ESRI International User Conference 2008

Q & A

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Dear ESRI User:

We are excited to meet with you at the ESRI International User Conference in less than two weeks.  We have a lot of information to share with you, and we’re eager to learn what you have been doing with GIS.

We appreciate the strong response to our conference questionnaire.  It’s quite lengthy and we value the time you spent answering our questions.  Your input gives us insight into your interests and the direction you would like us to take.  We have already made a number of strategic decisions based on your comments and we will work aggressively to be both responsible and responsive to your suggestions.  I urge you to read our responses to your questions below before arriving at the conference.

The technology focus of this year's conference will be ArcGIS.  We will highlight the ArcGIS 9.3 release, which includes many quality and performance improvements as well as user requested enhancements.  As always, there will be many opportunities for sharing and learning about applications and successful GIS implementations via user presentations, special interest group meetings, and dozens of regional user group meetings.  The UC agenda is available online for you to plan your week.

You are part of an incredible group with a tremendous amount of collective knowledge.  I encourage you to contribute to the sense of community that characterizes this conference by interacting and sharing knowledge with your peers. 

Best regards,

Jack Dangermond

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Jump to Q & A Categories

GIS

1. What is the concept behind this year’s User Conference theme "GIS – Geography in Action"?

2. What is the The Geographic Approach?

3. What are the key green applications of ESRI’s GIS software?

4. What are the main GIS applications in business?

5. How is GIS being used to aid in disaster relief?

6. What is ESRI's view of the geospatial software market?

7. What are the benefits of GIS?

8. What is the prospect for GIS in light of an economic slowdown?

9. What is ESRI doing to develop a closer link between surveying and GIS?

10. What is ESRI doing to better integrate remote sensing and GIS

11. Does GIS have value for kids? What kinds of things do students, teachers, and administrators do with GIS?

12. Is ESRI doing anything in the area of situational awareness applications, particularly for supporting collaborative geospatial work efforts?

13. Is the vision of a spatial data infrastructure (SDI) practical?

14. How is geospatial data analysis changing the nature of academic research?

15. What are the issues surrounding data archiving for GIS based projects and activities?

16. Do you think that the user-generated content (UGC) collected in consumer-oriented Web sites will be valuable to GIS? If so, how?

ArcGIS

1. What are the main themes of ArcGIS 9.3?

2. What is being planned for the release after ArcGIS 9.3?

3. I am the only GIS analyst in my organization. How can I get my GIS data/analysis into the hands of co-workers and decision makers who have no GIS software or training?

4. I’ve heard about Adobe’s release of its spatially referenced PDF. What does it do and how will it benefit users?

5. Will ESRI integrate ArcGIS with Google Maps, Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth?

6. When will ESRI allow licenses to be checked out of the central license manager?

7. Are you considering eliminating the dongle as a license protection mechanism?

8. Does ESRI support tracking of dynamic data in ArcGIS?

9. What is ESRI doing to better integrate CAD?

10. Can oblique imagery such as Pictometry photos be used in ArcGIS?

11. Does ESRI plan to create automated metadata tools?

12. Will ESRI be implementing a lidar processing system?

13. What are the options for capturing photogrammetric data in ArcGIS?

14. What are ESRI’s new science initiatives in the software?

ArcGIS Desktop

1. Will there be difficulty in migrating my ArcGIS Desktop or ArcGIS Engine applications from 9.2 to 9.3?

2. Does ESRI plan to simplify the desktop user experience?

3. Can you improve the performance of the “Near” spatial analysis tool?

4. When will the metadata editor in ArcCatalog be improved?

5. How does ArcGIS Desktop integrate with the GeoWeb environment?

ArcGIS Extensions

1. What is the future for 3D Analysis in ArcGIS?

2. The Network Analyst extension seems underdeveloped. Shouldn't it be able to support more flexible applications?

3. What improvements were made in ArcGIS Schematics at 9.3?

4. What is ESRI doing to incorporate statistical analysis in ArcGIS?

5. What functionality does the ArcGIS Data Interoperability extension provide?

6. How can I better organize and manage my GIS workflow?

7. What is ESRI doing with ITT VIS?

ArcGIS Server

1. What’s new in ArcGIS Server 9.3?

2. How are ESRI users deploying ArcGIS Server?

3. How can I get faster response from ArcGIS Server? Will map caching help?

4. My data changes often. How do I update my map cache?

5. Map caching has been difficult and requires a lot of time every time I want to update my data. Is this going to change?

