AutoCAD 2008

Autodesk AutoCAD Map 3D 2008As the leading engineering GIS platform for creating and managing spatial data, AutoCAD Map 3D software bridges computer-aided design (CAD) and geographic information systems (GIS) by providing direct access to data, regardless of how it is stored, and by enabling the use of AutoCAD tools for maintaining a broad variety of geospatial information. Using open source FDO Data Access Technology, Map 3D natively accesses spatial data stored in relational databases, files, and web-based services—providing easy management of large geospatial data sets, while streamlining entire workflows. With smooth integration of Autodesk MapGuide technology, AutoCAD Map 3D is the quickest way to publish data to the web or Intranet.Autodesk GeospatialServing as the desktop-based core of the Autodesk Geospatial platform, AutoCAD Map 3D enables users to create and edit spatial data. It bridges the gap between CAD and GIS departments and systems because it’s familiar to engineering and CAD users, yet provides functionality needed by planning and GIS professionals. Along with all the powerful tools of AutoCAD software, Map 3D has the geospatial functionality important to both GIS and engineering staff, such as data cleanup functions, coordinate systems, GIS analysis (thematic mapping and buffers, for example), and database functions.AutoCAD Map 3D provides:

- native access to CAD, GIS and raster data formats

- AutoCAD tools for precision editing of GIS data

- powerful, flexible, and open data management tools

- GIS tools for map creation and presentation

- web publishing via Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise and MapGuide Op

NASA World Wind 1.4.0 Final Version

World Wind lets PC users zoom from satellite altitude into any place on the globe. Leveraging Landsat satellite imagery and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data, World Wind lets you experience Earth terrain in visually rich 3D, just as if you were really there.Virtually visit any place in the world. Look across the Andes, into the Grand Canyon, over the Alps, or along the African Sahara.World Wind allows any user to zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth, leveraging high resolution LandSat imagery and SRTM elevation data to experience Earth in visually rich 3D, just as if they were really there.Particular focus was put into the ease of usability so people of all ages can enjoy World Wind. All one needs to control World Wind is a two button mouse. Additional guides and features can be accessed though a simplified menu. Navigation is automated with single clicks of a mouse as well as the ability to type in any location and automatically zoom into it.World Wind benefits most from a video card with 3D acceleration. Here are some key features of "World Wind":· 3D Engine · Blue Marble · Landsat 7 · SRTM · MODIS · GLOBE · Landmark Set. What's New in This Release:· Plugin: Movie Recorder (added avi xport) · Plugin: Place Finder Loader (Supports more geocoders) · Plugin: Satellite Tracker · Plugin: Virtal Earth, downloads Microsoft local live data (must be loaded from the plugins menu, then activated by clicking the toolbar icon) · Plugin: Improved WMS browser with GetCapabilities support · Data: New NRL data· Data: WFS placenames and boundaries · Core: New accurate sunshading· Core: Support for 3D models · Core: Atmosphere (Improved with atmospheric scattering) · Core: Added widget support · Widget: New scalebar · Widget: Time controller · Widget: 3D compass widget · Installer: Removed background · Installer: Mars, Moon, SDSS icons removed · Installer: .Net 2.0 check · Installer: Added command line tags NODOTNET, /NODX, /NOMDX) to skip detection of .NET, DirectX 9.0c, and Managed DirectX, to skip checks respectively..
Telecharger:http://surfnet.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/nasa-exp/World_Wind_1.3.2_Full.exe

Arc2Earth

Arc2Earth has always had the ability to display map tiles from Microsoft, Yahoo and Ask.com [1] as a custom layer in your map. What is new in this beta release is the ability to directly embed the API from Microsoft and Google into ArcMap. You can drape your own data over the existing globes and then use this as an element on your Page Layout for exporting to either paper or digital copies. The process of draping your current map over the globes happens automatically and on a background thread, so its really intuitive to work with and doesn’t stall the main thread ArcMap uses for most of its own work [2]. As you change your Map contents in the TOC, the changes are reflected on the globes as well.
Update - I added a video here that shows this functionality in action

GeneralThe embedded functionality works by creating new Custom Views for ArcMap. You can access these views from ArcMap’s View menu or more commonly, from the small buttons that appear below the main map. You’ll notice a couple extra buttons beyond those to toggle the VE/GE views. The first synchronizes the view with your current map view and the second opens the Option page for the current view.

Overlay DataThere are a couple methods to overlay data on the embedded globes. The first is the automatic overlay of the active map data using background generated tiles. You can toggle its visibility and change the transparency manually but everything else is pretty much automatic. The second is to specify a KML, GeoRSS or VE Colleciton feed as an overlay. You can toggle their visibility and optionally have them load when ArcMap is started. Finally, you can overlay any tile layer that has been created for VE or GM.

