple datasets, and even respond to contextual tags like “condition:poor”.

Very tasty!  Just look at this simple GSS and how you can render maps on the client.

body: {
fillStyle: "#fff",
lineWidth: 0,
},

node: {
fillStyle: "#ddd",
strokeStyle: "#090",
lineWidth: 0,
radius: 1
},

way: {
strokeStyle: function() {
return "rgba(1,1,1,0.7)"
//return color_from_string(this.user)
},
strokeStyle: "#ccc",
lineWidth: 3
},

leisure: {
fillStyle: "#2a2",
lineWidth: 3,
strokeStyle: "#181"
}

Previous conversation about styling GIS data.

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Sharing Cartography

April 21, 2009 62 Comments

There are tons of ways to store spatial data, but sharing cartography is much harder. ESRI seems to be using their new Layer Package “format” to keep the ESRI layer file with the datasets. Outside of that I don’t really see much in the way for cartography support with data layers (other than the odd ESRI LYR file offered up on FTP sites). In a way, there is much to like about ESRI’s decision to use essentially a sidecar file for storing symbology and maybe there is a more open method of sharing this information.

Most of the time when you download data, you just get the raw file format (usually shapefiles). You then drag your new downloaded dataset to your viewer (possibly ArcView, maybe uDig) and then you proceed to try and figure out how to color the map up (of course there is no metadata so you can’t figure out what field you should symbolize on) in an attempt to match that PDF of a scanned map that someone gave you.  Wouldn’t it be better if there was included symbology that allowed you to view that data layer the way the author intended?

Well as I said, ESRI’s Layer Package format does this.  The Layer file is of course a problem because you need ArcObjects to read it.  But in an ESRI world, that isn’t too much of a problem.  Outside of an ESRI world, maybe the MapServer Mapfile might be the best way to get symbology information in (heck you can write out a Mapfile from ESRI, let alone all those open source clients).  Some have said KML is that format.  I disagree because it doesn’t lend itself to storing attribute information (maybe there are ways, but I still question if KML should be used this way).  At least KML does store simple symbology with the dataset.

Ron Lake offers up SLD/SE as an option, but acknowleges that it really has no traction.  I really haven’t seen SLD used much beyond some GeoServer documentation and I’ve not seen anyone try and use SLD for storing cartography in desktop clients (NOTE: According to comments uDig does support SLD, but not be default which is a good starting point).  Sean Gillies thinks CSS is the best option but again we run into the issues of desktop clients not supporting it and probably won’t (though Sean gets GeoMonkey cred for continuing to use the term “GeoWeb” every chance he gets).

What about Mapnik?  It does a superb job at rendering great maps and Andrew Turner says there is a project that can convert CSS into Mapnik.  Now that might be a workflow.  CSS is very easy to edit and and work with and  Mapnik is great at rendering cartography (and could easily be supported by desktop clients).  CSS gets stored as a sidecar file to the dataset and the rich cartography can be read with Mapnik to render the maps as the author wishes the maps to look.  Maybe Sean is on to something after all…

If we are going to go out on the GeoWeb wall of death, well need a sidecar.

If we are going to go out on the GeoWeb wall of death, we'll need a sidecar.

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Sean Gillies on OGC WMTS

March 19, 2009 6 Comments

Sean is all over OGC’s Web Map Tiling Standard.

I have sent in a “public comment” advising the authors on how to better follow the REST style. To be honest, I’d rather the OGC stayed away from REST, but if it won’t, I’ll insist it’s done properly and doesn’t misinform mainstream GIS developers. I’ll even try to help as much as the OGC’s closed process will allow.

We talk about open standards quite a bit and when it comes to GIS software implementing them, OGC is usually what we see.  It would be a shame to see WMTS fail as much as WFS has in the marketplace because it is ill conceived.  Hopefully the OGC will take advantage of Sean’s comments to improve the spec.  The OGC comment process has to be better than this:

No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time.

No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time.

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CityGML adopted as offical OGC Standard

August 20, 2008 9 Comments

CityGML has officially become an OGC Standard.  This is great news for those of us who are tying to work with and exchange 3D models of buildings and cities.  I’m still a CityGML newbie, but the more I look at the standard and learn about it, the more I’m excited about what we’ll be able to do in the future with BIM and GIS.  Moving data back and forth between BIM and GIS is almost impossible today, but hopefully this is a huge step forward.  You can view the standard at this link (after accepting that wacky OGC license).

