Category: Thoughts

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read that people are getting these three products confused. ArcGIS Explorer is ESRI’s ArcGIS Server desktop client. ArcExplorer is ESRI’s GIS viewer (either MapObjects or Java based) and ArcWeb Explorer is ESRI’s flash based ArcWeb browser client. About the only things that they have in common are that they are free and they are made by ESRI. ESRI’s propensity to name things with the prefix “Arc” causes some of this confusion, but having two products with the prefix Arc and Explorer in their name could be worse.

ArcWeb seems to be included in ArcGIS as well as on its own. ArcGIS extensions usually have ArcGIS in front of their names (e.g. ArcGIS 3D Analyst or ArcGIS Publisher), but Maplex for ArcGIS and ArcScan for ArcGIS both append ArcGIS to the end. It is even worse on the server side as only ArcGIS Server adheres to the ArcGIS naming convention. ArcIMS and ArcSDE (both which predate ArcGIS) continue to hold on to their older names and ESRI Image Server doesn’t even have the word Arc in it.

ESRI Developer Network which is really ArcGIS Server and Engine Developer Network also doesn’t use Arc. One could go one, but I think everyone gets the picture. The bigger problem as I see it is that ESRI still isn’t getting any better at naming (taking ArcGIS Explorer and ArcWeb Explorer as the example). It is hard enough to explain the difference between ArcGIS Desktop, ArcView, ArcEditor and ArcInfo these days without new products making it worse. I guess eventually there will be two products, ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Server and the licenses will dictate how they are to be used. Still ESRI doesn’t seem to like to give up on these old names so I’m sure we’ll see ArcIMS and ArcSDE soldier for years to come.

Autodesk has smartly jumped on the “labs” bandwagon and created Autodesk Labs. They’ve posted a Google Earth extension to AutoCAD 2007 which allows you to publish 3D models right into Google Earth. I believe our company is upgrading from AutoCAD 2006 to 2007 soon so I’ll have to give it a shot when it arrives.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, ESRI hiding their code in ArcScripts is a complete waste of time. Heck by definition, it isn’t even in the correct place as ArcScripts is for work contributed by ESRI’s user community. I guess the user community includes those who actually work at ESRI.

Just in case you forget over the holiday weekend (at least here in the U.S.) next week is the last week to register for the 2006 UC. I’ve decided I’m going to show up for at least a couple days (how can anyone say no to San Diego) so we’ll try and get a meetup or something going when we get closer to August.

The word out of Redlands is do not expect a public beta of ArcGIS Explorer in June (I’m sure that is not a surprise to anyone given how many days are left). There are no short terms plans as far as I can tell for a public beta to be released in July. ArcGIS 9.2 Beta sites will continue to get beta updates to AGX so development will continue. I also believe there are plans to open the ArcGIS 9.2 beta to more people so you might be getting a copy of AGX that way.

I’m not really disappointed at hearing this. Beta sites still haven’t gotten ArcGIS Server (AGS) 9.2 Beta 2 so I’m sure there will be quite a bit of back and forth when sites begin to test AGX and AGS together. ArcGIS Explorer without AGS is only half the story so getting AGX and AGS right is very important.

I decided to spend this morning and try and figure out how Adobe’s new Flex 2 might change how I develop (or even blog). As I was clicking on links and reading some of the new features, I was surprised to see Mansour Raad and ESRI show up on the Flex 2 page inside a video. If I was ESRI, I’d be putting Mansour on the ESRI front page in a video. He’s so passionate about his work that you can’t help but get excited. 🙂 When Mansour demoed ArcWeb Explorer to me back at the Dev Summit, I was blown away and I guess Adobe was too.

View the full ESRI Flex 2 video here.

Just read this email before heading off to visit the Sandman.

ESRI Developer Summit

March 20-22, 2007
Wyndham Hotel and Palm Springs Convention Center
Palm Springs, CA

Save the Dates!

Developers and software architects are invited to attend the 2007 ESRI Developer Summit in Palm Springs. You do not need to be an ESRI software user to participate. The conference focuses on the ESRI developer platform, with opportunities to increase development skills, meet ESRI developers, and learn what’s coming in future releases of ESRI software.

Registration and event information will be available in the coming months at the ESRI Developer Summit Web site.

We look forward to seeing you in March 2007!

Giddyup!

I haven’t seen anyone to my knowledge post about it but ESRI has a web page set up where users of ArcGIS can request a 2006 update to Data & Maps and StreetMap USA (USA only of course) that includes all of the U. S. Tele Atlas and Europe basemap data, minor corrections and enhancements. You’ll need to have your maintenance paid up to get the update, but it is free.

AllPointsBlog.com has an article that caught my attention. Dell seems to be allowing customers to use Google Earth Pro to track their service calls around the world. I’ve always liked when companies use mapping to help consumers visualize data. The only “problem” with this service is the requirement that businesses that want to utilize this service must buy Google Earth Pro. Since you can’t use Google Earth “Free” in the work place, there isn’t anything Dell can do about it so it is up to the consumer to buy software. Too bad they can’t throw in a copy of GE Pro (maybe they plan to do this). I guess consumers could use such a service at home, but I can’t imagine many needing to track service calls around the world.

FAQ: Why is there no MapObjects to ArcObjects converter utility?

I could never work in tech support as I’d just go crazy with weird questions such as why there is no MapObjects to ArcObjects converter. Actually if programming was only that easy, we’d all be on the beach in Mexico.

One of the coolest things I’ve seen over the weekend is this new Virtual Earth Interactive SDK. The VE Interactive SDK gives a more visual way of learning how to program the SDK. Instead of looking up the objects and methods in the online help, the VE Interactive SDK allows you to visually create your tools and then view the code to see how the control works or just copy and paste it to your own website. Plus you can also see the VE reference right there in case you want to know more about a specific function (tabs switch between “Show Me”, “Show Source” and “Reference”). I know many programmers who work better by seeing code than trying to figure out an object model (and some programmers who haven’t a clue how to even use an object model) and this Interactive SDK will be a huge help for them.