6. Why is ESRI putting so much emphasis on ArcGIS Server?

7. Please provide an overview of the ArcGIS Server licensing model.

8. What distinguishes ArcIMS from ArcGIS Server?

9. Why would users consider migrating from ArcIMS to ArcGIS Server?

10. Does ESRI support JavaScript for mashing up ArcGIS Server with other Web applications?

11. Will ESRI support Flex in ArcGIS Server?

12. Do you plan to add more Web applications and templates for ArcGIS Server?

13. There is no print or export function in ArcGIS Server. When will this be supported?

14. Does ESRI have a hardware bundle with ArcGIS Server?

15. What are the image related capabilities of ArcGIS Server?

16. What is the ArcGIS Server Image service?

17. What is ArcGIS Image Server and how is it being integrated into ArcGIS?

18. Can the images mosaicked as part of the ArcGIS Image Server be cached?

19. Is ESRI going to provide a hosting environment for ArcGIS Servers?

20. Do I still have to be in the Administrator group to use the Manager on ArcGIS Server .NET at 9.3?

21. Can ESRI provide a tutorial and additional training resources for issues surrounding ArcGIS Server configuration?

ArcGIS Explorer

1. What is the role of Explorer in ArcGIS?

2. How does ArcGIS Explorer support GeoRSS?

3. How do I create a globe for ArcGIS Explorer?

4. Why does ESRI place so much emphasis on ArcGIS Explorer?

ArcGIS Online

1. What is ArcGIS Online?

2. When will ArcGIS Online officially launch?

3. How much will ArcGIS Online cost?

4. Will ArcGIS Online services continue to be freely usable after the beta is over?

5. Can I serve the ArcGIS Online maps on my own server?

6. What are the plans for ArcGIS Online locator services?

Mobile GIS

1. What is ESRI's mobile strategy?

2. Are there any new enhancements to ArcGIS Mobile?

3. Can you explain ArcPad vs. ArcGIS Mobile solutions?

4. How can I leverage GPS technology with my GIS, and what is ESRI's plan for including GPS services on mobile devices?

5. What is ESRI's recommendation for easy-to-use redlining tools for field crews?

6. Will ArcPad be able to synchronize directly with a geodatabase version?

Geodatabase & ArcSDE Technology

1. Can we expect the file geodatabase to be the new file format supported into the future?

2. Why should I move my data from shapefiles to the geodatabase?

3. Are shapefiles going away?

4. Will ArcGIS Server 9.3 support the new spatial types in SQL Server 2008?

5. How does ArcGIS Server support PostgreSQL? Does ESRI support the PostGIS open-source spatial extension for PostgreSQL?

6. Can I make direct connections to an enterprise geodatabase from an ArcGIS client if they are from different releases?

7. Do I have to upgrade my 9.2 geodatabase(s) to 9.3, if I am using ArcGIS 9.3 software?

8. What will be the impact of spatial data types in databases?

9. Is ESRI integrating building information models (BIMs) into its system?

Platforms

1. What is the status of ESRI’s support for running ArcGIS on 64-bit operating systems?

2. Will ESRI support Macintosh computers?

3. Will you support ArcView GIS 3.x on Microsoft Windows Vista?

Solution Products

1. What are ESRI’s solution products?

2. What is Business Analyst from ESRI? How is it valuable to me?

3. What is ESRI's strategy for logistics, fleet management, and navigation?

4. What is ArcGIS Military Analyst and how is it used?

Developers

1. Will ESRI continue to support Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) in the future?

2. Will ESRI continue to support Visual Basic 6?

3. We would like to see ESRI support something like the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN), where users can purchase a developer license that provides access to all of Microsoft's products for development purposes.

