ArcGIS Server Development Blog Here is a technical blog focused on ArcGIS Server - with posts written by the ArcGIS Server development team. Enjoy!

Police connected through a new computer system: "Police connected through a new computer system DARCIE FLANSBURG, Staff Writer Article Launched:12/06/2006 02:52:13 PM PST After 20 years of using the same computer system, the Redlands Police Department has upgraded. According to Kurt Smith, Redlands police community analysis and technology director, there was a clear need to update the system. The Sanders Software Computer-Aided Dispatch and Records Management System was state of the art in the 1980s when the department first used it, but is now out of date, said Redlands Police Chief Jim Bueermann. The department began the evaluation process for a new system one year ago. In March 2006, the department sought City Council approval of a contract with Spillman Technologies Inc., an organization whose system was ESRI compatible as the department required. " [ Kurt is a great guy that used to work in San Diego - but Redlands stole him away! ]

The ArcPad Team Blog: "The ArcPad Team Blog Unofficial stuff from the team behind the World's leading mobile GIS Are you an ArcPad user? Then you might find this "unoffical" site interesting for it's tips and tricks and pointers on little known ArcPad features"

What's Coming in ArcGIS 9.2: "With ArcGIS 9.2, ESRI continues to focus on quality, usability, and performance. ArcGIS Desktop (ArcView, ArcEditor, ArcInfo) Check out the Usability Enhancements videos"

Project Center - ESRI Support: "Welcome to Project Center... The Project Center provides an information portal to a wide range of GIS information, resources, and ESRI services for planning, designing, implementing and maintaining a successful GIS project lifecycle. The ESRI Project Center framework has been established so that you may quickly find available resources and services to support your specific GIS needs."

Maps for Journalists - Disaster Response and Assistance: "Riverside County Wildfire Maps and Images Sunday, October 29, 2006 ESRI is supporting the firefighting efforts for the Esperanza Fire by providing GIS maps personnel on-site at the fire Incident Command Posts. Maps are provided as a public service to inform residents and other interested people."

Not GIS related - but cool.... Oxygen masks for dogs, cats donated to San Diego Fire Department: "Oxygen masks for dogs, cats donated to San Diego Fire Department October 3, 2006 SAN DIEGO – Pets are ten times more likely to die in a fire than people and they are just as likely to suffer smoke inhalation, but now San Diego firefighters have devices designed to save the lives of four-legged victims. Best Friends Pet Care, a national chain of boarding kennels, on Tuesday donated 20 sets of oxygen masks for animals to the San Diego Fire Department. Each cone-shaped resuscitation mask fits tightly over a pet's snout and attaches to a tube that connects to an oxygen tank. They come in three sizes, one for large dogs, one for small dogs and one for cats. Dawn Garcia, a manager at a local Best Friends facility, said that last year some 40,000 pets died in fires at homes across the nation. She animals are at a greater risk for smoke inhalation because they often don't find their way out. “They don't know what to do, they run and hide,” Garcia said. Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Carle said regular oxygen masks are ineffective for pets because they do not fit properly over an animals' face. He said firefighters recently pulled six cats out of a burning apartment and two were suffering after inhaling smoke. They were able to save the felines by using the equipment on hand, but Carle said the new masks would have worked much better. Best Friends launched the Cause for Paws Campaign nationally in 2004 and has since donated 2,250 sets of masks to fire departments in 20 states. “We learned our rescue teams in our own back yard didn't have these masks and we wanted to help,” Garcia said. Today's donation will provide the gear for go to less than half of the city's 46 fire stations. Garcia said Best Friends' goal is to equip all of them."

