Day 1 And Day 2 At The ESRI Developer Summit 2009

The ESRI Developer Summit 2009 kicked off yesterday in Palm Springs. Developers from all over the world started packing into the main plenary. There were a lot of developers!

ArcGIS Product Manager, Jim Mckinney MC’d the main plenary. Jack Dangemond was there to give a brief talk as well. There are over 1100 developers attending this year’s ESRI Developer Summit 2009 along with over 200 development staff from ESRI. This year’s developer summit comes with a number of changes. ESRI has really listened to feedback and as such there are 30% more sessions and user presentations. It’s all about connecting with the developers! Some of the key points and sections showcased and talked about is below:

ESRI Development Strategy

Scott Moorehouse talked about ESRI’s development strategy describing an information system. Workstation, enterprise, web. Touching on each of these topics, Scott talked about some of the upcoming changes. 
 
Workstation
ArcGIS 9.3.1 is all about stability and better integration. One of the key concepts at ArcGIS 9.3.1 is the notion of layer packages. Apart from this there are no big changes.
 
ArcGIS 9.4 has been a big investment for ESRI. Major improvements in graphics, integrated searching capabilities, major UI changes, tighter integration with Python for spatial analysis, plug-ins, 3D changes and ArcGIS Explorer 900 which is shaping up to be a platform for new applications.
 
Enterprise
ArcGIS 9.3.1 brings new dynamic mapping capabilities, enterprise hardening and better stability.
 
ArcGIS 9.4 will introduce feature editing, searching, image management and new collaboration capabilities.
 
Web
ArcGIS Online = Cloud! has been extended and enhanced with a major focus on the delivery of web maps. The cloud is complementary to the other forms.
 
ArcGIS 9.3.1 will allow users to create great web maps and optimize their map services for faster mapping.

Scott’s talk was then followed by Jay Theodore. Jay talked and showcased a number of the upcoming changes that users can expect with Java in ArcGIS 9.3.1.
 
ArcGIS And Java

Java is now more extensible. This has been extended to the desktop, engine and server. There is better documentation at ArcGIS 9.3.1 with a richer SDK and really targeted towards developers.
 
At ArcGIS 9.3.1, a bundle of new capabilities has been added to Java. GP tools, custom renderers, class extensions, plug in data sources; utility objects and SOC extensions are all possible. There are new extensions for Eclipse that make it easy for you to create extensions, export the .JAR and see it in ArcGIS Desktop, Engine and Server. Debug capabilities has been added into Eclipse as well.
 
ArcGIS Online

ArcGIS Online will be updated to include all the new API’s. Searching for data is now possible. One you have found data you can view it in ArcGIS Explorer, ArcMap, as a web map or view it live! Sharing content is based on logins. You add maps and services based on REST. You can quickly mash ups maps by using the built in tools by connecting to other REST map services. You can then configure a few options to make your mash up look good and then share this.

The public beta for ArcGIS Online is scheduled after the release of ArcGIS 9.3.1.
 
Online Communities And Resource Centres

Jim Barry talked about bundle of the resources and communities available to developers. From EDN through to the ESRI Resource Centres through to the code and template galleries.
 
There is now more live training at the ESRI Training Campus, more webcasts for developers and ESRI TV as well that Jim’s team has been working hard on.
 
At the break there was a quick Twitter contest! What was the first year that the ESRI User Conference was held in San Diego? First few that tweeted their answer in got a free t-shirt! Funnily enough all the usual tweeps got the answer correct and got free t-shirts. I got a pretty cool t-shirt.
 
ArcGIS API For Microsoft Silverlight

The ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight was officially announced on stage! This is now available as a public beta. You can go and download it from the ESRI Resource Centres now! There are bundles of samples, videos, and concepts on the ESRI Resource Centres as well.

A few of the key capabilities of the ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight was demonstrated on stage by Art Haddad. There is now also a Microsoft Visual Studio template that you can use to get started with the ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight. Navigation was demonstrated along with scale and clustering.
Awesome stuff!
 
