Oh Boy, Maybe You Can’t Edit Spatial Databases Without ArcGIS for SDE

August 17, 2011 Leave a Comment

So the [Esri UC Q&A](http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2011/06/30/the-esri-uc-qa/) seemed to show that you could not only direct connect to just about any spatial RDBMS, but edit as well. In that spirit, we started to think tools such as [zigGIS](http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2011/08/11/pgmap-and-qmap-direct-connect-to-postgis-and-sql-server-spatial/) were no longer needed. Well [Bill Dollins asks Esri](http://blog.geomusings.com/2011/08/17/so-which-is-it/) for some clarification on the matter because the scuttlebutt is that you may still need SDE for editing of spatial databases.

Look, there are times when organizations need SDE. But there are times when SDE is a middle man that has no purpose other than to drive revenues for a company. Let’s not screw this up Esri, let ArcGIS for Desktop and ArcGIS for Server 10.1 edit spatial RDBMSs directly. The proletariat is restless, you don’t need a revolution on your hands.

![Andrew Turner "Leading the People"](http://images.spatiallyadjusted.com/ajturner-neorevolution.png “Andrew Turner Leading the People”)

Filed under GIS Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Open Source Friday!

April 23, 2010 3 Comments

Basically I have no idea where the week went. As you can probably tell I’ve been very busy and thus there isn’t much time for blogging about how much I love the shapefile format. In the meantime there is some good open source news you probably need to be aware of.

  • OpenLayer 2.9 Released – Follow that link for the full details, but the take-away from the ESRI DevSummit was if you are doing cool stuff with the ESRI REST API, you are probably doing it in OpenLayers. Why code with something else?
  • zigGIS 3.0 – The defacto tool to access PostGIS from ArcGIS is now open source again. Well it is more complicated than that, but Abe Gillespie has the details on his blog. Basically the project is going to be moving forward with some very cool stuff planned. I’m excited as it makes zero sense to buy ArcSDE to access PostGIS.
  • The R Project – now this isn’t a specific news item, just a reminder that there is a kick ass statistical open source project screaming for you to use it. At the URISA conferences I was at the last two weeks, it appears many don’t know about all the cool stuff you can do with it. My favorite book on learning R (and other open source analytical tools) is Baseball Hacks. ESRI has been showcasing using R with their python tools so you should really want to get into it, just a freaking sweet project. Now if you want to see some geospatial use of R, check out Dylan Beaudette’s blog where he’s been showcasing some cool uses of R.

Anyway, have a great weekend folks. I’ll see some of you next week at GITA 2010. Play me out Joe Morello.

Filed under GIS Tagged with , , , , , ,

zigGIS 2.0 coming soon

December 19, 2007 7 Comments

PostgreSQL is about to get really integrated into ArcGIS workflows in 2008. First off we have ArcGIS Server Enterprise (ArcSDE) which will support PostgreSQL (ESRI and PostGIS data types) and now we have zigGIS 2.0 which will support PostGIS/PostgreSQL without the need for the traditional “ArcSDE” connection.

First and foremost, the zigGIS codebase will remain open. Secondly, personal and educational use of zigGIS will remain free…

As for our corporate users – you will need to purchase licenses per seat. Licenses will fall somewhere below $300 each. We hope this keeps zigGIS affordable to those organizations that require heavy-duty GIS capabilities. (don’t forget that the use of PostGIS + zigGIS saves you from all ArcSDE licensing costs)

If you are in an enterprise environment, ArcGIS Server Enterprise probably makes a ton of sense (especially in the ESRI server stack), but in smaller offices and workgroups why pay for all that overhead you are not using?

Filed under ArcGIS Desktop, ArcSDE, ESRI, Open Source, PostGIS, PostgreSQL Tagged with , , , , , , ,