It was a LONG week at Strong Angel III (http://www.strongangel3.net). It is demonstration events like this that remind you just how important having maps is. Everyone, rightly so, wants to get their data and analysis on a map so that people know where things are happening - and what they are near. And paper - digital mapping is great, but in crunch time the good ole paper map is still very much needed. The whole group was very happy to see ESRI roll in 2 huge HP 4000ps large-format printers on the second day. We became very popular as everyone needed to print, but no one had a printer. And, as always, the Touch Table with ArcGlobe drew a crowd. It got a workout. I thought I'd place links to stories and blog entries about the event here. Enjoy...... http://iht.com/articles/2006/08/28/business/disaster.php (8/28/06) http://picasaweb.google.com/sanjanah/StrongAngelIII (Photos someone took) http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=3545 (8/25/06) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1690083/posts (8/25/06) http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060823/ news_1m23terror.html (8/23/06) http://www.informationweek.com/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=192202134 (8/21/06) http://www.govtech.net/magazine/channel_story.php/100561 (8/14/06) http://www.spadac.com/ (These guys do some really interesting spatial analysis - we talked and worked with them a lot this last week) http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2006/08/25/strong-angel-iii-real-time-broadcast-video-translation/ (8/25/06) http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=60218675&blogID=159965120 (8/25/06) http://psdblog.worldbank.org/psdblog/2006/08/scenarios_disas.html (8/25/06) http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2006/08/25/strong-angel-iii-interview-with-ambassador-daniel-stauffacher/ (8/25/06) http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2006/08/25/strong-angel-iii-interview-with-dan-gilmor/ (8/25/06) http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2006/08/25/strong-angel-iii-interview-with-mark-frohardt-from-internews/ (8/25/06) http://drastic-sa3.blogspot.com/2006/08/monday-day-1-resurrection.html (8/22/06) http://www.brianstorms.com/archives/000699.html (8/21/06)

GIS/Geospatial Market Grew 17% in 2005 to Top $3.3 Billion; Sales Led by Growth in Data Products Cambridge, MA, July 6, 2006 - Worldwide GIS/Geospatial revenue is forecast to reach $3.6 billion in 2006, up from $2.82 billion in 2004. This growth is driven by sales of commercial data products and the emergence of desktop and Internet-based systems. Core-business revenue includes software, hardware, services and data products. The breakdown for these areas for 2004 are as follows: Software comprised over one-half of total revenue, with revenues from GIS software vendors reaching $1.5 billion. Leading the market in software revenues were Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI), Bentley and Intergraph Corporation. Together, the three companies accounted for about half of the industry's total software revenues. Other software leaders included Autodesk, Inc., Leica Geosystems, GE Energy, MapInfo, MacDonald Dettwiler, SICAD Geomatics, and LogicaCMG. Data was the second-largest component of core-business revenues, accounting for quarter of total refenue or $677 million. Sales of commercial data sets are skyrocketing and are projected to continue to grow strongly as consumers and businesses become more aware of and purchase geo-enabled devices. Services came in third, with core-business vendors accounting for one fifth of total core-business revenues, or $536 million. Hardware, a declining component of core-business revenues for many years, dropped again, and accounted for just 4% of total core-business revenues, or $113 million. Utilities and Government Increase Spending Revenues from the public sector -the two major segments being state and local governments, and federal governments-led market growth and now account for over one-third of total revenue. While federal governments were among the early adopters of GIS technology, recent trends toward devolving more responsibilities to states and localities have spurred those entities to become important consumers of GIS. Industries in the regulated sector-utilities, telecommunications, transportation and education-once again are the largest consumers of GIS/Geospatial solutions. Utilities contributed almost half of total regulated-sector GIS revenues, while telecommunications companies accounted for a third. Private sector growth continues to lag, as companies explore the business benefits of these technologies. Of the major industry segments within the private sector, earth resources represents the largest opportunity, accounting for over one-quarter of total private-sector revenue. Also notable is the AEC segment, driven by growing acceptance of geo-capable engineering applications. In-depth analysis of the structure and composition of the GIS/Geospatial market, a detailed description of Daratech's GIS/Geospatial market model, profiles of major core-business participants and their product lines, and other background information is available onlline in the just-released publication "GIS/Geospatial Markets and Opportunities". About Daratech Daratech, Inc. is a leading provider of information technology market research and technology assessment, advisory and strategic consulting services, and executive-level conferences for manufacturing, engineering, construction and plant operations. Established in 1979, Daratech specializes in global GIS/Geospatial, PLM, CAD/CAM, digital product simulation (CAE), PDM/EDM, AECO PLM (architecture, engineering, construction, operations, plant lifecycle management), document/enterprise content management, and related areas.

