ESRI DevSummit 2009 videos

Developer Summit is almost finished. There is plenty of news from the summit on blogs like Mandown,  Rise and Shout and many others.

If you would like to watch the videos of presentations then it is your lucky day. DevSummit site has posted videos for the following presentations:

• Welcome and platform
• Fast maps and Java
• Explorer and Online
• Resource centers and Silverlight
• ArcGIS Online
• Python
• Desktop 9.4
• Server and Mobile 9.4

Here are just a few screenshots of Resources & Silverlight, Python and Desktop 9.4 videos.

This is not the only place that is updated. Resource center is also updated with Silverlight/WPF API samples and documentation.

If this is not enough or you want to see how to work with ArcGIS have a look at ArcScripts. There are samples in Java and C# for building tasks in AGS, best practices, security, etc.

Of course ArcGIS Explorer blog is updated with lots of information and screenshots of upcoming release 900. This should be released with ArcGIS 9.3.1. It is shaping up to be a quite important part of ArcGIS system.

ESRI Developer Summit 2009

DevSummit started today at Palm Springs. This is conference for GIS developers but even if you are not one you can get a lot of interesting news, insights and product announcements.
My colleague Jithen is attending DevSummit and to get more details read his post on Mandown. Here are some details of upcoming release of ArcGIS 9.3.1 and ArcGIS 9.4.

ArcGIS Server has been improved to allow for faster mapping. Some of the other big changes include:

1. NEW ADF licensing. You are now allowed to deploy the ADF how you want without any restrictions.
2. NEW editing capabilities will be available in ArcGIS Server 9.3.1 Standard Edition.
3. NEW analytics extensions will be available in ArcGIS Server 9.3.1 Advanced Edition.

Faster mapping will provide for faster dynamic maps along with higher quality outputs and optimization tools built into ArcMap to help analyse errors and problems before they are published to ArcGIS Server.

There are some details about desktop part of ArcGIS in 9.4 but don’t expect that yet. ArcGIS 9.3.1 should be released around May this year. For New Zealand customers we should expect it around July.

ArcMap will sport a similar feel to Microsoft Visual Studio. Dockable windows and improved toolbars. New built in searching capabilities. One search for finding data on your system to finding geoprocessing models. ArcCatalog will be built into ArcMap and made available via a dockable window. Drag and drop will be supported as well. A whole new reporting engine has been written and will be included within ArcMap. Python will be integrated within ArcMap. A new Python window will be available directly from ArcMap which will allow you to run and debug Python scripts directly. Python scripts will also run asynchronously so you can continue working while your script is running in the background.

Another highlight of the conference so far is ArcGIS Explorer 900 (AGX).  Bernie Szukalski gave presentation of new features for new release. Details are posted on ArcGIS Explorer blog including plenty of screenshots.
 
One of the new features is revamped UI – ribbon style. I don’t know if you like ribbon in Office 2007 but here is what we’ll get in AGX 900.

More news to follow from DevSummit…

ArcGIS Server and Internet Explorer 8

Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 8 today. There are many new features in this release and one of many is better compliance with the standards. I don’t want to describe new features or discuss speed of IE 8 because there are plenty of sites with this type of information.
I want to test ArcGIS Server 9.3 applications in IE 8 and how to fix problems if I have any.

ArcGIS Server Manager

This is first test of compatibility – running AGS Manager application. Running IE 8 in default settings I was able to log in AGS Manager and work with a simple map service running on my laptop.
 
In this case this is simple service running of file geodatabase.
Rest of the functions of the AGS Manager did work without problems. Testing was simple and not comprehensive but it did show I can run AGS Manager without problems.

Web applications

Second and more intersting test to run AGS out-of-the-box application.  I have two applications based on the map service from first screenshot.



To my surprise the application run just fine. Why I am surprized? I tried some other out of the box applications in IE 8 and they didn’t work in native mode of IE 8. The other PC I tried it on was running Windows XP. On my laptop I am running Vista Ultimate SP 1 and here is a example of the web application.



Running the same style of application on XP didn’t render the map display and showed an error indication in lower left corner of IE 8.



More details can be provided by double clicking on the error icon. These details can be copied to the clipboard and details include the line number where application has failed.


Remedy for that situation was very simple – just activate the “compatibility view” and the problem is solved.

Compatibility view option


ArcGIS Server custom applications

Now I will test some of the custom applications that are available on Eagle’s demos page.
Here are screenshots of results (again, quick, simple tests)

Environment Canterbury (JavaScript API)

Water Quality in Canterbury
This page has some problems – loading image is always present and the map does not always shows up. This is fixed by small pan in any direction but “loading” is still on.