ArcGIS Explorer 900

Bernie demonstrated a few of the cool capabilities of ArcGIS Explorer 900. This was similar to the presentation that was given at the ESRI Business Partner Conference 2009. See my earlier write up on what was shown and demonstrated.

A few things were demonstrated around customizing ArcGIS Explorer 900. ArcGIS Explorer 900 will ship with powerful customization capabilities. Via an application configuration tool, which saves a .ncfg file, users can customize the user interface of ArcGIS Explorer 900. You can add/remove tools. You can also add your own tools.
ArcGIS Explorer 900 will ship with a very powerful SDK. There will also be Microsoft Visual Studio templates.
 
The Power Of Python

This was a really interesting piece. Python = The scientific programming language for GIS! It’s a powerful way of building GP tools and there are some significant changes and updates coming with Python at ArcGIS 9.4. I talked about a few of these in my write on the ESRI Business Partner Conference 2009 with more information below.
 
ArcGIS 9.4

So ArcGIS 9.4 was talked about and demonstrated at the ESRI Business Partner Conference 2009 but lots more was shown off at the ESRI Developer Summit 2009. Euan talked about some of the significant changes coming for ArcGIS 9.4. ArcGIS 9.4 has been in development for the last 10 years and has been evolving very well.

ArcGIS 9.4 is all about simplifying tasks, streamlining workflows and sharing your work. Some of the new features and enhancements coming in ArcGIS 9.4.

• ArcCatalog will be included in ArcMap.
• Faster map drawing through a whole new drawing engine.
• Powerful searching capabilities through an integrated search engine.
• Updates to the new imagery will be handled.
• Better cartographic capabilities.
• New Charting and reporting capabilities. Being able to do alot more with charting and reporting.
• Updates to 3D GIS to include editing.
• Ability to execute GP models and tools asynchronously.
• New application development framework for ArcGIS Desktop which will be extended in .NET and Java. You write your extension, drop it into a folder and it will automatically be read by ArcMap!
• Side by side deployment. Being able to install ArcGIS 9.3.1 and ArcGIS 9.4 on the same machine.
• New concurrent user license model for ArcGIS Engine
• A new simplified graphics API! This is awesome. ESRI is focusing on 2D and 3D high performance.
• Automation through scripting.

A few of the key topics was talked about and demonstrated.
 
Automation Through Scripting
At ArcGIS 9.4 there are new map algebra and map processing ca
pabilities with Python. Being able to manipulate the map and make changes from script. Being able to add GP tools to the toolbar is new. An integrated Python window within ArcMap. Intellisense for Python, being able to nest and import scripts directly into the window as well are all new functionality that will be available in ArcGIS 9.4.
 
Editing In 2D And 3D
ArcGIS 9.4 will be template based. It will provide a whole new sketching experience and tools to streamline your editing experience. My post from the ESRI Business Partner Conference 2009 talks about some of these capabilities that will be coming.
 
ArcGIS Error Handling

Euan talked about error handling capabilities that was added at ArcGIS 9.3 and how this has made a difference.
 
ArcGIS 9.3 SP1
159 issues were fixed from 14850 error reports.
 
ArcGIS 9.3.1
379 issues were fixed from 8912 error reports.
 
Information on the Symbol Server used for error reporting can be found on the ESRI Resource Centres now as well.

Moving onto ArcGIS Server 9.4, there will be a new image service for seamless image maps, tracking service and an editing service. The new editing service will be stateless and light weight across the enterprise.

ArcGIS Mobile 9.4 was also showcased. My post from the ESRI Business Partner Conference 2009 talks about some of these capabilities that will be coming.
 
Wow this is a long post but I hope it gives those that were not here an insight into what’s been happening and talked about. There is some seriously cool stuff coming as you can see. It’s been long and tiring but there is so much to learn. The main sessions kicked off today and I have been pretty busy attending them and meeting others.
 
I’ll post a summary of information from some of the session soon!