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As everyone now knows, Facebook is the place for ESRI Conference discussions and this one is no different. Dave Bouwman brought up a great point about ESRI allowing developers to give talks rather than just ESRI speakers (like every other developer conference in the world). It would appear given feedback on Facebook that this is going to happen (even though rumors were that it wouldn’t) with a “Demo Theater” sized space for speakers to talk to.

My first thought was this is a bad idea because there won’t be enough room for some speakers, but given the proximity to the Developer Islands, this might make much more sense than stuck in a small conference room down a long dark hall that no one can find. According to Jim Barry of ESRI, there will be more info and application details in the “next week or two” so start thinking about what you might want to present (or who you’d like to see present).

Dave Bouwman has a great blog post on all the different choices available to ESRI centric developers for a web mapping front end. Not a bad primer for folks still trying to figure out all the new options we have available for visualization.

There will be an OpenStreetMap mapping party this weekend in Phoenix, AZ December 6th and 7th. Brandon Aguirre from Cloudmade will be here to coordinate things, and Gangplank will host it in Chandler, AZ.

If you haven’t been to a mapping party before you’ll want to come along and bring a friend. There is quite a bit of work that needs to be accomplished in Phoenix on OSM so there are tons for everyone to do.

The invite is below and don’t forget to RVSP:

Make Your Mark on the Free World Map!
Join me at Gangplank’s offices Saturday, December 6 and Sunday, December 7 from 11:00am-4:00pm for an OpenStreetMap Mapping Party where we’ll get more of the things you want added to the map of Phoenix! Since OpenStreetMap is both free and Free, you can do really cool things with the data. (check out www.opencyclemap.org and www.openrouteservice.org for examples). At the party we’ll loan you a GPS unit and show you how to use it so you can then go out and map a section of the city. At the end of the day we’ll show you how to get that data into OpenStreetMap so you can begin mapping your community’s bikeways, hiking trails, park paths and anything else you choose!

For more information check out the following:
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org
http://www.openstreetmap.org

RSVP HERE! http://www.meetup.com/OpenStreetMap-Phoenix/
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1382243/

The latest Google Maps API TOS is available here. Google had just updated their TOS back in early November to clear up some questions around the use of API on free sites (this TOS only applies to the free API, not the Google Premier). The changes were welcomed by all, but one section appeared to some people to suggest that by using the API, you were giving Google a license to your data. Ed Parsons blogged about the situation?so you can follow more what the problems were there, but this latest update seems to remove that section (Ed has it on his blog) that people were worried about.

OK, now back to getting the house ready for the family invasion tomorrow.

The turkey in my fridge did not receive a pardon from the president.

Those who use the JavaScript extensions for Google Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth can now update their script tags that reference the API to 1.2. The ESRI ArcGIS Server Blog has all the details.

Virtual Earth example:

[http://serverapi.arcgisonline.com/jsapi/ve/?v=1.2](http://serverapi.arcgisonline.com/jsapi/ve/?v=1.2)

Google Maps example:

[http://serverapi.arcgisonline.com/jsapi/gmaps/?v=1.2](http://serverapi.arcgisonline.com/jsapi/gmaps/?v=1.2)

A couple people have commented recently about this blog or via twitter about the possibility of ArcGIS and the Cloud. The current licensing of ArcGIS Server pretty much precludes the possibility of running it in the cloud so until ESRI changes the licensing or works with a company to provide ArcGIS Server in the cloud don’t get your hopes up.

I’m guessing it is virtually impossible for ESRI to license ArcGIS Server in the cloud as the product stands today.

The ESRI ArcGIS JavaScript API has been updated to version 1.2. The ArcGIS Server Blog has the details. Remember to update your code with the new version:

<script src="http://serverapi.arcgisonline.com/jsapi/arcgis/?v=1.2" type="text/javascript">

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href=http://serverapi.arcgisonline.com/jsapi/ arcgis/1.2/js/dojo/dijit/themes/tundra/tundra.css>

Have a merry GIS Day!

I suppose it makes sense. Print media is dead everyone says. How do you stay relevant if your primary product is a print magazine with pictures (that probably costs a ton to produce)?

Launch a games division.

I can’t wait until ArcMap X comes out on Wii.

Pulling off a wicked intersection on Wii ArcGIS.

Back when ESRI had just released PC ARC/INFO (for the cutting edge DOS) and way before Google was a research project, the United States Congress passed a joint resolution signed by Ronald Reagan proclaiming that Geography Awareness Week would be held in November.

The Great Communicator signs Geography Awareness Week into law

Remember, it isn’t about the Google or ESRI (I suppose GIS Day is for them). It is about the Geography!