Category: Thoughts

15,000 of my closest friends and I are packed in to the San Diego Convention Center waiting to hear from Jack and company how they are changing the geospatial world. I’ll be updating this post as much as the spotty WiFi connection allows me with details on what is being said on stage from Esri.

8:33 – Jack hits the stage and welcomes us to the conference and tells us how much he appreciates everyone attending. Jack says that there will be over 15,000 in attendance for the whole week (The graphics package that Esri has put together for this years UC is beautiful) . He says 1/3 of the attendees are here for the first time. Now lets all shake hands and say hi to the person next to you.

**8:37: **- Now we are on to showcasing people’s use of Esri products and what they are doing (“Esri is in your apps fondling your maps” I’m probably paraphrasing Jack on that…) .

**8:43: **- Jack seems a bit ornery this morning. Could be a fun time at the plenary.

8:47:– Over 140 SAG award winners this year.

8:48:– Esri Enterprise GIS award went to the Singapore GeoSpatial Collaborative Environment (SG-SPACE).

8:49:– Esri Presidents Award went to the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Mapping (ROSREESTR). Russians offered to help out us sorry ass Americans get our data fixed. Oh no he didn’t! Wait… he’s right, we suck…

8:55:– On to Jack’s vision of GIS in 2011. Jack is always really big on how humans are causing change and this year seems no different Jack says, “We need collective intelligence and understanding” to deal with these challenges. Jack says GIS extends our minds and is coevolving with other technologies (Jack said crowdsourcing. We can now drop VGI safely now.) A new GIS pattern is emerging making GIS accessible to everyone. It appears this includes using servers, desktop, mobile and probably some PDF. We’ll mix in a little authoritative love in it. Esri is the link between GIS Professionals and the world.

**9:01: **Esri’s Work – 10.1 will arrive in 2012 as was stated early. Jack mentioned that 10.1 has some “game changers” in it. Beta isn’t out for the UC, but Jack says he hopes it comes out by the end of the month. New basemaps are included such as Landsat history for the last 40 years and updates to existing maps. New tools are available, I wish I had the grouping analysis back years ago.

Dynamic legends are finally built into ArcGIS Desktop as well as feature edit tracking (awesome!) and some great new generalization tools. At 10.1 direct SQL access to SQL Server, Oracle, Postgres, DB2 and NETEZZA. I can’t tell you how awesome this is. Finally!

Google bragged about their mosaicing tools with Google Earth Builder, but it appears that Esri will blow them out of the water with 10.1. Also Lidar will be available to these mosaicing tools as well. Read in LAS and dynamically “convert” to rasters/TINs/point clouds.

Esri has bought a company called Procedural that gives Esri now 3D content creation tools that are used in movies such as Cars 2. Clearly this is a huge move for Esri and could put them in markets they haven’t been in before.

ArcGIS Runtime is new at 10.1 and is a new “MapObjects” type development platform. Jack said it runs in 64-bit mode.

ArcGIS Server continues to improve and will be 64-bit only, Linux (no REH only) and it appears some new standards such as WMTS and WPS. APIs continue to be pushed out faster and better than the old says with the Web ADF (I still need to work out my Web ADF issues so bear with me on this)

Jack started talking about the way ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Online work together. Simple as a right-click to share. Take that Google Earth Builder. Esri also has released ArcGIS for home use that costs $100/year and includes support and training.

9:18:ArcGIS Online is an “open platform” for maps and geographic information. From desktop, to server to “cloud”. The thing about ArcGIS Online vs GEB is that Esri sees their analytic tools are their secret sauce that will take other companies year (if ever) to replicate. One map that works on anywhere. This is where the Esri APIs and mobile tools they’ve cultivated over the years fit in with the master plan.

Bernie Szukalski got top billing at the Esri UC and showcased ArcGIS Online to great applause. Clearly this crowd loves the promise of ArcGIS, we’ll have to see if Esri can deliver. I talked a bit about ArcGIS Online last week and he’s going over much of what we saw back then. I have to say, Esri has doubled down on ArcGIS Online and it appears to be much deeper than previous Esri online attempts. Google Earth Builder may be a threat, but Esri has something that they can show runs rings around what Google is offering. Esri is calling “products” that you author in ArcGIS Online as apps which I think will go over very well inside the beltway.

**9:37: **- ArcGIS Online could be the standard geospatial analytical visualization engine moving forward. Nothing else is this deep or this usable. Sorry guys, Esri moved the bar way forward… Jack says this Fall, you can host your maps in ArcGIS Online that you author in your ArcGIS Desktop content creation tools. 10.1 will integrate ArcGIS Online into the whole package.

