Category: Thoughts

No sooner than I post that ArcIMS 9.2 Service Pack 1 is out, the rest shows up on the ESRI Support site. Remember you need to download the separate ArcIMS and ArcSDE service packs even if you download the ArcGIS service pack. ESRI posted last week what was fixed in Service Pack 1, but some are feeling a little left out.

There has been a ton of discussion about scripting in GIS in this thread. No matter what GIS platform you use, at some point you are writing a script to accomplish some sort of geoprocessing task. For me it was all AML until Python showed up. I never got into the VBScript/JScript stuff as AML did all I needed. For some though it isn’t just the ability to script in their favorite language, but what kind of scripting help the application has. IntelliSense, integrated debugging, syntax highlighting are all big ones in almost everyones book, but does having them integrated into your desktop GIS matter at all?

Merry Christmas Everyone!

My son is very excited and can’t wait. We’ve been tracking Santa all morning. One of my young nephews asked why Santa’s workshop isn’t at the North Pole. I was surprised by the question and asked how he knew that. He said his Dad had been showing him the GE Santa KML stuff and Santa’s workshop is in Canada. I was thinking about explaining that users have great difficulty navigating at the poles and that Google had to move it so that people could see it. That seemed a little too much for him so I fell back on there are no islands at the north pole. Unlike the South Pole, the North Pole is just water. So Santa lives on an island as close to the North Pole as possible. He seemed to buy that….

Connor and I are tracking Santa on the internet and all I had growing up was visits to Santa’s Village. Oh well, Merry Christmas!

Arizona is now the fastest growing state. Let me just tell everyone thinking of moving here that the State is full. There is no more room anymore and we are beginning to stack people in the Grand Canyon. A friend in Nevada says that they are crying in the streets over losing this title. Please, help Nevada get back on top as the fastest growing state.

*Note: I love Iowa!

I’ve been tagged by a couple of people so I guess I’d better join the party. Here are five things you probably didn’t know about me unless you are related to me.

1. The main reason I picked Arizona State University for my degree in Geography was the golf course.
2. I am claustrophobic to the point I cannot sit in a booth at a restaurant or I’ll have trouble breathing. If you meet me while eating, you can be sure I’m sitting at a table. 😉
3. I was an extra in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.
4. The only state I’ve never been to is North Dakota.
5. My bachelor party was held the night before my wedding (due to scheduling conflicts on my part). I was dunk as a skunk and called my wife at 3am the morning to tell he how drunk I was. I was hung over and was unable to drink the champagne toast (my brother smartly put ginger ale in the glass).

OK, I’m going to tag Steve, Sean, GeoMullah and Chad.

Finally I can say I’m done working for the year! In the spirit of the season enjoy one my favorite Christmas classics:

http://www.youtube.com/v/KGnYw-OuCnI

Looks like Blogger is out of beta. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn’t SPAM Planet Geospatial.

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

It has been quite a year here on my blog. Looking back at the stats I’ve pulled out the top 10 posts by popularity (number of comments, visits, trackbacks) and have listed them below.

1. The big picture of ArcGIS Server
   Here I try and convince the world that with ESRI supporting OGC and other “open standards” that existing ESRI users can now push out their web services to a whole new clientele. Not sure how many people actually agreed with me on that one. 😉
2. Do you still use ArcView 3.x?
   Of course you still use it and I’m sure it is keeping Jack Dangermond up at night wondering why we aren’t all paying maintenance anymore on it. Seriously ArcView 3.x for many GIS pros was the first GIS system they ever worked with. The kids today are probably wondering what the heck we were all thinking.
3. ArcGIS Explorer vs. Google Earth
   Everyone is ready to try out ESRI’s “Google Earth Killer”, but then realize that ESRI has a different mission in mind for it.
4. Selling open source GIS to the users
   It started out on topic, but pretty much went into a Manifold vs. ESRI discussion.
5. Software that changed your life
   I decided to list some of the software that has deeply affected my personal and professional growth. Allan Doyle is one sick puppy for listing Assembly as his first choice. 😉
6. Microsoft Releases Virtual Earth 3D (Beta)
   Microsoft’s Virtual Earth 3D exploded on the scene and in the end I got Slashdotted for it.
7. Are we beginning to see a shift away from ESRI Server backend to Open Source solutions?
   The FOSS4G “server stack” begins to get some traction
8. Open Threads
   The open threads seem to be a pretty popular feature these days. Anything goes and usually does. I picked this one mostly because I though the picture summed up the feeling in these threads.
9. Manifold a “train wreck”. Can it be true?
   Yea, Manifold vs. ESRI is quite a big deal on my blog. This thread took off while I was on vacation. Glad to see you guys don’t need supervision! 😉
10. ESRI ArcGIS Server licensing – Be ready to get out your checkbook
    The bombshell that ESRI was going to charge you to use the ADF on another server took everyone by surprise and was by far the most popular post on this blog. More people viewed, clicked, commented than any other (in fact as of yesterday people are still posting in it). Eventually ESRI clarified what was happening and most of us have resigned ourselves to the new “business model” for ArcGIS Server.