Implications of ESRI MapIt

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.

ISC Releases MapDotNet UX Beta

ISC keeps pushing the .NET web mapping front and has released MapDotNET UX Beta. MapDotNet UX Server has WCF-based web services and a WPF map and tile renderer. MapDotNet UX Studio includes advanced map design (XAML editing), support for shapefiles, SQL Server 2008 as well as ArcSDE ArcGIS Server and PostGIS and tile cache management.

ISC has some demos available to show the new MapDotNet UX in action. The beta is closed at this time, but interested developers who want to showcase WPF and Silverlight mapping are encouraged to apply.  Another item to note is that the MapDotNet UX Studio will be free.  ISC describes UX Studio this way:

It (MapDotNet UX Studio) was built with the WPF map control and allows developers/cartographers to develop their map configuration file (the .mapx), create/manage tile caches, perform data import/export to all of the support data types (SQL 08, SDE, PostGIS and Shapefile) and create starter Silverlight & WPF apps.

Of course their web services will still be licensed as normal.  Some screenshots of UX Studio are below and I have to say they remind me of another product;)

Click to view large image of MapDotNet UX Studio

Click to view large image of MapDotNet UX Studio

Click to view large screenshot of UX

Click to view large image of MapDotNet UX Studio