The innovation in the coming release of ESRI’s ArcGIS 10, ArcGIS Server, ArcGIS Explorer, along with the data foundation that is ArcGIS Online, all come together for ArcGIS.com, which will go live some time in April. Bernie Szukalski, the technology evangelist at ESRI who manages this new offering, gave me a sneak peak and stated, “ArcGIS.com really becomes your online GIS. A place where you find data, work with it, share it, build communities, and have interesting applications that you can use with it.”
The community aspects of ArcGIS Online are extended with ArcGIS.com—giving users the ability to share content, find base maps and other content to use, and organize that into groups and build communities. It also includes a lightweight Javascript application that you can use to make maps and mashups quickly.
ArcGIS.com aims to foster community, allowing users to share their maps and data with all users or specific groups that they join.
Inline with the release of ArcGIS.com is a new version of ArcGIS Explorer built with Microsoft Silverlight that runs in the browser. The same map that is built in the Javascript application in ArcGIS.com can be opened in Explorer and can be added to with annotations such as markup, drawn polygons and notes. The map can be accessed in a variety of mobile devices (soon with iPhone applications and with Android development in the works) or opened up in ArcMap to do add and analyze more in depth.
“One of the fundamental things that has happened in all of this is that a map can be opened in any application. A map now becomes not only the foundation to do your work, but also the foundation to share your work,” said Szukalski
Users will be able to make maps, make map packages, and be able to add them to their ArcGIS Online account to share them. They’ll also be able to create a map service to be able to consume the package in Web applications and allow other people to do mashups with it.
A rich set of base map layers can be chosen, and can be modified through map templates.
Templates lend flexibility to how users interact with data and maps. The templates are downloadable cartographic styling that can be used to create more data in the style and can be used to add data back. The concept brings an element of quality control to crowd-sourced data workflows, ensuring a uniform look and style.
Here the world street maps template has been used by ESRI Hong Kong to compile data from local providers to add details down to the building footprint level throughout Hong Kong.
Making and sharing applications is another innovation that is coming, including the ability to share and sell these in both the Apple Store and an ESRI application store. An application was explained as providing specific information (like a city site that shares transit information) or that supports a specific workflow (like the use of Business Analyst to create a service area analysis of customers).
It’s clear that the underpinnings that ESRI has been working on for some time are now coming together for a much more open and complete set of tools that broaden the audience for geographic information.
“Over the next six months, you’re going to see a rapid transformation of what is ArcGIS.com. It’s hard to talk about what you can do with ArcGIS.com because what you can do is really going to be expanding quickly over the next six months.”
You can read the full interview with Bernie Szukalski on the V1 Magazine website here.
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any idea when arcgis.com will be launched?
I was told mid-April. I’ll be sure to post an update when it goes live.
mid of april has gone , now what is next?
Just spoke to ESRI today and they’ve revised their go-live date for the site to the end of May. I’ll be certain to post an update.
ArcGIS.com beta is live now. Check it out.