Page LayoutWhile some user may just want to display their data on screen for analysis, most others will want to create a hard copy of the results, this is of course one of the main uses of ArcMap. To accomplish this, A2E creates new menu items under the Insert menu that are only enabled when you are on the Layout View. You can drop any number of VE view elements on the layout and then resize/reposition them as needed. As frame elements, you can also use ArcMap’s build-in features to display custom frames, backgrounds or shadows. When you export or print, the higher DPI value is used when drawing the views (see below). The 2D views will not benefit much from the higher DPI but the 3D views look incredible when printed in the higher resolution [3]

Samples

Here’s a sample using data compiled by A2E user Peter Black of Environmental Defense. It shows the storm surge risk associated with different categories of hurricanes in the NYC Metropolitan area. On his layout, I added a 3D view of the tip of Manhattan in addition to the 2D map that was originally present. Since the 3D view is a layout element, it can be dragged or sized to best fit the overall design of your layout. It could be the dominant element or just a simple map surround to add context to your display.

If you are a current Arc2Earth V2 user and want to try out this beta, please feel free to contact me using the link above. All V2 users with Pro or better will get this functionality for free when its out of beta. Also, we are a Gold Sponsor at the ESRI MUG in Philadelphia (Nov 27-29th) and I’ll be demoing this functionality live at the show. Please stop by the booth if you have any questions.
[1] – Google still does not allow anyone (commercial, educational or non-profit) to embed their map tiles directly into an application. I would hope they change this policy in the future and when/if they do, we will certainly turn this functionality back on for the Google tiles as well. Microsoft requires a license if you will be using thier data for commercial projects.
[2] – this works really well on multi-core machines, the background tile generation happens independently of the regular ArcMap drawing
[3] – The Google Earth page layout element is disabled in this beta
Listening To: The National – Mistaken For Strangers - Boxer

QGIS 0.8 on USB Drive

I went ahead and updated QGIS on my USB flash drive to 0.8 without any hassle. Of course you wouldn’t want to run your production QGIS off of any flash drive, but I can tell you that having a GIS system in your pocket comes in handy. If I could only get FWTools to run better I would add that to my flash drive too (I have 1.0.0a7 running, but its too much of a hassle right now to really work with it so I probably won’t update it to 1.05 anytime soon).

XTools Pro

XTools Pro - extension for ArcGIS

XTools Pro is one of the most popular and full-featured extensions for ArcGIS Desktop.



Originally developed as a set of useful vector spatial analysis, shape conversion and table management tools for ArcView GIS 3.x. XTools extension was then converted by Data East to ESRI ArcGIS environment and now is re-designed, enhanced and extended as XTools Pro to get to the newer level of functionality and performance.



Latest version – XTools Pro 5.1
XTools Pro 5.1 is a minor upgrade introducing following new and updated tools and features for ArcGIS users:

Windows Vista compatibility

Windows Vista compatibility
- XTools Pro 5.1 is now compatible and can be used with Windows Vista operating system
Split Polygons
- a new tool for splitting polygons is implemented
Extract Map
- a new option for outputting extracted maps to .mxd format is implemented- a new option allowing renaming long attribute fields when extracting from geodatabase to shapefiles is added- a new option for silent extraction requiring no user interaction is added
Export Data to KML
- exporting to KMZ format is now supported- a bug with exporting point layers symbology is fixed- a bug with exporting "Null" values in geodatabase feature classes is fixed
Find Duplicates
- a new option for removing duplicates is introduced
Export Table to Text
- non-English names for output folders are now supported- text files can be output in ANSI, UTF-8, and UTF-16 formats
Callout Identify
- now you can select a layer that will be processed by the tool
Calculate Tool
- new measure units added
Import Data from KML
- input KML/KMZ files are now not deleted after processing- the tool is now compatible with ArcGIS 9.1
MultiDelete Fields
- progress bar is added
Identify Pro
- related tables are now correctly supported- improved performance when working with related tables
Create FeatureClass/Table
- a bug with creating new feature classes in ArcGIS 9.1 is fixed
Other changes
- XTools Pro 5.1 provides new 30-days trial period for unregistered users- Minor bug fixes and enhancements
ArcGIS compatibility
- XTools Pro 5.x version is compatible with ArcGIS 8.x/9.x
NOTE:
- XTools Pro 1.x licenses are not valid for XTools Pro 5.x- XTools Pro 2.x licenses are not valid for XTools Pro 5.x- XTools Pro 3.x licenses are not valid for XTools Pro 5.x- XTools Pro 4.x licenses are not valid for XTools Pro 5.x

From : http://www.xtoolspro.com/

MapServer 5.0 Released

MapServer 5.0 Released - Enhancements & Performance Improvements


When I first started using Open Source for a project in Switzerland, I went immediately to the UMN MapServer. My first introduction to this was loading and using Shape Files to create a relatively simple internet mapping site - my first!

My initial impression of Open Source, was WOW! The ease, the speed and the amount of documentation and resources available made me a believer in the Geospatial Open Source world. I then moved onto loading the data into a PostGIS database developed by Paul Ramsey at Refractions Research here in Victoria. Again, WOW! This was not difficult. I had maps and a database up and running in less than a day and I was able to spatial queries as well.