Welcome to the ESRI UC Blog Welcome to the ESRI User Conference Blog, created to bring the conference experience online. The ESRI User Conference will bring some 15,000 GIS users to San Diego August 7-11 to explore, together, how GIS can better serve organizations and our communities. This is the largest GIS event in the world, and I encourage you to attend if you haven’t already planned to do so. During the conference week, we will bring you highlights of the many events going on, such as the Plenary Session and Map Gallery. We invite you to submit comments and post entries to share your conference experiences with fellow attendees and others who want to learn more about the conference. To submit a post, send an e-mail to UCblog@esri.com. Or, if you read a blog that interests you, click the comment link at the end of the entry to share your thoughts on the subject.

This exchange of information is what the ESRI community is all about. We move forward together, sharing knowledge, sharing stories, and communicating our world. Have a great conference.

Sincerely,Jack Dangermond, ESRI President

Strong Angel III: Integrated Disaster Response Demonstration: "THE SCENARIO A Complex Contingency: A lethal and highly-contagious virus gradually begins to spread around the globe. Infection rates are high, deaths are frequent, and no vaccine is available. Cities all over the world fall under quarantine. Emergency services and medical centers are stressed and national government agencies, affected just as severely as the cities themselves, cannot provide assistance. And then the situation goes from fragile to brittle. A terrorist cell, having long waited for such an opportunity, launches a wave of successful cyber attacks in a medium size city somewhere in the developed world, bringing down grid power, Internet access, land and cellular telephones. Other, more subtle, attacks follow, and it's difficult to sort out the mess. If there were ever a time to work effectively together, this would be it. Recognizing that a comparable scenario might one day unfold in real life, a diverse group of disaster responders, technologists, and community leaders will assemble in San Diego in August of 2006 for an event designed to simulate a truly complex disaster. Over the course of seven days, on the campus of San Diego State University and in the streets of the city, we will explore techniques and technologies for responding effectively when the response itself must adapt to cascading losses. By demonstrating what is possible through public and private-sector partnerships within a community, we intend to develop approaches to cultivating local resilience that may be useful for any city, here or abroad."

72Hours.org San Francisco's website to help educate the public and aid them in perparing for a major natural disaster or terrorist event.

Fox News' Bird Flu Center: "One stop for Bird Flu related stories from around the globe"

Press Releases - Directions Magazine: "IID to Provide Seamless Data Access Using ESRI Enterprise GIS Software April 27, 2006 Users Can Better Manage Network Maintenance, Plan Future Growth, and Improve Customer Service Imperial Irrigation District (IID) has selected ESRI for its enterprise geographic information system (GIS) platform. The implementation will create a systemwide GIS environment of electrical asset, configuration, and grid coordinate information that is accurate and current with real-time updating. ESRI is providing professional services including design and application customization services. In addition, the GIS will fully interface with the organization's SAP enterprise resource planning software. "We're one of the fastest-growing utilities in the country in terms of percentage of growth per year," says John Federowicz, manager, IID Energy . "This growth has forced us to move beyond previous processes. GIS will be one of the cornerstones of our enterprise technology solution. It will provide us with new ways for maintaining data and providing accurate information throughout the organization. We want our employees to have the best information and applications to do their work and give our customers the finest service possible." "IID will be able to leverage the advantage of enterprise GIS for integrating all types of datasets including asset, network, operations, customer, and more," says Bill Meehan , director of Utility Solutions, ESRI. "They will be able to build a true enterprise platform with an open architecture and state-of-the-art technologies."