Solar Boston (Flex API)
This applications works fine. I was able to use navigation widget, select planimetric, terrain and aerial with no problems. One of the tools worked fine (for a single building) but drawing an area generates geoprocessing error.



Now I have tried the same application in Google Chrome 2 and I got the same error – so it is not IE 8.



This was quick test of IE 8. From this tests I have found majority of sites was working correctly in native IE 8 mode or it can work in compatibility view. I am sure we will find more AGS applications that may have problems. Of course we have to wait for ESRI to test and certify applications for IE 8. We may see a patch or two coming up but we have to wait and see.

ArcSDE 9.2 SP 6 update released

ESRI has released another update for ArcSDE. This time it is for ArcSDE 9.2 SP 6. The original service pack was released in July last year.

 

There is relatively small number of generic/common issues resolved in this update.

 

 

ArcSDE administration fixes:

• NIM010594 - Spatial views created by a non-owner using the sdetable -o create_view command are not displayed in ArcGIS if the columns specified using the -c option are qualified with the table name. For example, mytable.myfield.
• NIM013815 - The sdegroup command fails with ORA-00957: duplicate column name error. This is new at 9.2 SP4.
• NIM033768 - The -r option does not work with the ArcSDE shp2sde -o init command utility. This option does work in previous versions of ArcSDE.
• NIM035432 - The sdegdbrepair tool may hang if the number of errors found for a specific FeatureClass exceeds the currently defined buffer.

Full issues page contains full list of issuess addressed and  main patch page has download links.

ArcSDE 9.3 SP 1 update released

ESRI has released a Service Pack 1 update for ArcSDE 9.3. This service pack addresses a number of generic ArcSDE administration issues as well as database specific ones.

This is a full list of generic administration issues resolved:

• NIM008464 - ArcSDE C SDK client application crashes when making API function call, SE_connection_get_instance_users(), to list connected users.
• NIM036561 - ArcSDE for Oracle: memory leaks encountered when reconciling versions or performing a large number of update operations.
• NIM038152 - Unix only: The sdemon command crashes the ArcSDE service when trying to kill all active connections.
• NIM038013 - For every client request to the geodatabase, a query to detect the time_last_modified is executed against the sde.lineages_modified table impacting performance. (Please see technical article 35462 for more details.)
• NIM033557 - The sdedbtune command fails to accept an empty string for any of the parameter values.
• NIM036997 - Spatial Type for Oracle: Registration fails for tables with an ST_Geometry attribute and an SRID set to 0. (Please see technical article 35028 for a suggested workaround.)
• NIM035924 - Japanese character does not show up on AIX machine when running sdelayer -o describe command.
• NIM037200 - In specific cases where a feature has been updated many times and the D TABLE entry for SDE_STATE_ID=0 is missing, the problem will not be detected or fixed by sdegdbrepair.
• NIM036998 - Upgrading geodatabases on database servers fails if the user is connected to the geodatabase when upgrading. (Please see technical article 35184 for more details.)
• NIM035444 - Need to identify corruption on states that are not pointed to by a version.
• NIM035432 - The sdegdbrepair tool may hang if the number of errors found for a specific FeatureClass exceeds the currently defined buffer.
• NIM037688 - When creating a PostGIS feature class in ArcCatalog, the xy offset is correctly created in respect to the spatial reference. When creating a PostGIS layer with command line and registering the feature class with sdelayer -o register, the xy offset is not calucated, preventing the feature class from being correctly displayed in ArcCatalog. The fix allows for a PostGIS layer to be displayed in ArcCatalog by calculating the xy offset regardless of how the feature class is created.
• NIM037241 - The sdegdbrepair command does not recognize ORACLE11G as a database type when using -o diagnose_tables option.
• NIM033768 - The '-r' option does not work for the ArcSDE 'shp2sde -o init' command utility. The option works fine in previous versions of ArcSDE.

The important one from this list would be the last one. A lot of people are still loading/importing data from shapefiles and actually may have incorporated that functionality (rejects) into the workflow.