Today, the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) proudly announced on their web-site a major release for UMN MapServer, Version 5.0.
In the Press Release it states:"MapServer 5.0 is the first major release release since version 4.0 in July of 2003. While there have been regular releases every 6 months or so this is the first time developers felt the new feature set warranted the "major release" label."Some of the new features include many small bug fixes, more enhancements and performance improvements.
A detailed listing of the new features include:

• style and label attribute attribute binding;
• lookup table-based raster color correction;
• dynamic charting (pie and bar); explicit label prioritizing;
• enhanced debugging and logging;
• dynamic allocation for layers, classes, styles and symbols;
  improved memory management and garbage collection for MapScript;
• numerous improvements for OGC service support.

This release also incorporates map rendering using the Anti-grain Geometry (AGG) graphics library. According to the Press Release this bring higher and better maps to the internet because of improved cartographic quality.
As the Press Release, and I concur, I to am "excited about the future possibilities of bringing high-end cartography to on-demand web mapping".

My hats off to Steve Lime and the UMN Developers worldwide!
from : Terra ETL Blog

Introducing VBA in ArcGIS

It is no secret that the new ArcGIS Desktop Application (ArcCatalog, ArcMap) use Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) as the customization environment. For many ESRI clients, VBA is new, unfamiliar territory. This is the first in a series of short tutorials that will introduce our users to VBA, and how to use it to customize their GIS applications

In this issue, we're going to create a very simple GIS tool to sum the area of only the selected polygons for the active layer in ArcMap. There is not a lot of error checking in this code - the point here is to learn how VBA interacts with the ArcObjects data model.

Before you begin
Start ArcMap (this script will work with ArcMap for ArcInfo 8.0.1, 8.0.2, beta 8.1 and ArcView beta 8.1). Add a single, polygon feature layer. This can be any polygon data source, from a Shapefile, Geodatabase, Coverage, or CAD file. Attributes do not matter.
Step 1 - Customize the Interface
In ArcMap, the first level of customization requires no code at all. All of ArcMap's tool bars can be docked or floating - standard stuff for the Windows NT interface. You can also add your own tool bars and tools.

1. Right-click on any tool bar, and select Customize.
2. From the Customize Dialogue window, select the Toolbars tab.
3. Click on the New button, change the Toolbar Name to "My Tools" and select "Untitled" from the Save in dropdown.
4. Click OK and you get a new, blank toolbar.
5. Arrange your windows so you see your new toolbar and the Customize window.
6. Switch to the Commands tab in the Customize window. Here you can select all the pre-defined tools for ArcMap.
7. Scroll down the Categories list until you see the Pan/Zoom category.
8. To add a tool to your new toolbar, simply drag and drop any tool. Drag the Full Extent, Pan, Zoom In and Zoom Out tools onto your My Tools toolbar.
9. Change to the Categories to Selection, and drag the Select Features tool onto My Tools
10. Close the Customize window, and experiment with your new toolbar.

Your "My Tools" toolbar should look something like this:
Step 2 - Add a Custom Tool
In Step 1, all we did was rearrange the existing tools that come out-of-the-box with ArcMap. The next level of customization is to add custom tools using VBA code. To do that, we first create a new, empty tool, set some properties (like the icon), and then add the VBA source code.
Make the New Tool.

1. Right-click on My Tools, and choose Customize. again
2. From the Commands tab, scroll to the UIControls category.
3. Click on the New UIControl button. Choose UIButtonControl as the UIControl Type, and click Create.
4. You should have a new control listed called Project.UIButtonControl1. Drag this new tool onto the My Tools toolbar.
5. Right click on the tool (on the new tool on the toolbar, not in the Customize window). Here you can set properties for the tool. From the context menu, choose and pick Change Button Image an icon for your tool (I like Rex the dog):

Add the VBA code.

1. Next, we need to add the VBA code that is to be executed when we click on our button tool. While you are still in customize mode, right-click on you new tool again, and choose View Source.
2. This brings you into the Visual Basic Editor window. We don't have time or space to cover everything you have here, but suffice it to say this is where you build your VBA applications for ArcMap.
   You should see a code window (or text box) that looks like this:
   Two lines of code (the Private Sub and End Sub) are added for you. There are two dropdown lists - on the left for selecting the control (in this case, our new UIButtonControl1) and on the right, the event handler (in this case Click). Put these together, and it simply means, "When you Click on the UIButtonCOntrol1, execute this code. Let's enter the code.
3. Put your cursor between the Private Sub and End Sub lines, and start typing. The source code is below. Lines of code that begin with a single quote are comments. They are there to explain the code, but you don't have to type them in if you want to save keystrokes.
   