AutoCAD 2007 DWG looks like bad ju-ju.: "From Evan Yates' blog: What's the bottom line here? Based on what I know now, I don't think the Open Design Alliance can legally provide support for the AutoCAD 2007 file format. By all appearances, Autodesk has got it technically and legally locked up, to where users will only be able to access DWG 2007 files with Autodesk software. Think of it like a tax: You have to pay Autodesk for the right to access your DWG 2007 files. I'm more than a little concerned about this -- and if you are thinking about upgrading to the new version of AutoCAD when it comes out (about March 15), you ought to be concerned too. I'm going to continue to look at this situation, and see if there are any ways around it. But I suspect that there will be no easy solutions. It's pretty sad that, when even Microsoft is recognizing the importance of open data formats, Autodesk has gone in the complete opposite direction."

Gov. Perry: State and Local Officials Best In Responding to Disaster - Government Technology: "With the start of the hurricane season just two months away, Gov. Rick Perry said recent recommendations that the federal government assume primary control of disaster response is the wrong approach to take. Our firefighters, peace officers and EMS personnel are the ones who know their communities best," Perry said. "They have done the emergency training exercises in those communities and they can respond the quickest to emergencies in their communities. To put it simply, when Texans dial 911, they need the phone to be picked up by an operator who knows their community, not someone at a switchboard in Washington, DC. Perry said the federal government does have an important role in disaster response, but it is a supporting role that must center on supplying state and local leaders with the resources they need to do their job. Perry said the most important reform the federal government can enact is to provide a single point of contact during a disaster so states do not have to navigate various bureaucratic mazes to get things done."

Integrating GIS with SAP Brings Improved Processes to Marin Water District - Articles: "The benefits of integrating its SAP and ESRI systems extend throughout Marin Municipal Water District and to its customers. It has resulted in decreased service times, reduced error frequency, lower operation costs and increased overall efficiency. It helps to lower the cost of asset maintenance and service, and provides better asset inventory management."

Google Tests Local Ads On Maps - 03/27/2006: "Here come the ads on Google.........it was only time..... GOOGLE IS TESTING A NEW feature on its mapping service, Maps.Google.com, that allows advertisers to display locations with an icon and also embed an image in the store information bubble. 'As part of our continuing effort to provide a positive advertising experience for users and advertisers, we are always exploring ways to improve the way we display ads,' Google stated, adding: 'We are currently conducting a limited test of ads on Google Local.' The company declined to offer more specific details. Kelsey Group analyst Greg Sterling said these types of ads have potential far beyond simple display images. 'The possibilities are great,' he said. 'You could plug e-commerce into this, you could plug video into this, chat, pay-per-call--you could do any number of things that would be really interesting on these modules on a map.'"

ESRI and STC Collaborate to Address Pandemic Influenza: "ESRI, the world's leading provider of geographic information system (GIS) software, announces it is working with Scientific Technologies Corporation (STC), an international public health information systems firm. STC will offer private businesses and public organizations an exercise program to assess readiness and help prepare and develop an action plan in the event of an influenza pandemic in the United States. The program enhances STC's Preparedness Training, Exercises, Simulations, and Testing (Pre-TEST) services. Pre-TEST is designed to evaluate the operational readiness of many different groups such as public health agencies, schools, jails, public facilities, transportation services, and commercial businesses. In a pandemic, the work of these organizations is likely to be severely disrupted. Pre-TEST will provide a practical assessment of how ready organizations and public health systems are for such an event and what measures might be implemented in the short term to speed response and recovery. The enhanced Pre-TEST services will integrate ESRI GIS features and capabilities into both the preparedness planning activities and actual hands-on exercises. "STC has recently developed an exercise program for schools and other large public institutions to assess and stress institutional response and resilience," said STC president Mike Popovich. "We are delighted to be working with ESRI to enhance these services. The GIS tools and public health and health care expertise of ESRI will add to our exercise program and increase participants' ability to describe their decision-making processes, identify capabilities and gaps, and increase awareness of peers and partnering agencies"

Biosecurity for the Birds: "Practice Backyard Biosecurity. Keep your birds free from disease. Restrict traffic on your property, and disinfect shoes, clothes and hands to prevent the possible spread of disease. Report Sick Birds. Don’t wait! Early detection can make a difference. If your birds are sick or dying, call USDA's Veterinary Services toll free at 1-866-536-7593"

PandemicFlu.gov: "One stop access to U.S. Government avian and pandemic flu information. Managed by the Department of Health and Human Services."

