Zeroing in on Geographic Exploration Systems
by Susan Smith
Nearly every participant in our Emerging Technologies review mentioned Google Earth technology and how that might impact the future directions of GIS. Google Earth is exciting and better known to the masses right now, however, it is not the only "Geographic Exploration System (GES)."
Although it may seem that these GES are a new invention, they have actually been in the works for quite some time. Technology from lesser known companies has been used to extend or enhance software for some of the heavy hitters. Some companies have OEM'd their technology, others have been the result of outright acquisitions.
ESRI has just released a beta version of its "geospatial information viewer," ArcGIS Explorer,
which offers an easy way to access geographic information but also
integrates rich GIS datasets and server-based geoprocessing
applications by accessing the ArcGIS Server including geoprocessing and
3D services. It is OGC-compliant, and supports WMS and Google KML data.
Some of its features include:
by Susan Smith
Nearly every participant in our Emerging Technologies review mentioned Google Earth technology and how that might impact the future directions of GIS. Google Earth is exciting and better known to the masses right now, however, it is not the only "Geographic Exploration System (GES)."
Although it may seem that these GES are a new invention, they have actually been in the works for quite some time. Technology from lesser known companies has been used to extend or enhance software for some of the heavy hitters. Some companies have OEM'd their technology, others have been the result of outright acquisitions.
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Some of its features include:
- ability to seamlessly explore data for the entire globe in 2D and 3D
- integrate your local data with data and services from ArcGIS Server, ArcIMS, OGC WMS and ESRI-hosted ArcWeb Services.
- perform GIS analysis using tasks (i.e. visibility, modeling, proximity, search)
- answer queries about the maps you generate and share the results with others
- use maps and data from your own secure servers. [more]