   
   'ArcNorth News - Fall 2000 Edition
   'Introducing VBA in ArcGIS - Volume 1
   'c. ESRI Inc., ESRI Canada Limited. All rights reserved
   '
   'Adapted from:
   "Exploring ArcObjects: The ESRI Guide to the Core ArcGIS Object Model"
   '
   'This unsupported code is for information purposes only, and
   'is provided "as is"
   
   Private Sub UIButtonControl1_Click()
   'Initialize a reference to the map document
   Dim pMxDoc As ImxDocument
   
   Set pMxDoc = ThisDocument
   
   ' Initialize an Enumeration set (the selected features)
   Dim pSelected As IenumFeature
   Set pSelected = pMxDoc.FocusMap.FeatureSelection
   
   ' Move the pointer in the set to the top
   pSelected.Reset
   
   ' Initialize a reference to a geographic entity
   Dim pFeature As IFeature
   Set pFeature = pSelected.Next
   
   ' Initialize an area object to store the polygon area
   Dim pArea As Iarea
   
   ' Initialize a variable to hold the cumulative area
   Dim totalArea As Double
   
   ' Loop through all of the selected polygons
   Do While (Not pFeature Is Nothing)
   ' If it's a polygon, add it's area to the totalArea variable
   If (pFeature.Shape.GeometryType = esriGeometryPolygon) Then
   Set pArea = pFeature.Shape
   totalArea = totalArea + pArea.Area
   End If
   ' Otherwise, skip to the next feature
   Set pFeature = pSelected.Next
   Loop
   
   ' Report the final result to the user
   MsgBox "Total Area for selected polygons = " & CStr(totalArea)
   
   End Sub
   
4. Once you have typed in all the code (double check for typos), go to the File menu and select Close and Return to ArcMap.
5. Back in ArcMap, use the Select Features tool from My Tools and drag a rectangle to select some polygons.
6. Click once on you new UIButtonControl1 tool and your VBA code will report the total area for the selected polygons. Note, the reported area will be in whatever units your data set is in - square degrees if it's in Geographic, metres if it's in UTM and so on.

That's all there is to it. Your new tool (and the VBA code) will be saved with your ArcMap document (MXD).

from esri

DNRGarmin GPS Application

===========================
Current Version:

• ArcView Extension: 5.2.33
• VB Program: 5.2.33
• ArcGIS Toolbar: 1.0.179
• Build Date: 10/31/2007
• Posted Date: 10/31/2007

Works With:

• Arcview Arcmap (9.x)
• Google Earth
• Landview
• ArcExplorer 2.0 (non-java version)

===========================
Purpose of this Program
This extension was built to provide users the ability to directly transfer data between Garmin GPS handheld receivers and various GIS software packages. Using this program a user can use point features (graphics or shapefile) and upload them to the GPS as Waypoints. Line and Polygon Graphics or shapes can be uploaded to the GPS as Track Logs or Routes. Conversely, Waypoints, Track Logs, and Routes collected using the GPS can be transferred directly to ArcView/ArcMap/Google Earth/Landview and saved as Graphics or Shapefiles.

This program has a real-time tracking mode that allows users to follow their progress on the ground within an ArcView View Document, ArcMap Data Frame, or Landview Map. This real-time track log can be saved as either points or lines as a set of graphics or in a shapefile.

Functionality Highlights
At this time DNRGarmin contains (but is not limited to) the following functionality:

• Download Waypoints/Tracks/Routes :Download waypoints, tracks, and routes from Garmin GPS and save as ArcView Shapefiles or Graphics
• Upload Waypoints/Tracks/Routes :Upload waypoints, tracks, and routes to Garmin GPS
• Real-Time Tracking:Collect real-time locational information and store as graphics or shapefile
• Waypoint to Point :Converts Waypoints downloaded from the GPS unit into a point shapefile or graphics
• Track to Point/Line/Polygon :Converts a Garmin Track log to an ArcView graphic or shapefile
• Point to Waypoint :Convert Point shapes or graphics to a GPS Waypoint
• Line/Polygon to Track :Converts a line or polygon to a Garmin Track
• Point to Line/Polygon :Converts Point themes to Lines or Polygons
• Add Documentation to Features :Adds basic documentation to ArcView themes including Name, GPS Model, Date, Agency, etc. - Arcview 3.x only
• Calculate Shape Attributes :Calculates Area, Perimeter, Length attributes for features. Arcview 3.x/9.x
• Calculate CEP :Determine Circular Error Probability rings for Error estimation. Arcview 3.x/9.x
• Image Hotlinking :Create hotlinks between images and GPS data.
• USB Connectivity :Speed up your downloads by a factor of about 10 with USB connectivity option!
• Projection Engine :Built in Projection Functionality using Proj.4 Cartographic Projections Library http://www.remotesensing.org/proj/ by Gerald Evenden
  

See the DNR Garmin documentation for more information on Installation, What's New, and Frequently Asked Questions. Note: Full documentation for DNRGarmin can also be accessed from the Help menu inside the program.

Download Program
Full Setup of Version 5.2.33 for NT/2000/XP (11.5 MB) -- Compatible with ArcGIS 9.x (not 8.x), Arcview 3.x, ArcExplorer 2.0 (non-Java), Landview 4.3, Google Earth. Note: USB CONNECTIVITY ONLY WORKS IF YOU HAVE ADMINISTRATIVE RIGHTS TO THE COMPUTER. THIS BUG EXISTS IN ALL PREVIOUS VERSIONS AS WELL.

