ESRI 2007 User Conference Open Thread
I’ve gotten a couple people emailing me complaining about the lack of info coming out of the 2007 UC. I’m not sure what I can do about it as I’m not there. Thus if you’ve seen something interesting at the UC and think the folks back in the home office should know about it, post it here.
I’m back home, but I liked seeing the new analysis tools. That is the one area that I think ESRI really excels at.
I missed the koolaid drinking first day. The stuff I have seen has not been too exciting. I am looking forward to our technical session with ESRI core and maybe visiting the doctor’s office tomorrow.
Oh, Jack, if you read this, bring back real half and half during the coffee hours.
Cremora is not classy.
They gave you Coffee-mate? Ouch….
where do you think the money came from for the free imagery – good things it only for the beta or next year during the UC there would be no refreshments at all
We’re busy presenting at sessions, man! Just have some patience.
James, don’t know where you got that picture. It looks just like my office.
Is that what you story is? I assumed hung over….
The opening podcast was posted:
http://blogs.esri.com/Info/blogs/ucblog/archive/2007/06/20/podcast-plenary-opening.aspx
Any word on an ArcGlobe that works like a modern globe viewer? I mean Globe is nearly useless…
Scalability seems to be the buzzword, yet where is the scalability in ArcGIS Server? As an sde + ims user with a somewhat small scale edit and user base, and without a big budget, where is the ’scalability’? Everything is being rolled into ond app, yeah it has a lot of bells and whistles, but if I just need bells why should I have to pay for whistles? Im glad the web ADF is included IMS though.
Where’s Thales this year? Trimbles new iGPS, I mean Juno, is very nice from the kool aid demo I saw.
I’m sticking with the hungover excuse for now ;-]
There are some cool things going on, but no single ’shazam’ thing. I do like the geodata soap api, but that’s not exactly geewhiz for most ppl here. The rest service and js api will be cool, but it’s still a ways out.
Thats just it Dave. 2008 is so far in the future.
Talked a bit with the Data Interop folks. Minor tweaks for Desktop GML support and WFS/WCS support for AG Server in 9.3.
For anyone who is looking at GML, they’re strongly recommending that we stick with the GML Simple Features Profile instead of the full GML spec.
Not really ESRI related…
TeleAtlas (GDT) was showing off their new data acquisition platform. They’ve got a rig very similar to the Google StreetView platform, but with more cameras and frickin’ lasers. The image data is run through analysis algorithms to auto-magically pull out street signs, U-turns, lanes, building heights, etc. No imagery is saved after image processing (or at least they won’t sell it).
If this works half as well as they claim, we should see TeleAtlas street data leap-frogging ahead of Navteq… and after going on the very low-tech Navteq ride-along, I’m amazed that anyone has been able to keep up with road collection efforts.
That said–if the TeleAtlas system acutally works, then they should enter the DARPA Grand Challenge II which takes place in an urban setting.
After seeing what the first vehicles did to the landscape in Grand Challenge I, I’d be scared to death to live in that neighborhood when the robots came through.
BTW, I think the reason refreshments sucked (and boy they SUCKED) is because they signed a back room deal with starbucks to not compete with them. I mean hell, they had a crackhouse setup right on the exhibit floor. It kinda got me depressed about my starbucks addiction, because they were so blatant about it. I mean, when ESRI was charging $3 for a muffin, you could just go to a starbucks booth and get one for the same amount AND you could get half and half.
I think the muffin stand profits go to the convention center, not ESRI… otherwise, their entire product suite would be free.
As mentioned at the penary, ArcGIS 9.3 is actually going to have some out-of-the-box security instead of dropping that mess into the user’s lap.
For authentication, AGS 9.3 will have a built in auth server and support for some external servers (LDAP I think).
For authorization, it will support XACML for defining access control, rest tokens, and some mechanisms through the manager to apply ACL to the web service interfaces.
XACML should also make application security a little eaiser to work with as well.
They (wisely) chose not to use JAAS or vendor-l0cking into a single Servlet container. Not sure how much of the above applies to .NET.
To my mind, the exciting thing is the REST api for ArcGIS Server 9.3, which will allow you to bung your ArcGIS Server maps on top of Google and Virtual Earth. Also, the ArcWeb Services Explorer Flex API will allow you to bring in ArcIMS, WMS and ArcGIS Server services – finally an ESRI Flash API for ArcIMS!!!
Reams of notes, and not enough time to blog…
Haven’t gotten much sleep as it is.
Hopefully I can post my notes in the days coming.
The party is strewn across the Mariott parking lots and pool this year. I think someone forgot to get the permits for Marina Park.
That, or the City got tired of sending the police to shut down the party at 3 in the morning.
Tyderian said:
“which will allow you to bung your ArcGIS Server maps on top of Google “
Is “bung” another one of those highly technical and professional sounding terms like “mash up”?
Why can’t people just call it what it is? Map overlays! I find the term “mash up” insulting to my profession. I can’t believe ESRI has adopted it.
Yea, the party setup was a bit wierd and cluttered…
If I hear “mash up” one more time…. ARGH!!
The sad thing is, I haven’t found a single “normal” user who actually likes interfaces built using mash ups.
Mashups are fast, cheap and expedient, and accessible to the masses, but likewise, they are also so much like duct tape solutions…
Here are all my photos from the trip:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Nonie3234
A few random notes from sessions I sat in on… loads of rough notes are still waiting to be gone over if I ever get time! See http://gisuser.blogspot.com/search/label/esri%20uc
A few images (about 200) posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/gisuser/sets/72157600391384807/
there was lots of “coming soon” and it seemed once again that the year-end release plans take a bit of wind out of the sails from the UC. It just isn’t the same when there’s nothing new to discuss. Server definitely was the buzz and there was loads of cool supporting apps and services for imagery users
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