9:40:– Jack looks at ArcGIS Online as the catalog tool we’ll use for finding geospatial data. Jeremy Bartley is up talking about ArcGIS Online for Organizations. Basically ArcGIS Online for Organizations is a private version of ArcGIS Online for organizations for storing and sharing your data. The one area of ArcGIS Online might be limited is their support for formats. The world isn’t just shp, fgdb, kml, csv (Right?) .

9:53:– Esri has only talked about ArcGIS Online this morning. After the break we’ll apparently see some of the “old school” classic GIS tools. Esri is also now providing managed services for companies. Pay Esri to set up your GIS for you, how is that for you business partners?

10:02: – Morning Break, we’ll be back in 30 min with some ArcGIS Desktop and Server news.

10:33: – John Calkins is up and running the second half of the morning plenary session. First up is some guy with a Boston accent talking about the Red Sox. So the Boston “way” is talking about how awesome Boston is. You can see what they are doing here, but I don’t see what is “wicked” about it. Anytime a city comes up with an example of using a city run app to find where to eat or use a mobile phone of where potholes are, you know they have way too much time on their hands. What I did like is that they are going to give away the code (at least that is what I heard) .

**10:46: **John shows a demo of the City of Pasadena totally rendered in 3D using ArcGIS. It was smooth and detailed, but not much new beyond what we’ve seen before. ArcGlobe and ArcScene still suck, but maybe a 10.1 things will get better.

**10:48: **Clint Brown was up next talking about ArcGIS for Local Government. Clint says it is about opening information and brining it to live and sharing it with the world. This is a template example apparently. Esri has canned apps ready to deploy so you don’t have to pay an Esri Business Partner implementation costs.

**10:59 – **Jo Fraley is up showing some Sharepoint stuff. Sharepoint is just brutal, I get that enterprises use Sharepoint, but it looks like 2002 called and wants its UI back. Still I get how this is critical for many organizations to integrate their Esri silo ArcGIS Server instances into company intranet websites. I missed the IBM Cognos Viewer integration before, that’s going to be popular with many companies.

11:03 –John talks about updates to their webservices. Maps are being updated and geocoding is moving international.

**11:05 – **Community Analyst is being shown and how it allows community “activists” to perform the same types of analytics that business leaders do with Business Analyst type tools. The UI is classic old Esri, but I suspect they’ll get this thing cleared up soon. I’m not sure I could figure out how to use it myself, maybe there is online training. You’ll want to bring your checkbook though, this thing isn’t cheap.

**11:11 – **Spatial Analytics demo on what’s coming up in 10.1 which is next. Grouping Analysis is going to be a great tool for people trying to understand the patterns that are appearing in your data. I like the simplicity of the tool. The demo got into using the new areal interpolation and exploratory regression tools. I think these will be popular and the beta that will arrive later this month will be something to check out.

11:20 –John highlighted the new World Ocean Map. I like this one because it makes a great background map for my data, even if the data is on land. Soon we’ll see the new National Geographic World Map which is beautiful, but I wouldn’t call it subtle as John did.

11:21– So at 10.1, Esri raster and image analysis tools are just killer. Clearly this is an Erdas killer package. I have no idea what pansharpening is, but damn this stuff looks sweet and performed on the fly. The image manipulation tools are just crazy impressive.

11:30 –Lidar is big news at 10.1. LAS files can be dragged and dropped into ArcMap and then use the 3D preview tools to view it. Also you can convert on the fly LAS to raster, TIN and point clouds. Its pretty amazing to watch this demo. Working with Lidar is a PITA, but it appears that Esri has some good tools to get your hands on it and work it.

12:00 – Lunch

2:00 – Afternoon session is the award/keynote part. The first making a difference award went to Professor Haruo Hayashi working on emergency management for his work during the 2011 Japan tsunami. The second went to Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining. Pretty amazing stuff on how they are saving lives by finding and removing mines from war zones.

2:13 – Jane Goodall video on Roots and Shoots.

If you want to see the morning Esri UC Plenary, it is now available online.

And just like that, the week is over and I’m getting ready to bail on the wonderful Tempe weather for miserable San Diego (I might have that backwards). Looking forward to seeing everyone at the annual Esri Tweetup Sunday night. I’ll be there through Thursday afternoon so there should be plenty of time for talking about geospatial, beer and food. I’ll also be live blogging the Esri Plenary so stop back by on Monday for the full details of Jack’s talk and all the new features of ArcGIS 10.1 and its implications to the industry.

If you are going to the UC, make sure you use The Un-Official 2011 Esri User Conference Back Channel to keep on track of the sessions, meetups and everything that is going on. Photo safari should be much better this year as it uses Facebook and Instagram to upload mobile photos. Looking forward to it.

For those who feared there was going to be no Esri news the week before the UC, this happened:

Time to refresh your browser!? ArcGIS Online is frequently updated, and a new update has just been published. This is a significant release with many new features and capabilities.