• DNRGarmin 5.2.33 (10/31/07)

Full Setup of Version 5.1.1 for NT/2000/XP (10 MB) -- Compatible with ArcGIS 8.x (not 9.x)

• DNRGarmin 5.1.1(10/6/05)

Updated Projection Files (all versions) (75 KB) - Unzip and place contents in "/program files/dnrgarmin/proj/nad"

• ESRI_EPSG.ZIP (11/13/07)
  

View the DNR No-Cost Software Distribution License Agreement

Mailing Lists:
Two new mailing lists have been created to help support DNRGarmin.

• dnrgarmin-announce@listserv.dnr.state.mn.us - Used to notify users of upgrades and updates. This is a replacement for the previous mailing list.
• http://listserv.dnr.state.mn.us/mailman/listinfo/dnrgarmin-users - A discussion list for users that would like to post questions to the general DNRGarmin user community.

DNR Garmin WIKI
Have a tip or trick DNRGarmin related? Post it on the DNRGarmin WIKI. Follow the link and then click on the "DNR Garmin Discussion" link. This is a place for you to input your user knowledge in the form of tips, shortcuts, and work-arounds. Note: To ask a question please use the discussion mailing list.

Franson GpsGate Software

When using your GPS receiver with a portable computer, most systems only allow one application to use the GPS data. But the ability to run several applications at the same time is the key to modern computing. As more applications are becoming position-aware, GPS sharing will become a necessity.

Franson GpsGate overcomes this limitation, and makes GPS users more productive by allowing data from one GPS to be shared between many applications running on a laptop or handheld computer.

Some features include:

• Share one GPS between several applications;


• Garmin USB to NMEA conversion;


• More stable GPS connection; and


• GPS simulation and logging.

GpsGate can simulate a GPS traveling between a set of user-defined waypoints. This is great for indoor demonstrations and development. Data from the GPS can at any time be stored to a log file in NMEA format. A log file can later be played back as if the data came from a real GPS.

GpsGate supports NMEA and Garmin USB as input and creates virtual serial ports for each GPS-enabled application. The virtual serial port supports NMEA. GpsGate automatically reconnects to the GPS if it turned off and on or when a Bluetooth GPS temporarily gets out of reach.

GpsGate can be configured and accessed from an application without user interaction. The current status of the GPS -- like connection status and GPS fix status -- can be monitored in the task bar. From here all GpsGate functions can be accessed.

GpsGate costs around $30. For more information or to download a 14-day trial, visit the Franson GpsGate Web site.

GeoWizards 9.7 for ArcGIS

GeoWizards 9.7 for ArcGIS
One of the best all round third party extensions you can get for ArcGIS - lots of functionality is *Free*"
A collection of powerful data manipulation, topology and surface functions for ArcGIS "


New functions are:

• Map To Google Earth
• Feature Class to Google Earth
• Import from Google Earth
• Polygon Characteristics
• Perpendiculars from points to polylines
• ESRI TIN To PolygonZ
• Shape To ShapeZ
• Point To Multipoint
• Disperse Points
• Random Points On Polylines
• Random Points In Polygons
  

* New method (number of vertices) included in the Split Polyline function

* Create Centerlines and Aggregate Polygons functions added to the version for ArcGIS 8.x.

* Scripting and toolbox implementation of the Ungenerate function added.

* Two new options added to the Features To Bounding Rectangles function.

Improved is:

* Improved performance and ability to handle large datasets. Functions affected:

• Build TIN
• Build Thiessen
• Aggregate Polygons
• Create Centerlines

* The Clean Dangles function allows user defined Fuzzy/Cluster tolerance to be assigned - better user control over the function.

* Improved error reporting

* **Several Functions improved to handle datasets with Z or M values. In the previous versions the input Z(M) values were dropped .

Functions affected:

• Clean Polygons
• Clean Polylines
• Eraseo Batch Erase
• Clean Dangling Nodes
• Clip
• Batch Clip
• Advanced Merge
• Symmetric Difference
• Merge Layers
• Split By Location

Bugs fixed:

Point Intersection function produces incorrect results if a polygon dataset that have polygons with holes is used.

A licensing problem in the Scripting and ToolBox implementations in ArcGIS 9.0.

***Inability of some of the functions to handle correctly datasets containing true Arcs. Functions affected:

• Build Polygons
• Clean Polygons

***Some of the tools of the ToolBox implementation produce an Windows error if used within a script run from the command prompt. The results are derived, but the tool breaks up the script. Tools affected:

• Clean Polygons
• Clean Polylines
• Clean Dangling Nodes
• Clipo Erase
• Advanced Merge
• Symmetric Difference
• Thin Pointso Aggregate
• Interpolate Contours
• Create Centerlines

* Point Angle And Position function fails in some cases when the source paint dataset is a PGDB feature class

***Several functions fail if the output is File Geodatabase:

• Points To Polylines
• Points To PolylinesZM
• Points To PointsZM
• Points To Polygons
• Points To PolygonsZM
• Batch Drop Z(M)
• Batch Clip
• Batch Erase

** Only the version for ArcGIS 9.0 and above

*** Only the version for ArcGIS 9.2

One of the best and most useful functions that this extension has is 'Create Shapefile' inside ArcMap to create a new point, line or polygon.