County of San Diego - Land Use & Environment Group: "Office of the (San Diego) County Veterinarian Phone Number: 858-694-2838 Animal Disease and Diagnostic Laboratory hours: 8 AM - 5 PM Monday through Friday. Avian Influenza Fact Sheet (PDF)"

USGS National Wildlife Health Center - Avian Influenza Wildlife Chart: "List of Species Affected by H5N1 (Avian Influenza) - Referenced reports of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 in wildlife and domestic animals"

USGS National Wildlife Health Center - Avian Influenza: "USDA, DOI and HHS expand screening for highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in migratory birds USDA, DOI and HHS Spotlight Interagency Readiness Plans. Update: March 20, 2006 H5N1 has been confirmed in five new countries in the past week, including Myanmar, Sweden, Afghanistan, Denmark and Israel, creating a total of 41 countries that have reported H5N1 outbreaks since 2004."

ESRI International User Conference: "Exhibit Your Work in the Map Gallery Submission Deadline June 16 Each year, hundreds of users showcase their work in the Map Gallery. Participants may choose to enter their submissions in one of several categories and compete for an award. Many of the maps will be published in the annual ESRI Map Book. All other maps become part of ESRI's permanent collection. Use the Map Gallery Submission System to register."

GIS Matters: ArcGIS Explorer at AAG: "From David Maguire: Yesterday I participated in a paper session and panel discussion at the Association of American Geographers annual conference in Chicago. I spoke about the concepts, history and attributes of Geographic Exploration Systems (GES) and also described ArcGIS Explorer as a case study. GES are a new breed of GIS that focus on the exploitation of geographic information and utilize a services-oriented architecture. They are user-centric, fun and easy to use. ArcGIS Explorer (AGX) is an example of a GES. It aims to be a 'GIS for everyone'. With AGX anyone with a modern PC and connection to the web can explore geographic information. AGX has the capability to call many types of web services and integrate them together as ‘geomashups’. This is where things start to get interesting."

All Points Blog: "Quote from Roberto Solimene, Google Enterprise director for Europe: "Some 70 to 80 percent of investment is put into making the search experience better. That means we can spend 30 per cent on other things such as Google Earth, but they are not core to our business." That's a key differentiator between the Googles and Microsofts of the world and the ESRIs and MapInfos."

Palomar Mountain Webcam: "People think it never snows in San Diego County -- The webcam image is taken every 20 minutes (when it works) through a window looking out on the front porch of a house on Fern Meadow Road."

Googling Google ZDNet.com: "What Google is up to" - A blog that keeps an eye on what Google is doing and digs deeper for more info.

San Diego Zoo Weblogs - GIS use GIS!: "GIS use GIS! Wha--?! Let me rephrase: the Girls In Science students were introduced to the Zoo's Geographic Information System mapping project this week by intern Jeannine Carlin. Eventually, the entire San Diego Zoo and everything in it will be mapped. We’ll be able to find water valves and electrical trunk lines and the coffee cart and will even be able to track down where the poop trucks park!"

ArcWeb Services ArcWeb Explorer: It's beta, but it's pretty cool - "ArcWeb Explorer (Beta Release) ArcWeb Explorer is a Web-based map viewing application based on Macromedia Flash 8. The ArcWeb Explorer uses vector mapping technology to render maps quickly in the browser instead of having the server render them. The result is improved speed and performance, greater control over the map appearance, and desktop-like functionality over the Internet. In addition, ArcWeb Explorer provides access to ArcWeb Services so you can easily find locations by street address, telephone number (land line), and IP address. You can also create a route and directions between locations and map locations from Excel spreadsheets."

