The Map Bar Has to Go
Why oh why are we seeing this Map/Menu bar on all these new “Web 2.0” mapping applications? Take this beta example from the USGS National Map Viewer:
So you’ve been sitting back, watching all this great new Web 2.0 stuff and this is what you bring to the table? I know, lets see how much junk we can throw into a JavaScript API. The whiteboard on this one must have been intense… Just take every idea that someone comes up with and toss it into a ribbon interface. Sweet! But this isn’t a complex, specialized, niche application we are talking about. This is our (well if you like me are a tax paying citizen) national map. Yes the American Map! It should be something we are proud of, something we would run of a flag pole and salute!
They do expose some other ways to access the data, but don’t be fooled by the names. The Google Maps, Bing Maps and the rest are all just links to the ArcGIS REST API. That is how The National Map should be exposed. “Here are the services, use them and create your own maps”. Might be a better way to handle it because the future looks bloated.
Of course we can’t completely blame the USGS for this, ESRI’s JavaScript and Flex API sample viewers have a similar abomination. Clearly GIS Analysts shouldn’t be designing user interfaces. Are we really going to use this thing for every web map API?
I mean we all love to throw complex concepts under a widget icon of a box with gears on it. Me? I can never remember if I’m supposed to use the compass or the globe to zoom in or out.
The one saving grace is that one day Google will just enable all this in their web map viewer making everything else irrelevant.
Running ArcGIS 9.4 alongside ArcGIS 9.3.1
So the news at the DevSummit was that you could install both ArcGIS 9.4 alongside ArcGIS 9.3.1. I’m not part of the beta for 9.4, but reports are that ESRI has not enabled this yet for the latest 9.4 beta release. If you want to install 9.4 on a computer running ArcGIS 9.3.1, you are being prompted to uninstall 9.3.1 before continuing. Has anyone yet been able to run 9.4 and 9.3.1 at the same time?
Now this could be a limitation of the current beta and not actually any retreat by ESRI on being able to run two versions of ArcGIS on the same machine. Either way it make it really hard to beta test the 9.4 release as you can’t compare it to older versions.
Note: If you post any specific 9.4 Beta information (such as quoting forums posts on the Beta forums), expect ESRI to personally contact you. They appear to be monitoring this blog post. You’ve been warned.
Running ArcGIS 9.4 alongside ArcGIS 9.3.1
So the news at the DevSummit was that you could install both ArcGIS 9.4 alongside ArcGIS 9.3.1. I’m not part of the beta for 9.4, but reports are that ESRI has not enabled this yet for the latest 9.4 beta release. If you want to install 9.4 on a computer running ArcGIS 9.3.1, you are being prompted to uninstall 9.3.1 before continuing. Has anyone yet been able to run 9.4 and 9.3.1 at the same time?
Now this could be a limitation of the current beta and not actually any retreat by ESRI on being able to run two versions of ArcGIS on the same machine. Either way it make it really hard to beta test the 9.4 release as you can’t compare it to older versions.
Note: If you post any specific 9.4 Beta information (such as quoting forums posts on the Beta forums), expect ESRI to personally contact you. They appear to be monitoring this blog post. You’ve been warned.
Bing Maps - Draggable Routes and New Navigation - Welcome to June 2007
Microsoft finally has added draggable routes to their Bing Maps service. ’Bout time guys since Google has had it for over 2 years. That said I’ve been using Bing Maps more lately because I don’t trust the Google Maps layers (great API, horrible data).
Is anyone going to host a Bing Maps Party?
Bing Maps - Draggable Routes and New Navigation - Welcome to June 2007
Microsoft finally has added draggable routes to their Bing Maps service. ’Bout time guys since Google has had it for over 2 years. That said I’ve been using Bing Maps more lately because I don’t trust the Google Maps layers (great API, horrible data).
Is anyone going to host a Bing Maps Party?
Free Bulk Reverse Geocoding
Phillip Holmstrand continues to improve his batchgeocoding.com website. He’s added bulk reverse geocoding using Google’s geocoder. Google’s advantage over Yahoo is it also includes an “accuracy” field so you can get feedback on your geocodes. Plus Google has rooftop geocoding in many cities making it much more accurate than Yahoo or TIGER/Line based geocoders.
Its Alright?