Exciting New Program for Smaller Local Govt Agencies

More details to become available in early 2008, but this press release on this new program from ESRI gives a good feel for it. ----------

New ESRI Licensing Program Facilitates Broad Use of GIS by Small Municipalities and Counties

Governments Can Quickly Improve Operations And Service To Citizens With ArcGIS Software

Redlands, California—ESRI now offers a Small Municipal and County Government Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) Program that allows unlimited deployments of ESRI ArcGIS software to municipalities and counties in the United States. The program provides access to the geographic information system (GIS) technology small governments need with a straightforward, tiered pricing schedule.

"The ability to deploy GIS technology to any worker in an organization will enable a small government to achieve an organization-wide GIS at a much faster rate," said Jack Dangermond, ESRI president. "We are pleased to do our part to help municipal and county governments develop GIS that can save them time and money, make them more efficient, and advance their missions."

The ELA Program is open to all governments in the United States with populations of 100,000 or less. Benefits to these organizations include

• Updated versions of GIS software to provide a consistent platform
• Flexible deployments to desktops, servers, and mobile devices
• Opportunities to consolidate GIS and IT initiatives, establish internal standards, and integrate ESRI business partner solutions
• Ability to incorporate GIS into mission-critical applications and workflows

"Small governments now have a way to deliver this valuable technology throughout the enterprise, which improves operational efficiency and service," added Christopher Thomas, ESRI Government Industry Solutions manager. "Instead of concentrating resources on securing GIS software, a government can rapidly access the GIS tools it needs to develop a robust GIS foundation and focus its energy on implementing departmental and discipline-specific solutions."

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"Friendly" Internet Map Links

I've often used TinyURL to convert those huge URLs from Google Maps or Virtual Earth - it makes any URL into a nice short (tiny) URL that is much easier to email to friends without the URL being broken. Recently I ran across this beta tool that is similar to TinyURL - but goes even further and is focused on mapping. It is called JumpToMap. The links JumpToMap creates are good for multiple different mapping sites. Here's a blog article that gives some more details: http://freegeographytools.com/2007/friendly-urls-to-address-maps

Recent ArcGIS Server Development Blog posting

Find the original posting and comments at: http://blogs.esri.com/Dev/blogs/arcgisserver/archive/2007/11/29/Monitoring-your-services-with-a-script.aspx --------- Monitoring your services with a script

Paul Dodd of ESRI Technical Marketing recently posted a utility on ArcScripts that monitors your critical services and will e-mail you if a service goes offline.

The Service Monitor script uses a combination of public-domain/freeware utilities and a configuration file in which you list the services you want to be monitored. With minimal effort, you can schedule the Service Monitor to run using the Windows Scheduler.

You can:

• Specify the URL for a service WSDL or web site to monitor (even include user authentication if needed)
• Specify a day of the week or time window for maintenance of a service
• Specify days of the week that you don't want the service to be monitored
• Specify e-mail recipients for each service or a group of services

Optionally you can override other script defaults like:

• Retry limits, retry delay, and send e-mail limits
• E-mail Subject line and From origin
• E-mail server
• Log file location

Quite a Strage use of GPS

Ran across this on the Fox News website - just had to share it! http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,318028,00.html

Baby Jesus in Florida Nativity Scene Gets GPS After Last Statue's Disappearance

BAL HARBOUR, Fla. — A baby Jesus statue here is getting a Global Positioning System for Christmas.

The statue, part of a nativity scene, will be equipped with the device after the previous statue went missing, even though it had been bolted down.

"I don't anticipate this will ever happen again," said Dina Cellini, who oversees the display, "but we may need to rely on technology to save our savior."

The Mary and Joseph statues will also be fitted with GPS devices, she said.

The devices are being bought using residents' contributions and Cellini's own money.

Cellini has also installed a Plexiglas screen in front of the display.

City of Encinitas Enhances GIS Basemap Using Cadastral Editor

Redlands, California—Encinitas, California, has chosen ESRI’s ArcGIS Survey Analyst with Cadastral Editor software to improve the accuracy of its geographic information system (GIS) basemap and cadastral layers. More than 22 square miles of cadastral data and survey records will be accurately updated and integrated into the city’s enterprise GIS using functionality available in Cadastral Editor. Refining the city's GIS basemap and cadastral layer will elevate the quality of government services for residents and better manage workflow, development, and growth issues for Encinitas city employees. Read more...