Non-database specific fixes:

• NIM031030 - When using a Definition Query longer than 4095 characters against a 9.0 ArcSDE Server, the data fails to draw and the following error is returned: "One or more layers failed to draw."
• NIM034862 - When executing the ArcSDE CAPI SE_shape_find_along() function a memory leak occurs, and if executed a very large amount of times it may cause an out of memory (-13) error.
• NIM038061 - Projection engine libraries on Linux will now be created using gcc rather than g++. Using g++ adds an unnecessary dependency on the libstdc++.so library.
• NIM038273 - British National Grid (BNG) scale factor was changed between versions 9.2 SP5 and 9.3. Although the change does not affect data values, mixing the two coordinate system versions will cause data to be reprojected. This fix will cause the two versions to be treated as equal.
• NIM008494 - When revoking select privileges on a versioned feature class, the select privileges are not revoked from the versioned table's adds and deletes tables. (Please see technical article 35464 for more details.)
• NIM037942 - Improved the error message displayed in Desktop when trying to make a direct connection without the appropriate drivers installed.
• NIM035810 - Mosaic tool is very slow when trying to mosaic to large SDE raster dataset that has a pyramid.
• NIM037698 - When building address locators with reference feature classes in SDC format, the content of the RD.Lox1.Restrict expression, specified in the address locator style, should not be ignored.
• NIM035803 - Creating a local or client locator from SDE reference data with an optional field set to fails with the error message: “Column not found:”_SurrogateTable_.Table1_PreDir””.
• NIM036857 - Creating address locators fails in ArcSDE if numeric fields in the SDE reference feature class contain null values.

There is a nuber of database specific fixes and most of them are for Oracle. Smaller nuber of issues is fixed for PostgreSQL (4) and SQL Server (7). For full details check the support page and for download check the main patch page.

Jack Dangermond interview at FutureGov

The FutureGov's Jianggan Li has interviewed Jack Dangermond. In this interview Jack talks about ways of saving money by making better decions, server based GIS, private sector and terrorists using GIS.

Here is a quote on sharing data by goverment agencies:

The government gets a massive return on investment for sharing its data openly. And it’s not only a money issue. It’s a public policy one as well. With better planning, companies leveraging this data save on fuel and reduce their carbon footprint, thus accomplishing another government mission.

On the vision of GIS Jack says:

But the true vision is enterprise or societal GIS, with multiple agencies sharing common a geospatial infrastructure.And the technology that allows that sharing to occur is server-based GIS.

ESRI TV updates

YouTube ESRI TV channel recently added five new videos added. The new videos are:

• ESRI FedUC 2009 Imagery Presentation - Part 1
• ESRI FedUC 2009 Imagery Presentation - Part 2
• ESRI Careers in Product Development: 3D Team
• ESRI Careers in Product Development: ArcGIS Mobile Team
• ESRI Careers in Product Development

While there check other videos. There is a number of videos showing new features in ArcGIS 9.3, mashups, ArcGIS Explorer and other videos.

ArcGIS Desktop metadata patch

ESRI has released a patch for display of metadata. The problem shows up on Metadata tab after XML Core Security Update (KB955069) is installed. 

The problem manifests with a text "Metadata not implemented" in the middle of Metadata display area. I saw this problem about few weeks ago when doing some data conversion. It applies to all Windows OSs, in my case it was Windows 2000 and ArcGIS Desktop 9.1. ESRI's page says it applies to Vista or Windows Server 2008 but check if you have installed KB955069 download this patch.

Simply uninstalling (and removing it from a list of available patches) worked for me. Now there is a fix that you can download from here.

New ERDAS extensions for ArcGIS 9.3

Yesterday (New Zealand time) ERDAS has announced availability of two extensions that operate with Stereo Analyst for ArcGIS. These extensions are Feature Assist for ArcGIS and Terrain Editor for ArcGIS.

 

Expanding its ArcGIS extensions offering, ERDAS is introducing FeatureAssist for ArcGIS and ERDAS Terrain Editor for ArcGIS. FeatureAssist for ArcGIS includes a suite of templates to collect rooftops of varying complexity in an ESRI Multipatch format. A multipatch shapefile allows a 3D model to be constructed and optionally textured for realistic scene generation. ERDAS Terrain Editor for ArcGIS provides point, breakline and area tools to edit geodatabase terrains.

 

  

 

Terrain Editor

This extension supports geodatabase terrain features and represents them in stereo window as points, breaklines and triangles.

General edit tools include:

• Add or edit a terrain point
• Delete single or multiple terrain points
• Add or edit a breakline
• Delete single or multiple breaklines
• Selection tools
• Select all features in current extent of the stereo window
• Select by rectangle
• Select by custom defined area

 Operators that work on the terrain are

• Delete Selected Points
• Remove Elevation Spikes
• Fit Surface to Points
• Thin Points
• Bias Elevations
• Smooth Elevations
• Set Constant Z
• Delete Selected Breaklines
• Remove Breaklines and buffer points
• Clip and Delete Selected Points or Breaklines

 

 

Product literature and actual software can be downloaded from here.

