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.
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.
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.
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).
Link – KML Home Companion (new 2.0)
Jim Cser emailed me and let me know that KML Home Companion 2.0 is now available. The new features include
on-the-fly Lat/Long conversion, and color picker tools. Jim is also kind enough to include the source VB code with his distribution. One thing I really like about KML Home Companion is that it is so simple to use. I’m stuck at home this morning, but when I get in later I’ll post some screen shots.
Link – Talking about ArcScripts
There are some good suggestions in the comments on Brian’s blog. I think the consensus is that we need a place to collaborate. I like Richie’s idea to require source code for all projects uploaded, there are tons of other places to advertise your extensions rather than ArcScripts. Make any suggestions in Brian’s blog.
Link – ArcWeb and PHP Mini-HOWTO, Part 4
So far we have a map with points, and we can zoom in and out. The next step will be adding a pan function.
Walt finishes up his tutorial on ArcWeb Services using PHP today with to pan. Hopefully everyone will let Walk know what they thought of the tutorial, I know I enjoyed it. Maybe if ESRI ever gets a SourceForge/GotDotNet type site up and running, Walt can contribute his code.
Link – ArcWeb and PHP Mini-HOWTO, Part 3
“If you’ve been following along, you should now be able to display a map showing points that you defined and stored in a database. Now we’ll look at how to zoom the map using a small control on the web page.”
This could be the first zoom example in PHP I’ve seen on the internet.
Link – Hurricane Katrina Disaster Viewer
The Hurricane Katrina Disaster Viewer is designed to provide detailed information about impacted areas to responders, people affected, and the general public. The site lets you locate an address or zoom to areas of interest and view FEMA damaged areas, U.S. Postal Service affected delivery areas, post-disaster satellite imagery, population density, street maps, and much more information. You can also generate demographic reports.
Too bad this wasn’t released last week because it is pretty good. The Viewer displays many of the ArcWeb services that are available such as topo, flood, traffic and weather that aren’t available on Google Maps. I think many of us GIS folks will enjoy the application, but the general public has already discovered the “Katrina” button on Google Maps so getting them to switch over to this is probably impossible. All in all though a great demonstration of ArcWeb Services.
Link – ArcWeb and PHP Mini-HOWTO, Part 2
“In part 1 of this HOWTO we created a map and displayed it on a web page. In the section, we’ll add some points.”