For more information and to download this extension go to:http://www.ian-ko.com/

ArcGIS 9.2 SP4

ESRI has released the latest service pack for ArcGIS suite of applications - Service Pack 4. This is not a single file that applies to entire suite. Service pack 4 is avaialble for ArcGIS Desktop, ArcIMS and ArcSDE. File can be downloaded from ESRI's Support Site.

Here are some of the fixes in SP 4 for ArcGIS Desktop

• GeoTIFF files created with the ArcMap Export Map function should contain spatial reference information in addition to the currently encoded position and transform. This will make the files reprojectable and should make it easy to include map exports on an ArcGIS Explorer globe.
• When ArcGIS is used to export to PDF in a loop, or several hundred times in one ArcMap session, the application can leak memory and may crash or become unresponsive.
• User would like a version refresh available to an ArcView user.
• Text symbol halos often fail to draw correctly, or they drop out.
• Unwanted domains are automatically assigned to attribute fields when creating feature classes in geodatabase.
• Select by location fails when run multiple times, and it fails with the Centroid option with large data. Both situations are due to memory leaks.
• Adding an annotation class as the associated layer for Map Annotation will cause a corrupt MXD file.
• White text, or text that matches the data frame background color, may turn black on export to PDF or AI (Illustrator) formats.
  Closing the map when multiple editors are editing a version concurrently does not save edits when requested.
• When making a direct connect to an Oracle database and not saving username and password within connection properties, data does not display in the geodatabase.
• Add support for datum transformations.
• Building a spatial index fails on a shapefile that has all null geometries.
• ITopologicalOperator::Intersect does not return the correct geometry count.
• When switching from the Maplex labeling engine to the standard ESRI labeling engine, the View Unplaced Labels function stops working for the standard labeling engine, and any previously displayed unplaced labels are removed.
• The AutoComplete Polygon task does not abort the edit operation if no polygons are created.
• The ExportCAD function now creates a new PRJ file if overwriting an existing CAD file that already has a PRJ file, along with the CAD file.
  Export CAD now recognizes the universal PRJ files.
• The IFeatureEdit and IFeatureEdit2 methods do not produce correct results when editing in projected space.
• When ArcGIS is used to export to EMF in a loop, or several hundred times in one ArcMap session, the application can leak memory and may crash or become unresponsive.
• Use of the Profile Graph tool can cause ArcMap to terminate.
• Block copy/paste between low and high precision feature datasets when the coordinate systems do not match.
• ArcMap crashes when the MapControl or PageLayout controls are added to the VBA form and resized.
  

Service pack is 176 Mb plus another 379 MB for help system update.

Changes in ArcGIS Server for .Net

• Adding a SOC machine to a WorkGroup licensed SOM when the machine name is greater than 14 characters fails.
• Map server caching issues occur when a map service source MXD contains layers from a compressed file geodatabase data source.
• Unable to run applications that have a single Toolbar control buddied to two Map controls.
• Manager is unable to publish Web applications when disconnected from the network.
• Memory leak in ArcSOC.exe process when doing many Identify requests over time.

Full list of fixed issues for Desktop and ArcGIS Server is available here. ArcGIS sever download for .Net is 23 MB while Java download is 261 MB.

For ArcIMS list of fixes is smaller. Here is complete list.

• For ArcMap Services, Features returned from a definition query should not be selected/highlighted.
  When ArcMap Server is not installed, Spatial Server log returns error loading library "..\ext\DataAccess\aimsisGDAL.dll": Error code = 126 with 9.2 SP2.
• ArcMap server GET_SERVICE_INFO response does not escape field alias names that contains special characters such as <, >, &, "" and '.
• ArcIMS 9.2 shows decreased performace compared to ArcIMS 9.1 when geocoding addresses using street names with numbers.
• Spatial server crashes while requesting table of contents(toc) for raster layers that are enabled to display raster resolution in toc for an arcmap service.
• Geocoding address with street names containing all numbers crashes the spatialserver.
• GET_EXTRACT does not return all the features of a multipoint feature.
• Extract server fails to generate output zip file if the host name is too long.
• While using raster catalog as the data source, ArcIMS Image Server was dropping raster tiles.
• GET_IMAGE has a new attribute to return scale factor for an Arcmap service.
• Spatialquery with buffer and target layer does not select features from target layer.
• ERR0416 Operation Failed” is returned when using command line administrator although the operation is successfully completed.

ArcIms service pack 4 download is 65 MB.

In ArcSDE fixes are database specific. I'll list fixed issues for SQL Server.