4. What is ESRI doing with the Flex environment? Will this become a part of the product in the future?

5. Will ESRI implement scripting in ArcGIS similar to AML?

6. What are ESRI's plans for ESRI Developer Network (EDN)?

Quality

1. What is ESRI doing to improve software quality and stability?

2. What improvements are being made to the diagnostic tools available in ESRI's software and systems?

3. Why is ESRI releasing service packs?

4. What is ESRI doing to solicit feedback from the user community regarding improvements to software development?

Data

1. What is ESRI's strategy for providing data products?

2. How do I set up a globe for ArcGIS Server? Does anybody have data that covers the whole globe?

Standards & Interoperability

1. Can you explain ESRI's interoperability strategy and how it's showing up in ArcGIS?

2. What is the current level of support for OGC standards?

3. How is ESRI participating in the Open Source environment?

4. What is NITF? How does ESRI support it?

Support

1. Can you provide better access to ESRI customer records about my organization?

2. How can I use the Web to improve my customer support?

3. How will ESRI improve technical support over the next year?

4. How can I learn more about ESRI Support Services?

5. I recently heard something about Bugs Online. What is it?

6. What did ESRI Support Services do to prepare for the ArcGIS 9.3 release?

7. What kinds of community interaction tools and resources has ESRI been building?

Training and Education

1. Is ESRI going to offer a Certification Program?

2. I prefer instructor-led training but am not able to travel. What are my options?

3. My company is planning to upgrade to ArcGIS 9.3. What training do you have to get us up to speed on the new features?

4. I am fairly new to GIS. Last year, I attended the course “Learning GIS using ArcGIS Desktop”. I am not sure which course to take next. A colleague recommended “Introduction to ArcGIS 1 and Introduction to ArcGIS 2”, but I no longer see them on your website. I do see “ArcGIS Desktop I: Getting Started with GIS”, “ArcGIS Desktop II: Tools and Functionality”, and “ArcGIS Desktop III: GIS Workflows and Analysis” listed. I’m not sure which courses I should take.

5. I am a self-employed GIS consultant and developer. How can I get affordable training on ArcGIS Server?

6. My company’s training budget has been reduced drastically for the remainder of the year. How can we get the most training value for our GIS staff?

7. I am new to GIS and need guidance on which training to take. How can I determine which training is right for me?

8. I am an experienced GIS professional who is very busy. I’d like some quick, focused training so I can stay current in the industry, and I want to be able to take the training at my desk. What do you have for me?

ESRI

1. What are ESRI's main business strategies?

2. What are the chief reasons for ESRI's ongoing success?

3. What is ESRI doing about being more green?

4. What is ESRI's business model for sales and support of software and how do you collaborate with other companies to achieve your goals?

5. Will ESRI continue making GIS grants available to nonprofits in a down economy?

6. I've heard about the small government ELA program as well as some of the ELAs in large governments. Can you design a program for mid-sized local government?

7. I've heard about ESRI's enterprise license agreement. I'm in local government. Is this the way to go?

8. What were the results of the question regarding ESRI’s relationships with other technology vendors?

User Conference

1. What is ESRI doing to be green at the User Conference?

2. Can I get the User Conference agenda prior to the conference?

3. Where can I get the latest information about the UC?

4. I am trying to connect with other people who are attending the UC. How can I find other attendees with similar interests to mine?

5. What is the wireless accessibility of the San Diego Convention Center?

6. What is the survey summit and why is it important to GIS professionals?

7. How does ESRI use the User Conference survey?

8. I am the lone GIS professional in my organization. How can I meet others in a similar situation who face the same challenges as I do?

9. How can I access the papers and technical workshops presented at UC?