ESRI Technology

The Agricultural Business Model

The implementation of ESRI's GIS software products within the agricultural industry requires a scalable approach. The nature of agriculture dictates this from the farmer to the government.

An integrated GIS solution requires product compatibility and an architecture allowing customization according to users' preferences. From spatial data collection, collation, analysis, and dissemination, ESRI products provide a professional solution.

Data collection in the field is becoming more convenient and affordable with handheld computing devices. Combined with ArcPad, such field tools allow workers to log events in the field and store the spatial data for later inclusion in a farm database. ArcView provides a desktop solution into which the data collected in ArcPad can be loaded. Field data can be stored efficiently and analyzed using many powerful tools with ArcView. Additional functionality can be incorporated by utilizing the extensions available such as ArcGIS Spatial Analyst, ArcGIS Image Analysis, and the Geostatistical Analyst.

If data collected at the farm requires additional sources of data or should be transferred to another office for further analysis, ArcIMS provides the tools to do so. Internal or external Web pages can be designed incorporating data that can then be viewed, edited, and downloaded across the Internet using a simple Web browser. Third party data sets can be brought in via ArcIMS when needed.

As agricultural businesses, whether involved in production, processing, or distribution, generate more and more spatial data, ArcSDE can be employed to store it all. ArcSDE offers unprecedented data retrieval performance and, coupled with ArcIMS technology, provides a powerful GIS solution.

ArcInfo, the world leader in professional GIS software, is seen as a solution for GIS professionals working in many distinct agricultural disciplines. Governmental applications, multinational corporations, and professional GIS service providers rely greatly on ArcInfo to conduct and manage all of their GIS requirements and deliver a robust agricultural geographic database.