ArcGIS - story behind--history.. (1)

ArcGIS saat ini software GIS yang semakin memikat GIS dan pemerhati kebumian.
Kemampuannya di dalam Geodatabase, Interopability, hingga ArcGIS server dan mobile nya bener-bener luar biasa.
Belum usai kita pelajari ArcGIS 9.0, telah mencuat ArcGIS 9.1 tak lama juga ArcGIS 9.2 dengan berbagai service pack-nya. Kini kita diajak kembali berlari-lari dengan ArcGIS 9.3 dengan kemasan tambahan dan agak berbeda.
Bookmarks di ArcGIS sebelum versi ArcGIS 9.3 berada sebagai bagian dari Menu View, tapi di ArcGIS 9.3 dia muncul sebagai main menu setara dengan menu View..
Kemudian di deretan button/tombol di Menu ArcMap, tampak pula secara langsung Model Builder yang dulunya bersembunyi di ArcCatalog.
Ada tulisan ArcGIS Model Builder di ajiputrap.blogspot.com

ArcGIS 9.3 pun sudah dikeluarkan service packnya. http://kpj2001.blogspot.com/2008/11/arcgis-93-service-pack-1-is-available.html
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Bersumber dari Wikipidea tentang ArcGIS, berikut sejarah perjalanan ArcGIS:
ArcGIS is the name of a group of geographic information system software product lines produced by ESRI. At the desktop GIS level, ArcGIS can include: ArcReader, which allows one to view and query maps created with the other Arc products; ArcView, which allows one to view spatial data, create maps, and perform basic spatial analysis; ArcEditor which includes all the functionality of ArcView, includes more advanced tools for manipulation of shapefiles and geodatabases; or ArcInfo the most advanced version of ArcGIS, which includes added capabilities for data manipulation, editing, and analysis. There are also server-based ArcGIS products, as well as ArcGIS products for PDAs. Extensions can be purchased separately to increase the functionality of ArcGIS.

Product history

Prior to the ArcGIS suite, ESRI had focused its software development on the command line Arc/INFO workstation program and several Graphical User Interface-based products such as the ArcView GIS 3.x desktop program. Other ESRI products included MapObjects, a programming library for developers, and ArcSDE as a relational database management system. The various products had branched out into multiple source trees and did not integrate well with one another. In January 1997, ESRI decided to revamp its GIS software platform, creating a single integrated software architecture.^[1]

ArcGIS 8.x

In late 1999, ESRI released ArcGIS 8.0, which ran on the Microsoft Windows operating system.^[1] ArcGIS combined the visual user-interface aspect of ArcView GIS 3.x interface with some of the power from the Arc/INFO version 7.2 workstation. This pairing resulted in a new software suite called ArcGIS, which included the command-line ArcInfo workstation (v8.0) and a new graphical user interface application called ArcMap (v8.0) incorporating some of the functionality of ArcInfo with a more intuitive interface, as well as an ArcGIS file management application called ArcCatalog (v8.0). The release of the ArcGIS suite constituted a major change in ESRI's software offerings, aligning all their client and server products under one software architecture known as ArcGIS, developed using Microsoft Windows COM standards.^[2]

One major difference is the programming (scripting) languages available to customize or extend the software to suit particular user needs. In the transition to ArcGIS, ESRI dropped support of its application-specific scripting languages, Avenue and the ARC Macro Language (AML), in favour of Visual Basic for Applications scripting and open access to ArcGIS components using the Microsoft COM standards.^[3] ArcGIS is designed to store data in a proprietary RDBMS format, known as geodatabase. ArcGIS 8.x introduced other new features, including on-the-fly map projections, and annotation in the database.^[4]

Updates of ArcView 3.x extensions, including 3D Analyst and Spatial Analyst, came later with release of ArcGIS 8.1, which was unveiled at the ESRI International User Conference in 2000.^[5] ArcGIS 8.1 was officially released on April 24, 2001. Other new extenstions were made available with ArcGIS 8.1, including GeoStatistical Analyst. ArcGIS 8.1 also added the ability to access data online, directly from the Geography Network site or other ArcIMS map services.^[3] ArcGIS 8.3 was introduced in 2002, adding topology to geodatabases, which was a feature originally available only with ArcInfo coverages.^[6]

ArcGIS 9.x

The ArcCatalog module, center panel is ArcToolBox, right panel is showing metadata.

ArcGIS 9.0 was released in May 2004, which included ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Engine for developers.^[1] The current version of the ArcGIS software is 9.3. The ArcGIS 9 release includes a geoprocessing environment that allows execution of traditional GIS processing tools (such as clipping, overlay, and spatial analysis) interactively or from any scripting language that supports COM standards. Although the most popular of these is Python, others have been used, especially Perl and VBScript. ArcGIS 9 also includes a visual programming environment called ModelBuilder that allows users to graphically link geoprocessing tools into new tools called models. These models can be executed directly or exported to scripting languages which can then execute in batch mode (launched from a command line), or they can undergo further editing to add branching or looping.

In March 2008, ESRI began distributing beta versions of ArcGIS 9.3. The new version of ArcGIS Desktop has new modeling tools and geostatistical error tracking features, while ArcGIS Server has improved performance, and support for role-based security. There also are new JavaScript APIs that can be used to create mashups, and integrated with either Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth. ArcGIS 9.3 is expected out sometime later in the spring or summer of 2008.^[7] At the 2008 ESRI Developers Summit, there was little emphasis on ArcIMS, except for one session on transitioning from ArcIMS to ArcGIS Server-based applications, indicating a change in focus for ESRI with ArcGIS 9.3 for web-based mapping applications.^[8]

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be continued ....

Salam Spatial and Non Spatial..

Be Spatialized for Ourself :)

KPJ2001