 

 

 

Feature Assist

 

Using this extenstion user can capture complex roof shapes and create complex models. The output from this extension is multipatch shapefile. There is a number of toolbars added to ArcMap to encapsulate functions of this extension.

 

Key features include:

 

• Manual construction tools
• Predefines rooftop templates
• Perspective viewer
• Multipatch shape edit tools
• Azimuth tools
• Snapping and guides
• Model generation

 

System requirements for both of these extensions are the same as for Stereo Analyst for ArcGIS. More specifically they are:

 

• Pentium 4 or higher
• 1 GB RAM
• 420 MB for software, optionally 745 MB for data
• Windows XP SP2 or higher, Windows Vista
• Nvidia Quadro FX cards or 3Dlabs Wildcat graphics card

More detailed information is available from this page.

 

On its own Stereo Analyst is a very useful extension if you want to capture 3D features from aerial photograpy or stereo pairs.

Just one observation on terrain editor. I am not too sure that I would edit the terrrain features. ESRI's idea of terrain is to be a reduced resolution of full detail DEM suitable for display and analysis at different scales. Therefore terrain levels are generated from the source like LIDAR points. Editing LIDAR source? I know I would not be happy to do that...

New version of ArcGIS Server JavaScript API released

ESRI has released a new version of JavaScript API for ArcGIS Server. This is version 1.3 and in this version notable changes are:

• Support for Dojo 1.2.3 - Check out the details closely if you are using externally hosted Dojo v1.2.3.
• Layer Extensibility - You can now create custom layer types for both tiled and dynamic services. And, you can also extend the associated based classes to support other layer types such as OGC WMS, and any tiled map service including ArcGIS Server 9.2 cached map services.
• Error Handling - Now every layer and task has an onError event that returns more detail about the error in the callback function. For example now you you can get an error any time a graphics layer is unable to draw a graphic.
• Enhanced Map Layer Management - You can add layers at specific indices in a map, and also remove layers from a map.

 

Other changes are listed on resource page for JavaScript API.

Some of the other changes include:

• Map.setExtent(extent, fit?): The second optional parameter "fit" (Boolean) forces the map to fit the specified extent.
• A FeatureSet constructor has been added for using JSON.
• The Map's extent and spatial reference do not change even after all its layers have been removed. When the next layer is added, the layer is displayed at the same extent and spatial reference.

The following bugs are fixed:

• NIM036432: [JSAPI] Need to support functionality to add custom resources to JS API
• NIM035978: Graphic markers change position when panning the map in IE7
• NIM037245: Calling map.resize() after map has been panned causes the drawing toolbar to draw graphics incorrectly. Graphics are offset based on the distance and direction of the pan
• NIM039269: Need a way to trap errors from JS API that occur during the execution of a geoprocessing task in synchronous mode
• NIM039287: onMouseMove event not firing for "older" graphics in IE when PictureMarkerSymbol is used for rendering
• NIM039419: After adding a marker element to an ArcGIS Server JavaScript API map, the marker symbol moves when panning in Internet Explorer 6 and 7
• NIM040669: When identifying a multipart point layer in Internet Explorer 7, the graphic selection is displaced visually after zoom operation.
• NIM040840: Rubberband zoom graphic displays improperly in Internet Explorer 6 or Internet Explorer 7 after calling map.Resize
• NIM041273: In JavaScript API v1.2, the graphics layer does not work properly in Internet Explorer 6 and 7 
• NIM041482: Map applications keep downloading a non-existant picture/file when some action, e.g., toggling map layers, is done on the map (using IE)

Zerg's rumble scores 7.2

I was pleasently surprized on Friday when I got an e-mail from editors of Blogged.com. The e-mail says:

Dear Zerg's rumble author,


Our editors recently reviewed your blog and have given it a 7.2 score out of (10) in the recreation category of Blogged.com.


This is quite an achievement!

http://www.blogged.com/directory/technology/computers

We evaluated your blog based on the following criteria: Frequency of Updates, Relevance of Content, Site Design, and Writing Style.


After carefully reviewing each of these criteria, your site was given its 7.2 score.

We’ve also created Blogged.com score badges with your score prominently displayed. Simply visit your website’s summary page on Blogged.com:

 

If you would like to rate this blog please go here but i can't tell you on what page it is. On Friday it was number 417 on page 20. 

A big thank to you all and blogged.com editors. It took me a while to decide and create a blog and I am glad you like reading it.