Microsoft Virtual Earth and Web-Based GIS
We’ve all been speculating how this day would come. The EPA has licensed Virtual Earth for “mission critical” applications including customer applications on the internet as well as internal intranet applications. Many folks have been saying that it was only a matter of time before Google and Microsoft enter the domain of ESRI, Intergraph and Autodesk and it would appear on the surface this is a huge new shift for the GIS world. But underneath the news, we read that ESRI was critical to Microsoft getting this contract.
So what does this all mean. I think we are seeing that both public and private sector organizations want to give the best product to their customers (internal/external). That means using tools that folks are used to using. Virtual Earth and Google Maps/Earth are what these customers know how to use and are comfortable using them to get data and search for information. But on the back end, these organizations just don’t feel comfortable abandoning ESRI (or other geospatial companies) as they’ve got a huge relationship with them as well a their technical teams are used to using these “legacy” applications. The news of this relationship between Microsoft and the EPA, as well as ESRI’s tacit involvement might mean there could be huge new implementations of Virtual Earth in the near future. ESRI and Microsoft could be a great combination going forward in this Where 2.0 world.
Don’t forget thought that “ordinary” users don’t need Microsoft or ESRI to help them get their web based GIS applications on Virtual Earth. There are two good choices (here, here) to go, depending on what you want to get out of Virtual Earth.
That is an interesting twist to the news. When I read about it last week, I thought this could be the end of ESRI.
Guess not, the world could be the domain of an ESRI/Microsoft partnership. Interesting to say the least.
to add to Lester Adams’ comment. That scenario would be “as opposed to the current independant world domination by ESRI and Microsoft”.
Does anyone have a working example of the EDN CustomDataSource linked to in the first link of “two good choices”? I’d love to see how well that works.
Nicely put, James. Is there confirmation from ESRI that they were actively involved in this deal? The FCW article mentions that the partnership was central in the decision for the deal, but I have not found any reference to ESRI being actively involved in this deal.
According to Virtual Earth for Government, VE was chosen because of its “ability to extend existing ESRI investments.” It does seem that the ability to integrate ESRI ’stuff’ with VE was important, but in terms of ESRI itself, what does this say about their suite of web products (ArcWeb Services, etc.)? Will their mantra for the web front end become: if you can’t beat them, join them?
This GCN article provides some additional food for thought: http://www.gcn.com/print/26_18/44723-1.html
Andres: I’m not ready to make the jump to say it was a true partnership, but I’d bet that ESRI and Microsoft’s relationship had everything to do with it.
As for what ESRI technologies, I’m not sure what it says. It is a very big leap from a single implementation of ArcGIS Server to enterprise applications. I suspect we’ll see ESRI technology compliment Microsoft’s and I doubt we’ll see any retreat from this space from ESRI, especially since they have so many customers that rely on their software.
The future is integrating ESRI software into as many places as one can. That is how you grow the business in the face of Google and Microsoft.
I know some of their consultants have developed VE & Google Maps apps w/ESRI technology for them already. Sounds like they just officially decided which direction to go.
Yup. Agreed. It will be interesting to see a new generation of GIS *ists that have VE, GE, KML, and GMaps as part of their defacto list of GIS acronyms. Not to mention RFPs and job descriptions to boot.
I think the EPA is looking for ESRI alternatives in several venues. When upgrading their BASINS model from ArcView 3.x, they chose to migrate to the MapWindow open source platform. http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/ftp/basins/system/BASINS4/
Well, I guess this throws a monkey wrench into Manifold’s plans for world domination
I predict that Manifold will get bought out by some obscure shipping company (like UPS) and we’ll never hear from them again. There is no room for them in the GIS world.
I like this news. I’d love to be able to get Virtual Earth from ESRI, rather than deal with Microsoft. I can keep the license agreement out of our IT staff and only with with GIS folks.
How about that ESRI?
I was one of the folks saying ESRI’s days were over, but I think I’m going to change my tune. An ESRI/Microsoft combo would be unbeatable in many markets.
I find this very interesting. I’d love to be able to integrate ESRI with Microsoft tools better than I can now.
I’m getting excited about the ideas that are poping into my head.
Question #1: Will the love-fest between ESRI and MS continue after the next release of SQL Server 2008 w/spatial?
Question #2: Now that Google Earth licensing has been loosened, will EPA folks be allowed to fire up GE on their desktop if it’s their preferred viewing environment?
Question #3: Will Virtual Earth’s support of KML be robust enough to approach the user experience of viewing KML in GE?
Question #4: Will Oracle counter with even a cosier integration with Google front-ends?
BT
Right now it’s Microsoft + ESRI = EPA. In a few years it’ll be Microsoft = EPA. GIS will be a battle between Microsoft & Oracle with ESRI annoying everyone by jumping up and down yelling “look at me!” like Manifold does now.
Jack; do you see Oracle and Microsoft creating front end desktop applications or are you talking strictly about backend database servers?
Grinder, i don’t really know. I would not put it past them to either be working on it or buying a GIS software company as a starting point.
Here’s a great blog on Oracle GIS. There’s some good stuff here.
http://www.orablogs.com/oragis
Aaar me mateys now ESRI is in MS’ slipstream there be treasure for one an all.
Those rapscallion Manifolders can jump ship or walk the plank.
I think EPA made a great choice and I look forward to seeing the results of their commitment to Virtual Earth. I turned to VE after various frustrations with ArcIMS, Google Earth, and Google Maps and have never looked back.
On the ESRI side, I wonder if this signals a shift away from committing to online web UI components. Despite the fact that ArcGIS Server 9.2 and the WebADF (and ArcWeb Services/Flash Viewer) have been out for awhile, I see ArcIMS being put to more use, even for new sites (at least for publicly accessible sites).
Lesson No. 1: Don’t read so much into it. As far as I am concerned (along with anyone else who has used VE along with ESRI), there is only a loose complementarity between VE and ESRI, one not taking the place of the other. Same would go for Google Earth, also in the mix at EPA. If anything, a lot of development is still needed, or investment in third-party COTS products for integration.
Lesson No. 2: Any agency is wise to keep its platform options open, to keep its architecture flexible, and avoid monolithic environments.
Lesson No. 3: For any COTS system, whether ESRI, Oracle, Microsoft, Google or any of the others, they need to know they can not rest on their laurels and must remain responsive to the community and aware of competitors and Open Source offerings, and cannot maintain massive ELA and licensing costs without also looking to where else they can aid agencies.
[...] of a new trend in the adoption of the Microsoft and Google flavor of geospatial offerings, and what role ESRI may have had in the EPA decision. There seems to be some ambiguity in terms of how much of a role ESRI may have had, but [...]
ESRI has made a huge mistake getting into bed with Microsoft.
It is only a matter of time before Microsoft stomps out ESRI.
Sure, they’ll play nice for a few years, but then they’ll decide they don’t need ESRI and wipe them off the face of the earth just as they did with Netscape.
Got One,
Are you serious or have you been on another planet? ESRI has been in bed with M$ for a LONG time!
Last I checked ESRI was doing fine with or without M$.
@oakfish, I also wonder about the capabilities of the CustomDataSource. Based on the my reading, it seems as though it is a tool for taking data from other sources, i.e. MS VE Tiles, and pulling them into the new ArcGIS web client. What I’d really be interested in is the ability to create a custom data source that is served by ArcGIS Server – particularly, the ability to create map tiles without what looks like a pretty cumbersome process to do it using ArcGIS Server’s built-in tiling tools.