• Announcing ArcExplorer—Java Edition for Education 2.3
• Announcing ArcGIS 9.2 Service Pack 4 - Includes Support for Windows Vista
• New Video and Lessons about Asia for Geography Awareness Week
• New Books from ESRI Press

Announcing ArcExplorer—Java Edition for Education 2.3

A new version of ArcExplorer—Java Edition for Education, ESRI's free, dual platform, lightweight GIS tool, is now available. The latest version is 2.3.2 and is especially useful for those on Mac OS previous to 10.4; this version uses the latest Java version on the computer without requiring a Java update.

ArcExplorer—Java Edition for Education is a great introductory tool. It is able to save and open projects; create thematic maps; perform basic buffer and map overlay analysis; import and display a table of X,Y data; and use both shapefiles and data distributed over the Internet from ArcIMS services (including the Geography Network). For a more complete list of functions and a comparison with other GIS software such as ArcView, take a look at this quick view [PDF] on the ESRI Education Community.

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Announcing ArcGIS 9.2 Service Pack 4 — Includes Support for Windows Vista

ArcGIS 9.2 Service Pack 4 is now available, and it includes support for running ArcGIS Desktop 9.2 products (ArcReader, ArcView, ArcEditor, ArcInfo) on Windows Vista. In addition to Service Pack 4, two patches from Microsoft are required to support ArcGIS on Vista. For more information about ArcGIS support for Microsoft Vista, see this technical article on the ESRI Support site.

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New Video and Lessons about Asia for Geography Awareness Week

A new video and 10 new lessons about Asia are now available at www.esri.com/gaw. The video is an 8-minute tour of Asia and utilizes several GIS visualizations. The 10 lessons cover a variety of topics and are available from ArcLessons. Most utilize either the National Geographic MapMachine or ArcExplorer—Java Edition for Education, which are both suitable for people new to GIS. These resources were created for Geography Awareness Week and Geography Action, geography education programs of the National Geographic Society.

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New Books from ESRI Press

Empowering Electric and Gas Utilities with GIS
This book details the difference an enterprise GIS can make to an energy provider of any size with technology that goes far beyond mapmaking. It is an easy-to-read narrative about the trials and tribulations of a fictitious utility, AnyTown Energy, which ultimately is empowered by GIS. Case studies illustrate how utilities using GIS in the real world have improved operations, customer service, and business practices. This book is ideal for utility executives, operations and technology managers, and financial officers. It's also for GIS professionals who may want to explore careers in the electric and gas business.

GIS for Homeland Security
This book chronicles the accomplishments of progressive programs that have embraced geospatial technology to assess vulnerabilities, coordinate response, and facilitate recovery. Sharing information, data, and intelligence at all levels of government and in a coordinated fashion is essential to homeland security, and GIS helps make it happen. Lessons learned from horrific events - including those of September 11, 2001, and Hurricane Katrina - have been applied to an array of homeland security challenges chronicled in this book. It is for decision makers and first responders, GIS users who see its unlimited potential, and those new to spatial technology.

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