Tuesday, June 30. 2009

ArcGIS Online Sharing in Open Beta: Does this change geodata sharing?

ESRI has opened up ArcGIS Online sharing app into an open beta. Anyone can use the site but a ESRI Global Account allows collaboration and data sharing.

The bottom line is this is an ESRI focused portal for finding, sharing and using maps, layers and tools. You can find data published by ESRI or its users via a text search and add it to your ArcMap session or build an online map from it. As a member, you get your own content page where you can access local maps, layers and tools. You can keep them private or share them with everyone or just with a selected group or groups. You can read about ArcGIS Online in the ArcGIS Online blog or get a video demo from the site.

This is something ESRI has been alluding to for some time and I expect this offering to be launched more formally at the User Conference in a few weeks. So, does it change anything? It's hard to say at this early point. I'll suggest that its predecessors include the Geography Network and Geospatial One-Stop and its peers/relatives include things like GeoCommons and perhaps WeoGeo and VoyagerGIS. It could even be said to be related to ERDAS Titan and the iTunes store. Did you lose me on that last one?

As introduced thus far, ArcGIS Online seems to be 100% focused on sharing ESRI maps, data and tools. I did note that one can set up a different default tool to view the data (other than ArcGIS), but it was unclear what types of data are supported for sharing. It'll be interesting to see how ArcGIS Online is presented to the larger GIS community with regard to other data types. Also interesting to contemplate: Will the large ESRI user community share its data (even with selected groups) via ArcGIS Online? Finally, how will ArcGIS Online work with state, country and worldwide efforts at data sharing? Would a city need/want/be expected to share its data via Geospatial One-Stop and ArcGIS Online? What about federal agencies? Will they need to be on those two portals and on Data.gov?

Thursday, June 25. 2009

Montana Stimulus Map Goes Live

Gov. Brian Schweitzer showed off the new website yesterday. Like many other state's sites, it uses ESRI's Flex API. Unlike those solutions, the map is much simpler and cleaner, though I found the animation of the pie charts and flashing of the counties a bit much. Otherwise, it's nice nice to see a "different" looking map using this API.

- Billings Gazette

Monday, June 15. 2009

ESRI(UK)'s new Enterprise Lab

BAPCO Journal visited the Aylesbury Enterprise Lab aimed at showing how different players can take advantage of GIS technology. It features four "stations" addressing how four different users would access data needed:

The GIS Analyst - "us"
Bronze Command - first responders
Silver Command - C+C level managers
Members of the Public - regular folks

Friday, June 5. 2009

ESRI's Proposal to Update Recovery.gov

The Inland Empire's Press Enterprise highlights ESRI's response to a call to update Recovery.gov. The company suggested adding mapping and geospatial analysis to the site. This quote from local Rep. Darrell Issa highlights the possibilities of how "private sector" participation "would improve the site."

Full transparency requires attention to not just what is posted online, but also how the information is posted. Information about how the taxpayers' money is distributed must be disclosed in a structured, open and searchable format.

This is technology which can be implemented. There are a number of companies who can show they do it better than Recovery.gov.

Tuesday, June 2. 2009

Podcast: A Geospatial Look at Data.gov

Last week the federal government launched data.gov, a data portal to enhance transparency. What's in it for geospatial practitioners and how will the new offering evolve? Our editors share their thoughts on the current offering and some possible paths forward.


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