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The GeoWeb 2008

July 27, 2008 19 Comments

First off, I had an absolute blast.  The city, the venue and the people have all been just wonderful to experience.  Right now especially it is very interesting because the GeoWeb is finally being implemented in larger scales and we are beginning to see the results of those who work hard at trying to realize the promise of what the GeoWeb is.  I think Ron Lake puts it best when he says the GeoWeb is the Internet, not some of little corner of it.  If we think that, for the most part, the Internet can be used by anyone, anywhere, on any platform device.  Simply put I can collaborate while sitting next to my pool in Tempe, AZ on my iPhone with colleagues using Linux workstations in Abu Dhabi sitting in high rise office buildings.  The internet doesn’t care that I have a iPhone any more than it does that they have Firefox on Linux.  The same is the case for the GeoWeb, my use of ESRI Servers should not limit someone using FOSS to access and use those services.

Now of course in practice it rarely works out that way.  Most ESRI Server implementations doesn’t enable OGC standards even though ESRI has worked really hard at implementing them.  And even FOSS servers don’t necessarily publish OGC formats that the GeoWeb wants to use.  The technical limitations of the GeoWeb have been removed and now the problem is cultural.  We need to start thinking about how these systems are going to come together and how we’ll be able to collaborate without having to all be on the same platform or language.  People always use ESRI as an example of a company that is limiting the GeoWeb by not supporting OGC very well and they’ve probably earned that reputation.  But to be fair, there are plenty of FOSS users who want to limit their products or services to only other FOSS systems.  While ESRI’s might have been technical in nature (though I can see how people might have taken their stance as cultural), the limit of not allowing your products and services to be used by all because of some cultural or personal feelings about the spirit of Microsoft, Apple, ESRI, Oracle, etc is just as bad.  Those who want to take part in this new open environment will grow quickly and leave those who put up artificial impediments to their participation will be left behind.

So what does this mean for those who want to see how they can take part in the GeoWeb.  Well first off, make sure you are implementing solutions that aren’t closed.  That doesn’t mean that you can’t use things such as Oracle, .NET or ESRI.  Make sure those solutions offer up information and data in formats that people can use and build upon what you’ve done.  I see great potential for government agencies that allow their data and information to be part of everything from mashups created by some neighborhood group to global companies who want to see new marketplaces and areas for expansion.  This should be done through services, not FTP sites or zipped up shapefiles.  I can’t be sure my applications are using the latest data if I have to manually browse an FTP site and somehow reconcile my data with yours.  A simple service where I can subscribe to information is much simpler for all.  Second, end users of the data should begin to recognize that their output shouldn’t be only paper map or even a PDF.  KML, GML, GeoRSS and many of the other standards work very well when accompanying a paper or PDF map.

Making your data discoverable is also very important.  That I would spend time making my data easily usable and not take the time to make it discoverable hurts my implementation.  Making sure Google and Microsoft (assuming Live Search ever gets fixed) are crawling your information is critical to its acceptance.  We will begin seeing spatial results start showing up in Google very soon and when that happens, those services will become extremely popular.  If I’m the County of Maricopa, I don’t want my data hidden behind some old MapGuide Active X control, but as discoverable services that people can subscribe to and use.  Think of it simply, if your data isn’t discoverable via Google search, someone else’s will and the parcel information that shows up will not be under your control.  You can choose to ignore spatial search, but someone else is sure to step into your space and offer such services.

The time spend with everyone in Vancouver was well spent and I’ll continue to post what I saw an learned over this next week.  Seeing real world implementation that take advantage of what the GeoWeb offers and seeing how successful those are, really validates the vision.  It is still early enough in the process to be on the ground floor and there are still huge hurdles as far as data standards and security that need to be addressed so getting involved now can only help everyone.  The idea that 10 people can use 10 different software packages and collaborate on geospatial products is very powerful.  And of course the added benefit is that you can choose the software platform that best meets your needs and not worry about matching your clients or consumers platforms.  That saves everyone time and money, just like the Internet itself has done.

You dont want to be this guy, do you?

You don't want to be this guy, do you?

Vancouver Photo Credit: jahdakine

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