OK, so what is new in this release (wait… release for a website? Come on now, there is no such thing as a version number in the cloud guys).

• Drag and drop add of data. Interesting, but drop of GPX but not KML?
• WMS support – I can only guess this is to meet some government requirement. I mean who really is asking for WMS support in ArcGIS Online? “I’d totally be all over ArcGIS Online if they just supported WMS!” Yea not happening.
• KML support via URLs. See the problem here is you need to post the data somewhere to use it. Of course maybe the hook is that you can store the KML on ArcGIS Online (I see a business model coming together)
• ArcGIS Explorer Online supports WMS. Again, I see government contracts all over this one.

One thing that did really catch my eye was this:

Coming Soon to ArcGIS Online ArcGIS Online Organizational Accounts

Organizational accounts and hosted mapping for organizations will soon be available through a fee-based subscription to ArcGIS Online. A subscription provides additional capabilities and tools to centrally manage individual user accounts within an organization, and to create and manage an organization’s hosted maps, and more.

Does that sound a bit like Google Earth Builder? I suspect we’ll hear a ton of Esri’s response to Google (not directly because that isn’t Jack’s style) next week. Could be interesting, that’s for sure.

Oh Captain, my Captain! Where is my WMS Service?

God bless America!

Until tomorrow…

Via:

The details:

ArcGIS for Home Use makes GIS available to everyone. This offer is ideal for existing ArcGIS users who want to use the same powerful software at home for noncommercial personal use and for individuals who want to expand their GIS skills. However, anyone can participate in this program.

For a $100 annual fee, the ArcGIS for Home Use 12-month term license includes:

• ArcView
• ArcGIS 3D Analyst
• ArcGIS Geostatistical Analyst
• ArcGIS Network Analyst
• ArcGIS Publisher
• ArcGIS Schematics
• ArcGIS Spatial Analyst
• ArcGIS Tracking Analyst

Wow, there you go. Use ArcGIS at home for non-commercial use. That’s an incredible deal!

You don’t win friends with salad, but you do with ArcGIS for Home!

It’s that favorite time of year again. The one where we all get to read Esri’s Q&A for the Esri UC.

Some of the points of interest…

Q: How is Esri doing?
A: Doin’ fine, thank you. (glad we got that out of the way)

Q: What is Esri?s position about open source and its products?

A: Well we love all god’s creatures. Also we’ve got a couple open source products that we opened up but we know you won’t support because you are a bunch of freeloaders.

Q: Why should I use the Esri family of products? Why not Google Earth and Google Maps?

A: So Google will be the white elephant in the room at all times at this Esri UC. Basically Esri has you covered so don’t worry about the Google.

Q: Is Esri working on simplifying end-user licensing for software products?

A: Some of this is old (borrow license manager license), some of it is pretty new (one month ArcGIS Server license). None of it really changes anything.

Q: When will ArcGIS support OGC?s web tiling service?

A: 10.1 baby!

Q: When will Esri provide full support for KML/KMZ?

A: Looks like 10.1 will be the release that almost does what you want. I say almost because KML/KMZ read/write is a dirty business.

Q: Is Python a replacement for VBA?

A: Here come the VBA questions. Look, the writing has been on the wall long enough. if you are still asking this question, it might be time to move along and find a job in another industry. Python is a replacement for VBA because unlike VBA it is useful and has a future.

Q: When can we expect the next release of ArcGIS?

A: Early 2012 with the beta out in July. 10 SP3 is out this fall.

Q: Will ArcGIS run on Linux?

A: This is such a cute question. There is this wacky hope that Linux or Mac Desktop support could be around the corner. It isn’t guys, Windows only! Now that super secret next verision of ArcGIS will support everything, right?

Q: ArcGIS 10 seems slower than pervious releases for some areas, why?

A: Esri posted some scientific reasons why this is the case but we all know you never use even number releases of Esri software. 10.1 will be fast and wonderful. 10.2 will be a nightmare, but that 10.3 release will make it all worth the pain.

Q: Going forward, how will Esri leverage the cloud?

A: My own personal feeling on Esri’s strategy here is they’ll keep using the word cloud until it has no meaning. It may be better summed up with this video.

Q: What is the future of ArcGIS Desktop? Will it be replaced by ArcGIS Server?

A: Don’t worry button pushers, your job is safe. For now…

Q: Will Esri continue to ship ArcInfo Workstation with the 10.1 release?

A: A moment of silence please for ArcInfo Workstation.

Q: Will Esri release ArcIMS at version 10.1?

A: I swear to god, I’ll buy anyone a steak dinner at the UC that can prove to me this was an actual question. I refuse to believe anyone cares about this product or has in the past 2 years.

Q: Will ArcGIS Server support deployments in Azure?

A: Microsoft and Esri team up to take on the Google.