San Diego Zoo.org: "ZOO LAUNCHES CELL PHONE RECYCLING PROGRAM AIMED TO PROTECT WILD GORILLAS FROM BUSHMEAT TRADE What happens to old out-of-date phones? It's estimated that more than 100 million cell phones are thrown away, or stuffed in a drawer, each year. The San Diego Zoo, along with Eco-Cell, a cellular phone recycling company, has launched a free-of-charge cell phone-recycling program at both the Zoo and San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park to encourage visitors to recycle. By recycling a phone, guests can feel confident they are helping protect local landfills from potentially hazardous chemicals found in cell phones and accessories such as arsenic, antimony, cadmium, cobalt, copper, lead, and zinc. Guests will also be helping to protect gorillas in central Africa from habitat loss and slaughter for the illegal bushmeat trade. Although cell phones and the extinction of gorillas may seem like an uncommon connection, according to wildlife experts, they are closely linked. 'Cell phones contain a rare ore called coltan, which is mined in central Africa. Increased mining operations over the past decade have greatly impacted the habitat and caused increased hunting pressure on gorillas and other wildlife in the area,' explained Karen Killmar, San Diego Zoo associate curator of mammals. 'The cell phone boom induced a flood of more than 10,000 illegal miners into protected parks in central Africa. Many of these miners, lacking food resources and encouraged by the companies that employ them, have hunted gorillas, elephants, and other species of mammals and birds to near extinction in these areas.'"

Suit seeks shutdown of Google Earth until case settled: "Suit seeks shutdown of Google Earth until case settled Susan Decker - Bloomberg News Jan. 6, 2006 12:05 PM Google Inc.'s mapping search service, Google Earth, should be shut down until a lawsuit over its underlying technology is resolved, Skyline Software Systems Inc., owner of the patent at issue in the case, said in court papers. Closely held Skyline filed a patent-infringement suit in May 2004 against Keyhole Corp., a maker of software that allows users to take a virtual tour of landscapes using images and data collected from satellites and airplanes. Google, the world's most-used Internet search engine, was added to the suit after it bought Keyhole in October 2004. In court papers filed Jan. 4 in Boston, Skyline said user access to Google Earth should be suspended while the suit is pending. Google slashed the price of Keyhole's services, added a free version and as a result 'has eclipsed its competitors in this market,' Skyline said."

ESRI Podcast Feeds: "ESRI podcasts are a free and easy way to get the latest news and information from ESRI. On-the-go or at your desk, listen to software tips and tricks, keynote speakers, and more."

Google Tests New Local Ads On Maps: "It was only time............... Google Tests Local Ads on Maps - at ClickZ covers David Galbraith spotting that Google now appears to be inserting paid ads into maps on Google Local. For a search on hotels new york, he's spotted 'blue pins' that correspond to what may be new sponsored links that come above editorial listings to the left of the map. On my end, I (Danny Sullivan) see the textual ads but not the blue pins. Neither does Gary. A search for pizza san francisco shows a text ad but no blue pins. A few other searches I did also showed sponsored ads but no pins. As I (Danny Sullivan) said, the sponsored links seem new. I don't recall seeing them on Google Local before, but it could be they were there but less noticeable before Google Local and Google Maps merged. We're checking on this and tracking down the mystery blue pins! Postscript: Statement from Google, 'As part of our continuing effort to provide a positive advertising experience for users and advertisers, we are always exploring ways to improve the way we display ads. We are currently conducting a limited test of ads on Google Local. We do not have any other specific details to share at this time.' Also, text ads have been on Google Local since 2004. Posted by Danny Sullivan on Jan. 12, 2006"

Business Analyst Online - On-Demand Reports and Maps - In business? This is a great resource: "Business Analyst Online provides on-demand presentation-quality reports and maps to users who need to make decisions about site analysis and site selection, analyze trade areas, and reach target markets. Business Analyst Online is a Web-based solution, hosted by ESRI, and is easily accessible without requiring any training."

GIS CAD Interoperability - Don Kuehne's GIS/CAD blog: "In this continuing series of posts I will document the steps I go though when creating a custom GIS and CAD translation or interoperability tool. One of the key benefits of GIS and CAD translation and interoperability performed in ArcGIS, is the foundational technology provided in the ArcGIS geoprocessing environment. ArcGIS geoprocessing technology provides many useful system tools that allow you to build customs tools that you can in turn use to build more tools in the same way."