• Upgrading a SQL Server geodatabase with archive enabled feature classes creates triggers that cause "Duplicate key in shape column" errors during the archive operation. See KB article 33264.
• ArcMap crashes when executing definition query on a text field with a length of more than 4000.
• sdesetup -o upgrade command fails if executed as db_owner member on the dbo schema.
• ArcSDE for SQL Server: Create index fails for Windows Authenticated users who are not the DBO user.
• ArcSDE for SQL*Server: Incorrect predicate binding for the delete statement when removing rows from a keyset table orphans rows.
• ArcSDE for SQL Server 2005: Need to check for a matching default schema during table creation.

ArcSDE generic fixes are:

• ArcSDE for Oracle: sdegroup command does not support NVARCHAR types.
• The sdegroup command fails with "The destination string buffer is too small" error if an involved column's fully qualifed name is more than 32 characters.
• HPUX64 (Oracle 9i): sdegdbrepair command encounters a segmentation fault and core dump after successfully completing.
• The sdesetup command with SQL Server should not allow a lower release version to be executed against a higher release of the ArcSDE instance.
• shp2sde -o init and -o append is not able to load dBASE C-ColType into existing SE_NSTRING_TYPE column. The default has always been to map dBASE C-ColType into SE_STRING_TYPE.
• sdeimport -o append/init return attribute column size mismatch on STRING_TYPE columns
• Enhancement request: ArcSDE Service Pack support Web page should address installation steps for multiple sde services.
• ArcSDE 9.2 Service Pack 3 support page should say that you use the and instead of the SDE user when executing the SDESETUP command in Step 6 in the Installation Steps. (Finally!)

File size for ArcSDE SP is different for every database but files are very small. For DB2, Informix, SQL Server is 3 MB while Oracle 9 and Oracle 10gR2 is 4 MB for Windows installations. For Unix files are larger, but still smaller then other ArcGIS service packs - 10-15 MB.

These are some of the fixes I think are interesting for average user of ArcGIS. Let's hope we won't need any more service packs soon.

ArcGIS Explorer Build 440 Released

The ArcGIS Explorer Blog just announced that AGX build 440 is available:



The ArcGIS Explorer Team is pleased to announce that today, at approximately 1:58 p.m. PST, the newest version of ArcGIS Explorer - Explorer 440 - was released. If the ESRI servers are your home servers, you’ll be notified that there is a new version available the next time you start the application. Just follow the instructions to download and install this new release.



The “What’s New in ArcGIS Explorer 440” page has a list of all the enhancements (I think many will appreciate the ArcIMS improvements since that is the biggest complain I always hear).




Tags: ArcGIS Explorer · ESRI

ESRI 2007 Business Partner Conference Plenary SessionMarch 18th, 2007 · 25

There really wasn’t much for ESRI to announce at the Plenary Session but Jack did hit on some things coming down the road in ArcGIS 9.3 and ArcGIS 10. ArcGIS 9.2 SP2 should be out in a “couple weeks” and SP3 will be out in Summer. ArcGIS 9.3 will be available (I’m assuming Beta) late fall 2007. Jack called 9.3, 9.2.1 so its going to be less of a jump in features than 9.2 was and I think everyone will be happy with that.

ArcGIS Desktop 9.3

• Quality and Performance Improvements


• Improved Documentation


• Cartography


• Statistical Modeling


• Improved OGC and KML support


• Virtual Earth Integration


• Vista Support


• ArcGIS Server 9.3

Quality and Performance Improvements

• Javascript API (so one doesn’t need to use Java or .NET)


• Role-based security


• ArcGIS Image Server will be integrated into AGS


• Integration with ArcWeb


• PostgreSQL support

Version 10 will be in the future (at least 2008) and will include:
Multiple layouts
Modern interface (the screen shots shown had a Microsoft Office 2007 look to them with that “ribbon” toolbars
Support for high performance graphic cards
Now 10 is still WAY out in the future so anything could change and probably will change.
Tags: ArcGIS Desktop · ArcGIS Server · ESRI

ArcGIS 9.2 Released

ArcGIS 9.2 has been released to manufacturing and will ship to all customers worldwide by the end of November. This project has been over 18 months in the making and represents a very significant milestone in the evolution of ArcGIS. Here is my personal view of the some the most significant features (in no particular order).