Q: When will ArcGIS Online support WMS?

A: So this is probably an INSPIRE or Federal Government requirement. I can’t imagine any ordinary person just thinking to themselves… “I’d totally be all over ArcGIS.com if it just supported WMS”. Right?

Q: Is ArcGIS open?

A: Oh boy. Again, see here.

Q: Is VBA supported at ArcGIS 10.1?

A: Stop it right now, you are killing me with these VBA questions. As I look over at the calendar on my wall, I see the year 2011. VBA was not the answer 10 years ago.

Q: How is Esri planning to support HTML5?

A: I love the answer, basically HTML5 is awesome, but they realize that most of their user base is stuck on old versions of IE. Thus as awesome as it can be, it isn’t.

Q: What is the role of ArcGIS Explorer Desktop in ArcGIS?

A: ArcGIS Explorer is the one product I don’t get. The team Esri put on its development is awesome, but is this product really needed?

Q: When will 2D and 3D viewing be integrated into a single application?

A: Not yet, but soon. Remember what I said about even releases of ArcGIS. If this comes in 10.2, you’ll want to wait for 10.3 for performance reasons.

Q: What happened to FGDC metadata support in ArcGIS 10? It seems to be missing.

A: FGDC Metadata fans are such drama queens. Nobody cares about FGDC metadata so lets move on.

Q: Will Esri support Netezza?s TwinFin database at 10.1?

A: Wait… Is that a direct connection to Netezza? No SDE?

Q: Will Esri be supporting SQL Server Denali at 10.1?

A: Stop using beta software and asking us to support it. You’ll get it when you get it.

Q: When will ArcGIS support direct access to spatial DBMSs?

A: Nothing else needs to be said.

Q: What are some of the enhancements to the geodatabase in ArcGIS 10.1?

A: Lots of good new stuff there. I like the new Geodatabase Administration Toolbox. That should make things much easier for managers of the Geodatabase.

Q: Will Esri be hosting GIS services for its users?

A: Paid subscription stuff here. Looks like you are going to be able to upload your data and visualize it on ArcGIS.com. Then share the map with anyone. Where have I seen that idea before?

Q: How will ArcGIS Online be sustainable? Who is paying for it?

A: Wonder why this question was put in by Esri? Are they getting pressure from someone asking if they are committed to ArcGIS.com? Bottom line is Esri thinks it will be sustainable beause they think they’ll convince you to pay for hosting on it. Wouldn’t bet against that thinking for sure.

I hope you like my new banner ad in celebration of the Esri UC.

Update: I’ve put the banner here for future reference:

Have you seen the Google+ Demo site? It uses the Google Maps API as a presentation canvas. That’s pretty slick!

Google Maps, you put the boom-boom into my heart!

Inconceivable!

So yea, two weeks ago I was all excited about Google Earth Builder. What’s not to like? It handles geospatial data easily, has some awesome visualization tools and has a pricing model that seems reasonable (Disclaimer, I should say it scales reasonably. That of course doesn’t mean it will be reasonable in cost at the base line. Google Earth Enterprise isn’t cheap nor is licensing other Google Maps data). And of course everyone is totally excited about it on Twitter (Sewing circle they are) and I have to think Directions Magazine is happy that one of their webinars was so well received. So why do I have a problem with it?

First off, lots of things seem sexy and fun until you start playing with them. I mean watch someone with a Yo-Yo. How much fun does that all look? Then they hand it to you and you are bored before you can even put the string on your finger. GEB could be the same way. Yea it does some things really well, but once you actually want to start and do real work with it, you have to choose another tool. This isn’t to say GEB won’t become all that, just generally these things take time to build up to where other tools have been for 20/30 years.

My other issue with GEB is it seems like a Federal Government play. You know, the one where Google and Esri fight over government pork spending? GEB might be perfect for this world, but that doesn’t mean that those of us with our feet on the ground can actually use it for anything. Sort of like a Data.gov 2.0 thing. Sounds great in practice, but theory doesn’t pay the bills for most of us. Until I see actual use cases in commercial space, I’m going to chalk up GEB as a government tool that Google has thrown out there to fight Esri, Microsoft, Oracle and whatever other large Government technology implementor that uses “geo”.

Which one is Esri and which one is Google?

Taking on Esri in the Federal Government space? That’s a pretty ballsy move by Google. Esri is a tough customer and they’ve shown time and time again they fight to win. In a way this is probably the best part of GEB for the “rest of us”. Think of Esri technology (Remember Geography Network, ArcIMS and the WebADF) before Google came along? Now they stuff is almost a joy to work with (almost). As long as Esri’s GEB response isn’t more ArcGIS for Explorer (Do I have that name right?) and ArcGIS for Server with Advanced Enterprise, I think we all win.

The tragic prelude to all us brothers getting together.