So the ESRI Business Partner Conference and the Developer Summit is coming up and that means that ESRI will be showing the latest releases of their software. In preparation of the DevSummit, ESRI has published new features of ArcGIS 9.3.1. I’m interested to see the faster rendering and map optimization. One thing that did catch my eye:
Upgrading to ArcGIS 9.3.1 does not require uninstalling ArcGIS 9.3.
That should speed the upgrade times up from hours to minutes. Expect 9.1.1 9.3.1 second quarter (April, May, June) 2009.
ArcGIS 9.3.1 is on its way. YEAH!
23 Comments
Is this a return to proper software naming conventions for ESRI or have i just been confused with all 6 service packs for 9.2? I guess that’s where i need clarification; Is a 9.3.X upgrade akin to a service pack? Will it include the service pack? Will we get the media mailed to us?
I just don’t remember ESRI promoting their “dot-dot” upgrades since ArcIMS 4.0.1 and ArcINFO 7.X.X
@Micah – I’m in agreement, was I out sick the day they announced this new approach?
Dynamic map services faster than ArcIMS?
Oh boy!
I wonder if that goes for labeling as well.
It would also be nice to be able to change the rendering/coloration of features on the fly with REST like you can do in an AXL request.
Yes, the 9.3.1 upgrade would have been a “service pack” last year. ESRI appears to be going back to a more logical system for naming releases. ArcGIS Explorer seems to still use build number to reference their updates (I’ve got no problem with this though).
Evidently the upgrade is only being made available to those who are current on their maintenance, unlike a service pack which is freely downloadable by anyone.
There is also a new format to work with. “Save your optimized map document to the new Map Server Document (.MSD)”
http://mapperz.blogspot.com/2009/01/whats-coming-in-arcgis-931.html (06/01/2009)
Mapperz http://mapperz.blogspot.com/
AKA, System Generated AXL.
It is my knowledge that in order to render “faster than ArcIMS” it has to be published in this format.
Some of the better news is full on 64-bit support.
“Some of the better news is full on 64-bit support.”
Where is this stated. This wpuld be a remarkable turn-around, if correct.
Or, do you mean the ability to run a 32-bit application on a 32-bit OS?
This is news to me. As far as I know, only ArcSDE is 64-bit.
I would think this would be front page news if it was true.
bookmark this thread for future reference in a few months.
“Or, do you mean the ability to run a 32-bit application on a 32-bit OS?”
Of course, should read “32-bit application on a 64-bit OS”.
Just a typo…
Expect 9.1.1 second quarter (April, May, June) 2009.
Should be expect 9.3.1
Glad someone is paying attention!
I still only hear crickets when I’ve asked around (including an ESRI forum post) about this new Map Server Document (MSD) format. Any ESRI insiders reading this post like to comment? It always helps to learn about the capabilities of a new format to determine if it may be right for your shop.
Cheers, -Matt
What’s the link to the forum post? Perhaps this will generate interest from the ESRI folk.
From what been told by multiple people is that MSD is a compressed XML format (zipped XML). What that might look like is anyones guess. Personally I would have gone with YAML over XML, but maybe we aren’t supposed to see the XML file.
If anyone’s interested, here’s the forum post I dropped on January 19th asking a similar question (and referencing the same “What’s Coming” document.
http://forums.esri.com/Thread.asp?c=158&f=1696&t=271756&mc=3
James, thanks for the first concrete info yet on the MSD format. All I know is that any format that optimizes may perhaps speed up initial display and refresh, which are my users favorite topics of discussion.
Cheers, -Matt
Just for clarification: MSD stands for Map Service Definition and contains the complete definition of all the maps and layers in XML.
@Leo: “complete definition of all the maps and layers in XML”
So ArcGIS Server will be able to used optimized MXD documents translated into XML, Right?
Maybe they could call it ARCXML….wait. I mean ArcXML 2.0
@James: “Yes, the 9.3.1 upgrade would have been a “service pack” last year” Then they will no longer provide service packs?
Aaaaaargh. Confusion all around. All the .NET libraries right now have version number 9.3.1. Will they get version number 9.3.1.1? 9.3.2? Will there be a SP2 for 9.3.0 or a SP1 for 9.3.1 in the future?
And why is MXD not enough for AGS? Why doesn’t AGS transfer MXD to MSD internally before it serves that map?
And why do they slow down ArcIMS to get the same performance results on AGS? veryveryveryevilgrin
The internal build number for 9.3.1 is actually 9.3.3000 while 9.3 sp 1 was something like 9.3.1.1800.
The public version numbers are no longer correlated with the actual internal build numbers, which is quite confusing to all. Hopefully with 9.4 they will have the build numbers sorted out, since they will be rebuilding all dll’s.
Just curious if anyone would know if the documentation for 9.3 in regards to the web adf has improved at all?
Also, sorry if this is not in the proper place.
Thanks,
I have been closely following the ArcGIS for AutoCAD development into it’s most recent incarnation – build 200. While I, as a GIS user, have been impressed, our AutoCAD users are less impressed. There are still issues with slow refresh and query processing. While it has promise, it has room to improve.