Quality – 9.2 is the most tested release ever to leave Redlands. We have had a very extensive Alpha, Beta, and Pre-release program with both in house and external unit level and holistic testing. Literally thousands of software issues have been addressed in 9.2.Server – ArcGIS Server 9.2 will turn out to be a major event in the history of ESRI. This, I believe, will be a very important step in a major shift of GIS from desktop to server architectures. With new out of the box clients, easier administration and a set of functionality that comes close to matching the desktop, Server will be a compelling way to deliver GIS capabilities to users inside and outside organizations.Desktop – a lot of effort has gone into end user usability and productivity. There are many, many small UI enhancements that collectively make the software much easier to use. There is no getting away from the fact that ArcGIS Desktop is a large and sophisticated application, but we have tried our best to simplify the user experience.Documentation – in previous releases users have repeatedly asked for higher level documentation that provides a more task-based description of how to use the software. The organization and content of the printed books and on-line help system reflects this new approach. Many people learn GIS by using ArcGIS and so we need to provide the essential foundations in the doc that enable them to be successful.Product integration – in an attempt to reduce the number of products and to make it easier to deploy ArcGIS we have integrated all the main ESRI server products into a single ArcGIS Server platform. ArcGIS Server 9.2 has six levels based on two types of capacity (workgroup and enterprise) and three types of functionality (Basic [data management], Standard [data management + mapping and publishing], Advanced [data management + mapping and publishing + editing, geoprocessing and mobile].ArcGIS On-line – a part of 9.2 is not being ‘shipped’ to users but will reside permanently on ESRI servers. This includes the on-line documentation and a set of web services that combine data and functionality. These 2D and 3D services can be used from the desktop, the new ‘geobrowser’ – ArcGIS Explorer – or the new browser-based web mapping application. I think we will see much more of the product on-line in the future.Spatial analysis and modeling – I covered this in an earlier blog posting, but for completeness I want to remind everyone that we are serious about continuing to advance the analysis and modeling capabilities of our GIS platform. ArcGIS 9.2 supports iteration, randomization and better animation, thus enabling simulation and sensitivity analysis. The geoprocessing capabilities are now exposed in desktop, engine and server.Mobile GIS – the new ArcGIS Server Mobile ADF (application developer framework) has not yet got the attention that I think it deserves. This is a developer toolkit that can be used to build very fast, lightweight and quite rich clients for Server. The clients can be deployed in a connected or partially connected mode. We have implemented a nice data caching framework that makes it easy to use enterprise databases easily and provides excellent performance.Enterprise GIS – ESRI is definitely trying to be an enterprise software company. ArcGIS 9.2 has been extended to work well in the enterprise context. We built it using standards-based IT technology etc., we provide a number of enterprise connection points within the software (new geodatabase SQL API on Oracle, SOAP/XML web services interfaces, .Net and Java developer APIs, and many data interoperability options). Another key capability of 9.2 is the ability to execute transactions against geodatabases stored in a DBMS using a short transaction model (non-versioned API). This makes it much easier for external systems to work with geographic information.
Standards and interoperability – although we have always been strong advocates for open systems, at 9.2 we have made a much more conscious effort to support key standards. This includes the internal use of the ISO 191** family (e.g. spatial schemas, simple feature access and coordinate references), and the OGC W*S family of standards for service interoperability (e.g. WMS, WFS, GML and Catalog Interface). Moreover, the data interoperability extension allows users to read and write over 100 GIS formats.

Autodesk academic software – making design easier than ever

By Ken Wilson [ 29/11/2007 ][ viewed 8 times ]
Every equipment around the world started out from a design. No matter if we are talking about cranes that lift thousands of tons or high speed cars that reach 60 mph in 4 seconds, every concept had to be designed first and then built. Traditionally, every design started with either a piece of paper or a drawing board. Nowadays however, with all the advances in technology, computers and software, every design starts taking shapes in a computer. With all the design software available on the market, it is a lot easier for your ideas to take shape on the screen of you computer than on paper.One of the leading companies in design software is Autodesk. There are four divisions inside Autodesk, each for specific software and engineering purposes. The platform solutions and engineering business section of the company manages the development of the leading Autodesk academic software AutoCAD.AutoCAD is a computer aided design (CAD) application used for 2D and 3D drafting and design. This Autodesk academic software was released in 1982 and it was the first program of this sort that could be used on a personal computer.The early days of the Autodesk academic software have changed along the years. If the first version of AutoCAD used only lines, arcs, circles and texts for design, now a lot of complex structures and tools help you achieve the design you want. One drawback of this Autodesk academic software is that in runs on Windows platforms only. In the past, there were some versions released for Mac and UNIX, but later on these were dropt. You can still use it with these operating systems with the help of an emulator, but there are some performance problems when you start using 3 dimensional design tools.One supportive measure for developing minds comes from Autodesk in the form of discounts. These are offered to students and teachers that qualify, and they are quite consistent. The packages thus offered have one difference from the retail version, apart from the price: every created file has an educational stamp that states that it is not for commercial use.A related product is the academic software Photoshop. This is a graphics editor developed by Adobe and, as is AutoCAD for Autodesk, it is the top product of the company. The main use for this application is the manipulation of bitmaps and images.The first version of the academic software Photoshop was released in 1990 and worked only on Mac platforms, but in 1992 a Windows version was released as well. Other improvements were made since than, and from 2004 the academic software Photoshop was released in correlation with other applications in one big package named Creative Suite.The latest version is the Creative Suite 3, released in 2007. The same discounts are offered by Adobe as well to students and teachers. If you are interested in purchasing the latest versions of Creative Suite 3, which includes the academic software Photoshop, be cure to visit genesis-technologies.com.