12/28/2010

Proprietary GIS software 2



Here I descirbe about ArcGIS. You can view other GIS softwares like XMap 7, SuperGIS Desktop Maptitude in my blog.

ArcGIS




ArcGIS is name of software products which produces within the roof of Esri, sources estimate that about seventy percent of the current GIS users make use of Esri products [1], and operate on desktop, server, and mobile platforms. ArcGIS also includes developer products and web services.

ArcGIS Desktop software products provide capability to author, analyze, map, manage, share, and publish geographic information. Basically ArcGIS Desktop has three licensing levels as ArcView, ArcEditor and ArcInfo. ArcView, lowest level of ArcGIS Desktop, give the opportunity to view and edit GIS data held in flat files, or view data stored in a database management system. ArcEditor allow more extensive data editing and manipulation, including server geodatabase editing and as highest level ArcInfo includes increased capability in the areas of spatial analysis, geo-processing, data management. GIS users can use applications like ArcMap, ArcCatalog and ArcToolbox exist within three levels of licensing. [2]

Apart from those products ESRI produce few freeware applications for viewing GIS data, for instance ArcGIS Explorer, ArcReader, and ArcExplorer. ArcExplorer is just a simple data viewer which can view GIS data in the formats like ESRI Shapefile, ArcInfo coverages, ArcSDE layers, Images and ArcIMS Services. ArcExplorer performs a variety of basic GIS functions, including display, query, and data retrieval applications[3]. ArcReader also provides some basic tools for map viewing, printing and querying of spatial data and ArcGIS Explorer is a free 3D GIS viewer , which can be used as a client for ArcGIS Server, ArcIMS, ArcWeb Services and Web Map Service (WMS).[4]

Server GIS products allow GIS functionality and data to be deployed from a central environment. ArcIMS (Internet Mapping Server) provides browser based access to GIS. ArcSDE (Spatial Database Engine) is used as an RDBMS connector for other Esri software to store and retrieve GIS data within a commercially available RDBMS. Currently ArcSDE can be used with Oracle, DB2, Informix and Microsoft SQL Server databases. It supports its native SDE binary data format, Oracle Spatial, and ST_geometry. ArcGIS Server is an internet application service, used to extend the functionality of ArcGIS Desktop software to a browser based environment... ArcGIS Server is available on Solaris and Linux as well as Windows and will eventually phase out ArcIMS. Other server based products include Geoportal Extension, ArcGIS Image Server and Tracking Server as well as several others.

Mobile GIS conflates GIS, GPS, Location-based services, handheld computing, and the growing availability of geographic data. ArcGIS technology can be deployed on a range of mobile systems from lightweight devices to PDAs, laptops, and Tablet PCs. Products: ArcPad, Mobile ArcGIS Desktop Systems, ArcGIS Server (Server-oriented APIs), ArcWeb Services (Web-oriented APIs), hosted geographic databases, ArcGIS mobile.

Developer GIS products enable building custom desktop or server GIS applications or embed GIS functionality in existing applications. These focused solutions can then be easily deployed throughout an organization. Products: Esri Developer Network or EDN, ArcEngine (Desktop-oriented APIs), ArcGIS Server (Server-oriented APIs and a web development ADF which is part of ArcGIS Server), ArcWeb Services (Web-oriented APIs)

ArcGIS includes online, or internet, capabilities in all Esri software products. Online capabilities are centrally located at www.arcgis.com. These include web API’s, hosted map and geoprocessing services, and a user sharing program. A variety of basemaps is a signature feature of arcgis.com. The Esri Community Maps program compiles detailed user basemap information into a common cartographic format called Topographic Basemap.

To work with ArcGIS Desktop (ArcInfo, ArcEditor, ArcView) needs Windows 2000,xp,vista,7 operating systems with 1.6 GHz recommended or higher CPU Speed, Intel Core Duo, Pentium 4 or Xeon Processors, 1 GB minimum, 2 GB recommended or higherMemory/RAM, 1024 x 768 recommended or higher at Normal size (96dpi) Screen Resolution, 3.2 GB Disk Space and 24-bit capable graphics accelerator.[5]

References

[1]“GIS Software Applications". gislounge.com. http://gislounge.com/gis-software-applications/.

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esri#cite_note-3

[3]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArcExplorer

[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArcGIS_Explorer

[5]http://wikis.esri.com/wiki/display/ag93bsr/ArcGIS+Desktop

[6]http://www.esri.com/news/arcwatch/0607/graphics/agexplorer4-lg.jpg

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