July 22nd, 2010
GIS Becomes Open and Everywhere at the Esri/UC

At the center of ArcGIS is the concept of an intelligent map that becomes a shareable template for communicating geographic knowledge. The concept is also central to the expansion of the technology.

This major ArcGIS 10 release includes a large number of new capabilities. 

• temporal capabilities to support change modeling
• full 3D for a virtual city GIS
• open and interoperable system based on standards, with a new REST interface within a few weeks
• the mobile component has also expanded with a new iPhone/iPad application that’s spreading GIS capabilities to the field

Imagery is also becoming much more integrated into GIS with visualization and analysis. The new capability is massively scalable with the capability of dynamic mosaicking of thousands of images. There’s also a capability for on-the-fly processing of imagery. Within a few months Esri will include a global imagery and elevation data set for free that is based on the Landsat imagery. Services that are included along with this new data include a multi-band analysis tool.

ArcGIS 10 has new ArcGIS Server capability via the cloud through Amazon’s computing platform. The cloud is seen as a complement to provide platform flexibility.

ArcGIS is now expanded online so that people can look at maps and services, and collaborate. The new service is along the lines of the Apple App Store, so that people can share applications and maps with cloud hosting that is available to all to share and discover each others resources. The new capability offers free viewers, free open apis, hosted data, social networking tools, and collaborative communities.

The map becomes both the way that we do and share our work. Explorer Online adds capabilities to ingest content, annotate the map view, and incorporate photographs and other data. The application also provides a means to capture and create a map-based presentation with different map views captured as slides. ArcGIS on the iPad, a new free application download, opens up all the ArcGIS Online base maps for free to a platform that’s ideal for mobile map viewing.

Esri’s founder and president Jack Dangermond asserts that ArcGIS at 10 blows the doors open for access to everyone. Free and easy viewing clients provide access to the map-based stories that you build. It’s a platform and a new pattern for how we think and work together using GIS.