The press release came out yesterday and was picked up by a number of blogs, though few had any immediate comment. I'm in the same boat. It crossed my desk and I didn't get an immediate sense of a world changing event.

That said:

- ESRI rarely announces anything new before the User Conference.

- Delivery of Virtual Earth content via ArcGIS Online was hinted at in the ESRI UC Q & A (including pricing: $200/year per ArcGIS seat).

- ESRI has yet to officially launch ArcGIS Online; that's coming next month.

- ESRI's "Google" announcement at Where was rather "hands off," that is required seemingly little partnering. This is different from a business standpoint since I have to believe Microsoft will receive some money from each subscription for its data.

Now, back to my "world changing event" comment. The reason this doesn't seem world changing is that it's a small step toward the future: a future of servers and services and the cloud. In this new ESRI vision, there are no "map servers" only "GIS servers" that provide data and key service. Users consume them via the Web, ArcGIS Explorer, on mobiles, and for perhaps a select few, a desktop GIS. To implement this vision, ESRI needs a different kind of partner, one that can help enable this vision. Thus, partners like Microsoft (VE and other things) and Adobe (Flex), are playing different roles than in the past. I suggest users keep their eyes open at ESRI UC for other clues that point to this type of future.

Last week Microsoft announcedthat its recently acquired trueSpace 3D model creator is now free and models created with it can be uploaded as collections to Virtual Earth. What does that say about what Google, Microsoft and the geospatial community think about what tools and data are required for today's maps?


Subscribe to Podcast RSS

Listen Now (to download, right click on the link at left and choose "save target as")

Read the show notes

Missed any podcasts? Want to subscribe via iTunes, Yahoo, etc? Here's the index with all the info.

Here's a chance for all of you attending the ESRI International User Conference to win an iPod touch. Directions Media wants your help covering the event. The best submission (audio or text) will win an iPod touch. You can enter via e-mail , text or phone between Saturday August 2 and Wednesday August 13, 2008. Full details.

The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency has awarded $7,914,778 for the development of a prototype to address "data fusion within a geospatial environment," according to a DoD statement. Work will be done at Redlands to be complete by July 18, 2010.

- PE.com

MISO are Microsoft, IBM, SAP and Oracle, the big enterprise players in the market today. All have a toe or more in GIS, but all also have a tie to ESRI. What's the state of those relationships and what new players also want and need to hook up with the big E? Our editors explore these questions and toss in a few other letters, G, A and B into the alphabet soup.


Subscribe to Podcast RSS

Listen Now (to download, right click on the link at left and choose "save target as")

Read the show notes

Missed any podcasts? Want to subscribe via iTunes, Yahoo, etc? Here's the index with all the info.