Link – An Interview with Tyler Mitchell
Howard’s latest interview is with Tyler Mitchell who is the author of Web Mapping Illustrated and a contributor to many open source GIS projects.
Category: Thoughts
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Flash vs Ajax in Online Maps
Michael Quetel was nice enough to email me a link to Flash Earth which uses flash to interface with Google Maps and Virtual Earth. I had seen this when it first came out but must have misplaced the link as I never mentioned it on this blog. What I like about it is how easy it is to navigate and manipulate the layers. There are many Flash based sites out there that are such a hassle, but when used correctly Flash is a great tool. Flash Earth is so simple that it works and that is all you can ask in a web based application.
I know ESRI demoed a Flash based viewer for ArcWeb 2005 at the User Conference that was quite impressive. I’m not sure what their other plans for Flash is/are, but could we be seeing Flash become a competitor for AJAX based mapping sites. I’m never big fan of requiring plugins to run content, but I think we can all assume that almost 100% of browsers have Flash installed.
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MSN Virtual Earth SDK is available
Link – MSN Virtual Earth SDK is live!
After all that waiting I feel no urge to download.
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Export to KML Extension for ArcGIS 9.x
Link – Export_to_KML_V10
Export to KML is an extension developed for ArcGIS 9.x by the City of Portland, Bureau of Planning. The extension allows ArcGIS users to export any dataset in “keyhole markup language” [KML] format for viewing in the free Google Earth data viewer. Any point, polyline, or polygon features, in any defined projection, can be exported. Features can be “grouped” by an attribute for creating categorical symbology in Google Earth. Features can also be exported as 2-dimensional features, or “extruded” by an attribute (or, in the case of true 3D features, by z-value).
Kevin Martin over at the City of Portland Bureau of Planning just uploaded a new extension to export any dataset to KML.
One problem with all these great tools for KML export is that they have all chosen to use the Google Earth icon on their toolbar. Kind of makes it hard to remember which one is which huh?
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Darren Cope calls me on ESRI being too important
ESRI – Just how important are they?
I’m not sure I agree 100% with this statement, although I do see its point. ESRI has been hugely influential in defining what GIS is, and how it operates. However, I’d hate to see folks like Roger Tomlinson and his work on the CGIS forgotten or ignored. I’m sure there are many others who deserve similar respect.
OK so I was being a little dramatic, but my point was that ESRI is more influential in GIS than Microsoft is in general.
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MapObjects to the Rescue
We’ve pretty much just finished up a rush job given to us by a client to create a tool to allow planners to see where constraints (man-made and natural) are located on their property. This had to be done in such a quick time we were really concerned how we’d be able to pull it off. Thank God for Map Objects. I’ve always like the object model in MO and how easy and quickly one can develop applications. I’ve lost count on home many MO and MOLT. It is a shame these products are being “phased” out as ESRI transitions to ArcGIS Engine/ArcObjects. Dealing with COM and .NET in the same application is a mess sometimes, so I can understand why MO is being put on the back burner. There are many of us who really cut our teeth on GIS programming using MO and even Avenue over the years and there has to be a point that one walks away from these two “development environments” but if I have any say over it I’ll still be using both (especially MO and MOLT) for years to come.
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Jeff Thurston thinks we are all too focused on the GIS viewer
Link – Directions in Spatial Information
It is interesting to read and learn about all the things that Google is up to with respect to maps. Like I said a while ago, here; it has opened the door to increasing mapping awareness, especially to, although not limited to younger folks ‘ move over MTV.
Jeff pretty much says what I’ve been saying and what ESRI’s focus should be on. Tools to create GIS data are extremely important. Google isn’t a creator of this information, they are a consumer. Our GIS workflows are integrated into ESRI’s tools so for us to be successful, we need ESRI to continue to push the envelope. Our biggest problem though has been on the reader side of things. Jeff says ArcGlobe is ESRI’s “Google Earth”, but that requires you to have at least an ArcView license. Jeff does say why Google Earth has been successful and it is plainly the simplicity of the application. If you’ve ever used ArcGlobe you know you have total control over just about everything, but zooming and panning can get out of control (well maybe it is just I can’t work in a total 3d world).
The key point of Jeff’s post is that we can’t get to the future without improved spatial tools and he is right on. But the problem today is consumers are beginning to want to consume GIS services and the tools to do so are limited and into that void falls Google Earth.
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ESRI is not the Microsoft of the GIS world, it is much more complex
I’ve been getting emails from people asking about ESRI and many of them think of ESRI as the Microsoft of the GIS world. Since people like analogies, try this one on for size:
ESRI is the Microsoft, Apple, Google, Sun, Lotus, Borland, Adobe, Oracle, IBM, and WordPerfect of the GIS world.
That is how you measure their contributions to GIS.
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Blogging the Homeland Security GIS Summit
I have not seen much on the ESRI Homeland Security GIS Summit anywhere. I was hoping to go this year, but got sidetracked on other work. Anyone go and care to tell us about it?
Update: Thanks to Adena for pointing me to an article over at Directions Magazine about the conference. After reading up on it, now I’m really sad I missed it. I’ll definitely be going next year.
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Keeping Google Earth at Bay
With the explosive introduction of Google Earth, it is hard to imagine what the world was like before we were all started looking up our old high school on satellite imagery. As the novelty of Google Earth wears off, GIS professionals are beginning to come up with different way to utilize this new tool to disseminate GIS data and in turn are creating tools to export data to Google Earth. Right now ESRI doesn’t have any answer to Google Earth. Their viewers are either too expensive or too old to compete leaving a void that Google Earth is beginning to fill. At the UC, we saw the new ArcExplorer, but as with most development at ESRI it becomes hidden from view until the next big conference (I guess that means we’ll see it at the Business Partner Conference?). In the mean time, tools such as Arc2Earth and KML Home Companion will be matured and assimilated into workflows making Google Earth an integrated part of GIS distribution.
I’m sure there are many at ESRI who feel that ArcExplorer will be a “Google Killer”, but to them I say don’t look at it that way. Google Earth is just another tool to help sell products that ESRI develops. In the end it will be ESRI desktop and server software that will power most of this new way of sharing GIS information and that is what matters. I can only guess to how well ArcExplorer will perform but if I use ArcGlobe as any reference point, ArcExplorer could be DOA. Again as I said above, this might not be the case, but since we get no updates from ESRI to the development of the software it is hard to say. So in this absence of information, many will continue to explore using KML and KMZ in conjunction with Google Earth. Even if ArcExplorer is a home run, why would users change their workflows when their customers are already used to Google Earth?
I’ve said before that I think ESRI should leverage support for KML/KMZ into their products and jump on the Google Earth bandwagon while its hot. CNN seems quite intent on using Google Earth on their newscasts and anyone with a broadband internet connection can join in that fun. I can’t imagine a scenario where people type in ESRI.com and grab the latest copy of ArcExplorer to view the huge earthquake in Southern California (though ESRI would have a front row seat) unless somehow ArcExplorer is pushed by Yahoo! to compete against Microsoft and Google.
I think in the end if there is any hope that ArcExplorer can compete against Google Earth in our marketplace, we need to know more about what to expect from ArcExplorer, a timetable for its release and even a broad beta release (beyond the ones at ESRI’s beta site).
